This one was far more bad and ugly than good, and what's ridiculous is that, while last year, the Duke Debacle was Stiney's fault, this year, it was probably more Beamer and Foster's fault. Stiney, to his credit, probably saved the day with his - wait for it - flexibility in play calling and ability to make adjustments when the run wasn't working. Then, after establishing the pass (easy to do with 9-10 Dookies in the box), he went back to the run when we needed it to kill the clock.
The Good:
- Danny Coale. We owe our season to him. He saved us against Nebraska with the 80 yard reception, and he had three huge catches against Duke (36 yard TD catch, 20 yard catch on 3d and 8, and 37 yard catch on 3d and 11 in the 4th quarter on our last scoring drive). I fully believe that we would have won against Alabama if we'd thrown it at him after the beginning of the third quarter.
- Josh Oglesby. He's done well the last two weeks, and it's seeming like the stinkers against Nebraska and Alabama were more a function of bad playcalling and him being put in positions to fail. If Stiney continues with this new found ability to adjust and figure out what's going on and call to beat it, our stable of running backs will be able to run over everyone. Ryan Williams getting tired (like he did in the fourth quarter when running down the clock against Duke) is not a death knell for our offense. (And it's awesome that our offense isn't a death knell for our offense in and of itself.)
- Tyrod Taylor's arm. If you're like me - and you probably are - you are usually scared (or scarred) when Tyrod drops back to pass. It's not his fault - usually - but the playcalling has usually put him in a place to fail. He proved that he can put the ball where it needs to be, and his receivers proved they can come down with it. While I don't know if his performance this week would beat Florida, it would probably beat any other team in the top 10.
- Ryan Williams. He wore down a team that played nine men in the box every play. I repeat: he beat up on nine guys to the point where in the fourth quarter, he and Oglesby were running roughshod over them.
- Jarrett Boykin. We all know that simultaneous possession goes to the offense, but there's also a little known corollary to that where if the defense gets it a split second earlier, but the offense wraps its 4XL hands around it and tosses the defender to the ground, keeps the ball, gets both feet in, and has a bit of swagger, possession also goes to the offense. That play was bad-ass enough that I forgive him for the fumble.
- Bryan Stinespring. It has to be said: he bailed out Foster this week. He changed his gameplan when Duke was over-overloading the box with 9 or 10 people, and he allowed Tyrod to beat single coverage. Tyrod doesn't have the arm to thread the needle between two or three people in coverage, but he can beat single coverage. If Stiney is able to establish the run and give Tyrod single coverage to deal with, we're unstoppable. We don't need a flex spread option or anything. We need good running and smart passes against single coverage, and if Stinespring keeps doing this and doesn't get too cute by half, we don't need anything else. He gets an A from me.
The Bad:
- Coaching. Our team always has a letdown game, and usually it's the whole team not caring all at once. That's completely on the coaches. You can't let the "it's just Duke" or "it's just ECU" or "it's just Kansas" thought processes survive in the locker room. That's the same type of coaching that leads to your best linebacker hurting his knee on a jet ski two days before a BCS bowl. And it needs to stop. Bud Foster needs to remind his team that a touchdown scored by Duke is worth the same 6 points as the touchdown scored by Miami. And he needs to do this soon, because some of the teams (like UVA, Maryland, and the like) are teams that we can't just wear down like we did Duke. Foster laid his one egg this year, now he has to be on his game all year. Do you trust in Stiney to rescue us again?
- Fosterfense. It continues to be a bend but don't break philosophy, and in the end, this will bite us in the ass.
The Ugly:
- David Wilson. After being unleashed against Marshall, he continues to languish with few to no touches each game. What I wouldn't give to see a quad option with Tyrod being able to hand it to Williams up the middle, have Wilson trailing as the pitchman, and Dyrell Roberts or Danny Coale coming the other way, much like the one that seemed so unfair a couple of years ago while I was on the couch - scroll to 4:18 PM.
