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10 years 11 months
# | Hokies Sift Through Stable of Now-Healthy Running Backs, Develop Continuity on the Offensive Line 
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10 years 11 months
# | Hokies Sift Through Stable of Now-Healthy Running Backs, Develop Continuity on the Offensive Line 
We better run, we better take cover.
As you likely know BuckeyeVet, VT is the home of a pretty decent College of Veterinary Medicine. Point in your favor sir. As a person who has had the privilege of serving Uncle Sam for 20 years in the USN and DOJ, no apology is necessary, you sound like a great American.
I look forward to reading your posts on the reasons for OSU and VT's chance at pulling out the win. Personally, I find the idea of beating an Urban Meyer team with this much talent twice in a row a real long shot. My biggest hope is that your new OC is not able to install his entire system and is forced into a one-dimensional passing attack after being unable to pickup first downs on the ground. Turnovers could then decide the game, and VT has a rather fantastic history at intercepting passes over the past 2 decades. Without winning the turnover battle by +2 or better, I don't see VT winning.
Manuel had some very nice throws, but he was up a creek if he ever had to scramble to throw. If I was making decisions there, I'd start Tyrod with Manuel being #2.
Coach speak: "this was a team we have a lot of respect for, a coach we have a lot of respect for."
Real talk: "f*** those guys!"
Let's say this guy is good enough to ensure that his system works 90% of the time. That would be an impressive record to say the least. But, let's say you also know almost without a doubt that the system will backfire 1 out of 10 times. That pretty much means the team is guaranteed to be good but not great. So, I'm surprised a Duke or similar program hasn't implemented a similar system to make an exciting stir. However, I don't see any traditional powers ever going this route because at the end of the day they are striving for perfection.
Cut his turnovers in half? He almost did that after September last year (9 picks in Seltember, 6 the rest of the way).
Manwell looked ok. His scrambles were awful. He had one nice long touchdown pass and had a few throws on the run that weren't even close. I think Tyrod (phone likes to autocorrect to Turks for some reason) looked much better than the rest. We will see.
I get just a little peeved when I see people mock Beamer for this. Anyone who has played sports knows that some days, some games, things just don't go your way. That's what the Wake game was for us, despite the failures in blitz pickup, guys were still in positions to make plays and made key errors that stalled drives. Then, we gave Wake a chance to make a very makeable field goal after a couple bad defensive plays, and then even after all that, we still had a chance to win. Frank's as competitive as they come, and he likely knew things were going to be rough very early on, but wanted to just get out of there with a win. That's why he's celebrating there - his team still has a chance to win even after everything had gone so wrong all day. I will never fault him for that.
Worth noting, not really a shot at you, Leonard, just, y'know, the college football world in general.
He showed some great elusiveness. Made a bunch of guys miss and made it look easy as he always did.
Actually I heard he's settled on 359
I'm going to believe that's a Trojan Wild Turkey
There was a drastic difference in his assertiveness getting through the hole or to the edge. Perhaps the continuous reps aided in getting him where he needed to be, but I buy into the "he was a different back at the end of last season" 100 percent. The run blocking also seemed to improve which didn't hurt. With this said, he still feels more like a change of pace back than a ground and pounder.
No way does GT only suffer one conference loss to VT and beat everyone else. That being said, I can easily envision this team winning the ACC if the offense does it's job and remembers how to run the football like the many strong VT teams of the past 20 years. The skill position weapons are there, the 2 lines boast size, talent and experience, we really just need Brewer to cut his turnover total in half, increase his TD throws up near the 2 per game range, and watch the defense dominate.
People - especially OSU fans - have been quick to point out that Brewer played "the game of his life" against OSU last year and there's no way he could do that every game. However, I'm becoming more and more convinced that THAT Brewer - the healthy Brewer - is closer to the real Brewer than people think.
Brewer took the bulk of the criticism for last season's offensive struggles...
I am still of the opinion that Brewer shouldn't have received the bulk of the criticism for our offensive woes last year. Here's why:
1. He came to the Burg late, and therefore didn't have much time to get accustomed to Lefty's system as well as his teammates playing style.
2. He played injured for most of the season...which leads into:
3. The offensive line was abysmal. He had 0 protection. I'd like to see any QB do well under the circumstances at VT last season. Granted he isn't an Elite QB, but IMHO he's well above average.
Just my 0.02
I've been known to chunder.
As a veteran myself, I applaud your choice of professions. I have certainly spent enough money on my animals in the past 40 years to buy you a nice boat, if not more. While it is certainly an honor to have served your country, I personally thank you for your profession's expertise and compassion for me and the four legged ones who have been the only kids I've ever had.
I think Hale has this team pegged pretty well, barring a pile of injuries or the loss of Brewer, I would expect a strong showing by this team. Nobody in the ACC is looking like a world-beater, so maybe it's our turn this year. (oh please, oh please, oh please!)
Since I didn't go to Tech does that make me a "financial" Hokie?
Is Tyrod actually awesome and did Danny Coale actually catch that ball?
I'm the guy who comes up and asks, "Hey, are you a Hokie, or are you just wearing the hat/sweatshirt/Tshirt, etc. I love it when the person starts talking about it, but where I live, it's usually a child or grandchild that is going to Tech and the wearer is more of a "financial" Hokie than a fan. Sometimes, though, a real connection is made, if only for a couple of minutes in the Food Lion. It's worth the brushoffs to get to the few good conversations.
Every bit of it, he's massive.
From buffalonews:
Taylor went 5 for 8 for 49 yards, with two of his incompletions coming on long throws that were right on the money to Marquise Goodwin and Deonte Thompson. While he was impressive throwing the ball, it was the job he did running that had fans inside Ralph Wilson Stadium excited.
Taylor carried the ball six times for 47 yards, showing dynamic speed to the edge of the defense. He drew a pair of defensive penalties, as well.
Tyrod always had an incredible knack for drawing penalties. ACC all-time leading trash talker.
Yeah, advanced stats have shown that coaches should be more aggressive in terms of going for it and doing onside kicks, though probably not this aggressive...
If Shai is healthy, he should play...I think he looks like the back with the highest ceiling