Thanks! I just saw that! Great reward for some serious character and effort the past few weeks...but I hope we play with a chip on our shoulder for the remainder of the year too.
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Does Ryan Willis even run a read option? Half the time the plays look like there's no actual read or decision being made. I feel like they just like to run plays out of that look for the sale of multiple plays out of the same look instead of actually utilizing the option
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That read option by Kansas last night was shredding BC. Insane. And their QB was steamrolling people. Willis hasn't fooled anyone on a read option which makes me think he's not reading anything.
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We can for sure. How? Beat Furman Duke and Miami handily. A regular VT team would make quick work of them, this year's may struggle against all three. If we get it done however we'll be in pretty great shape down the stretch
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True. From what I was able to watch BC looked absolutely lazy on defense and incoherent on offense. They probably overlooked Kansas and had a bad week of practice, but still. No one should lose to Kansas. And no team should lose to a team that lost to Kansas.
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We have to win six more games to be bowl eligible. Even making the dangerous assumption that we beat the two FCS teams I have a hard time finding four other wins let alone enough to be ranked.
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Last night was the first time we were ranked. While promoting the FSU vs #25 loluva matchup during the BC game, the commentator referred to them as the Hokies. I got a nice laugh out of it and then the sads set in.
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I wouldn't bet on it but I think people count out how easy it is to sneak in. By like Week 8 or 9 so many teams will have 3+ losses and a team with our schedule *should* be able to wind up in the 20's. It really wouldn't take a lot to do it but this team also has set a very low bar for themselves over the last year.
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Lol. Kansas doubled BC last night. Kansas!! Like others are saying, VT needs to win 6 in a row to be ranked and I think that's highly unlikely. Unless something magically changes I don't see this team winning more than 7 games this season. I really don't think a ranking is in the cards for this team
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Gotta get 9 wins. A 9-3, P5 team will be ranked regardless of schedule at the end of the year. If we pull a victory over Miami or uva on TV, then an 8-4 season might do it.
No one's going to remember the performance against BC - just that we lost by 7 on the road of the season opener. Just win baby - forget about how it looked or point differential, this year is all about final result.
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Heck no. This super soft team is ideally matched to its super soft schedule. If we continue to be unable to run the ball against the Little Sisters of the Poor, I shudder to think of the Notre Dame, Miami and other games.
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If this team did somehow pull of a bit of a winning streak, there is no doubt they would lose one before being ranked. This is not a top 25 team and not a coaching staff to make a top 25 team out of it.
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Looking like it will be competitive. GT is currently trailing Citadel, and we're struggling with Furman, so I predict a competitive Techmo Bowl this year.
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I stand by what I said. Posting a thread asking if we'd be ranked this year, with a 1-1 record with an underwhelming win over a severely overmatched foe and a loss to a team that, if they hadn't quite been finished off yet, were almost done with a drubbing at the hands of perennial football powerhouse Kansas, was a misguided attempt at stirring up discussion. Conversation in the moment was going to be fairly negative, and the following day it would either get worse with a close win over (or, God forbid, a loss to) an FCS foe or disappear entirely with a blowout. And guess which one happened.
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Yes, we're ranked now. No, we didn't look like a team that would deserve to be ranked anytime in 2019 when this thread was posted or during the few weeks after. Yes, you were one of few whose glasses were the right shades of orange and maroon to block out enough of our horrid play to hold out hope of a turnaround. Congratulations, you win the internet this week.
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I know that Hokies fans wished we could have the Stanford offense Luck played for. Our offense can't get much worse. Kellen Moore seems to be doing well in Dallas. I say roll the dice on a guy like Luck and see if we can get a diamond in the rough. Best case scenario he invigorates our offense and is able to put a consistent, fun, productive offense on the field for the first time in 2 decades. Worst case is status quo. What do we have to lose?
