I've had that glorious 2014 game at OSU on our DVR for almost a year now, but had yet to sit down and watch it over again. Today was a pretty free Sat, so I fired it up and sat back to enjoy (only fast-fwd'ing through commercials).
My subject line really says it all. This was no fluke win by the good guys. VT went up to Columbus, OH and flat outplayed OSU. We executed with our new starting QB; OSU did not. Brewer played lights-out (especially on 3rd down). Barrett showed flashes of the greatness he would show throughout the remainder of the season, but he simply could not make the throws needed to beat our DBs. Or, to be fair to Barrett, his WRs couldn't do their part. And, as has been much publicized, our defensive scheme with the "bear" front pretty much shut down their running / option game. It was simply a brilliant defensive scheme, executed very well by the defense.
Now, let me be clear. I do not expect it to be as "easy" on Sep 7 in Blacksburg. As we all saw, OSU gelled (to say the least) throughout the rest of last season. They will be a more formidable opponent in 2 weeks in Lane. But let's also recognize that VT should be much improved on offense this season, with an equally devastating defense. At least on paper. They obviously have to prove it through execution on the field. But, I am confident we will again be a match-up problem for OSU. I'll stop short of predicting the upset. But, if we execute anywhere close to how we did last year in Columbus, I give us a fair shot in 2 weeks.
I realize I'm on a VT fan site and therefore preaching to the choir. But, I'm flat out tired of hearing the national media pundits almost dismissing OSU's first game this season. I get it, they did what they did following the VT game last season, and we did what we did. But, if you watched that 2014 game (as I just did), there is no way OSU (or the media) should think of last season's game as a fluke.
Comments
I'm not any of the great writers on this site but I did the same thing! I hate how we are not getting any credit for last year and honestly I don't care how well teams do their last game. The offseason changes everything! What teams fires on all cylinders the first game? I hope we do but expect both teams to have moments of shaking the rust off. We can take these guys!
LETS GOOO!!!!!
I don't think it was a fluke, but it was a perfect storm.
You've heard all the excuses/facts about Ohio State with their freshman QB, 2nd youngest offensive line in the country in terms of starts last year, loss of our leader and two time conference offensive player of the year 2 week before the game, etc. That was one factor.
Secondly, our defense played pretty porously the entire first half of the year last year, not just vs VT. We had several decent outings vs Penn State and MSU, then put it all together vs Wisconsin, Alabama and Oregon.
And then you have Bud doing Bud things, and that just created a perfect storm to all his scheme and coaching to punch Meyer and the OSU offense in the face and not let them dictate the game. It all came together brilliantly.
To throw those results out the window when the large majority of those players return (8 starters returning) is pretty disingenuous, no matter how you want to spin it. Ohio State was hitting on ALL cylanders defensively and offensively the last half of the year last year. That can't be ignored. Will it tell the whole story? No. Same with VT. Injuries were a major concern as was the depth behind those injured.
The first game, depth pretty much goes out the window so that helps VT a ton since Ohio State is extremely deep. Anything can happen on September 7th, and I don't think anyone is saying that VT didn't deserve that win last year. They took it to us.
I expect a very solid game this year, and I don't expect a blowout. VT is at home with what will probably be top 5 defense nationally for 2015 based on every team statistic. It should be a great one.
Well put. I expect this year to be a slugfest. Something that ends 24-17 or something. What I feel less confident about is who will have the 24.
It won't surprise me if it's a slugfest with a couple of scores that are break downs in coverage.
The only question will be which team gets those scores.
Indeed. Eliminating the big play is the biggest factor for us, perhaps for both teams.
That's a fair response. It was in many ways a perfect storm. But, VT still had to execute the plan, and they did very very well. Also, I just can't get over what Brewer did in that game. He was simply clutch on SO many throws. And Lefty called one HECK of a game. The play calling was excellent.
Decent outing vs Penn State?? If by 'decent' you mean OSU basically got 10 points on pretty questionable calls in an eventual 2OT game, then yes, it was a decent outing.
