Recent Comments
Yeah, the Beard seems to have caught all the crumbs. Nine turnovers in two games? The momentum shift after our first turnover last night was monumental. It was iconic. Seldom have I seen momentum shift so completely and so quickly as what we witnessed last night. I'm a little shell shocked this morning. Not mad, not feeling like the season's shot or anything, just shell shocked. We can play with Tennessee when we're in synch, but they took advantage of every shot we put in our collective feet last night, and it is tough to beat a quality opponent when you are so busy beating yourself. So what do we do? We shake it off, beat BC, and remember that in 1995, we lost our first two games miserably on the way to beating Texas in the Sugar Bowl and ending up being ranked #10. Things could be worse.
Guess i missed this but where was Gallo?
I know it's extra work to get these stats but can we think about these rate statistics in per-play terms? Especially on offense (like the fumble issue).
I think we outplayed them for most of the game, ridiculous to say losing by three scores but penalties were just as bad as the fumbles.
National Team Averages:
2015: 18.7 Fumbles, 8.7 Lost (46.8%)
2014: 18.8 Fumbles, 9.5 Lost (50.1%)
2013: 18.3 Fumbles, 9.3 Lost (51.2%)
2012: 20.1 Fumbles, 10.6 Lost (52.3%)
In 2012 Memphis was indeed last in the country in the number of fumbles. 1st season under a new scheme, same situation as us this year (albeit with much less talent). 22 fumbles is within one standard deviation of the mean in 2013-2015.
In 2012 VT had 29 fumbles, only lost 9 (31%). 2013, 14 fumbles (4 lost, 28%). 2014, 21 fumbles (11 lost, 52%). 2015, 16 fumbles (7 lost, 44%). So VT has been slightly better at avoiding fumbling, and pretty "lucky" with fumbling but not losing possession.
Also under Fuente Memphis seems to lose a high-ish percentage of fumbles. Though, that might be due to play design with guys in space without any teammates nearby to help recover fumbles. Although, I looked at Baylor for comparison and they seem to recover fumbles better than average, so who knows.
One thing is for sure...no team in recent history has lost 90% of their fumbles in an entire season, so that's encouraging.
Thanks BDC! Yes, yes and double 'yes' to EVERYTHING you just posted. I don't know exactly what it will or does take to fix the fucking fumble shit (I dunno, maybe hiring outside NFL consultants or something) but whatever the you gotta do, get it done to fix and ERASE it.
In terms of the mentality and abandonment of the passing game through the 4th, wholeheartedly agree. I wonder should an NFL or professional sports psychologist AND psychiatrist (best $$$ can buy) should be hired to help these guys. Again, whatever it takes. Because in terms of those issues, whatever is being done right now isn't working.
Thanks BDC.
Yep that was the problem with the penalty, field position. If we get that first down, we probably dont run the same play and there is no fumble and I really believe we win the game.
As soon as that happened and we give it to them on the 5 I knew we were in trouble. It was just like the feeling of the BS offensive pass interference on Josh Hyman vs USC. "well we have played good but its over now"
Tennessee had done nothing, We should have been up three scores at that point, thanks to a missed field goal, and we handed them the game right there. I really need to stop watching, I dont think anybody else loses in the fashion and manners that we do. Its maddening and depressing. And think we play WVU to start next year, how many ways will we find to piss that one away?
St Augustine is a great place to live
Slept on it and I just wanted to say: watching French's reviews of Fuente's offense really made me feel like I understood the philosophy last night on most plays. I really, really want to see more of this offense over the next three months and beyond.
Disappointed but somewhat encouraged. You can see where we will be when the little things get cleaned up. This will be a very good football team in no time, possibly by the end of the season.
But we lost this game very of a comedy of errors that should never happen at this level. We looked like a high school jv squad with those penalties and turnovers.
There is a lot to like with this squad. They will wreck shit in the ACC Coastal once the issues are resolved.
Doesn't he realize that all he has to do is stock Zima instead of Gatorade on the sidelines, and the players will be just fine?
More lost fumbles than fans at the UVa Spring Festival? Too soon?
Congrats to your team and thumbs up for being a good sportsman.
IMO, play calling for the most part was excellent and the game plan overall was outstanding.
5.5 yards per play v. Tennessee is excellent (ASU got 4.4)
VT had three 3-and-outs...6 of those 9 plays were pass attempts.
-4 in turnovers was the difference in the game, +40 in penalties didn't help.
Also can the coaches please run the fumble drill in practice. It would be nice to recover some of these fumbles.
Same here. It's not like OSU last year when they were clearly the better team.
I can't recall a game where the other team was given field position like that all game.
Hey you guys! I think I know what the "F" in FAINT can stand for now!
Wasn't trying to imply that it was stroman's fault. Just that special teams needs to be better. That specific play there needs to be better communication.
I'm not one to complain about refs but it did seem that way.
Also an obvious block in the back when we returned a punt.
Beard:
Great post! You said many of the same things that I found myself dealing with both last night & this AM. I hate watching our guys implode on national TV, but I have to believe the kids are more embarrassed than I feel right now. The measure of these kids will be how they respond going forward. There is plenty to learn from here, both good and bad.
It's only week 2 of the CJF era. There was some very encouraging stuff happening on both sides of the ball last night. The bizarre part is you picked the EXACT word that came to my mind: immature. Our lack of composure at critical moments put us in positions that even the best teams would have a tough time recovering from. This is where we as fans have to trust in our coaches that they will use these examples as teachable moments, and to help our young men grow while being held accountable.
On the plus side, we are still undefeated in the ACC. We play back at Lane next week. I don't know an injury report yet, but I think we got through last night pretty healthy. We have another week to clean up mistakes. We moved the ball and outgained our opponent on offense. Duke lost to Wake and LOLUVA got hammered. This will get better. And we can say we saw it happen from the start. But, it will be a tad ugly before it gets better.
Thanks for your reminder about keeping it all in perspective. Let's learn from this but not dwell on it. Time to get ready for BC.
Let's go..... Hokies!!!
For a good part of the night it seemed like every damn time we had a first down play there was laundry on the field.
I was hoping for neutral ref's, but after they ignored targeting on our QB I knew it would be bad.
The problem with the snaps.. Chung at center instead of Gallo
As I mentioned elsewhere, if Teller didn't have that first penalty, we would have had a first down (or at least close to it) at the 41, as opposed to the 16. Even if we still fumble on the next snap, it wouldn't have gotten all the way to the 5.
The bigger issue is that both of Teller's penalties occurred on plays where we earned a first down.
I agree 100 percent. This is why I keep repeating that Tennessee didn't beat us, turnovers did. Because we were steamrolling through that defense for much of the game, and when our defense wasn't totally worn out from being sent out one or two plays after they left the field, they were absolutely owning the LOS. Ekanem, Mook, Motu, all those guys played lights out.