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why does everybody hate the wave so much?
Dozer's Play of the Game - Week 5
I know no one wants to see this, but it's worth checking out tonkaberlin's drunken rant from last night.
tonkaberlin:
I'd be lying if I said I didn't see that coming. The minute that ESPN shows the "VT Offense" graphic that labels our offensive strategy as "Multiple," we should be worried. Because by "multiple" they mean "no." We don't have an offense. What we have is less than a hope but more than a prayer. It's organized chaos at best. That game should have easily been won by a score of 42-10. Our defense is more than capable (minus the fact that we have our best safety playing corner for no good reason). The problem is our offense. The fact that we led at halftime is a joke; we had 21 yards in the first quarter. Twenty One. Let that sink in for a minute. And then consider the fact that just over two weeks ago, we were ranked in the top 15. I've never been the one to scream "FIRE STINESPRING!!11" but after this game I'm almost to that point. A top-15 team either has a top-15 offense, defense, or both. We have neither. We have a defense that is top-25 and I'll let you know when we find an offense.
This game was not how anybody pictured it before this season began. But it is exactly as I expected it this past week. Until we are able to run the ball consistently and until Logan Thomas can look remotely comfortable in the pocket, we will not even be close to the top 25. This play of the game is the result of pure unadulterated luck, and some [bad] Bulleit bourbon that I chugged just seconds before the play (It's only weird if it doesn't work). For some context, we are losing the game at this point. We have yet to find an offense (again, "multiple" does not count). So Logan lobs the ball into the air and Corey Fuller does what Fullers do: he makes the play. Corey does not only catch the ball, he takes it all the way into the end zone. Hokies everywhere rejoice. By all intents and purposes, we won the game on that play.
I want to forget what comes next, but I can't. Unlike 2007 regular season Boston College, there is no "IF ONLY" in this game. We were bad. We lost. We probably should have lost by more. I give credit to Corey Fuller in his senior season in this game, but I cannot praise our team today. Our only hope is that someday later in this season or next year, or in the next few years, I'll seriously remark to my BilldozerVT "hey, remember when we didn't have an offense?" and we'll both laugh. Yeah, I'm not holding my breath either. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy this week's Dozer's Play of the Game and act like we still have a hope and/or a prayer. Because I know that we are better than this, I just don't know what it's going to take for our team to start acting like it.
It was a Big East officiating crew, but I'm not sure about the replay officials.
Beamer is the nicest guy you'll ever meet.
Virginia is for lovers...and Beamer is from Virginia, so of course he is optimistic.
Virginia Tech football was nothing before Beamer. We all need to yank our heads down from the clouds and realize that we have been spoiled over the past 10 years with good seasons, and just because we lose a few games, we shouldn't get all up in arms. Beamer is optimistic because he's been through the mud and come out a winner (as is apparent in the 10+ win seasons recently). Ups and downs...it's college football. Anybody that thinks Beamer isn't the best thing to happen (and the best thing that still is happening) to Virginia Tech football should kindly remove everything VT from their wardrobe.
On a different note, we are a weird team. We have huge misfortunes in games (Michigan, Boise, this game, etc.), but we also are very inconsistent. We tend to play at the level of our opponent, regardless of how good or bad they are. I hope that we get out of that funk and start playing consistently soon.
The slab of Hokie Stone that hangs above the tunnel the players run out of to start each game at Lane reads:
"For Those Who Have Passed. For Those To Come.
Reach For Excellence."
This team is NOT reaching for anything other than their cell phones so they can get on Twitter and talk about how they "have each other weak. lol." That shit makes me sick. Put your damn phones in your lockers get on the effing field and ball out.
I want to see the crazy murder eyes on the DLs faces like I see when I watch videos of Corey Moore. I want to see nasty body-destroying hits by everyone on the defense that we used to see from guys like Vince Hall and Xavier Adibi (who were both undersized but commanded the field together).
I'm tired of this pussy shit. James Gayle said he wanted to be the best DE in the country this year with 10+ sacks. Well how many does he have?? And don't get me started on Antone Exum because I won't be able to stop. I'll just say: Turn and Run damnit. Look for the ball. I learned that playing peewee football when I was 10 years old.
If I recall correctly I don't think I've ever said our offense is boring. But I have said many, many times that it is freaking predictable in the past 6 years: middle run, middle run, short pass, punt. screen pass left, screen pass right, run, punt. I loved the bruising O-lines that led the way for Suggs, Jones, etc.
Stop making paper planes (take their tickets away if they do), stop the stupid wave, scream until your voice is non-existent and your teachers on monday know what you did this weekend, STOP RUSHING THE FIELD WHEN WE BEAT TEAMS RANKED OUTSIDE THE TOP 10.
Grab your Lunch Pails, throw the stupid pistol in the trash, and put your big boy pants on. It's time to go to work!
I WANT MY HOKIES BACK.
REACH FOR FUCKING EXCELLENCE.
I wanted to slug both of the announcers on the ESPN broadcast. One guy didnt seem to know football at all and the other was trying to coach our team and then said some shit about how great players step up at great moments about the last play that was miss called as a TD. I really hate getting the C-team on broad casts. (of course what was a happening on the field didnt help my mood)
"Overall, I feel like Virginia Tech football has become a spectacle, an event. We play all these games outside of Lane Stadium (that we lose), we wear funky uniform combinations, we have some sort of effect for every game of the season. Students come and go through Lane as they please and plenty of them are more focussed on throwing paper airplanes. We play Sandman during the game."
