Recent Comments
They don't have to score like Baylor or TCU when their offensive scheme is a bad matchup for our defense and our offense is inept. The point in my comment was that they are going to score on us, no doubt. Whether we can score slightly more than them is going to decide the game. This won't be your typical slugfest where Foster controls the whole game, VT somehow scores 3 TDs and gifts Pitt a garbage field goal so they feel good about themselves.
Brewer's footwork on rollouts and bootlegs is noticeably better this year. It was a liability at times last year.
Still not convinced that Newsome has the hands to be a reliable #3 option- he's the quintessential "body catcher". It's easy enough to fix, but I haven't seen any evidence that he has done so. I think we'll see mixing and matching of Asante, Knowles, Carroll, and Newsome when it's absolutely necessary to have another guy in there.
Chung hasn't been healthy enough to get him a bunch of reps with the 1's, plus Gallo hasn't started at all himself. I still think this is an exercise in building depth, especially from the most recent interview with Searles.
Not to be that guy but....
I'm not convinced that Searels doesn't know who his five best players are right now
Is not a double negative a positive?
I think we all know what you meant Mason, and really appreciate your reporting. Thanks for being the eyes and ears for those of us who can't even sniff the Appalachian air anymore. Go Hokies!
Yep, it's a chicken or the egg thing with Buckeye fans right now.
JT guys say Cardale was lucky that Zeke finally clicked and went off.
Cardale guys are saying that teams fear of his arm backed the defense off and allowed Elliott to go nuts.
Really interesting offseason.
Talk about a downer. Man I clicked this thread all hyped up from everything I've read in camp and the spring to read 9-3 and 8-4 predictions???!?!?!?? Really Mason?? We went 8-4 two years ago and we were all pissed.
Honestly if we don't get to 10 wins in the regular season I think it will be a disappointment. We can beat everyone on that schedule. We may drop the OSU game. And I'd be ok with that, as long as we don't embarrass ourselves in it. Every other game we should win. We will probably drop one more just because that's how it goes sometimes. I say it's either Pitt, GT or NC State that does it. So I'm going 10-2 and heading to the ACCCG. Have the ability to end the season at 12-2 and ranked in the top 10.
I'm no expert, but I don't see anything wrong with what Searels is doing with the OL, In fact I think it's a good sign. I think it's a sign that he's moved past getting the starting 5 used to playing together and is now in building the plug n' play mode. It's been so long since we've seen it that we don't know what it looks like. We should be more prepared to handle the injuries when they happen.
Lawson has a ton of potential and I think we'll probably see him some this year ... if he becomes more reliable handling the ball.
He didn't say anything to the media, don't see how that is whining. In fact I'd like to see any examples of Urban whining since he got to Ohio State.
Answer me this: What is the benefit of playing Navy?
They run a weird scheme which is awfully time consuming to prepare for. They are notorious for hurting the opposition with "legal" cutblocks. And to top it all off, you basically get zero credit for beating them.
It makes complete sense to leave them off the schedule.
Interesting take on the QBs. I have been more afraid of JT...seeing how fantastic his season was (he was better than Braxton Miller, which is impressive). With JT being far more experienced this go around he surely will play better against the Hokies this year. My thinking was Cardale Jones benefited from a running game which was explosive those last three games (a QBs job sure gets easier when the defense can't stop the run). But perhaps the running game was so dynamic because Jones was the QB.
As interesting as the QB debate is. The Hokies will need to limit Zeke and the running attack in order to have a chance at winning.
PITT has been a bad matchup for us lately...
Using S&P+, which adjusts for opponent, we were 14th against the rush last year. The only true weak spot on defense was explosive plays (rushing and passing).
I don't even think we need sophomore Logan numbers...just limit turnovers and improve accuracy on deeper passes to stretch the defense and the offense could take a pretty big step forward.
No offense but everyone gave Notre Dame massive shit for playing Navy every year, especially when ND had that crazy winning streak. OSU plays one game against them to open a season and it's that big of a deal? Is it really difficult to see why people consider Meyer to be one of the biggest whiners in CFB?
