Illinois Hokie's Recent Comments
I disagree with your disagreement. Unless Fuente has tweaked his scheme since coming to the ACC, I can't agree with your assessment that this scheme calls on the QB to be the running game. Lynch got a lot of carries at Memphis, but mostly because the zone read is a bread and butter play in this scheme, and we need a QB who can be effective on the keep. But the way Fuente used Brandon Hayes at Memphis in 2014 and the way he's using Peoples this season tells me there's plenty of room for a halfback to carry the running game in this scheme.
You're right in saying Jerrod was our running game in 2016, but that's because his game lent itself to being that for us. Jerrod was a strong, confident runner who had a great first step when he decided to tuck and run. He loved running, and Fuente structured the offense around Jerrod's game. Travon contributed in 2016, but either he wasn't quite ready to the the guy, or our O line just wasn't rebuilt to the point of supporting a more traditional running game yet.
r/cfbstreams
Why would anyone ever get an ice cream float from a place that has the milkshakes that Cook-Out has?
This whole being excited about hoops season thing is neat.
Damn, son. Joe needs to put you on payroll.
Houston, we have a problem.
I continue to believe in the offensive scheme we're running under Fuente. I'm nowhere near the point I was at when I agreed to take the reins on the FBS blog.
My central criticism of Stiney's offense was that he tried to be everything, and consequently was able to accomplish nothing. We did the worst thing you can do when designing an offense: we had a dozen different formations and ran one or two plays out of each of them. The play (and how to defend it) was telegraphed by the formation. We don't have that problem under Fuente. The offense holds its cards close to the best and can run pretty much any of its plays from any formation. And even then, the different formations we use are so similar, it's hard for defenses to key on anything from a given alignment.
The play calling just hasn't seemed problematic to me. People bitched about the play calling against GT. What I saw was the same play calling that had us exploding out of the gate for three straight TD drives suddenly drying up because of pass drops and offensive penalties. Against BC, I saw Corn adjust to go with the run after BC dropped into 2 deep safeties. That's the right call, but we couldn't run up the middle. That's an execution problem, which is exactly what Fuente said.
As Hokie fans, we tend to believe in Bud Foster even when we have bad years on defense. And the reason why (even if some people wouldn't be able to articulate it) is because we believe in his scheme. We know his scheme works, so when we have bad seasons, we accept it's because we were missing some critical component to make his scheme work. Maybe it's an undersized DL, maybe it was a mike who struggled, maybe it was being thin in the backfield. Whatever it was, we accepted that some component was missing. We knew we'd get better if we shored up whatever the weakness was. Given what we've seen of the offense under Fuente, I believe the same thing.
I think to be successful, Fuente's scheme needs three things:
- A deep talented and deep receiver corps
- A reliable run game
- The right QB to run it
In 2016 we had two of the three things, and we saw the best offense in Blacksburg since Tyrod. I'm fact, we saw a better overall offense than we had with Tyrod, because our offense wasn't just a blue chip QB making shit up on the fly.
In 2017, we had half of one of the things we needed. The receiving corps took a huge hit losing Ford and Bucky, but Cam Phillips went straight HAM and some of the young receivers started coming into their own. But Jerrod Evans' decision to go one and done was catastrophic, both for himself and the program. The offense suffered.
This year we have one and a half of the things we need. We are loaded at receiver, and Steven Peoples is playing out of his mind. Our run game isn't quite reliable, as Peoples has certain limitations and McClease is hit or miss this season.
What we've missed the last two seasons is a QB to run this system. Both JJ and Willis are competent, skilled QBs, but neither are the right QB for Fuente to have taking snaps. JJ, for better or worse, was Lefty's guy. He's better suited to a system like that. Willis, for as much as he's come along, is a walk on transfer from Kansas. He's here because Fuente needed depth.
While it was only one series, seeing Quincy Patterson against BC gives me hope for the future. Running only the wildcat package, QB efficiently moved the ball down the field against a very good defense, even when it was obvious what we were going to do. Beyond just his efficiency, he had the look of a field general. This looked like his offense. In other words, QP looks like he's ready to lead. He just isn't ready to run the playbook.
Am I foolishly optimistic? Maybe. But what Fuente said after the game rings true: this is the same offensive staff that gave us immediate offensive success, when it had two of the three things it needs to run this scheme. Nobody was complaining about play calling in 2016. And this really can't be overstated: Jerrod Evans was supposed to be a two year fix for this offense. We should be seeing JJ for the first time this season, as a r-So, leading into an epic off-season competition with a r-Fr QP. Everything got thrown off script when Jerrod thought for some reason he could go pro after one season. But one bad season hasn't made me forget what this offense can look like when it has enough parts to work. I want to see what we look like with QP before I even think about the possibility of maybe considering calling for change.
