Recent Comments
I think you must have meant the Andy Bitter blog post
http://hamptonroads.com/2012/10/five-thoughts-after-virginia-tech%E2%80%...
He needs shoulder surgery on his left shoulder and is done for the year. After all the rehab he did to get back on the field this season, really disappointing for him.
under that title.
I guess i was the only one semi-impressed with Brown last year...
he has a good stroke (he hit a number of gorgeous 3's), and hopefully with one season under his belt he can get over his freshman year jitters.
I think 7-9 might be ambitious. I'm not sure Green is a great leader, but who knows how much of the stretch run last year was Greenberg just grating on everyone and the kids not reacting well to it.
Things are looking up though, Green can carry this team and like you said Raines is a star in the making. I worry about the young kids, Rankin was a turnover waiting to happen and Barksdale was an empty uniform at times.
Johnson has a big task ahead of him. I think losing DoDo and Trez will set us back.
not because it happened, but because of the timing. Mid-season is a strange time to ditch a coordinator.
It's going to be a struggle. The apple didn't fall too far from the tree with JJ and when Joey Racer will be in playing minutes then you know it's going to be a long season. Honestly, I believe the women will end up with a better record than the men just because of how deep they are and are returning all of the key players from last year.
Any one know the "official" OL grade-outs for the UNC game?
we should just send an extra OL in the TE spot and go "heavy" with our line. It's not like we have gotten any offensive production out of the TEs anyway. Add inconsistent blocking that has contributed to failure to open any kind of holes, not sure of the ROI of our TE group thus far. I'm not sure how much of a departure from our scheme this would require (French would) or who would even play here (Gibson would be the tits, though). Becton and Painter have been bright spots, adding another big boy on the outside might open up running lanes on the edge, which would divert opponents from destroying our interior linemen hopefully.
I want to see throats slit after this abysmal season. Stiney needs to go and O cain and the O line coaches need to be gone. This systme hasnt worked for a full season yet. Most of all i want to see change, and the right changes. Does Foster need to go after his defense gives up 500+ in back to back games? No, and i will tell you why, because his defense has carried us more times than not and we know he will adjust and fix it. Now the offense on the other hand will not adjust and we will keep on avg 45 yard rushing total for the rest of the year until it gets fixed. Bottom line its time to to get back to Beamerball, its been no existent, we are undisciplined and we will not execute at all.
The other change i would like to see is that the empty trophy case be removed from our athletic center, reason being, this is not the goal at the beginning of every year. So that arguement is out the window. We do not prepare like we are going to compete for it year in and year out. We do not play every game like its our last, we do not want to win the natl title. Until you start preparing to win the title quit reminding yourself how far away you are from it.
I want to see some attitude out of our players. Now im not talking about cheap stuff, but i wouldnt mind some talk and some fire out of our players w/ a touch of "swag". I wanna see our defense punch the other team in the mouth. I want to see our d-line blast the other teams oline off the ball and reck havok in the backfield like we are used to seeing. Some more emotion. If we get beat deap the quarterback better be flat on his ass and thinking about it next time he drops back. Everyone needs to be flying to the ball and not "assume" a tackle is made and the play is over.
Lets start with that.
He can't block and he can't catch. Other than that, he's fine.
Ryan Malleck is only marginally better at this point but I think he can improve. I'd prefer seeing him get 80% of the reps at TE from here on out.
I'd also like to see more of Redman. I'm sure Martin is a good kid and I'm sorry to be so negative on him, but he's just never going to get any better and I'm tired of seeing him pushed two yards into the backfield or getting smoked in pass protection by faster defensive ends and LBs.
The losses to out of conference teams don't bother me too much, other than whatever the heck conference pride is supposed to mean (as if Tech could make enough of a difference in that with teams like BC losing to Army et cetera) as far as I'm concerned if the team isn't a national championship contender (it wasn't) then the out of conference games take a way back seat to winning the division. Whether that is still realistic I'm not so sure but there is still a lot of football yet to be played.
What I want to see is this team get back to its identity, even if the talent isn't what fans would like it to be. Playing solid defense which gives the offense a chance to win the game is not unreasonable, even with a young/injured/inexperienced/leaderless(?) D. The offense played better Saturday, especially LT but they have to figure out a way to get the run game going, though I don't know how that's going to happen. Special teams needs to play with more discipline, that at least should be fixable.
Improvement doesn't need to be too dramatic to still have an okay season, even if already below expectations. If VT can come away with a win in just one (at least) of the next four, not unreasonable to expect though it's not out of the question to lose all four the way they're playing, they then have the opportunity to finish strong against BC and UVA to earn a bowl bid. The extra practice time afforded by a bowl game hopefully can get the team better prepared to start fresh in the Spring. Beating Duke at home will be more difficult than it appears Vegas oddsmakers seems to believe though it can and should be done. After that I don't think I can stomach a loss to Miami and if the D can figure itself out Tech's offense should have no problem putting points on the board against them. After this start I would say anything over six wins would be about all anyone could hope for who's watched the product on the field this year. Worst case scenario means LT will be back with more experience around him next year with the added benefit of lower hype and expectations surrounding the team going into the 2013 season.