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Whatever type of offense we employ, we need to find an identity and fast. I still don't understand what we are trying to do with this offense. We have a very limited ability to execute a power run game, and we are deathly afraid to let our QB air it out too much for fear of turnovers. So right now we are limited to screens, jet sweeps, and lots of other east-west stuff. If we are going to stick with our passive blocking techniques, we need to get a QB who can see the field and make all the throws. If not, we need to learn to impose our will in the running game on a consistent basis. I don't see an offense out there right now that is going to be able to score much against P5 competition. A Stanford style power run game would be great, but at the end of the day, I want an offense that can at least execute one thing to a high level consistently. We currently are not doing anything well.
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I agree with all those things. It doesn't even have to be Luck. I'm just seeing what Kellen Moore is doing in Dallas and wondering if VT would be better off taking a chance on a guy who played QB at the highest level and understands offense. It's absolutely infuriating to me that teams all over the country are able to field competent offenses but at the same time everyone who has coached in Blacksburg in the last 20 years has made it look so bloody difficult.
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what on god's green earth makes you think andrew luck would have any interest in coaching the hokie offense??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
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We keep doing that and they keep failing. Kellen Moore is killing it as a first time OC in the NFL. Why can't we give an NFL QB who played in a productive college offense a chance to bring a competent offense to Blacksburg? Something that hasn't been done in 2+ decades
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Well, in the season of NCAA 14 that I am playing on PS3, I'm currently 5-1 and not ranked (lone loss to Louisville in the season opener). Willis just went down and will be out the next 4 weeks. I'll keep you posted on how HH does for me.
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Heisman Trophy winner and back to back National Champions with him at the helm. Went to the Orange Bowl in the season mentioned above and beat Oklahoma to finish 13-1.
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Well, what a roller coaster this season has been. My wife loves to hear my say, "I was wrong" and I was wrong about the "meaningless preseason ranking." It really only counts at the end of the season, though; keep on keeping on, Hokies!
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This thread proves how long a season is and how much growth a team can exhibit in that time. It can work the other way as well. I'm proud of this team. There were parallels drawn preseason to the 2004 team and as of right now it isn't too far from truth.
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The last three games I think our defense has performed at an elite level, and if we can keep up the pace we've picked up, we'll handle the Coastal and give Clumpsun a whole lot more than they want. We're going to need every bit of that D to get to the ACCCG, but I'm liking the way things are trending for us.
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I mean we completely shut down ND for 3.9 quarters of football. We kept and explosive Wake (albeit missing one of their top targets the whole game and Suratt for part of it) in check. We destroyed GTs will to play offense in the first quarter.
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I think it's fair to ask, has their been another season where a VT team has turned around like this team has? The closest analogy I can think of is 2010 starting the season losing to Boise State and JMU and then running the table up through the conference title. Honestly this season still feels like more of a turnaround as I'm not convinced that 2010 team was ever actually bad, just got dealt a rough very early schedule for how young the defense was (and subsequently wasn't yet emotionally mature enough to come up to play little old JMU). This team actually seems to have improved, and has gotten leaps better every week.
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1995
But the improvement this year for both the team and individual performance has been amazing. All these young guys who didn't seem to have much, if any, game to game improvement over last year and into the early part of this season, have suddenly just started clicking and rolling. It's been awesome to watch over the last several weeks
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We were a legit bad team the first half of the season. We struggled against bad opponents, lost to a bad BC and got shithoused by a bad Duke.
6 weeks later we look like the second best team in the conference and the team which should be the favorite to win the division.
I honestly can't think of another turnaround like this. It really has come out of left field. Fuente is going to go from legitimate hot seat and potential candidate to be let go to very much in the running for ACC Coach of the Year. I don't think we've seen anything like this since maybe the '95 season.
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The turnaround isn't that crazy given that Ryan Willis is BUTT and Hendon Hooker is GOOD.
The entire team has played with more confidence since the most important position on the field has been properly filled. The talent was always there, but the attitude/confidence was not.
Go back and watch how bad Willis was against BC and Duke. Not a surprise.
