Recent Comments
How did JC screw the pooch against Clemson. He took care of business as best as was allowed by the D. Others may have had bigger gains, but that was strictly due to better blocking on those particular plays. It was as though as soon as Coleman came in the D new exactly what plays to expect/the line decided not to block. Coleman ran "his nuts off" and every one of his yards were earned by him rather than the line.
And for as long as I've been aware of Hokie football (since 1999) one has arguably been in reach. It seems to be slipping away, however. As time goes by and we lose more and more winnable games I find myself thinking things like "the 2000 team wouldn't have lost that" or "the 07 squad would never have let that happen." The guy above me hit it on the head in my eyes--the potential to win a national championship is there, and it's so frustrating to see it slip away for whatever reason year after year. It seems like we've been able to hang with the best teams in the nation, but never been able to actually beat them (not counting this year, where we can barely hang with GT).
As for solutions, I think a lot of you on this site have more well-formed ideas than me on that topic, so I won't comment on that. But I think the ultimate goal of a title is still within reach, it's just more years away than we'd all imagined/hoped. Until then, please get rid of the empty case. With the way our team looks right now, that thing just looks silly.
Living up to our potential - plain and simple.
With the exception of our losses to LSU & Stanford (and Clemson last yr), I think Tech should have won most of those games. It could have even beaten Alabama if the play selection was competent. But beyond that, Tech was the better team in the rest of the losses. And we played with kids from Virginia, so its not out of the realm of reason to expect that we can reach that goal. Percy Harvin helped Florida and he hailed from Tidewater, so its not like the state doesn't produce talent, its just that a lot of the talent goes elsewhere.
It also doesn't help Beamer's cause to place an empty trophy case so prominently for the world to see, and then whine and complain and call people who dare disagree with him "Whacked". That case makes a statement that this is what we aspire to achieve as a program. So the mere presence of that case now becomes a metric which all future seasons are judged against. CFB doesn't like hearing criticism, but too bad - he's the one that asked us to come along for the ride.
In our last 10 games we have lost 6 of them. Essentially beating no one good or relevant.
Bowling Green
Austin Peay
Duke (by comeback)
GT (overtime, home, night game and GT is BAD this year)
We have lost on the biggest stages to solid teams and at noon to teams that we should never lose to...
Clemson - ACC championship game
Michigan - BCS Sugar Bowl
Pitt - handled by a Mediocre Big East Team...
Cincy - at our home away from home that doesn't feel like home.
UNC - noon game to a team that isn't post-season eligible
Clemson - lost our biggest recruiting rival for the third time in basically one year.
Looking at the last 10 games I feel like we have hit the floor... not the ceiling.
But looking at the numbers from the sites above (good stuff by the way) we have been very solid over the past 10-15 years for what we are working with financially and geographically. I was honestly surprised to see we are one of 13 teams to play for the National Championship. Never looked at it that way.
I knew this type of season would come, but I did not expect it to be this year. Just like most everyone else on the site I hope that this season invokes changes to our program that will give us a chance to be successful in the future. I understand we can never be Alabama, but I also do not want to be an Auburn one and done type team either. I like consistency and I have enjoyed the 10 win seasons. However, I do not like the head scratching losses and our inability to win big games on a very regular basis.
Goals / what I want to see for our future -
1. Have a true plan for the coaching staff. Not a ho-hum lets just figure it out tomorrow game plan.
2. Position the program to be successful in the ACC today, and for whatever comes next in the wild world of conferences and college football.
3. Beat UVA... always.
4. Be a legitimate annual contender for the playoffs and when/if we get there lets not be a one and done team.
5. Continue the tradition and passion for Hokie football. Regardless of our record this year we have something special. Let's appreciate what we have here.
I think the ceiling is a national championship!
As far as, on average, what would be considered a successful season? I would like for us to be legit national title contenders every year and if we lose a game to spoil that dream, I would like for that to be a shock/surprise. Not "Well we knew we'd drop one or two eventually. Glad it's out of the way early." However, I think the 'what's considered successful' is relative to the situation. Since we're in the terrible ACC, I think it's charlotte or bust and we should expect to get to charlotte every year. We should then expect to make it out of charlotte with a W most of the time. Getting me to the point: a BCS bowl win should be the minimal target every year. Especially in a system that rewards you for winning the terrible ACC. I realize we can't be all mighty every single year so I know losses will come and we'll have to suffer through heartbreaks, and in those seasons we don't make it to charlotte, there will be individual successes throughout the year and successes to build on, but for me, a successful season is one that ends with a bcs win.