When Cornelson gets that sit down, how exactly do you want him to account for Tre Turner dropping two drive-killing passes and Eric Kumah having on offensive pass interference called against him versus Georgia Tech? Or for a pass boinking off Hazelton's hands into the hands of a BC defender? Or Harris leaving the pocket much earlier after nearly getting broken in half on a delayed blitz?
I really thought I had a legitimate criticism about Corn's playcalling in the second half when he kept trying to go back to the run, until someone pointed out BC dropped their second safety out of the box and went two deep because Willis was picking them apart. In that case, running the ball is the right play call, even if it wasn't successful on the field. Corn saw the situation and made the proper adjustment. Halfback runs between the tackles didn't work, but that toss sweep to Peoples was gorgeous, and QP's series exploited BC's front seven.
I have yet to hear anything articulate, nuanced argument against Corn's playcalling. It's all a bunch of generalities and frustration about the stalls we're seeing on the field. But assuming offensive struggles = bad playcalling is more often than not just a layman's perspective. I have yet to experience a game this season where I felt the playcalling was either overly predictable or inconsistent with the situation. Again, I thought I was able to say that for the first time last night, but only because I failed to notice BC switched to two deep safeties.
If anyone wants to have an actual dialogue about what Corn is calling that they take exception to, I'm game.
But Addazio's fifth.
It's also wild speculation and rumor. It really doesn't have any place on this forum.
I'm going to issue a challenge to anyone who has cancelled their TKPC membership this season for any reason other than your can't afford it:
Donate the $84 to the Hokie Club instead.
No matter what you think the solution to our problem is, it requires an increase in athletic department giving.
Think we need to recruit better? Then we need to increase our recruiting budget and staff.
Think we need better position coaches and coordinators? Then we need to get more competitive with the elite programs on what we pay those coaches.
Think Fuente was a bad hire? There's no way we can pay his buyout and afford to get an elite coach at the same time.
VT football will not be elite until the athletics department fundraises at an elite level.
This. This is it. This is all that needs to be said.
People are angry. That's what it all boils down to. And like you said, they aren't interested in actually analyzing what isn't working and why.
The problem I have is, TKP is my forum of choice for analyzing VT football, including what isn't working and why. And I feel like that conversation hasn't been had here since we lost to ODU. It's all just a bunch of rabble rousing and vent threads.
I'm growing far more frustrated with this place than I am with the state of VT football.
I think that statistical regression when you enter conference play is the norm. Playoff caliber teams can maintain, maybe, but I think the vast majority of programs cool off down the stretch.
I did not see any noticable tweaks to BC's zone coverage in the second half. But I did see our offense tank after Willis was nearly broken in half at the ribs. Willis started failing to find open receivers because he was a lot quicker to leave the pocket after taking that shot.
The reality is, we are not a program that can be paying two coaches at the same time, one of them not to coach. The first thing anyone serious about wanting Fuente replaced should do is join the Hokie Club.
Woah. Hold up.
I get being mad as hell at this loss, at the stalled offense, at the worst defense we've seen in Blacksburg since before beating Texas in the Sugar Bowl. I get it. That's all justified.
But if you are honestly trying to say Vice hasn't vastly improved the O Line, or that Peoples isn't having a monster senior season after looking very mundane as a RB for two years, or that we've developed our young receivers so well that we barely even notice the loss of Cam Phillips this season, or that Ryan Willis hasn't developed like a fiend since coming in against ODU, then you're either blind or willfully ignorant.
Be as mad as you want about the year we're having, but don't just make shit up.
Devil's advocate: we don't know if declining the holding penalty was Fuente or Bud.
Before Willis "had the wind knocked out of him," he had thrown for 220+ yards and was 🔥. His next three drives were 3 and out, and he threw for about 60 more yards the entire game. From what I saw, BC was playing the same zone coverage in the second half.
If he wasn't playing hurt, that hit scared the shit out of him for the rest of the game.
We all knew we were only gonna give up 7 in the first half, right?
Glad to see Travon having a great senior season.
(By the by, Peoples is averaging more yards per carry than Travon this season and has the same number of rushing TDs.)
If there's one thing I trust Bud to do, it's figure out a way to get pressure though an array of blitzes. I'd expect him to get pressure with a defense of ten geriatrics and a cardboard cutout of David Hasselhoff.
Hyperbole much?
We've had at least one sack in every game this season (even against Georgia Tech, who did not throw a pass), and are averaging 2.6 sacks per game. This year's defense is the worst we've seen in Blacksburg in years, but one thing they haven't struggled to do is pressure opposing QBs.
Oh man we are gonna blitz the shit out of Perkins.
If you're worried about malware, just use your phone and stream it to your TV via Chromecast.