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Ryan Willis only controls one side of the football and I know offense contributes to the defense wearing out but....
We gave up
35 to BC
45 to Duke
35 to Miami
41 to UNC (*OT)
compared to...
21 to ND
17 to Wake
0 to GT
This turn around is A LOT deeper than just a qb change. We've played 2 of the best offenses we've faced all season and they couldn't do anything against us. When some of the worst offenses tore us apart early in the season.
In b4 the Offense killed the defense with Willis: see ND our offense was not productive and the D handled ND.
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We were being housed on time of possession. We have a young defense and they were playing all the time. We had tons of 3 and outs. Duke attacked after turnovers and took advantage of a defense not ready. We have had a lot less 3 and outs, out time of possession against wake was a masterpiece. Our defense now looks like they can play without thinking, but we had to have the offense carry them early on, that didn't happen. The defense looks better now that they aren't going back out 30 seconds after they got off the field. They look better now that the Dline is finally coming into their own. But that takes time, time that was just thrown away early on.
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Yes, but our defense looked gassed at the end of the game.
In addition, all over those 3 and outs took over a minute off the clock. In the Duke game we had several possessions of less than a minute of game time even if they were more than 3 plays. We shortened the ND game which helps a defense. ND started at the 32 yard line or worse all but twice, they never started with a short field either. We played a style that helped our defense.
But the other thing is that our defense is playing faster because they understand what they should be doing. This takes time, we need the offense to bail them out while they gelled, but we didn't get that. We got turnovers.
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It helps the team a lot when the offense is functional and not turning it over a bunch. Willis tossed five picks and lost two fumbles. Hooker has zero picks and three fumbles.
"In b4 the Offense killed the defense with Willis: see ND our offense was not productive and the D handled ND"
The defense cracked at the end. The offense had chances to salt the game away and couldn't do it. Shame that Hooker wasn't able to play.
Yes, the team is better overall. The biggest change is they've gone from a QB giving them below replacement-level production to a QB that's producing. It's hard to argue anything but Fuente picked the wrong QB to start the year, then fixed the mistake in time before the season was derailed.
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Willis was making poor choices, but that's certainly not the only argument one could make.
One could also argue that there was a lot of inexperience on the team all at once. Players who were playing their first games. There was no running game. The defense was disastrous. The offensive line were making huge mistakes. Willis was making mistakes, but he was also forced to carry the team on his back.
The team has improved significantly across the board, in all facets of the game. Players are trusting each other in a way they couldn't in the initial part of the season.
I think Hooker has proven to be the better QB, and can handle the job. But the team would not be successful right now if the coaching staff weren't doing a good job.
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Ryan Willis could not get a first down for long stretches. He instilled zero confidence.
That directly impacts the defense in a significant way. Yes, the defense has gotten better, but my point is that it is about attitude/confidence not talent. The same players put up those strong performances that you are referencing.
Winning is a mindset, and that's why teams like Miami, FSU, etc. have tons of talent but aren't winning.
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Going back through this thread was fun. I was convinced (at our lowest point) we had several uva douchebags trolls join tkp, who really relished kicking us when we were down. Still am convinced, and glad they crawled back to where they came from.
I'm not talking about our regular "I must be miserable" posters. IMO we were gullible as hell. They arrived when things were at their bleakest, and haven't been heard from since the boys found their mojo.
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Comments
Whats the threshold for plaid again?
Is this serious?
Yes this is a serious question.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say no.
The fuckin 90s
Why did anyone thing suit jackets 2 sizes too big looks good?
I'm more perturbed by the stupid ass tie...
I think that is a coat based off of the sleeve buttons, but still too big
Bless your heart
If we win every game left this season, yes.
Update: no.
Update?
Who knows? Just keep winning and let the polls do their thing.
We know, and the polls did do their thing. Ain't it grand?
Thanks! I just saw that! Great reward for some serious character and effort the past few weeks...but I hope we play with a chip on our shoulder for the remainder of the year too.
