The Virginia Tech cheerleaders. [Mark Umansky]
Who: No. 19 Virginia Tech Hokies (2-0, 2-0 ACC) vs. No. 8 North Carolina Tar Heels (2-0, 2-0 ACC)
When: Saturday, October 10, 2020 at 12:00 PM EDT
Where: Chapel Hill, North Carolina | Kenan Memorial Stadium
Watch/Listen: ABC / Virginia Tech IMG
Spread: North Carolina -3.5
Weather: 68°F, Chance of Rain
Series: The Hokies are 24-11-6 all-time against the Tar Heels and have won 4 straight.
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Comments
BIG PLAY BERT, BITCHES
Y'ALL
Khalil MF Herbert
...and he's over 100 yards!
Over?
WHY THE HELL DIDNT WE FEED HERBERT EARLY
Because he isn't a part of our bubble screen/qb keeper package
Herbert for MVP. Because without him, we suck.
That's one way to get your average up.
Come on, turnover time now
Imagine if we hadn't given the back back to unc for that end of the half TD by actually giving the ball to herbert
BEAST MODE!!!!
KMFH!!!!!!!!! although I can't believe we ran it on 3rd and long
Herbert for Heisman
Yes, Herbert is THAT good.
Changed shirts for second time today and two more touchdowns! Science!
Only 7 NC players in the box = TD for Herbert
I know hindsight is 20/20 but fuckkkkk that td before halftime was a backbreaker
Yes
Fuck 2020!
Dax not in on D right now.
Feed the beast. Herbert needs to EAT
1 carry in the first quarter looks criminal right now
I love Herbert
I hate Cornelson.
Had we run Hebert all day this would be a competitive game.
Brian Johnson has 25 for next week.
3rd down. Maybe we get a stop.
NEED A STOP.
YES!!!!!
If there was ever a time to force a turnover...
I just cant be excited about that TD with our defense being so bad though...
Well I guess I can watch us play live again. But would I want to now?
if you took a break, stay on it, we are playing well
Come on D stop 'em!
alright alright alright
#tWo02zero
Some of those yards were Mitchell's blocking.
Offense just works better with a Hooker in the middle.
Who wouldn't?
Playing much looser
Would you say, playing with house money?
Our OL starting to wear them down.
Mitchell!
Herbert. Hooker. Mitchell.
So reliable.
I'd like to see a bit more tempo again. UNC D ha been on the field a lot this quarter.
Also, Mitchell is a beast
lmao Mitchell pwned Kelly again
TD Robinson on a nice pass by HH
OK Defense, going to be needing a stop now.
LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOO!@!!!!!
What the hell is going on!
LETS GO BOIS
LETS GO HENDON HOOKER SZN IS ALL THE WAY BACK
HOLYSHIIT FAMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!
Yes yes yes!
Still wish we would've ran the clock out before half instead of giving them the ball back
Let's go!
I can't believe this...Hooker is life
Many guys are paying alimony for exactly that
Touché
BB is good, but HH is better.
Our offense is so much better with Hooker.
I really like that this team has not given up. m Some of the fans did but the guys on the field are still playing HARD!
I want so badly to be excited about this game now...
Great play by Robinson.
Hooker is QB1
I mean this is the understatement of the century. Idk why there would have been any question he basically had 1 loss as a starter last year.
You cannot understate the fight in this team!!!
They're still in this.
HOKIE HOKIE HOOKER HI!
Don't think we needed to go for two. We have all the momentum right now and an entire quarter to okay.
Yup, way too much time left for that
Concur for sure. Now we probably need an 8 spot at some point if they get 3
Men. We aren't done yet.
and women. Sry.
Nice catch. Audibly LOLed
wow they saw that two point play coming all the way
Cmon Defense.
Oh boy. This was a disorienting game to wake up to.
LET'S GO!
So does this mean the Hooker starts next week?
No, he hasn't shown enough yet...
Dont play Herbert 1st qtr either
Honestly if you watch film on this team, that 2pt play was called by everyone.
Hey, we still have life, that's cool. Now on to defense...
Come on Pick Six
Our DL seems to have stiffened up.
Tapp put on his uni and is out there
Ton of heart from the players.
Lets see if D can do something
Someone said earlier that Bama's offense couldn't overcome what UNC is doing to our D...does that mean our offense is better than Bama?
Also, I think it is clear that Hooker is our QB.
We are dominating TOP
Did we fire the oc at half? Or just figure out handing the ball to a bell cow rb works.
