Recent Comments

and this one too

With extreme passion comes extreme criticism. When people stop caring is when we will really have issues. At this point everyone needs to try to take the high road and be respectful to the guy and team that we will all be pulling for Saturday night.

That has been lost in all the heated rage about Logan Thomas. The defense were completely taken out of their game. As I touched on Saturday, Boston College's offensive line did a phenomenal job of controlling the LOS.

Just my 2 cents on Logan...yes, the Duke game was bad. As far as the BC game...

I thought Logan made 3 bad plays in this game...
1 - He overthrew Calvin Kline when was wide open in the 3rd quarter (I think right after the Demtri INT)
2 - He didn't hold the ball close enough to his body on the last fumble of the game
3 - He threw a terrible pick-6, a play that's 100% inexcusable

but...that's 3 bad plays. The other 2 turnovers weren't his fault. So take those 3 bad plays and contrast that with how many good plays he made on Saturday....there were a LOT of good plays on offense.

If nothing else, look solely at the last drive of the first half.. We had 3 holding penalties on that drive costing us 30 yards. Two of those penalties were on the same series, and the offense faced 2nd-and-30. Logan came out throwing and moved us down the field to set up CJ's long field goal before half.
- how many other QBs in recent memory could have led that drive?
- how many other QBs in recent memory, including Tyrod, Randall, MV2, etc...would the coaches even trust enough to stay aggressive on a 2nd-and-3o from our own 20 yard line with 90 seconds left in the half?

The pick 6 was a terrible play, and Logan directly cost the team 7 points. But, if you hold that against him, you gotta give him credit for the 27 we did score, including those 3 before half that we probably don't get with anyone else under center.

The team fought hard, everyone including Logan and SL and CFB tried their best, but we lost. We're not Alabama or FSU...sometimes our best isn't good enough and we lose, even to teams that aren't great. That's life right now. All I know is I'm supporting whoever is under center. Hoping we beat Miami cause I hate da U.

...just my 2 cents

I can't stand all the Leal Fanboys, you really think if Leal was better he wouldn't be playing. Lets think about this for a moment. Do you know how hard it is to have 1 QB learn a new system with just Spring ball, heck lets throw in 2 QB's. People don't understand what goes into learning a playbook. I wouldn't be surprised if leal only knew about 30-40% of the plays. This Spring was mainly for Logan and the offense to figure out the playbook and see what works well.

We have to remember these are "Student Athlete's out there, its not like they can spend 24hrs a day to study a brand new playbook. I am fine with the way we have been playing lately. Yes the running game is spinning its wheels but just wait for that one game where things start to click.

On another note it seemed to me like I saw a couple plays that loeffler ran against BC that we have yet to see. Like the RB screen, the Deep post route's over the middle and also the PA play to Kalvin Cline. I'm sure he noted those and we will be seeing them in Miami!

This thread is abysmal. Just absolutely abysmal.

Good for Logan. It is what he should say.

The coaches should also be supportive, but some of these comments bury Leal. This team can't win without being able to run the read option? Leal may be the starter next season, with pretty much the same cast of players. It isn't exactly a ringing endorsement by the staff for his ability to win football games.

I agree French.... Your right. It seems like our Offense flip-flopped from being a run first pro-style offense to a more pass heavy team. When our running game catches up I see our offense becoming more well rounded. I've tried to say time and time again a Team divided can't stand, because when LT is successful they're happy when he has a bad game everyone on the Leal for QB campaign wants throw him under the bus. That doesn't work with a fanbase. I'm actually happy about the changes Beamer has made to the team. I felt like our wideout coach last year wasn't teaching them anything, now thats being changed. I think this offense is going to take off next year.

And, most of the discussion has ignored defense. If you take the time to watch just the defensive snaps, and focus on 99, 98, 92, 42, and 90... there is no way you can walk away from this video not completely frustrated. Even on plays where the backs were held to short gains, the defensive line was more often than not a non-factor. The Hokie linebackers and defensive backs filled their gap and made the tackle 1 on 1, it looks great. If they missed, then Williams was getting a big gain. Other than a few stretches in the 2nd quarter, the defensive line could not shed the blocks of the big BC front.

And, regardless of what kind of athletes Miami has on the edge, I bet we see a game plan straight out of BC (or the U in 2005)'s playbook. Power football. Use the big OL. Get manageable 3rd and shorts where runs or passes are options. Use the tight end to move the sticks.

BC did one thing well we haven't been able to do consistently - score points off turnovers. Seventeen of their points came off our turnovers, more than enough to tilt the balance.

Also, your observations on our offense are starting to align with mine. I never believed opponents were particularly worried about our offense. BC was the first school to use it against us with such success.

I find that while these type of surveys are useful, they need to gear one towards the students to try to enhance the student experience.

They are only useful if something is done with the data generated. If everyone says 'kickoffs need to be later' the VTAD can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing they can blame ESPN for nooners.

It is ironic though, because a few years ago the fanbase wouldn't shut up about us "modernizing the passing game." There is a difference between doing things that make sense (good route design and being held accountable for fundamentals) and throwing 40 times a game.

The beginning of the end for Tennessee as a dominant program was getting over reliant on throwing the football. The Vols used to have tailbacks 4 deep that you could give the ball 25 times a game and win football games with in the SEC. But after starting to be more pass happy under Peyton Manning, and then correcting back to power running under Tee Martin, Tennessee starting to focus more and more on a pass-happy pro-style offense under the guise that it helped attract skill position talent at receiver and quarterback. As they threw more and more, their dominant running game became less and less dangerous, and the team lost that core identity which made them great in the 90's.

The most frustrating part is, A GOOD RUNNING GAME MAKES THE PASSING GAME MUCH BETTER. Did you see how open the Hokie receivers were on play action Saturday? Can you imagine how open they would be if the running game was actually a credible threat? Great googley moogley.

I am also worried that the ultimate narrative will be to put the blame on the players. I am starting to see it with Beamer's comments today that they "MUST" run the football with Logan to be effective. That is a load of crap. If he gets injured, are they lining Mark Leal up and running him up the gut 20 times a game? Are you saying flat out that the Hokies should mail in the rest of the season because Trey Edmunds, JC Coleman, Chris Mangus, Joel Caleb, Willie Byrn, DJ Coles, Josh Stanford, Demetri Knowles, and Kalvin Cline are not good enough to move the football without Logan on the field? That is what it sounds like to me, and if that is the prevelant school of thought, well how in the blue hell do you propose to move the ball next season WITH THE EXACT SAME PLAYERS minus Logan?

I am not advocating for Logan to be benched. Far from it. I think every problem the Hokie offense has now would still exist with Leal if the staff doesn't have faith that they can run the ball with the current running backs. But, it is not fair to Logan to ask him to be Walter Peyton and Joe Montana at the same time.