Editor's Note: I'm still bummed over the loss, but there's still a long season in front of us. Mikey's piece put that into perspective for me. Bumped to the front. --Joe
Yeah, we lost. Is this going to be what defines us? Is our whole season determined by this one game? Remember last year. We started 4-0 going into a home game against Clemson. We lost 23-3. Did that define us? We dropped 10 spots in the polls that week. We got a second chance though—another seven games. How did we do? We went 7-0, rose to number five in the country. We probably didn't deserve it, as later that week Clemson beat us by 28 points. But, we still got to go to the SUGAR BOWL. I know you guys had a fun time down there too, regardless of the result.
Have you really lost faith in this team? You don't think the defense will respond from giving up an ungodly amount of yards/points? You think the ENTIRE year we'll never figure it out on offense? We had expectations on defense that were quite high. We had them for a reason. They CAN do it. One game is not going to define us. We still have an eight-deep defensive line. Soon our star backer will return. Our secondary will get healthy. Our special teams is actually decent this year. We still have the same players. We still have a leader in Logan. We will figure it out.
It can't get any worse than what just happened; four turnovers in the first half and over 500 yards given up. Sounds a lot like the game against LSU. Yes, they were a much, much better team than Pitt, but look how we responded. Minus the BC loss, the rest of the season was great. We killed Clemson, We beat FSU for the first time with Beamer as head coach. We won the ACC.
We're still 2-1. We're still 1-0 in the ACC. We still get a chance at revenge against Clemson. We still get Florida State at home on a Thursday night, with the possibility of an upset against an undefeated team. We still have a chance to win the ACC. We still have a chance to blow out UVA. There are a lot of positives still. Yes, I know the Orange Bowl sucks. But I would rather have that with an ACC Championship win than some no-name bowl.
Maybe this is me just getting used to disappointment and 10-win seasons, but I still see a lot of positives for the rest of the season. We can't do much about what just happened. But we can impact the future. We can't get to the title game, but we can still show we aren't the team that came out yesterday. Are you telling me it wouldn't be fun to beat Clemson? Are you saying you just want to quit and not get the chance to beat FSU? We still have a lot to play for. We still have at least nine more games. I know our players will keep trying this year, and I hope you do too.
Bounce Back.
Comments
fuck yeah.
amen
I agree
I have seen a lot of consternation about the talent level on this team. I don't see it, the D is loaded. The OL is actually very talented and Wangs injury could actually help us improve our physicality. We need to commit to a RB and a system that will most allow him to succeed. Marcus Davis could become a faster Ernest Wilford down the stretch. He could set a bunch of VT receiving records.
And LT will play better, likely much better.
our wtf game of the year
some losses have been to superior opponents, others. . . not so much. we're good for a wtf loss every couple years. this game, jmu in 2010, ecu in 08, bc in 06, you get the picture. sometimes we come out flat and sloppy for a game against an alledgedly inferior opponent and get smacked around. this will hopefully wake everybody up and we rattle of a few wins before clemson/fsu gets here.
This happens every year. Why are we surprised? However I'm able to find optimism knowing that we (can) always bounce back from this kinda loss, I just hope this time we can rattle off 9 straight and punch a ticket to the ACCCG. It's not unheard of, it's a matter of preparing week in and week out and treating every opponent like their the number one team in the nation and not sleepwalk through the game.
Game on, y'all.
Bounce Back?
Not sure what y'all are smoking but send some my way. Total team melt down, coaches and players, and no excuse. If Tech truly wants to be elite these (and JMU and Michigan and Kansas, and etc.) losses have to stop. Based on what I've seen 10 wins will be a blessing - 8 for that matter. And then what? Everyone is happy and will forget about Pitt until we do it again next year. Sure we get better as the season goes on, but why does it take so long? I'll be shocked - but thrilled- if we beat either Klempson or FSU, but doubt it will happen. Change has to happen, we all know it and have voiced it for years, but it simply won't happen under Beamer.
