Am I the only one who felt like that game was like, 30-3 by halftime? The Hokies absolutely stuffed, dominated, and domesticated the Panthers all game long, so it was surprising and a little disappointing that the final score was only a 10-point differential.
Overall a great win though. I was nervous coming into the game because history. Now, we've got a bye week, which as Andy Bitter himself stated would probably be a noon kickoff, followed by Duke and BC. Don't know about you, but those matchups look pretty tasty for the Hokie defense, giving us a nice shot at an 8-1 start. I won't delve into where I think we'll be ranked if we win those games before going to Miami, but you've got to feel good about where we are now and where we should be in three weeks.
As for today's game, a few takeaways and things for the future...
Dadi is a Beast and Should Play More Often.
I don't know why we didn't think of this hybrid role before, and supposedly we thought it up after watching the Pitt-UVA film of all things, but I like it. Bane Gayle liked it. It should happen more often. Three sacks along with seven tackles is a hell of a game, and it puts our three best pass rushers all on the line, which is scary. The key reason this was successful is not just getting Dadi in the backfield, but the fact that the Pitt pass blockers had to account for five stellar pass rushers every down Dadi was in. In the second half especially, it wasn't just one player after Savage. At times, there were four and five maroon jerseys swarming in the backfield, and this stems from the O-line having to account for an extra pass rusher of Dadi's caliber. They couldn't double-team Gayle or Collins or Nicolas, because then you leave a gap for Skip or Big Lu. It was a genius strategy, and will be hard to stop for any team in the future, even when they know it's coming.
Cody Journell Was Back, Then He Wasn't.
Regardless of the miss in the 4th quarter, I was extremely pleased with Cody's rebound game, in which he set a career-long and tied a career-high in field goals made in a game. His confidence is back, and it should be back to stay despite the 33-yard miss. We'll need him in the future to win games for us, and I'm sure Frank will take advantage of the bye week to straighten out any further kinks in the kicking game.
The Run Game Has to Step Up.
There are a thousand excuses for the lack of run game all season long. Most of them have some legitimacy, too. The O-line is indeed banged up, JC wasn't completely healthy, teams are stacking the box. But at some point, Logan can not be the leading rusher every game. We have to gain more than 50 yards from our RBs. I don't have a surefire solution, but what I've noticed is that when the run game IS successful, it's because the plays are fast-developing. There are no gimmicks, no fakes, and no shotgun. The plays where Trey or JC get the ball and can hit the hole without hesitation are the ones that gain yards. The key, of course, is establishing those holes on the line. I'm also with Mason on the JC sweeps and Mangus screens/swing passes, but in moderation of course. No need to go Stiney on the screens.
Once the run game establishes itself, Logan will become even more dangerous, as passing lanes will become more open and available. That's what we need to have by the Miami game.
For now, we have a painful two weeks to wait until the next game. I don't know about you but I'll take 6-1 any day of the week.
Comments
I would love to see less of the zone read game. You don't have to run it 20 times a day for it to be dangerous, you just have to run it successfully and it becomes dangerous. I want to see more of the running backs hitting the holes fast and hard.
I don't know if they showed it on TV, but Logan looked to be in pain at the end of the first half. We really need Trey and JC to be our running game if we want to keep Logan health.
It's obvious, we're saving our shutout win for the hoos.
Hard to say I'm disappointed with eight sacks. But it's been mentioned a lot in post game quotes, we could have had eight more. I could understand Cato and Williams getting away from the pressure, but Savage was dead to rights many times and we simply just didn't make the play. That's got to get better. The only solution I can think of is that instead of trying to run through the QB and make the big hit, we need to break down in front of him and just bring him down when he tries to make a move.
The run game was again disappointing and Logan had some questionable throws, but still the offense looked better than they have at other times this year.
The D was amazing. Savage is a good QB and we made him look pretty average today and they never had a run game going. That D continues to impress me every week.
Overall, with this team, and win is a win. I never expect it to be pretty. But they always find a way to pull it out.
Sorry I had to.
Well, you'll Pull It Out if you Stick It In
Our D had excellent penetration. That's good. On the downside, lots of "shoulder violence"; but not great tackling. No opposing QB should be making 4 maroon jerseys miss in his own backfield. My guess is Bud Foster would be fighting mad at some of the misses when they review tape.
He was plenty mad during the game, I wouldn't want to imagine when they review tape. I could hear his displeasure a couple times during the game. Also, Dadi was just as fired up for the entire game. I'd be shocked if he wasn't a captain when he is a senior.
I imagine that, during the film session, Bud will run a missed sack and pause the tape. He will stand there, silently, staring at the guys as they all begin to contemplate their navels. They will all silently vow never to miss another TFL/sack, if only to avoid the piercing laser glare of Bud MF Foster.
Im glad we won but i would love to see us put some of the drives where we settled for field goals, into the endzone. Game looks closer on the score board then is should have.
- Jack Tyler on Dadi Nicholas, per Andy Bitter (and gizoogle.net)
Haha, that is awesome. Frank Beamer had some good quotes as well.
Don't count your Canes before we deal with the Devils and Eagles. The Eagles have given FSU and Clemson both fits in the last couple of weeks. Duke put up 55 points on that Pitt defense, we managed 19.
I agree with you in not looking ahead to much, but Pitt also put up 58 on the Duke defense soooo.....that's good
But we have no running attack. We could get close to 50-60 too probably if we were balanced and could finish drives with 6 pts. Plus, Duke has to play our defense in a few weeks, not Pitt's.
1st and Logan, 2nd and Logan, 3rd and Logan....
...punt
yeah pitt also put up 58 on Duke's defense.....they only managed 9 on ours
Isn't part of the reason Dadi hasn't been used like that much is because he can only rush the passer? Sounds like he doesn't know the schemes yet, they just tell him which side to go on and to go get the QB.
He peeled off and ran with the TE on a couple plays. But considering he has been a DE the entire time he has been in Blacksburg, I'd say it would take a little bit of time to learn coverage techniques.
Today was one upset after another. TAMU held off a late rally, and Manziel is still exciting to watch everytime he's on the field.
I feel very fortunate VT didn't suffer the fate of several ranked today. It was just one of those Saturdays.
This line was stuck in my head most of the game and after.
Dadi also got a helmet sticker from non other than Pitt alum Mark May on College Football Final.
Who's Your Dadi?
and what does he do?
Dadi
OK, my image is not posting so sorry for the non-pics
'A' for effort, buddy, I'll upvote you anyway