One thing this team has done consistently in the past is finish strong in the regular season but leadership has always played a big part in that on both sides of the ball. I think one of the most glaring issues with the team this year is lack of leadership from players with experience who have inexplicably regressed since last season.
If this team can get its head together, a win this weekend can do a lot to restore both confidence and momentum. The ACC is nothing if not unpredictable week to week which team will fail to show up and all of the teams left on the schedule have meltdowns in their pedigree. I still believe these coaches can coach and I know these players can play. The team showing up on Saturday to kick the crap out of Duke would be a great way to get the ball back rolling.
... to recruit guys with size and speed who can also knock somebody's head off and there just aren't enough to go around.
I see our problems as being more mental than physical, although I will also agree with French that we do have some personnel deficiencies in the secondary that are being exploited, primarily because of youth and the fact that we're having to play certain guys out of position. But if you just look at the heights, weights and 40 times of our starters, you'd certainly think that we should be playing better than we are.
Likewise, I don't think that the problem along the OL is that we don't have guys that can move. On the contrary, I think we probably have as mobile an OL as we've ever had before. The difference is that they're being asked to take very long blocking angles and they seem to be getting too easily confused about who's supposed to be doing what, at least in the running game. (They're actually pretty good in pass protection.) I blame that on their coaching staff. They're also using poor technique and getting pushed into the backfield far too often. I blame that on the coaching staff too.
The main thing is that we've lost the edge we used to have. You are 100% right about Marcus Davis and Dyrell Roberts pussying out on their blocking assignments and dogging their routes when they aren't the primary receiver on the play. I think that's symptomatic of the entire program right now. We'd gotten to the point where we took 10-win seasons and ACC championship game appearances for granted, both players and fans.
then he would have upstaged all those Vick flips...
With the signiature backflip. Love it. Only thing better would have been if he backflipped into the endzone haha
Curt Newsome coached positions: 100% failure rate.
I assume the Championship game would pit North vs. South, regardless of pods, but crowning a North (or South) champion in a year where the two pods barely play each other would be dicey at best. Imagine trying to pick between, say, VT and Notre Dame to represent the North, when they didn't play head to head, and hardly even have common opponents. Just a thought... though I do like the pods in a 16 team scenario.
Watching the film for the last 24 hours, between the guards and the tight ends Saturday, we are lucky they got a first down. Reddick, Sylvester, and the rest of the front 7 completely outclassed the guards, center, and tight ends.
Already is a safety. I think you got your words switched around there, but otherwise, all good points.
This is getting ugly. My suggestions:
1. Burn the shirts; if Ekanem and Caleb are as good as touted, they are not going to be here for four years anyway.
2. Play the young guys; this year is a goner but next year could be pretty good if those guys get some snaps.
3. Make the switches as suggested at corner. Bonner needs to be a safety. He looks scared at the corner.
4. Consider the JUCO route for corners and o-line. If I remember right, Corey Moore went JUCO because everyone thought he was too small. That worked out pretty good.
5. Head to Texas and scout for high school coaches for the offense. Seems to be working for Dabo.
My prediction: 7-5, Sun Bowl v. Stanford
... between being very good and being mediocre at this level. VT has been on the good side of that line for a long time now, which is why that streak of 8 consecutive 10-win seasons was and is remarkable. But it appears that we've now lost that edge and have drifted down to the mediocre side of that proverbial line.
I think that recruiting misses have had something to do with it and that we're short of quality depth at certian positions, meaning that we're having to play some guys earlier than we'd like.
But I think a bigger problem, quite frankly, is that we've lost the toughness that we used to have. I look at our D-line and I see a big, strong, fast and deep group that, with the exception of the ACC championship game in Charlotte, pretty much shut down everyone they played last year. How is it that the same group of guys, a year more experienced, can now be pushed around so easily by the likes of Pitt and UNC?
On the offensive side of the ball, I see a big, strong and experienced offensive line that spends far too much time moving backwards or wandering around aimlessly looking for someone to hit. Sure, our two senior receivers have been disappointments so far (neither one is a natural receiver) and our RBs are rookies who are still developing. But once again, the biggest problem with our offense seems to be inexplicably poor play along the offensive line, including the tight ends.
I'm willing to give Bud Foster and Charley Wiles the benefit of the doubt. They've more than earned their stripes in the past and I'm confident they'll get things straightened out. But Curt Newsome simply has to go. The product that he's putting out on the field is much poorer than he should be producing, given what he has to work with, and in my opinion it's never going to get any better.
It may have just been cramps? Because I think he came back in.
Gotta feel for the kid. His injury issues started at Tech and never stopped...