He was talking about defense, specifically
I was talking defensively.
I guess I'd have to agree with the "perfect storm". OSU's inexperienced o-line and inconsistent WR play definitely helped out the Hokies. I know it'd be easy for me to say that I thought VT could win before the game started, but if anybody will believe me, I honestly thought that once Braxton Miller went down. JT Barrett is a talented player, but having never seen how VT's defense plays, there is no way anybody should have expected him to have played like a star during that game.
Coach Beamer and co. definitely had a solid gameplan that they executed well. But at the same time, having a solid gameplan is just a small part of the equation. Getting inexperienced players to be comfortable in executing the gameplan in front of a tough environment was probably the hardest part. For one, it was the o-line's first season with Coach Searels, with a couple of projected starters having their careers ended before the season. The defense had two new starters at DE in Dadi Nicolas and Ken Ekanem, a new starter (I think) at DT in Corey Marshall, a first time (but well versed) starter at middle linebacker, and a hobbled Brandon Facyson.
As for the rest of the offense, Michael Brewer had only been on campus for a couple of months, switching from an Air Raid style spread offense to a pro-style one. There were two true freshmen running backs, two true freshmen wide receivers, a redshirt freshman playing TE for the first time, as well as a true freshman kicker and true freshman punt returner. The fact that all of this came together, I guess you could say it was a "perfect storm".
So even though OSU was more inexperienced than usual at the time, I don't think that should be used as an excuse , given that VT was arguably just as or more inexperienced given the number of true freshmen/new starters that were playing. Given the fact that both teams have a ton of players returning, I'd say that this should be a tight game.
To me, it looks like the VT offense will be the difference maker for the Hokies in this one. Now that Urban Meyer is aware that Coach Foster's D is ferociously aggressive, he might be able to better prepare the Buckeyes offense more adequately. However, now that VT's o-line seems to have gotten a lot better, along with the fact that Michael Brewer and the WRs have improved, the Buckeye's D may have a lot on their plate. It doesn't help that some prominent players on OSU have been suspended either. OSU's offense will be formidable, so it'll be interesting to see how they match up with VT's defense.
You may choose to call it a perfect storm. But, I choose to call it coaching. I believe that's what Urban Meyer called it after the game, too, yes?
Now, Urban Meyer is an excellent coach, and the talent across the board is really exciting to think about. Should be another chess match this year.
Is it Labor Day, yet?!?!
Bud is just one reason why y'all won as I said, just FYI.
The losing Braxton Miller 2 weeks before the game spiel is such a weak excuse. He was injured in the Orange Bowl and held out of spring practice so JT Barrett took the 1st team reps throughout the spring. Miller was also held out of the start of camp, including scrimmages and practices, giving JT more time with the 1st team. So OSU literally had the entire spring and much of fall camp with Barrett working under center with the starters. Meanwhile, Brewer hadn't even enrolled at VT until the summer and only had fall camp to learn the VT offense and prepare for the season- not to mention the starting WRs were true freshmen enrolled in the fall. Call it a perfect storm of you want, but there were plenty of reasons why nearly everyone expected OSU to roll the Hokies before kickoff, yet in the aftermath it's been a deluge of excuses and backtracking.
Braxton was participating in Spring practices but not taking contact (not unusual for starters). He also was participating in fall camp, not sure where you were getting your info. He was held out of several scrimmages to not take contact. He was injured August 18th, the VT game was September 6th.
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I can't argue if that's incorrect info since other than the spring game, which Miller did not play in, I didn't watch any OSU practices. I can see how it's mentally challenging to officially lose Miller for the season but I still contend Barrett was more experienced in the OSU system and don't think it's a stretch to think he had worked with the first team more than Brewer had coming into the season (VT's QB competition spilled into fall camp last year).
Another story states that Braxton started throwing mid-June. Seems like it would've been quite difficult for him to practice before he was throwing the ball.