It is sad
that a post like this (well done BTW) needs to be written to rally the troops after a 2-1 start with a non-conference loss. Get a hold of yourself people. Think how bad it must be to be an Arkansas fan. That school should be giving out anti-depressants with breakfast if they react like us. Let the season play out a little. If anyone thought we realistically had a championship team they need to get their blood sugar levels checked because they are drinking too much kool-aid. Go Hokies!
Thanks
My goal was to put things into perspective. We still have a lot to play for. No reason to give up now! I am very curious to see how the team responds. Will this give the defense (especially the dline) a little pump up for the rest of the season? I hope to see a team playing with more emotion, even with it being Bowling Green. Who knows, maybe this loss sparks us to a great season. Maybe it was something we needed. We just have to wait and see I guess.
My weekend was pretty awful (I'm a skins fan too... except I wasn't surprised yesterday after watching them my whole life). I used this post as a way to get me back into the season I guess. We have to move on to the next game. I can't wait to go out this Saturday and see how the team does!
I don't care anymore!
We are just not that good and the coaching staff just doesn't care enough to become better.
thank you for the uplift
While I have full confidence in the coaching staff to motivate and prepare our players for the remaining games, there are some things at this point that concern me more than coaching ability, mainly the offensive identity were trying to establish. We have zero weapons on offense. This is the first year I've seen our offense play poorly in three straight games. The pistol has been a disaster, the hurry-up is untimely and ineffective; receivers aren't in the right places, Logan looks bewildered and rattled on the sidelines and is extremely inaccurate. These are issues that go beyond what we've seen in the past. I'm starting to wonder if Logan truly is just not accurate. I don't recall him having 31 attempts in a game before....I need to look back at last year but when he is asked to throw the ball so much we're now getting a better idea of his true passing skill. In addition to Logan learning this system we are without a stud running back. We've been spoiled for over 5 years now. We can't have a stud every single year. There is no sign of life with our running game and for once I feel like we have a talented O-line and thats not the issue.
I'm staying positive here and I think we have the talent and coaching to win the coastal but its a long shot to actually win the ACC--we need to be realistic about that. 10 wins is a possibility with a lower-tier bowl win. We just can't ignore whats going on here with our offense. I'm not using PITT to define our team....it was the other two games before that too. With the exception of the game winning drive against GT, (which was outstanding, truly was) and the emergence of Corey Fuller, there has been no sign of life.
I said it earlier in a post just before the season and I still feel the same way. I just don't care about another orange bowl appearance or 10, 11 wins. I want VT to beat a great team just ONCE....and I need it this year. I want to beat a top 2 FS or Clemson team--if its for the ACC crown then even better.
Offensive Facepalm
FIRE. STINESPRING. NOW.
No more needs to be said.
We're all four turnovers his fault? I'm not saying he's the best but what has complaining done for us the past 5 or so years? I haven't seen too much change. How about we work with what we have instead of calling for the coaches head. It's not going to do a thing.
As Joe has said before, there are better places to rant about coaches being fired.
Next Week's Headline Prediction
BEATDOWN IN BLACKSBURG - Hokies Roll to Big Win Over Bowling Green
The offense's lack of anything resembling production or consistency has me worried for the remainder of the season, but I still have faith that Bud and our Defense are PISSED about how they played and will take it out on Bowling Green this weekend. I will be disappointed with anything less than two non-offensive TDs, 3 take-aways, and under 50 yards rushing for BG. This is what I've come to expect from a Hokie Defense: Domination.
My rant
This is getting old. We seem to lose every year before the calender even hits october, or the first week of october. It used to be we would roll through our schedule, be ranked top 10 and then lose to pitt, or some other team we shouldnt lose to. Its time for a change, i dont think beamer has had our team ready to play in quite sometime. Since 06 to be exact, i mean we open up w bama next season, and looks like we are gonna get beat again first game of the year. If we want to be in contention for a natioal title, plain and simple you cant lose to jmu, ecu, boise, bama, usc, or lsu. These are all winnable games, the only game we really didnt have a chance was the lsu game in 07. I really think its time for beamer to move on so the hokie nation can move forward. I love em to death but he will not adapt to the changing game.