It's a really hard question to answer, because every team's situations are so different and every fan's perceptions are so different. I think winning the ACC but losing the bcs bowl is an UNsuccessful season. Missing out on the acc championship but winning the chick fil a bowl is an UNsuccessful season. Some may think the two previous examples constitute a successful season, but not me. But I'm a national championship kind of fan and not everybody is. With that being said, I don't think those examples mean the season was completely unsuccessful; Those kinds of seasons still attract talent and give hope but they don't attract the type of talent that I, and most of you, want.
Also, you have tons of schools that would kill for those kinds of seasons, and I think that's where the answer to this question can get real cloudy. Regardless, I think the answers have to be relative to us and relative to our future. We can't view our success from the eyes of those beneath us and think we're lucky we're not them. That's not how sports works. We need to look to the top and ask, "What does it take to get up there?"
Do good teams tend to overcome bad calls? Yeah, sometimes they do. But Refs can impact games. If you want an example of a call affecting a good team, look at the Miami vs Ohio State NC game a few years back. Phantom Pass intereference gave Ohio State another shot and they went onto win the game.
"I think a ref making a bad call is much easier to overcome than a turnover or a loss of downs. "
The two calls that most folks have issues with this past week did just those things. The Down by Contact call on Logan lost us our third down, forcing us to punt, and the poor review by the replay official caused a turnover to be taken away. I understand that Refing tends to even out over time, but to say it has no effect on game's outcomes is completely bogus. Paying Refs in the Italian Soccer league was a huge scandal a few years ago because Refs do have the ability to change the outcomes.
In no particular order.
1. Thinking the ACC is a good football conference.
2. Blaming the refs for ruining "momentum".
3. The Vick brothers.
4. UVA as a rival.
5. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
I might catch some heat for this, don't get me wrong I love VT, but oh well. Explanations:
1. The ACC can and should be a great conference! I would blame this on VT slightly on losing certain out of conference games, but really I would blame some of the other schools in the conference *looking at you FSU and Miami. There are people out there that think the ACC is better than they are, I just don't see how people see it that way.
2. Complain all you want about the Danny Coale catch, or calls like the Seahawks/Packers ending, but when the drive in the 3rd quarter gets temporarily halted by a bad call (which happens to every team), you can't use that as an excuse for losing by 2 scores. Out of all the fan bases, VT fans seem to stand out on this one, not sure where this comes from, I think the better the team, the better they are able to generate their own momentum, I think a ref making a bad call is much easier to overcome than a turnover or a loss of downs.
3. Great athletes, but a tarnished legacy and perhaps just bad karma. Michael, would it have been so hard to donate some money so Blacksburg has the nicest dog park and animal shelter in the country? Marcus, stomping on legs and flipping off Mountaineer fans in a game, really?
4. UVA sucks, and you want your antagonist to be a badass. UVA is holding VT back, is there anyway to just disown them? Ohio St Michigan, USC Notre Dame, Alabama Auburn, Texas Oklahoma... at least all those teams are on the same level, this one is the easiest to solve by scheduling West VA every year.
5. This one is open for interpretation.
To clear up any confusion because I don't want KeyPlayers upset with VTMidge:
VTMidge never said anything about Beamer being replaced. He just wants a mentality change.
I brought up the Beamer thing.
Play a traditional Whip for non-spread teams? Bulk up and move to Backer?
Whenever making coaching moves, there's obvious risk you inherit. There's a risk that we won't even be relevant in the ACC, the 10 win seasons could be a thing of the past, could be average and have to be on the search for another coach to replace the replacement, etc. I get all of that and I understand people's reluctance in the matters of Beamer because of it.
However, I think we have the resources and our situation is advantageous enough to attract a successful coach. I've said it before but here's why I think we're attractive: great facilities, great fan base willing to spend money, in a hotbed state for recruiting, and being in the ACC makes it easier to get into the 4 team playoff. Those are the just the main reasons in my opinion. There's others like good media exposure (thursday night games and primetime acc championship among other games/opportunities), already a proven program (wouldn't have to come in and build from the ground up), and the money wouldn't be bad (not as much as some of your sec/big 10 powers may pay, but it would still be competitive).
I just think the job would be attractive to some (maybe not all, but some) highly touted coaches and I think we have the resources to allow him to be great. Like I said, there's always risk when making bold coaching moves, but I'd rather take on that risk than continue to slide and/or know our current coach will not get us what we want.