Not a chance, we will be lucky to beat Furman by more than 10
User name doesn't check out.
lmao I didn't even notice that. nice.
Leg for that, that was hilarious. I hope we turn it around
Will Ryan Willis learn how to read the read option?
EDIT: Hookers can read better than Willis
Answer is a no. If he hasn't figured it by now....
Does Ryan Willis even run a read option? Half the time the plays look like there's no actual read or decision being made. I feel like they just like to run plays out of that look for the sale of multiple plays out of the same look instead of actually utilizing the option
That read option by Kansas last night was shredding BC. Insane. And their QB was steamrolling people. Willis hasn't fooled anyone on a read option which makes me think he's not reading anything.
Maybe the top 20, but probably not. We may get to "others receiving votes".
We'd need to win our next 5 or 6 games. If we did that, we would probably crack the top 25.
I'd give us about a 5% chance of that happening.
We can for sure. How? Beat Furman Duke and Miami handily. A regular VT team would make quick work of them, this year's may struggle against all three. If we get it done however we'll be in pretty great shape down the stretch
Absolutely not. Unless something significantly changes, his team will be lucky to go 6-6.
Let's focus on winning this week first.
He doesn't play for the team so he can speculate without much penalty
After seeing BC get throttled by Kansas last night, I remain unsure what to think of this team.
Exactly. Kansas lost to coastal carolina last week too.
How did Brock play?
Holy smokes, I didn't even know they played until this comment. Oh...oh no.
Cocaine is a hell of a drug.
Did you bring enough to share with the class?
We lost to a team that lost to Kansas. Us being ranked this year is highly unlikely.
In 2014, an Ohio State university lost to a team that subsequently lost to ECU and still ended up with a national championship and a #1 ranking.
I agree with the sentiment, but the whole "transitive property in football" really never checks out.
True. From what I was able to watch BC looked absolutely lazy on defense and incoherent on offense. They probably overlooked Kansas and had a bad week of practice, but still. No one should lose to Kansas. And no team should lose to a team that lost to Kansas.
We have to win six more games to be bowl eligible. Even making the dangerous assumption that we beat the two FCS teams I have a hard time finding four other wins let alone enough to be ranked.
Only 1 fcs win counts toward bowl eligibility 😬
Yeah. So, wait... I think I've gotten myself confused. Is it seven wins or five FBS wins and one FCS win? Shit.
5+1. We have 1 FBS already. Assuming we beat Furman today, we need 4 more FBS wins. 4 out of GT, Duke, Miami, UNC, Wake, UVA, Pitt, ND.
Right. That's what I thought. So really the Rhode Island game is irrelevant. Unless we lose today haha.
Yes, yes, that was a funny joke you just made.
Last night was the first time we were ranked. While promoting the FSU vs #25 loluva matchup during the BC game, the commentator referred to them as the Hokies. I got a nice laugh out of it and then the sads set in.
Queue Jim Mora "Playoffs".
"Ranked?! Ranked?!"
I know we finished the 2015 season without ever getting ranked. Wonder when the last time was before that
Probably 1992. Maybe 1993.
I wouldn't bet on it but I think people count out how easy it is to sneak in. By like Week 8 or 9 so many teams will have 3+ losses and a team with our schedule *should* be able to wind up in the 20's. It really wouldn't take a lot to do it but this team also has set a very low bar for themselves over the last year.
Lol. Kansas doubled BC last night. Kansas!! Like others are saying, VT needs to win 6 in a row to be ranked and I think that's highly unlikely. Unless something magically changes I don't see this team winning more than 7 games this season. I really don't think a ranking is in the cards for this team
Boston college losing to Kansas cant help
Gotta get 9 wins. A 9-3, P5 team will be ranked regardless of schedule at the end of the year. If we pull a victory over Miami or uva on TV, then an 8-4 season might do it.
No one's going to remember the performance against BC - just that we lost by 7 on the road of the season opener. Just win baby - forget about how it looked or point differential, this year is all about final result.
