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The lesson here, evidently, is that the player is much more valuable than the coach
I guess that harkens back to the ol' saying - It's not the Xs and Os, it's the Jimmys and Joes
The truth is you need talent to win. Simply having talent isn't enough for championships, though. The championship teams have talent AND good coaching. Talent is going to trump poor coaching most days. A really good coach might be able to out-coach a more talented team once in a while but more often than not, the talent is going to win out. It's always been that way and always will be that way.
Good coaching raises your floor. Good talent raises your ceiling. If you want to win more, get more talent. Simple as that.
Pros:
1. The Defense played with an edge, energy, and almost did enough to win the game.
2. WRs can make plays
3. RB has some depth - TBD on Stewart.
4. John Love is money - may help win some close games.
5. DL / front seven looks good and has some depth.
Cons:
1. Drone is not it. They clearly sank a bunch of NIL money into him, so sadly we are going to have to see it all year. No passion, no leadership, inaccurate, doesn't use his physical tools when he runs, bad instincts / vision. I'd be fine if he threw go-routes and ran QB draws all year - may be the best way to win.
2. OL pass protection. On some of those pressures, Drones bailed immediately and he refused to step up in the pocket all game. TBD. Run blocking decent.
3. Critical lapses at key spots by WRs/drops, Drones, Special Teams, penalties, etc.
4. No urgency late in the game. Walking around on offense down two scores with a chance to stay in the game.
5. Coaching (other than defense) still looks average at best.
Looking ahead - if they can get to NC State being 3-1 they'll have another chance to reset expectations with a manageable October schedule before a tough November.
I hate that we're at the point as a program that being favored at home against Vanderbilt is newsworthy.
welp. looks like we're probably stuck with him a few more years then. it's a shame, really. I wish he had worked out
Don't know if this belongs her or elsewhere , but holy cow- most amazing stadium experience as far as logistics and game day experiencer.
We were waiting to meet someone outside the stadium so didn't go in til about 230(30 minutes til kickoff). Walked straight in through security-not even one minute to scan four tickets from phone.
Concessions inexpensive (e.g. $2 hot dogs)- even alcohol wasn't bad(shout out to strawberry frozen margaritas at $14 a piece and nicely strong. Lines not substantially long at all. In and out of bathrooms in 5 minutes or less. No problem navigating concourse crowds.
Flawless wifi and cell coverage.
Beautiful views- we were third deck front row 20 yd line on VT side.
We had friends with us that will also be with us at home games with season tickets- kept saying "don't get used to the experience of wifi/cel service/ and entering the stadium lol"
On paper - Drones should be better than someone like Jerod Evans but he isn't. He is faster, similar size, stronger arm, etc. - but Jerod Evans was a legit fired-up competitor. Drones' issue is not his ability - he just looks like he doesn't care whether he wins or loses.
A 230+ pound quarterback going down two yards before the first down every time they run or being hesitant to take off is not them protecting themselves. It's just a lack of "it" factor. If he ran like Jerod Evans or Logan Thomas or wanted to win as bad as Tyrod - his game would completely change. That is coaching.
A private 500 acre tract of land half an hour west of Romney. I'm lucky enough to be very close to a generous family that encourages us to play on it whenever we want.
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Bill's facial expression throughout the first half reminded me of Mac Brown fumbling with his headset vs VT during enter sandman. Each time they showed him on TV I would chuckle at the memory of Ole Man Mack's disheveled look on his face. And, the results were roughly the same for UNC. A trend is emerging.
Plus, that may have been the all time best Enter Sandman fan performance too!
https://sonsofsaturday.com/vt/articles/virginia-tech-north-carolina-postgame
Surprised they are that high! Good news for the Hokies.
And the player matters plenty... TCU pays more for better players than UNC, and the best coach of all time was helpless.
SP+ also has our strength of schedule remaining as the 9th hardest moving forward, probably due to three straight games against Louisville, Florida State, and Miami.
I think the guy has a bit to do with it. Is it mostly money? Yeah probably, just like everything else now.
WOOOOO heh heh heh heh get your shit rocked, Belicheat!
I think we got out talented today. You saw it on those missed tackles in the backfield. Players got there. Just didn't make the tackle.
Agree but also note that Sellers did that all last year against SEC talent. He is just so difficult to get down.