I've heard less bellyaching from Mike London when UVA scheduled Oregon, UCLA, and BYU, which is saying something.
The Pitt game will be very telling, for the exact reason Joe was saying about beating teams that we are more talented than. I totally get the matchup nightmare thing, and I agree with it, but that game will tell us at a midway point in the season whether or not this team can win the ACC or not.
I'm going with breakouts from players we already are very familiar with, but can announce themselves to the country in Deon Clarke and Isaiah Ford. Ford could go over 1,000, and Clarke is just a sack monster.
Hard to keep up with Pitt?? I never saw them as a team that is dropping points on someone like it's their J-O-B. They aren't Baylor or TCU. They have Boyd and Connor but I don't think those two dismantle us.
Well, a lot of Ohio State fans have an inflated ego right now
I honestly can't blame them. Riding a national championship, I would be spitting the Koolaid on everyone as well. That said, while confident, I am also a realist and would still be wicked scared against a team that beat us the year prior on said national championship run.
I can concur a lot of tOSU hate amongst Browns fans. On Cleveland.com, you can see this in the comments of tOSU articles. Also, Browns articles get 100's of comments where tOSU articles get a dozen if that.
With that being said, there is real love for Buckeye football up here. Ohio State garb is every bit (if not more) as common as Browns gear.
You don't have a right to privacy from public accusation.
Our justice system is in public, not private courts. I'm sorry, but I simply disagree with you on this. The sanctity of the court depends on trials in public. Not trial by the media, but the right to be accused and answer the accusations in open court. This applies to anyone over 18, and athletes don't get a pass.
Ohio State's line went from an awful young bunch who couldn't push back Navy to a unit that demolished Wisconsin Alabama and Oregon at the end of the season-and they bring back 4 starters.
Both teams should be improved from last season.
But now it has to go to 77 because other people weren't as considerate
that the middle of the field would be open on play action.
Until the QB realizes a little too late that Foster has just run a robber coverage and had a safety/DB fill that area. Just when you think the DBs are running man to man Foster/Gray switch up what goes on in the secondary and bait the QB into throwing where they think no one will be. French covered some of this in the Military Bowl write up (http://www.thekeyplay.com/virginia-tech-football/2015/01/8423/hokies-use...). Foster/Gray want everyone in the secondary to be interchangeable so that they can send Fuller in on a blitz and not miss a beat in coverage.
I'm not a huge Xs and Os person but as I've learned what Foster does, it's pretty impressive.
Didn't even read the post, haven't read any of the comments. I've been out of things for the past week for my sister's wedding and I'm ready to hop right back on the hype train. It was no fluke, Danny caught the ball, Tyrod is awesome and the universe revolves around Michael Brewer's Andromeda-sized titanium balls.
2 weeks.
I'll be interested to see how the run defense does this year. Rushing D ended up ranked 39th and Last year had below average performances against ACC teams and home games.
Defense won't matter so much if the offense can get going.
The breakout player Tech needs is Michael Brewer. If Brewer can give us Sophomore Logan numbers we should do good
I bet you that they've spent all summer preparing to show that game.
Underrated post of the year IMO 
Agreed - but you're saying he played tentatively this past scrimmage? Honestly, how quickly can he change that mentality if so? I'm more scared about his play than I am about our entire offense! if I was UM, I would exploit that shiz to NO end, especially seeing how BC and Pitt did just that.
I agree about the OL. We are concerned about the strategy but at the end of the day, we have 7 guys who are ready to play on the OL which is a far better position than we were at in the spring and fall of 2014. While 2 weeks out from the start of the season seems like a bad time to do that shuffling, it is still before we are doing any game planning for OSU or any other team. The starting 5 will get their time to work on the calls against the defense we will see over 2 weeks. I don't mind the shuffling at all at this point because it was critical to get a couple swing guys in there. We had options for RT but LT was a big position of concern for depth and that seems to be solidified now.
The only logical thing to do is for JT and Cardale to both run onto the field to take the first snap and get into a massive fight on the field. Whoever is left standing gets to start.