Not if Miami has a losing record too.
Well, yeah. We know that we can get ranked. The question was do you think those conditions are going to get met.
Heck no. This super soft team is ideally matched to its super soft schedule. If we continue to be unable to run the ball against the Little Sisters of the Poor, I shudder to think of the Notre Dame, Miami and other games.
I think you meant to post this in the Basketball Forum.
VT will make the top 25!
In soccer.
At some point people will realize that we don't have a good football team.
Today is not that day.
If we win out and beat Clemson, do we get in the playoff??
Today... might be that day.
If this team did somehow pull of a bit of a winning streak, there is no doubt they would lose one before being ranked. This is not a top 25 team and not a coaching staff to make a top 25 team out of it.
No.
OK yes.
Lmfao there's exactly a 0.00% chance of that happening
Lol
👀
This is why my manager always tells me to put these percentages out to 3 decimal places
Lol
Watching this and remembering this thread is out there is hilarious.
Definitely making the bottom 10 this week, so kinda ranked?
Nah, only if we lose.
Fam, you can downvote me but imma speak the dam truth.
I will be glad if we win more than one ACC game this year.
Who is the one you are giving us?
Giving would be a generous word, but GT isn't very good...
Looking like it will be competitive. GT is currently trailing Citadel, and we're struggling with Furman, so I predict a competitive Techmo Bowl this year.
0-2 Citadel only lost by a combined 14 points to powerhouses like Elon and Towson. Have some respect for the *checks notes* Bulldogs!
Yeah, when Willis wins the Heisman. Seriously, after today's game, it is time to delete this ridiculous thread.
Threads only get deleted if they violate the community guidelines. This one is merely misguided.
👀
I stand by what I said. Posting a thread asking if we'd be ranked this year, with a 1-1 record with an underwhelming win over a severely overmatched foe and a loss to a team that, if they hadn't quite been finished off yet, were almost done with a drubbing at the hands of perennial football powerhouse Kansas, was a misguided attempt at stirring up discussion. Conversation in the moment was going to be fairly negative, and the following day it would either get worse with a close win over (or, God forbid, a loss to) an FCS foe or disappear entirely with a blowout. And guess which one happened.
The one where were ranked now 🤷🏻♂️
Yes, we're ranked now. No, we didn't look like a team that would deserve to be ranked anytime in 2019 when this thread was posted or during the few weeks after. Yes, you were one of few whose glasses were the right shades of orange and maroon to block out enough of our horrid play to hold out hope of a turnaround. Congratulations, you win the internet this week.
No.
I say we hire Andrew Luck to coach the offense
Would he be a Pep protege?
I know that Hokies fans wished we could have the Stanford offense Luck played for. Our offense can't get much worse. Kellen Moore seems to be doing well in Dallas. I say roll the dice on a guy like Luck and see if we can get a diamond in the rough. Best case scenario he invigorates our offense and is able to put a consistent, fun, productive offense on the field for the first time in 2 decades. Worst case is status quo. What do we have to lose?
Whatever type of offense we employ, we need to find an identity and fast. I still don't understand what we are trying to do with this offense. We have a very limited ability to execute a power run game, and we are deathly afraid to let our QB air it out too much for fear of turnovers. So right now we are limited to screens, jet sweeps, and lots of other east-west stuff. If we are going to stick with our passive blocking techniques, we need to get a QB who can see the field and make all the throws. If not, we need to learn to impose our will in the running game on a consistent basis. I don't see an offense out there right now that is going to be able to score much against P5 competition. A Stanford style power run game would be great, but at the end of the day, I want an offense that can at least execute one thing to a high level consistently. We currently are not doing anything well.