I'll gladly eat my words from before if we can somehow pull this off... what a third quarter! Make a big stop and find a way to win!
No Dax again..
Houston......we have a game!
COME ON BIG D!
Thatswhatshesaid.gif
I am shocked we are still in this. This Hokies team has fight. Keep. DRINKING!!!
Wild turkey just walked out in the backyard. I hoping it's a sign of good luck!
Let's Go!
Hokies!
At least a sign of dinner...?
If your wild turkey is walking.... keep drinking!
GOBBLE GOBBLE MOTHER FUCKER!!!
Anytime the Hokies are down in FB or BB, I switch to only watching by gamecast due to superstitions. It's working.
Whatever you're doing, keep doing it.
First half was ugly, but love the fighting back in the second half.
If feel like that defensive TD is about to come!
COME ON LETS GET THIS BALL BACK
Good god the missed tackles again.
Damn, we had nobody attack the flat.
no one rotates over on these motions to the flat. we get outnumbered immediately.
JEEZ back to back very bad defensive plays.
fucking tackle
we can't stop the run at all
This playcalling is killing us. All momentum being pulled back on this drive
Hold to 3, get the 8. Bend dont break
Need the defense to not disappear again though...
Our defense doesn't even touch UNC until 20 yards down the field.
Oh gosh thats three straight HORRRIBLE plays for the defense.
I hate that Dazz is such a good blocker
Defense is just no good.
Is there nobody who wants to tackle Newsome?
and holy shit their WRs are blocking amazingly or holding well
LB are non-existent
The edge gets us every time.
Giving up almost 10 yds/carry to the UNC RB's. They're about to score their 7th TD in 10 possessions
Rally cap (Brandon Facyson 2014 mil appreciation helmet) engaged
Christ... we have ZERO outside run support.
Not having Conner hurts
Should go without saying, but Deablo too.
Jesus Christ this defense.....if we lose its 100% on the defensive coaching staff. The offense made the necessary adjustments. The defense absolutely has not
What sort of adjustments can be made to offset poor tackling and LBs that get washed out of position every play?
There isn't really an adjustment to be made.
Not enough talent and the talent we do have doesn't fit the system.
Recruiting Matters.
Counting farley we are down 11 players on defense this game.
Doesn't Hunter make 12?
2 starters...and Farley has been out since August
UNC is down multiple starters too...don't see nearly as many flailing arm tackles.
Excuses are for Tarheel fans
I mean, it doesn't help that we're starting walk-ons
Then you remember to win you have to stop them from scoring... bummer.
The only thing that is going to stop the UNC offense today is their own mistakes.
We almost certainly need to steal a possession via turnover to win this game.
I'm not sure the defense has another stop in them today (absolutely awful performance all the way around). But if we can keep scoring, keep it close, maybe we get lucky on another onside kick.
Who knows
Best hope is a bad snap or fumble
We don't have the speed or discipline to hold the edge.
That is just pathetic.
All good fam regroup and let Hooker get us some points
Fucking tackle
The poor tackling is utterly inexcusable. Wtf is going on.
Who the hell is 20? was that Nyquee Hawkins?
yep...was wondering the same thing...had to look it up
That was just a shameful effort on that TD
I appreciated Chatman's effort but wish he had gone for the tackle.
He got shoved in the back...
Matheny looking like a walk on today
No damn tackling.
Matheny overpursued that...
Walk on. Shouldn't be playing normally.
Walk on or not, you learn pursuit angles in JV ball if not earlier
In eighth grade, we spent an entire practice per week on pursuit angle drills. No excuse
Block in the back!!!! (Right at the point of the catch. Clear as day on replay).
an obvious one too
I thought I might have just been labeled a homer if I said it, so I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought that.
Open field tackling is killing us. 20 had him and wiffed.
Someone please rip that fucking diamond out of Dazz's ear
I love the heart but the D is just soft...
thats what happens when you have freshman and walkons playing all over the secondary. Undersized and some underskilled
The LBs are almost invisible and the interior DL is getting worked.
It isn't Covid that is the problem with the D.
This
With the refs not throwing flags, Hoffman might as well chokeslam someone at this point
I might remind you of an illegal motion flag we had that negated a VT touchdown...
It's the fundamentals that kill me. I can deal with a kid, or a unit even, simply getting over powered but the shear lack of fundamentals is being put on full display with this defense.
Our tackling on the defensive side is killing us
How was that not a block in the back by #2? The side judge on that side has been awful all day!!