SP+ had S. Car. at 17 preseason, now up to 12. FWIW.
Agree there. Caveat that the S. Carolina's weakest part of their game in 2024 was allowing sacks, but the D-line did well to get to the QB, prevent QB from escaping the pocket, get into passing lanes, and disrupt the run game.
I also thought the coordination was better. The O-line was not great but definitely a step up from incompetent.
QB play has to improve though. If it doesn't, the rest may not matter in terms of generating more wins. Drones needs to get comfortable in the offense and improve accuracy.
This is an interesting point. But I have some different conclusions.
The "improved" passing stats is likely more of a reflection of the Montgomery's scheme than bona fide improvements from Drones. That's not to say Drones will not be improved over last year, but Montgomery's passing scheme is really only a few components: (1) forcing the ball downfield when there is one-on-one matchup; (2) pass to an underneath receiver open that is schemed open; and (3) intermediate stops, outs and slants Drones did very well with forcing the ball downfield and letting his receiver make a play. He was just really inaccurate to many times with the rest of the passes. The really difficult part is that the short throws are like layups that simply require touch and placement but Drones threw the ball too hard, angled downward, and either behind the receiver or too low.
His receivers both helped him and hurt him. They did well in one-on-one matchups downfield but dropped to many short routes that were not thrown well but catchable. While the goal of the underneath routes are to catch and run, the primary job of a receiver is to catch the ball and the receivers didn't adjust well enough to make those catches (probably focusing on the YAC).
Drones's game on Sunday was definitely a bad game for Drones, but I am both discouraged and encouraged by Drones's performance. I'm discouraged by the inaccuracy and the 43% completion rate. I'm encouraged by his deep ball that put his receivers in position to make a play, something we have not seen in his game. If he can improve on the underneath routes, which are easy passes to make, the passing game will be better than the last two years.
And using Bars #'s above; if the crowd was 55k and 60-40 in favor of Gamecocks, that comes out to 22,000 or so Hokie fans which is about on par with many of our past "travel crowds"(can't necessarily compare us playing South Carolina vs us playing Bama- Bama is almost always gonna be a more fun opponent to watch and therefore folks more willing to make the 8 hour trip(not to mention we were a better team back then too)....
In our defense, the safety we got was also a Beamer-ball example. Too many forget Beamer-Ball's focus was on getting points from all three units-offense, special teams, AND defense. Specifically-for special teams-don't JUST block kicks, but recover them for safety or TD and for returns teams, returns for TDs. For the defense, don't just intercept the ball , run it back for a pick 6; don't just cause a fumble AND recover it- make it a scoop and score! Too often we miss the SCORING part and with the offensive struggles, it costs us games to not FULLY capitalize when a turnover play happens../.
Opening game at Lane Stadium is worth AT LEAST 2.5 points.
Perhaps we need to admit that this WAS a strong turnout given performance the last few years.
What, are you not going to thank the fans who showed up?
Call it coach speak, but it's the right thing to say.
Brewer knew how to throw the ball with touch, he just didn't have the strength to throw deep iirc. He was smart, mobile and made the most of his skills and high football IQ. I could easily see Brewer getting us 8-9 wins with this team having a decent O-line, talented (but young) receivers and solid coaching to go with a defense that I believe will finish the season in the top half of the conference, maybe even top third.
I really caution against the over-reaction so many people have to things, but actually do feel this is the - as in "THE" - most important gave for VT in many years. Said at the start of the year, I'd be very happy with 1-1, then winning the 2 easy games. 3-1 going into ACC play gives us a decent chance to have a decent year. Lose and be 0-2, and I think Pry is done. Could the team still bounce back from 0-2? Yes. But not likely. This and NC State are the ultimate pivot games. Tough but winnable. Win them both, 4-1 and we have some real promise. Lose them both and be 2-3 and that is it for the year and for Pry.
Watched the taped game and the defense looked good most of the time. The offense was not painful to watch (which they often were the past few years). Saw improved OL play, which to me is the key for the team, with some decent runs but could not sustain it. Some decent, albeit inconsistent, passing. Against teams that have similar or less talent, the same offense should score more and have a chance. They need to pull it together and find ways to win these games. Vanderbilt and @NC State will be the true tests. USCe is a better talented team. We lost as we should. We need to win when we should.