From that article, I found this to be pretty interesting:
Miller has a $1 million total disability policy that he could collect if he never plays football again, a source told ESPN. That premium has been paid by Ohio State, according to the source, but Miller does not have loss-of-value insurance that would cover him if he significantly slipped in the NFL draft.
I wouldn't bet on the game. I like our chances, but Urban Meyer will have his team ready to take revenge. Their offensive line will be a lot different from the one we faced last year. Hopefully, our entire offense will be improved. I'm excited!
I think it was the perfect storm. I thought so at the time as well, and was pretty optimistic going in.
This year should be a good game as well, but OSU really has VT in their sights, and has had a lot of time to focus on that game. They'll be coming with everything they've got. VT will as well.
My plan is to go into the game with the same expectation as last year, and that is that we'll probably play them close and most probably won't win. That way the letdown isn't so bad and the homerun is a grand slam.
This thread has convinced me to spend my Saturday night watching the game on YouTube. If this doesn't tell you how ready I am for the season to start, I have no clue what will.
I'm new to this site and don't know how to embed videos or do gifs yet, but if I could, I'd embed that scene from Rocky I where he goes to the ring in the middle of the night before he fights Creed - he comes home and tells Adrian he can't beat him..."but if I can go toe to toe (or something like that) and go the distance," That's my realistic view of this thing - we have to go toe to toe with the champ and match up punch for punch and keep it close - we do that and I'll be proud - If we go in there and give up idiotic TDs (see bama 2013) I'm going to be bumming...we'll see.
In the Bama game, in spite of all the return points we gave up, we managed to lose a predictable game by a large margin and still feel pretty good about our team. I think last season we could have had a similar outlook had we come out with a loss- I know I wasn't expecting a win.
After three mediocre seasons, it seems like the expectations should be lower. But I'm having a hard time picturing a scenario where we walk out losing and manage to feel rosy about where we're at.
In summary, it feels like we were one or two seasons late to the rebuilding party. Then we took three seasons to rebuild. Feels like we've got enough pieces in place to go 10+ W again finally
A leg for your profile pic!
ESPNU is replaying the VT-Ohio State game again tonight from midnight until 2 am. They won't reshow it again until 4 am on Labor Day. I find it very interesting that it is not being shown except in the wee hours. You would almost wonder what someone is afraid of....
They actually made yesterday an "Ohio State" day and started at midnight showing every game they could from last season. The first game against Navy was on CBS sports network so obviously they had to skip that one.
Thus the first game at midnight was you guys.
I bet you that they've spent all summer preparing to show that game.
haha. They really did. Was not a great experience and many blamed Gene Smith for the whole Navy debacle in the first place.
Rumor is Meyer went to his office after the game and told him never again.
No offense but everyone gave Notre Dame massive shit for playing Navy every year, especially when ND had that crazy winning streak. OSU plays one game against them to open a season and it's that big of a deal? Is it really difficult to see why people consider Meyer to be one of the biggest whiners in CFB?
I've heard less bellyaching from Mike London when UVA scheduled Oregon, UCLA, and BYU, which is saying something.
He didn't say anything to the media, don't see how that is whining. In fact I'd like to see any examples of Urban whining since he got to Ohio State.
Answer me this: What is the benefit of playing Navy?
They run a weird scheme which is awfully time consuming to prepare for. They are notorious for hurting the opposition with "legal" cutblocks. And to top it all off, you basically get zero credit for beating them.
It makes complete sense to leave them off the schedule.
So, you don't like playing Navy. We play GT every year and feel the same exact thing. The triple option takes a lot of prep and can derail defensive momentum from week to week. However, we deal with it every year so vocalizing your concern will fall on deaf ears here.
I'm not going to look up every interview with Meyer in the last 3 years. My mind was made up on the guy when he left Florida to "spend time with his family" and it took all of one year for him to renege on that promise.
Part of my post was that Notre Dame plays Navy every year and seems to manage. I wouldn't think the mighty Buckeyes would be so flustered by a one off game against a service academy team.