Sadly I'm not sure deablo and Conner (the whole game) would have fixed all of our problems.
Having safeties that come up and make a tackle would change this game drastically. How many times did Carter shed a tackle in the hole and run for 15 more?
We have to keep scoring and force a tunorver. Need a helmet on the football and make something happen.
Now imagine if we didn't spot them 21 to start the game by not playing our best QB for the first half and refusing to give the ball to our best RB the entire first quarter.
So much this right here. The defense has been terrible. But at least we give ourselves a chance if we didn't intentionally not utilize our strengths.
This is the inexcusable part of today
O has completely different vibe with Hooker in the game. Our QB1 appears to be back!
A timeout right after kickoff.
I'm sure that won't be needed later or anything
Fat man pick6 in the LOLUVA game!
Oh god imagine what Clemson is goint to do to our defense
At least our defense will be there.
Nah, probably will still be contact tracing from this first few weeks
Last 2 or 3 UNC touchdowns have had blatant penalties with no call, I don't understand how that can happen and not be addressed.
UNZebras all day
The way our defense has played, calling those penalties would just delay the inevitable
But it is their job.
Sure, but that doesn't excuse our play
I appreciate our Herbert.
Herbert runs for 10, we throw, throw, throw
corny is shit.... stiney would have run Herbert there
game
That's gonna be game I think
HH holding the ball too long
Don't think we have any more magic left now unfortunately.
And that will be the game...
1st down run.
Followed by 3 passes...-5 yds.
Corn is sooooo bad it's unbelievable
When you don't run the football...
10 yard first down run - pass, pass, pass. Why?
Rhymes with "porn."
I would fire cornelson solely off of those 3 plays
Complete and total garbage. All that comeback meant nothing because you can't give your heisman candidate the ball right after he gave you a first down
Fucking bullshit
Feed him. Herbies gotta eat
Someone put Ricky Bustle back in the boothe to kick the shit out of corney
Well gentlemen, I think I'm gonna go tie some flies for tomorrow...
Ok, run the ball for 10 and a first down followed by 3 straight passes and a punt!! WTF!!! Corn is still an idiot!!!!!!
Corny. Abandoning the run. Again. Bad decision
UNC's best coach is Cornelson
Just an all around ugly day for him today. And I know we have 37 points. So many ugly decisions with playcalling and personnel. He's in way, way over his head at this level
What's worse is that he doesn't improve from year to year either. Same crap over and over again.
I wish we had some tacklers.
Justin Hamilton has on heck of a rebuilding job to do on his side of the ball. I'm not sure what the path forward for him is if they can't land quality recruits.
My question is how did Bud get this still crew (mostly) to play better than this...
2018 would like a word...
So we want good running backs to come here right? Corn just showed why they don't come.
Why doesn't anyone move on defense when there's an RB in motion to the edge? That's JV level football right there folks.
Next TED Talk
Brad Cornelson: "How to Gameplan Against your Strengths and Ensure Defeat"
If only Hooker had started all game
It would be 49 to 49. I'd take it.
Update: would be 49 to 56. Id still take it.
push off!
BLATANTLY obvious OPI. LOL
Defense has just gotten shredded all day. The few stops they have had have been primarily mistakes by NC. Over 550 yards of offense already
This year. Uh oh. Cause the d is absent.
I think we all expected the d to struggle, but they have been completely non-existent at times today. Really really poor performance all around on that side of the ball.
You can't blame this shit on the offense.
There is NO defense on the field.
When we purposely don't use our best 2 weapons for the first 25%-50% of the game, it's absolutely valid to question that
Question it? Fine.
But if we can't stop their offense, it's going to be tough sledding.
The offense did absolutely nothing for the first 20 minutes of the game, thus giving the potent UNC offense the ball over and over again. They wore us out early and the offense did absolutely nothing to keep them off the field.
The game plan should have been to give Herbert the football regardless of what QB was playing. Once again Corny sabotages the game plan.
BTW, the defense has been horrid today, no doubt about it. Justin Hamilton has some serious work to do.
8 TD's in 11 UNC possessions. None of which were short fields. There is literally nothing you can say to make that on the offense.
I don't see why our offense isn't held to the same expectation that UNC is
They aren't playing against a team down 10 defensive players
You know it is possible that both the defense and corny had shitty days
Offense scored 45, which should have been enough against a team that scored 26 last week vs. BC.
Operation defend Cornelson in full swing?
Jesus...Ashby and Dax look completely lost all damn day.
