I am giving the film a watch this morning. Some thoughts (hopefully that will tantilize the tastebuds of folks thinking about TKPC membership.)
1) OL responded despite rotating 7 guys early in the game at multiple positions. When the scheme called for lateral movement (Burmeister), they delivered. When the scheme called for power (Quincy) and more pass pro, they delivered. Footwork and engaging at the second level were vastly improved. I think Duke (who has two fantastic DEs) will be a bigger test, and Fuente has owned Tony Gibson-coached defenses. But, this is a good start.
2) Blackshear was as advertised. Herbert was much quicker than he looked on film last year and blocked well. Holston also looked good running but botched a pass pro that will hurt his chances of overtaking the top two.
3) We saw more zone, and more of a "keep it in front of you" mentality on defense. It will take some time to pick it apart (this whole season will be a learning excercise), but the use of Deablo and Jenkins got my attention.
4) Defensive line and linebackers had their good and bad. Hewitt was consistently the most stout DT. There was a big drop off behind him. Pollard, Kendrick, Fuga, and Phillpot all did their best to hold the fort, and made noble efforts (especially with Crawford clearly laboring with a bad leg.) But, outside of using the cocked nose and A gap nose technique paired with a three tech, I don't think we got a good accounting for what DTs will be asked to do long term.
DEs got off and their rush technique collapsed the pocket, as predicted. I thought Reed and Belmar were solid, and both Debose and Adams got pressures. Barno did not look good- he had several attempts to close down some big inside zone runs and was VERY slow to crash into Bam and Person's cutback lanes.
I walked away very impressed with Deablo and Jenkins. Deablo in particular looked tremendous last night, and Jenkins oozes potential.
Temper expectations- VT will struggle against the run and good outside receivers at times, and at some point they will need to win a game throwing the football. Tayvion Robinson was great when targeted last night, but they have to find a way to efficiently throw the ball when defenses load up on the run.
Comments
Passing game needs some work outside of the fade game. But we did get this jewel of a catch.
Reminded me of that Ford catch against Pitt a few years back.
Shades of Antonio Freeman on MNF
Where does Keshawn King fit in the Blackshear / Holston group behind Herbert? Think he'll get a lot of carries this year?
If Blackshear and Herbert look like they did last night, I would honestly just feed them 80% of the time then use Holston the rest
I would be shocked if King plays much. 170-180 pounds isn't getting it done.
He needs to take the year off and spend it in D2 and the weight room
I'm a firm believer in this plan.
Even I came in Freshman year and packed on 20 to 25lbs by lifting and eating mostly rotisserie chicken and drinking whole milk at D2 everyday.
Owens rotisserie >>>
I wont disagree, but I went for quantity over quality since D2 was all you can eat and I could eat as much as I wanted.
I used to manage Hokie Grill, so I'm biased towards the Owens kitchen.
Why did they get rid of the spicy chicken
Hokie Grill didn't have spicy chicken when I was there. If it was an Owen's sandwich, I have no idea, they had their own set of management.
Yea sorry I was talking about Flips. Back to Hokie grill then.... how do we make that sweet, sweet Cajun mayo from the barbecue place
It's been so long, I don't remember the exact spices... but the amount of mayonnaise involved is pretty disgusting.... I can't wait to go back to campus to eat one of those turkey sandwiches though.
Cinnabon or DD
I could be mistaken, but I think the last time I was there the Cinnabon / Carvel was gone and it was straight Dunkin
Carol Lee needs to deliver to campus. It used to be right in town next to the Lyric. That would help!!
Pretty tough to do if he's forced off campus due to covid (like he was earlier this offseason)
I thought the offense was promising in its simplicity and execution. I was very impressed with Herbert. Not only did he run well, I saw him make a few nice blocks on QB runs. I loved the RBs and QBs being able to cut into the gaps opened by the stretch. We run that use it to key play action all season and we should be fine.
I thought the defense was okay. NC State's QB was garbage. I think a QB that can stress our coverage will expose the whole defense.
Loved the Jenkins Deablo safety combo. We need to find some quality depth on D Line. You could see players getting tired on both sides of the ball. What did you think about the line backer play? Tisdale over Dax? How did Ashby's role change from last year?
All in, you have to love a big win over an ACC team while down players and coaches. Very impressed with the whole team.