I agree with all those things. It doesn't even have to be Luck. I'm just seeing what Kellen Moore is doing in Dallas and wondering if VT would be better off taking a chance on a guy who played QB at the highest level and understands offense. It's absolutely infuriating to me that teams all over the country are able to field competent offenses but at the same time everyone who has coached in Blacksburg in the last 20 years has made it look so bloody difficult.
what on god's green earth makes you think andrew luck would have any interest in coaching the hokie offense??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
I say we hire someone who is actually a coach.
We keep doing that and they keep failing. Kellen Moore is killing it as a first time OC in the NFL. Why can't we give an NFL QB who played in a productive college offense a chance to bring a competent offense to Blacksburg? Something that hasn't been done in 2+ decades
Well, in the season of NCAA 14 that I am playing on PS3, I'm currently 5-1 and not ranked (lone loss to Louisville in the season opener). Willis just went down and will be out the next 4 weeks. I'll keep you posted on how HH does for me.
How did HH do for you?
Heisman Trophy winner and back to back National Champions with him at the helm. Went to the Orange Bowl in the season mentioned above and beat Oklahoma to finish 13-1.
Yes but only on a technicality because we were in the top 25 in a meaningless preseason Sports Illustrated poll.
Well, what a roller coaster this season has been. My wife loves to hear my say, "I was wrong" and I was wrong about the "meaningless preseason ranking." It really only counts at the end of the season, though; keep on keeping on, Hokies!
The comments in this thread didn't age well.
I mean come on, after Duke the comments to this thread were very valid.
The fact we are ranked after THAT kind of low point is.... Shocking
*Whispers* This thread was only after the ODU and Furman game. Duke hadn't even happened yet.
This thread proves how long a season is and how much growth a team can exhibit in that time. It can work the other way as well. I'm proud of this team. There were parallels drawn preseason to the 2004 team and as of right now it isn't too far from truth.
Eight points from being a one loss team!
Our defense has grown so much across the board. Not elite yet, but improving every game and there's still a ton of ceiling left
The last three games I think our defense has performed at an elite level, and if we can keep up the pace we've picked up, we'll handle the Coastal and give Clumpsun a whole lot more than they want. We're going to need every bit of that D to get to the ACCCG, but I'm liking the way things are trending for us.
We performed very well, but the quality of opponent is a huge question
I mean we completely shut down ND for 3.9 quarters of football. We kept and explosive Wake (albeit missing one of their top targets the whole game and Suratt for part of it) in check. We destroyed GTs will to play offense in the first quarter.
Thank you. You defended my position perfectly. I was about to shout but you said it all quietly.
I'm gonna go with yes
Comments #agedlikemilk
Smile.gif
Gladly eating crow.
This aged like a fine wine.
Bottled in a clear glass bottle in direct sunlight and not sealed with a cork?
Glad I stayed out of this one. After that Duke game though, I would have given a resounding no
I think it's fair to ask, has their been another season where a VT team has turned around like this team has? The closest analogy I can think of is 2010 starting the season losing to Boise State and JMU and then running the table up through the conference title. Honestly this season still feels like more of a turnaround as I'm not convinced that 2010 team was ever actually bad, just got dealt a rough very early schedule for how young the defense was (and subsequently wasn't yet emotionally mature enough to come up to play little old JMU). This team actually seems to have improved, and has gotten leaps better every week.
1995
But the improvement this year for both the team and individual performance has been amazing. All these young guys who didn't seem to have much, if any, game to game improvement over last year and into the early part of this season, have suddenly just started clicking and rolling. It's been awesome to watch over the last several weeks
We were a legit bad team the first half of the season. We struggled against bad opponents, lost to a bad BC and got shithoused by a bad Duke.
6 weeks later we look like the second best team in the conference and the team which should be the favorite to win the division.
I honestly can't think of another turnaround like this. It really has come out of left field. Fuente is going to go from legitimate hot seat and potential candidate to be let go to very much in the running for ACC Coach of the Year. I don't think we've seen anything like this since maybe the '95 season.
The turnaround isn't that crazy given that Ryan Willis is BUTT and Hendon Hooker is GOOD.