Not even getting blocked..its hard to comprehend what they think they are seeing.
Dax back in this series...
...and...
Dax and Matheny have been liabilities all day.
Both LBs have been trash. Cannot get off blocks and running themselves out of plays. D-Line just way to small.......I miss TS so much!
I miss our starting safeties so much...
No amount of personnel changes will fix an awful scheme.
You're not wrong. But at the same time, no amount of scheming will fix bad angles and poor tackling.
Does no one want to fill today? Seriously, everyone has been out of position
Jeez it's like we don't even have a d-line at all
Embarrassing
This defense is fucking trash
I know he wasn't supposed to be out there, but Matheny has been garbage today
I've seen more effort on the drillfield
Fuck we miss Diablo. Matheny is a liability
Matheny got fried there. Third string shows. He took a horrible angle and basically jogged
fuck me
Lol our defense is such dogshit
Good God
What did you expect down 10 players?
But I thought this was all Corn's fault?
Not mutually exclusive
If we still had the ball running they wouldn't have scored so quick.
Yeah... so the Matheny fun is all but over with that one.
If you can't recruit and you can't coach, then you can't be successful. Hopefully we'll consider that as we move further along through Fuente's contract.
Should Claeys be DC? Honest question lol
No. Jham has been out with covid, this is his first game calling plays. Down 9 players. Really?
Lol okay !!
Or Smith?
I'm sorry but we need a lot of coaching changes!!!! UNC running the ball at will. Can't blame DB's being out for that. Our front 7 looking like crap today.
8 TD's in 11 UNC possessions. There is no offense VT could reasonably field that could be expected to win like that. I know we're conditioned as Hokies to blame the offense for losses, but this is pathetic.
I mean if UNCs offense can do that, there's no reasons ours can't as well
Those two dudes at the top are a big reason we can't.
Alabama's offense doesn't do that against UT Chattanooga. Stop trying to rationalize this. VT's defense is not even G5 quality today.
If we had given the ball to Herbert instead of those 3 passes for -5 years, then maybe UNC would have been given as many opportunities to run all over us.
Pitiful gap filling and pursuit from Matheny, but he should be out there anyway
man, this defense only wants to sit on their heels
Ball game.
Really wish Hooker and Herbert had been involved for 60 minutes instead of 30
UNC about to shatter Pitt's record of 654 yds from 2018. Currently at 621 and there's no indication we can stop them
Yes. Quite embarrassing on D even if you are missing guys. This is high school stuff
I mean tech is missing their entire secondary. This isn't surprising
D line is there and doing nothing
I think Barno is the only name I've heard called today
Yes issues in the secondary is why their RBs arent even being touched until they get to the 3rd level
Yeah, but 364 rushing yards isn't the secondary fault l.
Well, maybe a little bit on those long plays.
Yes it is. If the unblocked man is a safety they have to make tackles. And they are nowhere to be found.
It amazing how much better Mack Brown has done compared to Fuente in half the amount of time.
A ring and money can do a helluva lot
That's the dagger... *sigh*
I'm pretty much done watching at this point. Hard to figure out where we go from here honestly. This is Fuente's team in year 5 with his recruits as juniors and seniors. Way too much inconsistency and poor playcalling on offense for a group this experienced, and I don't know what we do on D. We are frankly putrid, and our recruiting isn't looking like it can fix it. Kind of feel like a rudderless ship with Fu at this point.
FIRE CORNELSON ALL HES DONE IS LOSE US GAMES HIS WHOLE CAREER. HE COULD'NT COACH A FUCKING HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMAN TEAM COHERENTLY. THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN A MARQUE ROAD WIN BUT NO!!!!! LETS PLAY OUR 3RD BEST QB AND NOT FEED OUR WORK HORSE RB WHOS AVERAGING 200 YARDS A GAME.
I'd say no defense had something to do with it.
Defense in not off the hook but was put in piss poor circumstances while already being suspect and down players
Yeah but you guys will make excuses for the defense too
Exposed
Are you yelling, it's not really clear!
I was whispering loudly
This game is fully on the defense
Techs offense has been FAR FAR FAR from a problem this year.....
Everyone is acting like im bashing the offense..... The offense has been supurb in the second half Im bashing Conrnelson because he handcuffed them for 30 minutes to start the game.
Agree...this was the UVa game all over again.
One quarter of sucess (buoyed by a recovered onside kick, mind you) doesn't make up for the ineptitude, the lack of gameplanning, and just total drive-killing headacrathers.
