We all assumed he did after that Duke beatdown a week ago.
We all assumed he had and we were going to get creamed yesterday.
Maybe we are finally seeing the locker room come together and unify? All the tweets from the players certainly show the team seems unified in the locker room.
This game was almost like the exact opposite of last years ODU game.
Upvote the thread if you think he has the locker room and feel free to down vote if you think he's still lost it.
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Team had a lot of fight yesterday. I was impressed with both sides of the ball. Miami was down, but they have some dudes, and they responded with some big plays. Our last drive that culminated with the 3 yd run showed a lot of fight.
FuEnTe DoEsN't ShOw EmOtIoN
There are plenty of fair criticisms of Fuente, but the idea that he (a) doesn't show emotion and (b) it is contributing to our program's challenges is complete bullshit.
Couldn't agree more with this. He's literally pumping up the team on the sidelines right before they walk into the locker room for halftime every single game. Also, this is the first thing I think of when that specific criticism came out:
and this:
I guess I'm the one that's gotta say it: he looks like Butch Jones here. Take that as you will, Georgia.
shakeitallabout's post in another thread:
Looks like the players decided to circle the wagons. Where the heck did our pass rush and defensive playmaking come from? Despite the 35pts, that was great to see! Tisdale is a star in the making.
Tisdale needs to be on the field 100 percent of the time. Speed kills
I don't disagree but what does that mean for Dax?
Redshirt??
Ashby-Tisdale is our starting Mike-Backer. Conner and Ladler have been splitting reps at Whip.
A redshirt may help out, note that Artis is taking a redshirt too.
Depending on depth, wouldn't be surprised by his size if Hollifield moves to DE just for playing time.
I understand your last statement but I have never liked this answer. It seems to always be an issue with Bud's defense.
I love Dax, but he doesn't have great speed in space, lateral movement is limited, and he just doesn't make plays right now. Dude does have a motor though. I wouldn't be surprised if he would be more of a playmaker from DE.
No way though that he should take playing time away from Tisdale. That kid has Tremaine E level talent and abilities.
Just like with Hooker. Play the athletes that give VT the best chance to win.
Redshirt opportunity is over as it's been 5 games. Several posted (myself included) this should have been considered this week.
Bud spoke post-game about it being a 3 LB rotation going forward - Ashby, Dax, Tisdale - and mentioned that mike was the more natural position for Dax.
There are clearly some players on the team trying to make plays and win games.
I think for sure he lost the team last year. This year it was an open question whether the locker room cancers were all gone or not. I'm certainly encouraged by some of the posts on here.
I'll say it...this was a defining moment for this program.
Despite giving up the lead, our boys still found it within them to drive down the field and take it back and make two defensive stops to secure the win.
Ask yourself if you thought that was possible after what you saw last week and basically what we've seen in the last two years.
We will still take our lumps the remainder of the season, but I have no doubt about the resolve of the coaches and players.
Winning is fun, Go Hokies!
This *could be* a defining moment. I thought the same thing after FSU last year, but it turns out FSU was just bad. This is a Miami team that barely beat CMU after all. We might've turned things around, there are absolutely reasons for optimism, but I think we need to see the trends continue before we talk about what this game really means.
not disagreeing with your assessment, but my point is this WAS a defining moment, not necessarily THE defining moment. The difference being after a week of negative press, fans grumbling, coaching changes speculation, and all...this team could have mailed it in and not even shown up. However, even in the face of all that and a huge lead, they continued to fight. It's "one small step", but a defining moment no less.
Must have used up all their stamps last week.
Babump bump.
Man, I love the enthusiasm, but I really feel like this is an overreaction. You could easily say that Duke was a defining moment for our program as well.
Yes, you could, but what would the reaction have been if we had lost this game outright or given up that lead and lost?
I'm not saying this completely righted the ship, but it certainly showed me something.
I'm still not convinced tbh. Yesterday was great, but it still doesn't change the fact that we got bitch-slapped by Duke 10 days ago and will still be fighting to make a bowl. One win at Miami doesn't mean he's got the locker room under control, so we'll see after the next couple of games.
there is no evidence this year that the locker room has not been under control
There's also no evidence that it's better than last year
https://twitter.com/therealdcunna/status/1180658681932845062?ref_src=tws...
"we all"?
Agreed. That is extremely generalized.
Right. This part of we all thought that the "he lost the locker room" line of thinking died after the UVA game. They are young and they have bad games. They come back and play like a tough talented young team that makes mistakes.
Should I change it to the majority? I mean really I know there are people that thought the other way, but again the majority around here thought Fuente was going to get fired by seasons end or even in season. Also watching our team look lifeless on the sidelines against Duke didn't really show Fuente had the locker room.