Did anyone else feel it was a dick move to go for two when we were up 26 in the 4th? That aside I was pleasantly surprised with how we played especially with 1/4 of our team out for covid. Bring on the dookies
No, have you watched many games lately? Specifically like the Dallas/Atlanta game last week. Stranger things have happened. Even if it was unlikely, it was still possible to lose. Keep the pedal down until there is no chance to lose.
Nope. No lead is safe with that amount of time on the clock (KSU/OU game as as example). Especially with conditioning concerns.
Not to mention that made the combined score of 69 points. Fuente knew what he was doing.
Not at all, no lead is safe. I was hoping we were going to just to go up by a multiple of 7. I always get nervous when we're up by 6, 13, 20,... etc.
By the way, nifty play by BB on the conversion!
No.
Judging by the responses to this question, looks like we're all good with Cutcliffe and Duke last year.
Going into the 4th they were up by 21 at the start of the quarter. Without the 2 pt conversion, we were up 26 with 9 minutes to play.
I am fine with cutcliffe playing his players to win. Our team layed down like a bunch of sissies and quit playing, and moping around with our feelings hurt. Cutcliffe cant help it if an opposing team are wearing dresses to a football game.
I thought the problem with Cutcliffe was running a fake punt late in the fourth with a big lead? I think there is a difference between going for a score that is a multiple of 7 vs. using a trick play to pad a lead.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they are more similar than I think. I do know that NC State happened to respond whenever the lead started to get out of hand, so it felt responsible to keep going. Whereas we looked dead after the first quarter against Duke last year.
No lead is safe. They were up 28 with 9 minutes left to play when they ran the fake punt (only 2 more than we were up when we ran the 2pt conversion, with virtuallythe same amount of time left).
For the record I don't have a problem with us going for 2, or the fake punt
If you think you're going to make me like Cutcliffe again, you're sadly mistaken. Taking a lead you've earned? Fine. Running trick plays when you're way up? That I'm not going to overlook.
On the other hand, if we get a chance to augment a lead to ensure a win, the gloves are off. The number of points you need these days to ensure a win is a lot higher than it used to be.
not trying to make you like him. Fuck him. Fuck Duke.
Just pointing out that the scenarios were not all that different
I'm not seeing the attempted comparison here. We are talking about an extra point attempt. Nobody would argue we shouldn't have scored a touchdown when our lead was 20 with 9 minutes left in the game. We did that and then you have to attempt a point after, which means either kick an XP or go for 2. It's only a 1 point swing but slightly worth going for 2 because a 28 point lead has value over 27 (protects you with 4 TDs and XPs). Also let's not forget that putting your offense on the field and going for 2 is not even a trick play.
Duke was already up 28 and ran a trick play to maintain possession so what would actually be comparable would be if we went for an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff after we went up 28.
VT had basically the same lead against Miami the next week. Tech blew that lead. Only some last minute Hooker heroics saved the W. I think Arkansas had a big lead on VT in a bowl game a few years ago?? And that lead wasn't safe.
Also, I think Cutcliffe called a punt, but the Australian style punter saw that he could easily run for the first down. I was at that game, it sucked, but I am ok with them taking the easy first down.
Felt like a shot worth taking. Make it and as said you a multiple of 7. Miss it and still hold a healthy lead.
I would imagine NC State recognized that as well.
Are the Hokies scoring? Yes? Then it's a fantastic move and I can't be convinced otherwise.
Yes, we had control of the game. They weren't coming back. Play good defense and win the game.
Honestly though in today's game in a *perceived* weak conference, stylepoints matter. No one remembers what happened in the game they just see the final score. I would've liked for us to punch the last one in but I think Fuente felt bad about going for 2 earlier
I think it came down to two options, and neither had to do with feelings:
#1 - kneel and finish the game within 30 seconds.
#2 - punch in the TD, stop the clock, kick a PAT, kickoff, NC State runs at least one play. Game ends 5-10 minutes after the play is run.
Style points for what? The polls? 7 more points wouldn't get us ranked. And just win and we'll get ranked.
Did anyone else feel it was a dick move to go for two
9 minutes left and the defense gassed? Hell no.
At that point in the game 26 and 27 are effectively the same number. If you are still trying to score, then you play the game the way it should be played; in this case, it's go for 2. In basketball, if the team way behind fouls, you still shoot the free throw.
The dick move would have been to score on the last play. We appropriately took the knee.