90% of the time 43 is enough to win
We just don't have the personnel on defense.
This many players missing exposes that we don't have the depth for this.
This has been the oddest game I've tried to not watch!
The absences on defense caught up to us big-time this week, as was seen on that last TD run. Deablo or even Jenkins would have made a play on that.
The offense clearly hasn't given up all day though; that's one positive takeaway. All of y'all blaming an offense that's putting up 40+ points a game must be drinking a little too much today.
No one is "blaming" the offense exclusively. But if you don't understand how the offense didn't contribute to this then maybe you're drinking a little too much today.
Yeah, I mean I agree I understand how the offense has contributed. They haven't been perfect. But all we needed was just a couple more stops or turnovers
I don't care who you are, when you put up 45 points on the road against a top ten team, all while not turning the ball over once, and still lose, the problem is 90% defense and 10% offense.
No drinks for me today.
As much as I'm frustrated with some of the offensive calls by corn this game isn't on the O. It's on the D. They are just getting gashed. UNC isn't even running to chew up clock they are running to score bc we can't stop it. They are dominating us at every level on defense. Our stops have mostly been to luck because they have dropped passes.
I mean wtf though they go to 1st and 25 and score anyways???!
Was ready to blame it on Corny but then luckily he started to lean on Hooker, Herbert and Mitchell who bailed him out.
But yea, can't give up 56 and expect to win.
welp thats probably GG, losing Conner in the first, hurt bad as well as DD and Jenkins, wish Hooker started the whole game. I'm really struggling to find a reason why Fuente didn't play him the whole game
If that's not the leading question in the postgame interview, it should be.
Walk on defensive back playing like a walk on. It's frustrating but we all knew this was the situation.
In all seriousness, JHam may need to go back to the drawing board with this one.
You cannot play a defensive scheme that your players cannot execute.
Our LB are literally moving out of the way of the play, the offense doesn't even have to account for them. We are essentially playing 10 (and sometimes 9) on 11 at times.
It just cant work
Dax needs to convert to an Edge Rusher.
And please stop with the "players missing" crap. Having DD and a Freshman Safety on the field isn't going to change much...maybe reduce the YPC average from 14 to 12. Its an excuse and a weak one at that.
Lol you are delusional if you think being 10 players down is an "excuse"
UNC is missing the same number of defensive starters as us.
Depth is important. How many plays has Matheny been able to take off?
But they probably are not missing the 2nd stringers that we are.
I disagree. Matheny missed at least a half dozen tackles that could have been stops on 3rd down or long TDS. Diablo or Jenkins were solid when they played earlier in the year.
Why are we burning clock?
We're just getting offensive reps at this point.
Tayvion Robinson looking like Isaiah Ford there...
....why are we milking the clock right now....
Have we given up?
As much as I agree that Hooker should've played from the start....this falls on the Defense and Coach Ham. The DL got pushed around, the LB's had no clue, and the DB's are incomplete at best.
The whole game I've been thinking how down and distance has been so much improved. Then I realize it's not ACC network.
I somewhat feel bad for metheny. He clearly can't match up physically with elite D1 athletes and not enough talent around him to mask it. It's like a practice vs the scout team for unc offense.
We may need that scholarship back.
What scholarship? He is a walk on.
The one we probably gave him last week.
Go Texas A&M!
This is Corn's hurry up offense
Where is the urgency? Yes we are down 19, but we just went on a 20-0 run in 6 mins in the 3rd.
Hooker and Mitchell balling out there.
Not only are we going to lose but we're basically about to get shut out of NC and the 757 in recruiting more than we already were
this clock management is pitiful
Time to clean up the garage. Get something
Constructive done before dinner
That looked like interference on that extra point attempt.
No fucking shit
Thought so too. Doesn't matter, they're still down 2 TD's.
Moving forward, the coaches should look at Herbert's stats. Next game, we should give it to him 50 times.
These refs finally doing their jobs.
What the fuck is this clock management
Wait, what? Too many men on the field again? Well, ok then!
Seriously what is up with Tre Turner? He'll have a big play or two each game but is completely invisible the rest of the time
You know, it's possible that the decision to not play Hooker for the entire first half and not feed Herbert in the 1st quarter is every bit as impactful to the end result as our bad defensive play
Yes. Change either and the score would probably be closer.
Yeah they seem to want to get cute early in all 3 games and not feed the beast.