And I sound cocky and say I know I'm right, because I've felt that Beamer should have been gone a while ago. But like everybody else, my loyalty to him made me feel like, "Give him another chance." So I kept my mouth shut about it and then jmu happened, stanford happened, clemson (twice) last year happened, then the fake punt in the sugar bowl. Now, this season just sucks but to make it worse, the double pass happened. My criticism of Beamer is a direct reflection of his decision making. I'm not just a blind fan saying we're struggling so it must be the head coaches fault. I feel this way for specific reasons that I find hard to argue against. We can go down the line though. He's too loyal to bad coaches. His big game record sucks. Not only that, in those big games (at least the past few years), we've been in the game going into halftime then we get flat out coached second half. I've never seen halftime be such a detriment for a football team. Point being, my criticism and feelings on Beamer aren't new and his decision making continues to spiral downhill. I think we've all given him his chances to prove the naysayers wrong, but time and time again, he proves them right.
I love the guy and love what he's done for us but it's time to move on. There's risk in making that decision, but it's worth the risk to me.
Is it just me or does that secondary lineup get everybody a little sexually excited?
#BUD4HEADCOACH
Would this effectively narrow down the WR screens? 1 is too many.
I think there are some guys starting now that might not see the field again except for special teams
I really believe both Bonner and Mike Cole have gotten better each week. With that said, Holland Fisher and Kendall Fuller might take away their playing time next season.
Corners: Kendal Fuller, Exum
Rover/Free: Fisher/Jarrett depending on size
Nickel/Whip: Kyle Fuller
...maybe its because we don't have any option but to play him. The other three, we have players who can play and don't get a chance.
But it also feels like Bonner will have a serviceable career at VT, his skills aren't much different than many of our previous DB's who have performed satisfactorily.
I think it is stupid that they didn't at least touch on the Thomas sack call. I mean by the time the play was called dead he was just holding his heel. There should have been a memo sent or something. I think it is crazy they didn't even acknowledge it. IMO the game momentum started turning after the failed 4th down conversion but that fumble and sack calls really effected the outcome of the game. If either of those three didn't happen we would have had a greatly different outcome.
I think the matte finish on the helmets or a Hyrdrochrome option would be slick. If either was done in maroon it would pop but still have the retro feel. I love the stacked VT logo as well.
yeah Hyrdrochrome is pretty slick. I love the throwback look for a few games. I love the retro VT stacked logo but they definitely need something fresh like matted helmets or Hyrdrochrome.
There isn't many times I think of our stable of running backs that I don't pray for Drew Harris to still come to VT and take the reigns over. Him and JC are a great two back option. Harris has great size, speed and explosive running that could really help our ground game next year. I am excited about what Beamer said last night on Tech Talk Live about working in some more younger players into the line rotation. We need those guys to get some snaps this year or we will be totally rebuilding that line again which imo has been our biggest issue.
You must have taken Stinespring's 2 day online class on offensive coordination
picked the screen off. Maybe that would wake the coaches up to how poorly the play is drawn and how poorly we execute it.
I'm not saying you're wrong, but you're definitely not right. The fact is, we do not know what would happen. If VT were to fire Beamer (a ludicrous proposition), could VT supporters be assured a sure-fire quality coach would be hired?
All we know is this, Weaver has never had to hire any football coaches, so we can only look at his record at basketball hires:
Rickey Stokes was a terrible hire. Seth Greenberg was a great hire, but after the honeymoon, it ended very poorly, with both Greenberg and Weaver looking like douche bags. And, to me, the hiring of James Johnson just looks lazy.
However, I'll have to give Weaver some credit. He is a football guy, played for Joe Paterno, and knows a lot of people in the business. Could he find the right fit of HC for VT? We'll probably never know. But, ask Miami, ND, Michigan, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, and pre-Saban Alabama how they feel about their last couple of coaching hires. All of those schools have a much greater football tradition than VT, but have had trouble making good coaching hires.
do we all have to eat unleavened bread and bitter herbs for a week or can we all just start celebrating right away?
By far and away the funniest thing I have read this season, except possibly seeing the BooHoos lose to Dook and Wake in successive weeks.
VT is not a mid major just trying to get wins, get to bowls, and get recognition in the national landscape. That was in the early to mid 90s when frank took over. VT has been nationally recognized since the MNC in 1999. VT is not a mid major. So to hear before the season start that the acc championship was the goal and 10 wins and if they made it to the MNC then that'd be cool too is concerning. And I'm not talking about only this season. So to me it's as if frank is still stuck in the early 90's mentality instead of realizing this program has been on the cusp of taking that next step to elite status since the mid 2000's and the window is rapidly closing. The MNC was within reach for the past 10 years but I think that time has passed for frank.