I can remember past games where the Hokies, up by seemingly insurmountable leads, choked and lost. Games against UVA and Syracuse come to mind. They were a long time ago, but it was something like a 29-3 lead and a 21-6 lead. I think the Syracuse game that comes to mind was up at the Carrier Dome.
I don't harbor ill will against Coach Cutliffe for last year, fact is if you don't want the score run up on you, then play better defense and score some points yourself. Going for 2 there this past weekend is just part of the game, they're supposedly big boys and know it comes with the territoriy, both on the giving and receiving ends.
Yeah, I always felt like we were really bad about being up and then just trying to hang on rather than continuing to drive the score up, not sure why, but I agree, it seemed like we let people come back from being up pretty big.
Yeah, and I'm just thinking of the worst cases. Many many times of being up 10-14 points, going too conservative, and letting them pull it out for the comeback win (Matt Ryan, cough cough) or being too conservative against inferior opponents, or just calling dumb plays, and letting them hang around and pull the upset, see Kansas, Boise State, Kentucky, UVA last year, other examples.
Point being, never stop trying to add to a lead. You never know how things will break down the stretch of any game.
I think some of the ones I'm remembering were where we were up, had been having success throwing the ball, and then went with the "conservative, don't turn it over" running the ball even when they'd been stopping the run and, like I said, we were doing well passing. So instead of turning it over by tossing a pick, we turned it over because we couldn't get a first down on the ground.
Would it be a dick move to reciprocate?
No - it was fine. We kneeled it's on the 1 yard line at the end.
The OL really impressed me but the ability of the backs to find the gaps and make the right reads was really impressive. Both QBs looked prepared for the game burmeister looks really good at running neither really showed a lot passing but I thought our recievers did an excellent job playing through contact to make big catches time and time again. Defensively felt NC state didn't really take advantage of a weak secondary and shaky lb corp and when they went full throttle run looked to expose our weakness but when they had time the front 7 got after the QB. Ryan smith deserves a nice glass of whiskey and a cigar for calling a class game. Blackshear and Herbert and will be a hell of a duo with holston as well the backfield looks legit. Blackshear is much more physical than I expected and Herbert looks to have some speed I didn't anticipate!
Maybe Coach Lechtenberg knows what he's doing and will turn out to be an upgrade? One game doesn't make a trend but it's a good start.
As much as I love Coach Wiles, I am wondering if Teerlinck is not going to be an upgrade. Wiles' D-line at NC State isn't looking so hot and our D-line play the last few years hasn't exactly been spectacular.
My biggest takeaways:
I saw some busts on blocking assignments, but overall the offensive line looked decent. One play, Smith and Nestor? both gave defenders the bullfighter treatment. But then they looked decent the rest of the time.
The running backs actually took time to spot the holes and make a move for them. The last few years our runs have looked like they were called for a hole, and our backs were going there no matter what. They just took th ball and went forward. Never looked for the openings. I'm pleased with this years showing.
The DTs weren't strong enough at the line of scrimmage. But that ended up opening alleys for the ends to collapse the pocket. Reed worked his tackle backward and out, and used a swim to work inside, a lot.
From a general, layman's perspective, a few individuals jumped off the screen.
Our center
New defensive end Reed
Power but not game-breaking speed Herbert
All the receivers (much stronger battling for catches)
Our kicker
Our d will be vulnerable when teams spread is out. Power runs in 4 wide will eat our defense up. Great win and very happy with transfers, they shined all night long on both sides of the ball
This sounds about right. Also, there is considerable drop off from reed and Belmar to the backup d ends.
But then you also take another step back and realize this was a game where we were missing 23 guys from our roster. Twenty three. Including QB1. Not to mention several coaches were absent from the sideline, including the DC himself.
I have no doubt that all teams will have their various struggles and setbacks this year, and that ours are more than likely not over. But a season opener with this many players and coaches out, against a conference foe that proved itself capable just a week prior, has to make you feel good.
They handled adversity well. That is a good thing.
how many of the 23 were listed on the 2-deep?
7 if you include Shadley on Special Teams: Shadley, Hooker, King, Dzansi, Simmons, Waller, Rodgers
Shadley was missed....I saw at least one snap bounce across the ground on its way to Bradburn. Bradburn did a good job catching it on the bounce.
I liked a lot of what I saw yesterday on both sides of the ball, and some things I'm less confident about.