No, it's not. No P5 defense should be giving up TD's on 8 of 11 possessions. Ever. Quit trying to blame this on the offense.
We knew the D was going to be a liability today. I blame this loss solely on the decision to keep Hooker on the bench for the 1st half, and not getting the ball to Herbert
I'm sorry, but we can't give the defense a complete pass on this game. We have 45 points.
The defense has to put in more effort.
I keep seeing you post this, but I have yet to see anyone give the defense a complete pass on this entire thread.
I don't think anyone is excusing the defense. It's been pathetic today.
Just pointing out that we kind of fucked ourselves off the bat offensively with our personnel choices.
This 1000 times This
Nobody said to give them a complete pass. It's the opposite. It's expected that the defense will be bad. And because of that, our coaches shouldn't do dumb shit like handicapping our offense
Not giving the D a pass at all, but if we had continued the 1st half game plan and personnel, we'd probably be down by 40
Got the two points!
This is the strangest damn game I can remember in a long time
Strangest game since our 6OT heart attack against them last season.
Pretty up the score sheet but that's about it
Offense has rang up 45. That should be enough to win against a team that scored all of 26 against BC last week.
That was still a decent onsides attempt.
Fuck unc
We knew it would be a shootout; so why not feed Herbert and put Hooker in as a passing threat from the first drive. Defense is piss poor but we knew that would be the case
All facts
Because....Cornelson.
Guy is 100% utterly unqualified to be an OC at this level.
May be a hell of a nice guy, but the contents of his office should be sitting on a curb when they return to Blacksburg.
I have no idea about him as an OC. But as a play caller he's garbage. No feel for the game. Like it's not even watching the same game.
Fu and Jham need to do something going forward. We literally have no defense right now. The other team runs like they are surprised that no one is trying to tackle them.
Yeah it's not just a bad day for the D, they don't even look like a competent unit whatsoever. This is really bad. You won't win many games giving up 56. I know the staff is new and we are working in a new scheme with some players out, but this level of incompetence is completely inexcusable.
We literally don't have the players to run the scheme. We don't have the big, disruptive DL personnel, and our linebackers have been atrocious. Dax in particular looks clueless. He cannot continue as a linebacker in this system. Completely ineffective.
LOL at everyone arguing about whether the offense or defense cost this game. UNC has scored a TD on every possession except the two or three where they had unforced drops on 3rd down... All while gaining 11 yards per play... How is this even an argument?
Because we should have been going blow for blow with them since the game started. Acting like our offense hasn't kept up with them since we made the change
Personally I feel like the coaches have control over the offense. The defense is hopeless. Might as well optimize the offense and just try to score one more point than them. I'd take 100-99 if need be.
I am blaming the defense; but it could have been a winnable game by matching with our offensive possessions instead of wasting three possessions doing screen passes and slants and qb runs into a loaded box.
I mean look at UNC they solely won with offense. Their defense was nothing to call home about. If we went offense for offense with Hooker from the get go, this probably wouldve ended up a bit different. Not saying we would win - but Corny never can go for the jugular from the start - its always about trying to establish rhythm or establish the jet sweeps.....Have to know what you are up against
We purposely didn't play our best QB for the entire first half in a game where he led us to 31 second half points.
We purposely didn't hand the ball to the leading rushers in the country for the entire first quarter in a game where he still put up big numbers.
Amen
All of that is obvious, but I'm not sure we could have scored TDs at the rate UNC has. They are barely breaking a sweat on offense. Very simple rush plays and screens are going for 10+ every time. We had to steal a possession with a cheeky onside kick and get lucky with a tipped ball to Mitchell to even sniff a comeback.
Hard to say that when we purposely didn't even try in a game where we knew for a fact that we needed to
Even on drives the offense sputtered with hooker it's because we gave it to Herbert who got 11, then proceeded to throw three passes
And if our shitty playcalling had done ANYTHING in the first quarter or D would be rested and adjusted.
D was definitely the bigger blame, but we knew they were short handed and we going to holding it together with bailing wire and duct tape. Needed O to step up and keep it close.
For the record - we scored 45 points on a good team. And put up 264 rushing yards (when I checked last) on the number 1 rush defense in the country. I'm curious as to what your expectations for an offense are and whether any of the past few national champions would have met them (exaggerating a little, but when you're complaining about an offense that put up 45 points with the amount of yards they got?). This one rests pretty squarely on the defense in my book, and I'm not going to crucify them. Given who was out this game and that most of our secondary hasn't been able to practice or work out for 2 weeks, they were bound to put up a lot of points.