The notion that Fu lost the locker room before/during/after Duke, i.e., didn't or doesn't have the support/buy-in from the players, was as far as we know made of whole cloth. Then it gets repeated. The more it gets repeated the more it takes on a life of its own. Next thing you know, its "we all" think.
After Duke, there was a lot of frustration...still is and justifiably so...and there is certainly a complement of posters who fostered the lost locker room notion in conjunction with or support of the Fu should be fired/who should be the next coach narratives.
What makes this board great is the collective of individual perspectives and the framework for civilized discussion. There is no group position. We aren't a voting body and our largely anonymous opinions count for nothing (see Foster's post game comments).
IMO, leave the herd mentality for 247 and TSL where insecure posters constantly seek validation and cover from the group.
To answer your question, I would recommend offering your own perspective and inviting discussion. It will likely stand nicely on its own.
Good news is it definitely looks like the team has solidarity together and with CJF. The jury is still out regarding the on field performance.
Stoked about the win but a legit pounding of URI, like 45-10 and a win over UNC will sell me on a turnaround. The Duke loss was a real gut punch to recover from
Beating URI 45-10 would bring up some bad memories.... And honestly I'd really like to see us beat them a little better than that. But I'm greedy.
Why would a 45 to 10 win bring back bad memories?
The score itself may have adverse effects on some people's mental status.
Im not sure I was ever on the "lost the locker room" train. I am DEFINITELY still on the "recruited poorly for roster fits the last few years" and "is questionably loyal to Cornelson" trains.
Regarding the "loyal to Cornelson" criticism, Fuente's response to that has been consistent: he insists that the playcalling isn't the issue. A lot of people have dismissed that out of hand, but I have never agreed with the assertion that the main issue with our offense has been playcalling. In the era of the zone read and the RPO, playcalling matters increasingly less, because any "play" called can wind up with a multitude of outcomes. You can have the same playcall two downs in a row and never know it, because the first play will be a jet sweep and the second will be a pass, based on the reads.
Playcalling was the albatross around the neck or our offense under Stinespring because the formation we were in telegraphed what play was coming. (And also because a lot of the plays in the playbook were single predetermined outcomes that didn't require a lot of reads.) In Fuente's system - hell, even in Loeffler's system, for that matter - the design of the scheme and having a QB who can make the right reads is way more important than what specific play is called at any given moment.
I believe Fuente when he says playcalling isn't the issue. I also don't think for a second he's deflecting blame when he says the issue is execution, because if he can't coach his players to execute his scheme, that's on him, not the players. Fuente knows that, and has said as much, basically verbatim, repeatedly.
I'm much more concerned with Fuente's loyalty to Willis than his loyalty to Cornelson. It should not have taken four games this season to diagnose the issues Willis was still having after basically a full season and an off-season as the starter.
See, the playcalling was fine in 2016 and 2017 when we had a quarterback capable of running the read option. That's really the key for Corn and Fu's offense. Ryan Willis just wasn't capable of doing it. Hooker had two or three obviously wrong reads yesterday by my count (I was paying attention to it) whereas Ryan Willis probably had at least ten every game. One wrong read, and the offense is behind the sticks and at a disadvantage. Yesterday we stayed ahead of the sticks a lot, and we scored 42 points.
Ugh, are we asking for upvotes now?
Can't we just rely on the comments to determine what others think? Upvote if you think we can, downvote if you think we can't.
I tried to resist not voting but i couldn't. You're good.
Almost as bad as the multitude of threads that all say the same general point of "well we had it wrong." As if one game somehow absolves all issues we've seen the last year.
I feel like I didn't ever see many posts about 'Fuente losing the lockerroom.' I was happy with the effort Saturday, I was happy to see Fuente showing some emotion on the sidelines with the players, and very happy we finally switched to HH, who played well in his first start against a strong defense. The younger DL looked good, and Tisdale should be starting over Dax.
All that said, we squeaked out a game against Miami which really never should have been in doubt, and that doesn't, nor should it, condone everything we've seen thus far. OC is still very weak, we got crushed at home by Duke, we lost to a bad BC team, and have a recruiting class in the 70s. I hope the team can rally, and we can get to 8 wins this year, but major changes still need to happen with this program, and Saturday didn't change that for me, at least.
I feel like any consternation about how the game was ultimately won is a little misplaced. The offense turtling in the 3rd and exhausting the defense was bad, sure, but this is a game nearly everyone circled before the year and said "Yup, that's a loss.".
I'm not convinced if Fuente has lost the locker room yet, although I am leaning towards 'yes'. However, I keep thinking about last year when everyone disregarded the "lost the locker room" converstations. Everyone that defended Fuente in that regard, everyone, had major egg on their face this summer with the release of the locker room article. This website's tone has dramatically changed after one suspect win. Without the crazy uncharacteristic 5 turnovers and the 21ish points that resulted, we get smacked around and the title of this post is "When did Fuente lose the locker room?"