One of the biggest things for me was there were acres of space in the run game seemingly every time we made it a couple yards past the los. I have doubts that we will have that kind of running room in most of the games on our schedule. I'm interested to see what we look like when we have to throw the ball. There will be games where we don't just hit chunk plays on the ground almost every drive. I still don't feel like we got to see much from the receivers, though their ability to win 50/50 balls impressed.
I liked the defense in the context of missing our DC a couple guys, and I really liked what I saw from the safeties. This was the most I've enjoyed watching Deablo play since that year he flashed a ton of range before getting injured (2017 maybe?). Jenkins stuck out for not drawing bad attention to himself and being a reliable tackler in space. He looks like a high schooler still, physically, but he gives you a lot of reason to be excited. I loved that we were rotating a lot of guys in the secondary, because even though it may have cost us a few plays here and there, that experience will be crucial in building some depth and comfort chemistry between the guys on the back end in different personnel groupings. I think Reed was obviously a standout that just about any observer picked up on, but I remain a bit concerned about our DL. I think there will be teams that are just going to be able to run on us and there won't be a great deal we can do about it.
Spoiler alert- Deablo was used very differently versus his role last year, and he looked great. To find out the difference, the film review will be a must read this week.
State put up 270 rushing yards against Wake. We consider our D-line to be pretty weak, but feel like we did a great job in holding them to almost half of what they were able to put up last week.
part of that is situational though.
Against Wake they were in a close back-and-forth game and could run the ball without worrying about the clock too much. Against us they were down multiple scores after the first quarter which means more passing to extend the clock and allow time for a comeback.
The one drive they just handed the ball off they chewed our defense up and scored a TD.
This lines up with my thoughts as well. VT ball carriers looked like they were making better reads at the line of scrimmage last night, and the line was doing a great job creating holes for them. Wasn't often I felt like we left yards on the field. For the first time since 2016 it felt like the offense could effectively move the ball on every play that was executed above averagely.
Looks like the defense is going to be very volatile again - just with conditioning and working in young guys again. At least it feels like we have enough wiley, experienced guys on the defensive line that we can at least get some pressures. The more the front four can dominate early and we can get meaningful reps for the backups, the better.
Jenkins and Diablo looked good, Murray and Chatman had ups and downs. Devin Taylor looked like a guy who can be picked on. Hopefully that is just getting in a getting comfortable and not the difference between Illinois State and Power 5, ACC playmakers.
Of course that might go better with Hooker back on the field, and COVID benched.
The Defense and running game showed up yesterday.
For all the talk about "gunslinger Burmeister", he looked about the same as his Oregon film.
In his defense, he had that hand cramp issue for most of the game and when he did see the field, he had a pretty touchdown throw negated by deliberate tackling of the receiver.
Also, BB only threw 11 times. I think we prob intentionally saved a lot of plays bc we built a nice lead early and the run was working so well
Yeah, Burmeister was good but I think he should have kept on a few of those zone reads and it looks like the ball kind of sails when he throws it. I think he can win us some games, but I think the way everyone was talking about him, I was expecting more from him throwing the ball.
If your opponent cannot stop your running game, why air it out? Don't make Stinespring's mistake in the bowl against Kansas. Force the other guys to stop the run with safeties in the box, or keep gashing them on the ground.
Gotta hit em with the passes every so often to keep them honest. I think we had a great balance of play calling for what their defense did on Saturday. Didn't hurt that QP was dropping some seriously impressive dimes.
I'm completely fine with the pedestrian passing numbers (which we completed 65% of our passes, just not for a ton of yards) when we are running the ball so well. There was no need to flex the passing game when we were dominating on the ground. Hopefully we see the passing game open up more in games to come with Hooker playing .
I never got the impression that Hendon Hooker has a HUGE arm or one that really drives the offense or works miracles or anything, but he has a knack for almost always getting an accurate pass to the receiver who is supposed to be open on the play, which is something neither Burmeister or Quincy still seem to be able to do with consistency.
Do you think the DTs struggled with conditioning and stuff and might solidify as the season goes on? I never played football but as a layman it really feels like a pandemic screwing up everyone's practice and workout regimens would affect the big guys the most. I mean, what they do looks pretty brutal even in normal times.
I am not sure how to assess the DTs. I don't bring them up in the review outside of the alignment. They did some good things, and Hewitt was really solid.
But, NC State moved them around (which makes sense since NC State's interior three all recieved All ACC consideration in the preseason.)