Three possessions without TD's...ppl are comfortable blaming Cornelson, but the new DC is at fault for this game.
It was set to be a shootout.... UNC has a great offense... Covid took down some of our D players... Listen to Fuente's post game presser and you will realize that your statement isn't as obvious as you think
Covid sucks.
Yes 💯. Yet, it seems to suck worse for VT than most other teams. That is the mystery to me.
Is Dax hurt or something? He runs away from the hole like he doesn't want to hit.
I just think it's a regression and he's not playing a role that's natural for him
Maybe he has COVID? Cause he spent most of the day 6' away from anyone with a blue uniform.
Its the Orange pants..... burn them and banish them
Can we please at least have a drive where we keep them from scoring.
And let's not forget we expected the D to struggle this year as we transitioned from Bud. Not having a full compliment of players is only exacerbating that.
"Expected to struggle" does not mean "give up record yardage and points." UNC is on pace for both.
We might want to learn how to play defense this week.
With much of our defensive backs not playing it's hard to play with 2nd mostly 3rd string guys not ready to be stars. I think we did well for what they had.
I agree with everything but the last sentence. It was rough today. I am crossing my fingers and hoping for the best next week.
load the box and can't get a stop
I don't think they've really even thrown in the second half. Just ran the ball and we couldn't stop it.
why take a timeout?
They has two receivers in the top of the screen and we had one defensive back over there. Our defense is poorly coached
Lol we just burned our last TO on a stopped clock
Wow
Game over now
They've run for over 400 yards I mean my god
Run fits with misplaced safeties, they'll really get after ya
Herbert ran for 138 plus 40+ on returns. It doesn't cancel out the the deficit on the defensive side but at least it is something
Could be worse. LSU is 1-2 and Oklahoma also sucks. We are 2-1 which I think is a mini miracle given all of the attrition and Covid shuffling. We are going to lose to a good team. Regroup for next week.
Let's take care of business the next few weeks and get healthy for the final stretch
With 3 minute to go, and the ball on our 20 yd line, this is the where Mack Brown proves his character . Does he score or just run out the clock with a sure victory?
This will prove his character and should be
Why is Hollifield being an asshole?
He's been used and abused today. Probably incredibly frustrated.
That's no excuse for that bullshit.
Can't wait to see the film review by French. The whole defense stank, but the second level was the most out of position I've ever seen over the course of an entire game.
He had to get aggressive at some point today... of shitty for it to start with 2 seconds left in the fuckin game...
Everyone have a great week! With Hooker starting next week, I have some hope.
Dax acting like a duech
Dax! That a dumb shit play. Should bench his ass next week for that.
Just perfect example of how poorly he's played today.
That shot on Howell was probably the closest Dax had gotten to the ball all game.
This is not cool.
Carolina taking a knee instead of running up the score, and Hollifield acting like an asshole.
#HardSmartTough
What a fucking joke
Sheesh. We got whipped boys. Just go to the sideline.
I think the decision to promote JHam is in question. Need to figure some things out soon.
WE. WERE. MISSING. TEN. PLAYERS.
We've been missing players all season so far. Today wasn't just bad, it was a complete collapse. The coaching and decision to run the scheme we are with the lack of personnel to execute it is definitely in question.
While this performance has been putrid, you have to give him some time.
Guy inherited a DL that has extremely little depth and frankly very little top-end talent.
A secondary that, even before Covid also had no depth. After Waller and Strong, the coverage ability falls directly off a cliff.
And French nailed it on the LB....we have 3 Mikes...all of whom have significant shortcomings.
Its a mess..even when we were Recruiting "well" in 17-19, we weren't creating a good foundation for the defense whatsoever.
A- we're missing 10 players.
B- shootouts are becoming common in college football, and we probably have the talent on offense on the field to run with these guys. But the talent in the booth is SEVERELY lacking..
C- Nobody thought to give our beat Quarterback his job back, or our best weapon the fucking ball, until they had a head start.
D- if you dont expect a first year coordinator to struggle a bit, whether he was an "understudy" or "mentee" or not , you're crazy.
Got a lot of mixed feelings about this game, but this team didn't quit. There is a lot to love about this team.
Hah! now the defense wants to play with attitude
I'm not super pissed about this because of the Covid issues, but Hooker should've played the whole game and it could've been more competitive
GTFO with this Dax. You got pushed around and bullied all game. You lost the right to run your mouth when you played the way you did.