Doesn't make him a whiner. People don't like him, I get it.
He's made piece with his family and has admitted he wasn't running the program the right way in Florida. If people want to hate him for life for that, that's their issue.
And my only point, which you refused to answer is what benefit does scheduling Navy bring? Any reasonable person would conclude that it was stupid of Ohio State to schedule them.
Yeesh. I doubt I'd like Meyer as a person but it's not like I whisper his name every night Arya Stark style. I imagine he's a workaholic like plenty of other folks and, despite maybe not stressing as much about losses these days, he still lives for work and that has consumed most of his identity.
As for the Navy thing, you avoided all of my points to pose that question but I'll answer it anyway. Navy is easily one of the biggest name teams for a non-power 5 team and gets a fair amount of national attention and respect considering they field a team about the caliber of ECU. I can't recall a team whose national title aspirations were ruined because they played Navy but if that did happen, the team almost certainly didn't deserve that consideration. Since that's the level Ohio State is at, I don't see why it's such a big deal. Finally, with a committee selecting the playoff teams, you are discounting that those folks are smart enough to realize the unique challenge in preparing for Navy and that they might even consider it a positive to schedule such game against a service academy team.
Leg for use of "renege".
Underrated post of the year IMO
I've rewatched the first 6 games of last season so far and I agree that it was no fluke, but there was such a stark contrast just the week after in the 1st quarter of the ECU game. Not sure how a team can play so differently, regardless of the systems they faced.
I have noticed that the guys making all the plays were Kyshoen Jarrett, Chase Williams, Isaiah Ford and the two freshmen RBs. At least in the first 6 games, they were playmakers regularly. It concerns me that we have two fresh faces at rover and Mike, but Ford and the RBs will make noise this year.
Facyson getting hurt at the end of the Ohio State game made a pretty big difference. He got picked on against ECU and simply couldn't move like he needs to. That is not the case this year.
Hokies are going to miss Chase Williams on Labor Day.
Yes, absolutely. But, it was Deon Clarke who thrived more against OSU last season.
It was a combination of a lot of factors. Firstly, Brewer was on FIRE. He had the game of his life in the Shoe. Yes, he made some great throws, but he did get lucky in a few throws such.as the throw to Rogers in triple coverage. It worked, but it was risky.
We absolutely dominated them for the first half or so, but then we stalled offensively for most of the 2nd half. OSU clawed back and tied the game. However, we responded with a great drive that ended with a score and we let the defense do the rest.
So in short, we dominated them offensively in the first half and rode our defense for the most part in the second. Keep in mind OSU had 2 missed easy FGs as well, although we missed one too. Our offense should've been better 2nd half but it worked out for us thanks to our defense.
It was the perfect storm of A. Inexperienced OSU and B. Brewer playing lights out C. OUtplaying them defensively . I don't think we could've pulled it off later in the season once OSU started working as a team. The game 2 weeks from now will be VERY different, but if we can stop the run I think we'll have a chance.
See, I rewatched it recently, and I feel the opposite way. We made A TON of mistakes on offense (and a few on defense). We got extremely lucky that they missed TWO field goals. I think the reason the defense did so well was because they were playing with a lead, so it was more Barrett having added pressure, even before you consider that we blitzed the hell out of him. During the second and third quarters, it's really apparent that OSU had a very talented team that was very dangerous when allowed to play their game. Last year was last year. It has zero bearing on what happens this year. I don't expect either team to be nearly as sloppy as last go round, and this game is going to be tense for 60+ minutes.
I wouldn't bet on this game not being sloppy. Everyone tends to be sloppy week one.
AM is who scares me in this game. He still doesn't pick the right gap consistently and that's going to lead to some huge plays for the OSU offense.
I think this game comes down to whether or not our offense can put together long drives. We have to keep their offense off the field, just like we did last year for the most part.