Crawford wasn't healthy (he was in a knee brace, and was favoring his leg badly.) Pollard and Kendrick are both three techs who struggle against double teams. Philpott and Fuga came in and tied up blockers, but they couldn't get off blocks consistently. I think we need to give them a couple of weeks to see how they play against different offensive systems to assess them more effectively. I do credit Teerlinck for keeping guys fresh. They played five DTs plus Crawford got a series or two when the outcome was still in doubt.
Some guys who I thoughplayed well last night that may not be discussed much.
Eli Adams and Zion Debose were much better than Barno (I didn't see Griffin get a snap. Wooten got time late.)
Tisdale will continue to start over Dax
Hewitt
Gallo
Tisdale's speed jumps off the screen.
Add Max Philpott to that list. While he didn't have a great night against the run, he showed some good pass rush late to pressure Leary.
Philpott cleaned up a sack with about 8 minutes to go that gave me all kinds of feels
Edit: he is also a very big boy
I texted my buddy late in the game just absolutely blown away by how wide 99 looked out there on the field. He's listed at 6' and 300lbs but he looked about 5'8" and all of that weight. He was wide as he is tall.
Why is Barno playing over Wooten and Alec Bryant? Is Bryant still an end or is just hurt?
Wooten hasn't had nearly the amount of practice time as Barno. I know they have been in the DL room for the same amount of time, but Barno's JUCO experience does count for something.
Man Tisdale is fast and I know we will have to ride with him this year being about 210lbs, but if he can get to 225-230 and keep that speed he is going to be lethal next year. I hope Dax can continue to play faster as the season goes on, he had a couple good blitzes but continues to get tied up/washed out by lineman on run plays.
Also, more Herbert touches would reduce wear and tear on the QBs. Herbert had 150 yards on 8 touches. Goodness.
Meanwhile, QBs had 19 carries.
Yes. Some iso or power runs with Gallo blocking, or other runs outside of the zone read are needed. With the zone read, the Dswould prefer to key the RB and let QB get a few yds and a few hits.
QBs: 19 carries, 93 yards, 1 TD (should have had a second), take away the 2 sacks and that's 17 carries for 114 yards.
RBs: 19 carries, 172 yards, 2 TDs
Tre: 2 carries, 53 yards
Herbert has 106 yards on 6 carries , and he was our second leading receiver!
Just listened to the TSL Podcast. Will and Chris mentioned that neither Herbert nor Blackshear has practiced much recently (Blackshear got back on Friday). If that is true, I would expect their load to steadily increase.
Imagine for a second how popular TSL would be if Will and Chris reported on the info they supposedly sit on? It amazes me how AFTER the fact they have all this info. LOL. Godforbid they break actual stories. Instead just say things like "yeah I heard so and so didn't practice"- after the game. No wonder their readership is near nil.
It was available behind their paywall a while before the game
Yeah um....they def reported it before the game. Sounds like someone is mad cuz they got banned.
Why did you stop posting there?
Did Changa Hodge see the field at all last night? There were some Evan Fairs sightings in the second half.
If he did, I didn't see him. I didn't see Griffin either.
There are no tempered expectations here.
I am fully dipped and ready for the playoffs.
Edit: just to stave off any ambiguity. I am 100% fully dipped in dork magik.
THERE ARE NO BREAKS
Do you think we will be able to attend the playoffs in person by the time they roll around?
\s
There were a couple of times I saw Fairs still blocking his man 20 yards downfield on big runs. Improved blocking out wide helps those outside runs tremendously.
Yea saw that too. Incredibly important not to have the Marcus Davis/Hazelton types that give up on blocking plays
However Davis was a consistently bad blocker. The problem with Hazleton was he was a good blocker at times - but you never knew which guy would show up.
I think the more accurate statement about Hazelton was that he was a good blocker who didn't always want to block.
Fair enough.
Not to bash on Hazelton, but I think Fairs blocking stood out even more because he was wearing 14 and the contrast from last year was more notable.
What happened to Crawfords leg? Pre-game injury?
I am not sure. He was wearing a brace, and didn't start. I think he played two drives. The one where I was really keyed in on him, he tried to change directions and you could just see him pull up, like his brain said "nope, that isn't happening." He didn't come in after that series, although I think he played another snap or two after I saw that.
Did anyone else think Gallo looked a lot like (baby) Keene out there?
Temper enthusiasm?