As if our defense couldn't embarrass us enough they have to act like jerks when UNC kneels.
We were down 21 twice and came back 45 point will usually beat most teams. This team never quit there are some major victories within this bitter defeat.
I think I'm done with football this weekend.
Mack Brown showing a lot of class to end the game!!!! JF did same to prevent any issues.
Hollifield to bed with no supper.
Our linebackers are some kind of bad and then to cap it off running their mouths after giving up 700 yards? Really sad to see
Our entire d is poor at this point. All of it.
Proud of the boys. Really am.
Good
1. Didn't quit
2. Hooker will start ( I hope)
3. Herbert and Brock are the core of the o. Hopefully corny will get the memo
Bad
1. We don't have a viable defense. Teams will run (and pass at will)
2. Corny hasn't gotten the memo.
there's no reasonable way BB starts again this season barring injury, I'd almost go as far as saying QP should be #2
Hope you're right
Like that they kept playing hard, tough to win when you spot the opponent 21. Defense needs to get the safeties and cbs back. Tackling and getting off blocks was a poor as I've ever seen for VT
It's not JHams fault that guys who have no business being on the field are missing open field tackles. Probably hard to call an aggressive defense with new faces who haven't practiced. Long term, we need an answer against the run from our front 7. Dax needs to keep the bench warm. Hooker should have started and Herbert should not have less than 20 touches. We still lose this game though. On to the next one.
Ashby Dax and Tisdale all missed a ton though. It wasn't just the backups being taken advantage of by any stretch
Also, disappointed that Longo finally figured out he can hand the ball off to the RBs
Hollifield shouldn't see the sideline next week. Such a dick move
Disagree, he was trying to get the ball back to the offense and barely laid a hand on him when he saw that he kneeled
Trying to get the ball back. With 4 seconds left. Down by 11. No chance to win. Lol ok
I mean it's dumb but thats what he was doing
I think Mack Browns discovered a new blocking technique where you just wrap your arms around the oncoming defender, could be revolutionary.
But in all serious they won that game because of a lot of extra effort in blocking by the receivers and backs. A lot of it was holding, but doesn't negate that it was extra effort getting the best of our guys. This defense has a lot to work on.
I will say this and maybe it's unpopular, but I don't think a Wiles D line gets pushed around like that today.
I watched a Wiles D Line get used and abused for most of the 2018 season. It was borderline unwatchable.
It didn't look pretty. Hell we didn't even play well, especially on defense. But our team has heart and fights. Against UNC it wasn't enough. They are legit and will be a problem for a few years.
Proud of this team for fighting back though. Came out of a couple of huge holes that would have been too much for other teams to crawl out of. But we did. The ABC crew said it for us, this game showed us more about VT and our toughness than it did UNC.
Offense kept fighting and has some weapons.
Not sure I can say the same for the defense. That was atrocious.
Performance today:
Light has to come on for the defense, but we are not a bad team. Will be rooting for UNC and Clemson against the Irish, if they get wins we still control our own destiny
I've never seen a defense this bad. No answers to anything UNC was doing. I know there are some practice problems with COVID, and major problems at safety, but my antenna is up for concerns on the defensive coaching staff.
Hopefully it gets better with Deablo and Jenkins back but definitely not ideal for a D with 9 starters back (J Reed replacing Garbutt kinda counts) 8 playing today. Especially with a coordinator with one year P5 experience.
Alright everyone have a good one Im going to go bury myself into my Nintendo Switch with some Luigi's Mansion 3 and Legend Of Zelda Links Awakening.
I'm so obsessed with my switch my biceps are sore from playing. Just got it 3 weeks ago
If you enjoyed Luigis Mansion on GameCube back in the day I can highky enough recomend Luigis Mansion 3
Next purchase 100%
If UNC's offense had gone home the Tech D would have still given up 2 touchdowns.
First, I love all of you and the passion that y'all bring to VT Football. Besides the losing part, I enjoyed this game immensely. I was angry and was disappointed but then I realized that I was not surprised with everything that our team has had to go through. The team never quit. Yes, the defense sucked. But, we showed fight and resilience and when we are at full strength we are going to be a team to be reckoned with.
You summed up my thoughts pretty well. Go hokies
Great offensive showing, sorry the D was so depleted. If we were in full strength it would have been different, but it was not the case.
Honestly, this season means nothing since the ACC has no divisions and top 2 play for the Ship.
Beat UVA, that is all.
Hooker is our QB. Abundantly clear.
On to BC
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