Many of them still think it's a fluke, and that we will roll over and play dead, that they will win 100-0, and braxton and elliot will run for 500 yds a piece, both qb's will throw for 1000 yds and that the best D in college football will just be overwhelmed (like last year haha) and that they are the only team to have gotten better in all areas, a lot of their fans will be truly disappointed to see that offense get worn down by a DT position that is 3 strings deep. I hope their coach and players are just as arrogant and mad that they can't even play fundamentally sound football and just force and rush plays and get nowhere and draw penalties!
Well, a lot of Ohio State fans have an inflated ego right now. They saw VT struggle down the stretch and then they saw Ohio State smack down the #1 and #2 teams in college football in consecutive weeks to win the playoff. Right now these fans feel invincible. Some of this ego is merited, Ohio State has more talent top to bottom than anyone in the country. Ohio State fans look at our starting lineup and notice that there are 12 starters who will be taken in the NFL draft this year. However, these same fans completely overlook VT's talent and scheme. I think a lot of these fans still underestimate Bud Foster as well. They also have no idea what Ohio State is walking into with Lane stadium. I think a lot of fans assume that they are walking into something like Purdue and not a nightmare like Penn State. Oh well, every fan base has some ignorant fans. The majority of football savvy Ohio State fans I know expect a slugfest. Many I know actually believe VT will probably win.
I honestly can't blame them. Riding a national championship, I would be spitting the Koolaid on everyone as well. That said, while confident, I am also a realist and would still be wicked scared against a team that beat us the year prior on said national championship run.
Oh yeah, I'd spit Koolaid like it was my day job. Can't hate on fans enjoying the heck out of reaching the pinnacle of the sport. Still, with very few exceptions, every champ in the history of college football has had to come crashing down to reality at some point the next year....
You know what I want to hear? I want to hear Ohio State fans at the end of the season say,
"Over the last four years we've played 48 regular season games and we've won 46 of them. And the two we lost were to those @!#$%^*& Hokies."
And I'd be fine with that if we have two of these:
One of my biggest worries is the fact that on all the deep balls Barrett threw that game, none of them were back shoulder. This is something ECU obviously saw on film, and the next week, they tore us apart with it. There were at least 4 instances in the OSU game where Barrett threw a deep ball and one of our DBs were able to get their hand up into the catching pocket of the OSU receiver. On back shoulder throws, this isn't possible if the DB's back is turned to the QB. If we want to win again on Labor Day, the defense is going to have to play a great game, and getting beat on 4 or 5 20-yard passes or more is not going to do it.
back shoulder throws with some (all?) of your top WR suspended? I'm not terribly worried about that. Even if JT gets it on target, the WR still has to haul it in.
DISCLAIMER: I'm at least a couple weeks past the point of all pragmatism when it comes to this game. Orange and maroon glasses are permanently welded to my face and I can't wait for this game to get here. 2 WEEKS!!!!
They're still Ohio State, though. Regardless, they are still defending national champions and the #1 team in college football. Their receivers are going to be capable of making tough catches and whichever quarterback plays is going to be capable of making that throw.
Didn't even read the post, haven't read any of the comments. I've been out of things for the past week for my sister's wedding and I'm ready to hop right back on the hype train. It was no fluke, Danny caught the ball, Tyrod is awesome and the universe revolves around Michael Brewer's Andromeda-sized titanium balls.
2 weeks.
this is a question for French well just because Ive watched this game a few times usually on a boring weekend night with a couple (maybe few to many burbons) and I really don't remember chase Williams having a big impact in that game. so my question is do you think Andrew Motuapuaka is that much of a liability in that game as we think?
I'm no French, but speaking from just re-watching highlights from our games where AM was playing last year, you can pick him out of position or making an error in the majority of big plays where he was involved. I won't say he caused any Ws personally but I would support that he was a major liability.
I agree with that and I know some games that will really hurt us if that is the case again but did they just run away from chase in the OSU game? or what?? it just seems like he did not have an impact in that game one way or the other so im just wondering if AM will either or if it was maybe chase funneling tackles to others that why his tackle #s are so low in that game.