Agreed. We are all going to be disappointed that the year we go all the way and win the National Championship, we are going to be able to see it in person or parade in Blacksburg. Need to start preparing myself for that now.
And a big *
Why temper enthusiasm? This is 2020 boys and girls. No doubt in my mind Hokies will beast out during this entire weirdo season and win the ACC.
If they don't, well that will only be like the 30th worst thing that happened to most of us this year.
How did Gallo do? I didn't notice him at all, which is probably a good thing. Did he take Keene's role without the receiving targets?
Also, noticed a few great blocks by Herbert in runs. Love to see that. Really excited about Herbert, I hope as he gets more practice and conditioning he can get more touches.
Temper enthusiasm?
I may have missed it, but I did not see Blackshear get much burn in the slot. Is that something we still anticipate or with the success of the run game is he going to be more of a backup RB and play a similar role to Herbert?
I would anticipate more of that yes - Blackshear was only cleared on Friday I believe out of contact tracing. He looked good on 2 runs especially that come to mind for me.
To your question though - my understanding with the plan is that they had other stuff for him, but only planned to use if needed as ideally they wouldn't use him as much since he had not practiced much lately.
I believe it was said in the post-game that Blackshear was cramping in the 2nd half, so that limited him as well.
Good point - double whammy
Honestly, do we have the best 3rd string QB in the country???
Most likely those most experienced 3rd string QB in the country.
Id go as far as saying we probably have a top 5 QB room in the country
Since it appeared our newly-traditional mid-game offense slumber/malaise was still in place, maybe QP should play in the 2nd quarter or so of every game to keep the pedal to the metal (as happened v. NSCU). I think he is too good to keep on the bench but as we know he is one injury away (to BB or HH) from serious playing time.
I haven't been that excited about how we started a game since we worked over Clemson in 2007. Some other thoughts:
1) how did we rush for over 300 and lose the TOP?
2) We have 3 QBs that can legitimately run the offense, and I'm comfortable with any one of them being in the game at any time
3) Kadum, Forburger, Kemmerlin have plenty of upper-classmen to learn from (see #2)
As for #1 - any time you're picking up rushing yards 20 or 30 at a time and scoring in a minute or so, and the other team is getting 3-5 yards at a time and grinding out a drive, then eventually stall and punt, you'll lose TOP. Which is why just looking at stats can be misleading.
My other non-favorite one is for punters. You may want a guy who averages 50 yard punts, but say he has 10 punts and averages 35 yards - sounds bad until you see that they were all downed inside the 10 yard line. So it's not necessarily that he can't punt long, it's that the offense was leaving him a short enough field that he couldn't punt longer, but also having the very desirable quality of being able to down it near the opponent's end zone.
When you're rushing for 20 to 30 yards a carry, that only eats up about 10 seconds of game clock....
Answer to 1:
NCSU had 75 offensive plays with 42 rushing attempts, VT had 58 offensive plays with 41 rushing attempts. NCSU would have dominated the TOP if they didn't do a no-huddle offense. The total yardage is so high because VT averaged 8.5 yards per play and 7.7 yards per rush.
Edit: I was late, so drinks on me. But, I'll leave up the response with the actual numbers that paint the picture.
My other thought on the game was " how about fuente calling plays!!!" Maybe he needs to keep that job....
Did CJF end up calling the game? I know there were rumors that Corn was unavailable, but I never saw him come up in the ACCN/Bitter reports.
I have not seen a definitive answer.
I am excited for when we use the pop pass to Mitchell for a 75 yard TD against UNC in 2 weeks
in...the...rain!
I do think BB really adds to the running game the suddenness or quickness that he explodes really puts pressure on the read options for the defense . The stretch allowed the backs to expose the backside because large gap between the DE trying to containn BB and the other guys running with the flow then BB kept a few times and was ten yards down the field before anyone was close . WF only averaged 3.0 yds per rush against the same State D that VT hit for 7.7 per rush and VT averaged 8.5 per play . That is impressive not sure I have seen those numbers out of VT in a long time . Anyway still just 1 game but have to be impressed.
All told, the best part is we can just think back and enjoy the W.
After this entire offseason (football related and otherwise), it was just great to see Hokie football. The fact that we dominated a conference opponent in Lane, even better. That has been far from a given the last few years. And given that there are no divisions this year, that is a good win any way you slice it.