I know I'm not the first person to quote this in the comments but I feel like I need too.
Personally, I feel this team has lost the lunch-pail feel. Blue collar grinders shouldn't have 4 different jerseys and helmets and 3 different pants (I may be wrong on those numbers). Wear all maroon at home. Wear white on the road. Don't let anyone outwork you.
Stop throwing airplanes. Stop doing the wave. Stop the stupid whiteout. STOP LEAVING THE GAMES EARLY!
French mentioned something about it, and I'm sure every football player would want to kick my ass if I said it to their face, but compared to the old Beamer/Foster teams we have gotten really soft.
"I'm just the kind of player who loves contact, that's all, and I'm going to keep riding you until somebody separates us. I like hitting people. I like hitting people for the entire play. That's just second nature for me, you know, and it's not meant to cause trouble. But I want (defensive linemen), after we're done, to know they were in a dogfight. I don't care if people call me dirty. As long as they don't call me soft, that's all." -Jake Grove, we need to get more guys like him back.
To get back to what made Hokie football great we should make that our motto. "I don't care if people call me dirty. As long as they don't call me soft."
We need to get back to Virginia Tech football. The OC needs to go. If that is not gonna happen then we need to start with the O line. You can't win without a good one. I was at Maryland for the VT game in 05. Marcus Vick sucked throwing the ball to start the game. We then went exclusively to handing the ball off to Brandon Ore who behind a HUGE O line repeatedly ran the ball down their throat for the rest of the game. Then some moron decided that we needed a small athletic line instead of slow big guys. How has that worked out for us. Recruit some big uglies and go from there. Our D is still good under foster, but those dudes get tired with all the 3 and outs from the anemic offense and eventually where down and we lose. O line and offensive play calling is what needs to change in my opinion.
For the last 10 years entrance requirements and football expectations have grown. I think after so many years of sucess, some may have forgetten the fight that respect commands. The home field advantage woud not have helped because the team is soft. They're riding the coat tails of those before. The pedigree of the hokeis, fast to the ball, field position first, is lost to finese and, "it should have worked." Coach 'em up! Cheer them on. Let's GO HOKIES!
The problem is that they have not been bullies on Osince Jones and Suggs finished up with the exception of late 2004.
I agree with everything you've written here, but I'm not seeing where you could call us bullies on offense. I'm ready to get shot down here, but I don't think anything our offense has done would show us as such. We could play our way through games where our offense out matched the usual ACC gauntlet through talent, but when it came to a decent defense were shut down. This becomes more prevalent when we get outmatched in our bowl games and OOC openers. What's killing us even more this year is the severe lack of a single playmaker on either side of the ball. It doesn't look like anyone has the ability to turn the game around like we're used to seeing. I'm not sure if it's a disparity in the recruiting or coaching, but someone like an Eddie Royal, Macho Harris, or David Wilson to turn the game around at any point.
I think the nfl replacement refs were around for that call...
I agree with everything said here. I have bled orange and maroon all of my adult life. I entered Blacksburg August 1997 never having made a trip to a game at Lane Stadium. My first trip was that first week against Syracuse when Donovan McNabb was a junior on a Heisman campaign. That ended that night. I was in love. Lane Stadium was my church and the team was my preacher... I lived in the Burg until 2003 and I have seem some spectacles of greatness (A&M, Miami 2003) and some letdowns... but this is the first time I feel really disappointed. I too had some visions o grandeur in my head. Win or lose, I will watch the games I can... working retail makes every saturday hard, but my heart is always with the Hokies... the heavy days and the happy ones. Lets go Hokies, and get them next week...
I really believe it's going to take us losing 4 or 5 more games before Frank finally makes some changes, and it very well may happen! Every game we have left to play this season we could conceivably lose. Like everybody here I miss the toughness and the fire that used to be VT Football. We need to get back to that.
What I heard was "he didn't have possession until he was in the end zone"
But there was a lot of bullshit calls this game. Since it was an "away" game for us, does that mean it was ACC refs? I hate ACC refs...
"Overall, I feel like Virginia Tech football has become a spectacle, an event. We play all these games outside of Lane Stadium (that we lose), we wear funky uniform combinations, we have some sort of effect for every game of the season. Students come and go through Lane as they please and plenty of them are more focussed on throwing paper airplanes. We play Sandman during the game."
It's amazing how much has happened to this program since the MV7 days.
he was down at the 1!!!
doesnt matter tho, we didnt deserve to win
youre right, i'm over it, i'm goin to bed
Sometimes you have to stand up and punch someone in the mouth. That's all
"I fell in love with this program in the early 90's because they were the players who nobody else wanted, who came to Virginia Tech, absolutely killed it in the weight room, and then bloodied the noses of their opponents. As the quality of the athletes they get have improved, it seems like the staff has forgotten that identity. It is certainly missing from the offense, and the defense can only truly bring it back if they can mix the same attitude with a better quality of athlete to match up with this silly spread nonsense."
A hardworking, blue collar program is what I grew up watching! That is the Virginia Tech team I know. The hard hits on both side of the ball, determination, and super physical D are what I fell in love with in the late 90s as a child. I WANT IT ALL BACK.
Side note... that is why college football in general this year has sucked in my opinion: defense clearly is not winning football games anymore. These WVU/Baylor and FSU/Clemson shootout type games are obnoxious. How about some D, y'all?
WVU has had RichRod and Holgo while Frank has WASTED too many years with Stiney.
Don't be ignorant.
bump