What's concerning to me.
Is not the fact that we lost to Pitt. It's not the fact that our offense is entirely ineffective right now. It's not the playcalling or the mentality of the players.
My concern is, why is this becoming a trend? Over the past few years, we've dropped a game every year in embarrassing fashion. JMU in 2010, Clemson in 2011, and now Pitt this year. Will we be clicking on all cylinder's by November? I think that's a given. But why does it take a month and a half to figure out all the kinks every year? Why does it take an embarassing performance for us to really say "Oh Shit, we need to get our stuff together here." Everyone should know EVERY SINGLE YEAR what is going to be expected in order to compete in the ACC and on the National level and the team is fully capable of doing so later in the year. But why not in the beginning? We are truly choking it all away early in the season every year. Its beginning to seem like preseason is going unused, just an extended vacation period. Preseason is when the kinks should be getting worked out, not week one two or three of the season.
I'm not sure what the reason for this recent trend is, but it needs to stop.
Surprised...
I feel your pain, brother.
Another thing to keep in mind...
is that we started the season playing GT. Everything goes out the window preparing for them, especially on the defense, and then has to come right back the week after. In past years, there's always a bit of a hangover into the next game after we play GT - some from fatigue, but also from having to undo a week or so of the schemes that we only use against them. Usually takes about a week to shake it off, but this time around we've had a lot longer to prepare. Given it's importance, I'm sure a lot of time was spent on this game in the offseason. I think starting the season with this game did us a real disservice by forcing our guys to divide their attention in the offseason between learning what we'll be using >90% of the time, and what we will be using against only GT. It's tough because that game is a must-win, but you can't focus all your time on it since it's such an anomaly and you won't be able to get back to playing "normal" Tech football.
I'm hoping it's just that the hangover is lasting a lot longer this time around since we've been preparing for so long. Not an excuse by any means, but it sure would explain the defensive woes. Especially since the defense ate PJ's lunch when it came to the run game for the most part, but then gave up >150 yards on the ground to AP and then >250 to Pitt.
I'm not convinced that the odd secondary reshuffling...
...wasn't in large part about GT. It made sense for GT, put our best tacklers on the edge, in particular because we knew that sweep by GT had caused us so many problems. I'm not saying we made such a significant change solely based on one game, but I have a feeling that it was discussed that it certainly helps us with GT and ...hey...worse comes to worse we can switch back and now Exum is better prepared to cover the slot in m-to-m.
Not sure where
But I'm relatively certain that Bud Foster mentioned at one point in an interview that they only spent about a week and a half to two weeks getting ready for GT. I remember this because I was also surprised to hear that it was that little. So I'm not sure if the whole "GT threw us off our gameplan" argument can really hold too much ground. (If I can find the interview I'll edit it into my post later)
In Beamer/Foster I trust...
I believe that Beamer and Foster will fix these problems (however, if they aren't fixed this week, I might start freaking out) but this trend of dropping what should be easy games is frustrating, to say the least. Logan needs to get his head on straight and the rest of the team needs to stick to basics and do the little things. I hope this puts a bad taste in all their mouths (like the JMU game) and they come out hungry to win the rest of the season after that fiasco last week.
Go Hokies!
Hilarious because I'm sure this is what the Pittsburgh blog looked like last week.
I'm sure it's a bit different this week. What have you done for me lately?
thank you!
everybody above and out there in hokienation who call for frank's head after every loss need some perspective. i've even heard the old "move logan to tight end" this week, smh. and for the bro up there who says the coaches dont care. . . i just dont even know where to begin with that one.
I just hope
10-3...
Can we make an ACC championship game? Thoughts?
How about 11-1
HOMER GOGGLES YEAH!!!!
I'll do you one better...
THIRTEENANDONE.