I literally can not remember the last ACC game the good guys played where I was able to relax and enjoy the proceedings. I felt at ease 8 minutes into this one.
Happy, excited, and Let's Go
For a variety of obvious reasons, I suspect VT was pretty vanilla on both sides of the ball vs NCState (even though it was a conference game) - and the playbook will open up considerably over the next few weeks.
It will be really nice if we can do that again this weekend against the dookies. And then explode all over UNCheat.
something something ectoplasm gif
Forgot to add I think the WR group did a great job blocking and staying on their blocks against the wolfpack. I believe fairis(not sure if I spelled that correctly) was the one that stood out the most
Jenkins was a huge bright spot, playing in his first collegiate game as a true freshman who didn't know if he'd be starting until two weeks ago. Had a few solid open field tackles, and looked like he came back after limping off the field in the 3rd quarter.
I did like how BB tended to get what he could get and then get out of bounds and not take unnecessary hits. That is one thing that I hate about when HH runs the ball is that he almost always tries to spin, which makes me nervous for a fumble and getting injured.
But I was left wanting for BB's passing still. Hopefully it was just because we were running it so well. QP has some nice passes but they were the same exact play and I really can't think of another throw that he has at the moment.
I have no idea if BB is accurate, but I doubt there are many QBs that are accurate with hand cramps.
The announcers made it seem like a hand cramp is the most inconceivable injury for a QB. I don't know if it is common in football, but it happens with decent frequency in baseball pitchers. And when it does happen, command is always the first thing that goes. Stephen Strasburg lost this entire year and had to get surgery due to hand cramps.
So, what I'm saying, is hold off judging BB's accuracy until we see him throw without hand cramps. And let's hope that he isn't developing carpel tunnel syndrome.
I thought he was like 5-6 before that play. Too little of a sample size, and none of his throws stood out as amazing, but time will tell.
Yeah the way Hasselback was going on about it, you would think the idea that an athlete that primarily uses their hand getting a hand cramp is like the most unreal thing that has ever happened.
I havn't seen it before in football, but it didn't seem all that strange to me either.
yeah I agree. I'm not judging his accuracy I suppose what I meant to say was that I would have liked to have seen him throw a little more. But again, if we are running well and don't need to then no need to risk it, especially with a hand cramp.
I guess i'm just used to not having a good running game so we have thrown a lot more in previous years.
French - what did we truly suck at that isn't evident on tape (DL play against the run already being noted)? I would volunteer:
1. Still unknown in the passing play. I think we only had ~180 yards in the air, granted we didn't need to do much with 314 on the ground, but I really want to see our passing game be a bit more involved in the game at some point.
2. Receiving special teams; feel like we had a few lanes out there on some punt returns we could've broken off for longer gains / runs. I hope we do better in that regard against Duke.
Outside of Bradburn and Johnson doing a terrific job with making kicks off suspect snapping, the special teams were pretty awful. I know Fuente called out some coverage issues, which didn't jump out as much. As good as Robinson was on the ball and away from the ball at receiver, he had a really bad night on punt return, including multiple times fielding punts inside the 10, and then with a big lead risking catching the punt in the 4th Q when theoretically NC State could have still come back. Fuente also called out Herbert's return on the kick that looked like it was going out of bounds.
The passing game is a bit worrisome, and hopefully the floater was just the hand issue. But, there was one moment where I said "that is the pass they have to complete to win this season"- the quick out to Fairs off of RPO that derailed a drive late. Yes, Fairs bobbled a catchable ball, but the throw was so late because there was no steam on it. Against UVA, you have to complete that pass early and often given how they play coverage.
Defense is a crap shoot. Duke will be a complete change from NC State in terms of scheme, and those cover guys are going to be tested all day.
The suspect snapping could be attributed to Shadley being part of the COVID quarantine and not playing. VT had the new transfer long snapping this game. He didn't join the team until this summer.
Credit where credit is due. Fu did a hell of a job Saturday. NC State is the type of trash ACC program we should be beating every time we play them if we are a "contender" in the conference. Fu did exactly that. He was down a bunch of players and coaches, and he had the team ready and the offense looked legit. Full kudos to him. Good win.
Winning cures everything, even DC's infamous pessimism apparently. Don't worry HF, the Dark Side is still strong in that one. I confess to secretly enjoying the yin-yang ☯️ relationship you two share. Go Hokies!