The entire team has played with more confidence since the most important position on the field has been properly filled. The talent was always there, but the attitude/confidence was not.
Go back and watch how bad Willis was against BC and Duke. Not a surprise.
Ryan Willis only controls one side of the football and I know offense contributes to the defense wearing out but....
We gave up
35 to BC
45 to Duke
35 to Miami
41 to UNC (*OT)
compared to...
21 to ND
17 to Wake
0 to GT
This turn around is A LOT deeper than just a qb change. We've played 2 of the best offenses we've faced all season and they couldn't do anything against us. When some of the worst offenses tore us apart early in the season.
In b4 the Offense killed the defense with Willis: see ND our offense was not productive and the D handled ND.
We were being housed on time of possession. We have a young defense and they were playing all the time. We had tons of 3 and outs. Duke attacked after turnovers and took advantage of a defense not ready. We have had a lot less 3 and outs, out time of possession against wake was a masterpiece. Our defense now looks like they can play without thinking, but we had to have the offense carry them early on, that didn't happen. The defense looks better now that they aren't going back out 30 seconds after they got off the field. They look better now that the Dline is finally coming into their own. But that takes time, time that was just thrown away early on.
We started with a ton of 3 and outs vs nd
6 of our first 7 possessions were 3 and out.
Yes, but our defense looked gassed at the end of the game.
In addition, all over those 3 and outs took over a minute off the clock. In the Duke game we had several possessions of less than a minute of game time even if they were more than 3 plays. We shortened the ND game which helps a defense. ND started at the 32 yard line or worse all but twice, they never started with a short field either. We played a style that helped our defense.
But the other thing is that our defense is playing faster because they understand what they should be doing. This takes time, we need the offense to bail them out while they gelled, but we didn't get that. We got turnovers.
It helps the team a lot when the offense is functional and not turning it over a bunch. Willis tossed five picks and lost two fumbles. Hooker has zero picks and three fumbles.
"In b4 the Offense killed the defense with Willis: see ND our offense was not productive and the D handled ND"
The defense cracked at the end. The offense had chances to salt the game away and couldn't do it. Shame that Hooker wasn't able to play.
Yes, the team is better overall. The biggest change is they've gone from a QB giving them below replacement-level production to a QB that's producing. It's hard to argue anything but Fuente picked the wrong QB to start the year, then fixed the mistake in time before the season was derailed.
Willis was making poor choices, but that's certainly not the only argument one could make.
One could also argue that there was a lot of inexperience on the team all at once. Players who were playing their first games. There was no running game. The defense was disastrous. The offensive line were making huge mistakes. Willis was making mistakes, but he was also forced to carry the team on his back.
The team has improved significantly across the board, in all facets of the game. Players are trusting each other in a way they couldn't in the initial part of the season.
I think Hooker has proven to be the better QB, and can handle the job. But the team would not be successful right now if the coaching staff weren't doing a good job.
Ryan Willis could not get a first down for long stretches. He instilled zero confidence.
That directly impacts the defense in a significant way. Yes, the defense has gotten better, but my point is that it is about attitude/confidence not talent. The same players put up those strong performances that you are referencing.
Winning is a mindset, and that's why teams like Miami, FSU, etc. have tons of talent but aren't winning.
Just heard we are now 25th?
Going back through this thread was fun. I was convinced (at our lowest point) we had several uva
douchebagstrolls join tkp, who really relished kicking us when we were down. Still am convinced, and glad they crawled back to where they came from.I'm not talking about our regular "I must be miserable" posters. IMO we were gullible as hell. They arrived when things were at their bleakest, and haven't been heard from since the boys found their mojo.
If yall think looking at this thread is fun, go back and read the post game threads for Furman and Duke.
I guess an incredibly young team can grow over a season. Huh.
You say that but they didn't last year. Too many locker room issues perhaps?
They can. Not necessarily will. I guess everyone has to be on the same page to grow as a team.
"Can" and "do every time" are two completely different concepts.