Not saying I agree with everything DC says but I usually get where he's coming from and generally enjoy hearing his input. And as shown, he readily gives credit where it is due. Go Hokies!
I take his post with a huge grain of salt. Just wait till our inevitable loss at some point this year, DC will be back to being DC.
If we get blown out by Duke again you can bet your ass.
If we get blown out by duke again, DC wont be the only one going ape shit .
Such a shit post. Couldn't just leave it alone could you? Insufferable
hey man, you've earned the reputation as a pessimist whether you want to believe it's justified or not. probably best just to let this all be for now and then respond in a more measured way than anyone is expecting if/when we do lose.
it's worth pointing out that Succinct's comment directly above AXD's is conciliatory and positive in tone and is (currently) +12.
That is good advice to DC.
However, this
is a personal attack regardless of reputation and adds nothing to a conversation.
I don't disagree other than to say that my personal opinion is that the "personal attack" is probably more inferred by the reader. Nothing AXD said in a vacuum was expressly out of bounds, but yes there is a years-long history there and it's possible (and even plausible or probable) it was implied.
"DC gonna DC" only qualifies as an attack if that's an inherently bad thing, I don't think it is and I don't think the community at large does either (evidenced by Succinct's comment). He is who he is. I appreciate his effort over the last few months to give credit where and when it is due and encourage that to continue.
You reap what you sow. Insufferable? Talk about kettle calling pot black.
you baited him into a harsh comment and then want to try and claim the high ground about how he had it coming?
i gave you the benefit of the doubt above and tried to moderate nicely so you wouldn't feel the need to come back and contribute to the subthread further devolving
Prove him wrong...please.
Have the same general reaction, and have realized that he usually preps the team better than Beamer seemed to for larger gaps before a game.
I'm really interested to see if Fuente can finally bring this kind of heat each and every week.
This where I'm at with this as well. It's a great early sign to blow the doors off of an in conference opponent, which we haven't always done recently. Reminds me of the early 2016 games vs ECU and Boston College.
I was thinking 2018 FSU as well.
Outside a few big plays from FSU, we really beat them up all game.
Not the example I prefer to use since in retrospect it wasn't so much that our defense was good so much as FSU's offense was bad. I suppose we will find out over the next few weeks whether our offense is good or NCSU's defense is bad.
Perhaps my biggest question / concern coming into this season was how the team would handle the transition from Bud Foster to J. Hamilton approach to the defense. I was very pleased with the outcome of this game but wonder how much of the success on the defensive side of the ball came from no one having a "book" on what VT's defense would be.
Undoubtable, there are no simple answers. There was a new defensive scheme. What was it going to look like and how would it be played after the snap. Who was VT going to be able to play during the game? Is the NC State offensive coach good at making in game in-game adjustments and did he have the players with the right skill sets available to play, Being behind by 17 at the end of the first half may have limited his options also.
I enjoyed the win. Give me more!
At the same time if any team was going to have an idea of the type of defense implemented by J Ham, you would think NC State, with multiple former VT defensive coaches who worked alongside Hamilton last year, would be the one.
nothing's better than film, though. I think our defense will be exposed more and more as the season goes along. It's all the more important for our offense to be capable of moving the ball and scoring in bunches. We're going to need our offense to carry the team IMO. They looked great against NCST. Let's hope they don't slow down against Duke or UNC
Sure having film on our defense is preferable for opponents but I still think it's worth pointing out that there was significant familiarity between the staffs and our team came out looking much better prepared.
It'll be interesting to see if and how things change when Coach Smith is no longer calling the plays as well. Hamilton, or even Claeys, returning and calling plays could be another wrinkle to keep teams off balance after a couple games as well.
I was more worried about what our former assistants knew about defending our offense than attacking our defense.
None of those guys have seen us run like that in quite some time. Maybe they were caught by surprise.
I think folks way overrate the potential impact of the knowledge former players/coaches can have on the game played on the field.
It's hard to say but I do think it can have a tangible impact. Then again, Wakeyleaks happened before the 0-0 instant classic OT thriller.
I still think "bulletin board material" is far and away the biggest myth that sports fans overrate as having impact on the outcome of a game.
If bulletin board material worked, we wouldn't have won 15 straight against UVA.
Both are overrated in my opinion. Game plans are too case specific for ex team members to have much impact.
Bulletin board material may serve to keep a team from over looking an opponent, but not necessarily make them play above their normal potential.
Hi