- Frank Beamer. In the last five games, Beamer was outcoached by Nick Saban, Mark Snyder (for the first quarter and a half until his players were just outclassed), Bo Pelini, and David Cutcliffe. While VT is 4-1, Beamer is 1-4 in coaching matchups, only beating Randy Shannon. He needs to be back on his game. Right now, he's looking like Bobby Bowden, and that's not a good thing.
Last week's performance would not work against any team on our schedule other than Marshall or Duke, and we have to make sure that we don't do that ever again... The only good thing to come out of this is that we know that Stinespring is capable of winning a game, but I still don't trust him to do it on demand.
This post was cross-posted to Adjusting the Cup.
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Sunday, October 4, 2009
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3 comments:
One of my last two adjustment calls were made thankfully, in the last two weeks. "Move Tyrod out of the pocket for better view of the field and the other came last week when I said that RW received waaay too many carries in a game that was pretty well in hand".
I'll repeat, "Spread the ground game around to EVERYONE". Several things happen when you spread the ball around; the stable develops in confidence, depth is created, RBs are rested and healthier, and the x-factor that is often not considered is the competition that is developed. One thing I can guarantee about RW is that this kid is probably the most competitive player on our roster. He felt like he was screwed over last season, and he was a man on a mission determined to earn his respect. He ran with determination and would not be denied, making the best out of EVERY single carry. This kid needs that hunger to be at his best. Granted the Duke D played the box, but JO was able to break through almost immediately on his 1st carry. RW def didn't run with the same motivation one week after his official coming out party against Miami. He is not the type of back that needs carries to get going like perhaps JO, so theres no need for excessive carries for this guy.
VT is not a FCS team here, we've done it twice with freshman RB, and we'd still be able to win without RW(if he was to get hurt God forbid). Not to take anything away from this kid who I believe might be the best RB we've ever had(along with K.Jones), but let's not always put our eggs into one basket.
Ultimately I say this for the greater good of team, but also for RW himself. Not only will less carries motivate him, but this also keeps him fresher. Everyone knows that injuries happen when you play tired. Again, this is a very competitive young man who will run non stop and never ask for a break so its difficult to know when he's winded which could be compromising.
Also, each running back has they're own style so each would have to be prepared for differently(hense JO's success this past week). I would def attribute the late game success running the ball more to the change of pace at RB than the wearing down of the Duke defense. Imagine how defenses would panic if we were running 3 guys with similar efficiency(as we are capable of).
I would compare RW's running style to that of B.Ore in his first starting season. And of course there was the mysterious lack of production that came the season after. It takes its toll on a RB to constantly run into a pile 25/30times a week.
If you follow the NFL its the same story, hot one season, irrelevant the next(LaDamien Tomlinson, Larry Johnson, Laurence Maroney, etc).
As we all know now, even the great Jahvid Best can be stopped. And if a team puts too much emphasis on one player they become completely vulnerable if that player is well prepared for (Cal only put up 6pts in the last 2games against conf opponents after 146pts combined performances in previous 3games to unfamiliar foes).
SPREAD THE BALL AROUND!!!!
colySomething I would like for our offense to consider:
I'll admit that I'm probably too liberal for Beamers staff, but I feel like this might actually go a long way in giving our offense a legitimate chance to be pretty damn good.
Note to Stiney: ***NO HUDDLE OFFENSE***
Here's the rational...our offense is one that has potential playmakers and is a working progress; but I believe we have enough young veterans to make this work. See Tyrod is a good enough passer but one that doesn't read defenses well. So instead of playing with our back on the ropes, lets actually get OFFENSIVE!! With Tyrods ability to create with his feet and our new found love affair with mis-direction plays the possibilities of a No Huddle offense are endless. See its perfect because we are only truly comfortable calling a handful of plays anyways...so this allows us to rotate those plays(which our offense should have mastered by now) and have Tyrod scramble if they break down or buy time with his feet and just pretty much GO CRAZY on defenses until they're scrambling to catch their breath.
We've already seen what this kid can do on the fly so it makes perfect sense. Everytime we line up we try to move so many ppl around on the line to create some kind of confusion but it really doesn't make any difference because they know Tyrod is less likely to beat them through the air and more likely to hand it off or take off with his feet.
With a No Huddle its much harder for defenses to set up a spy for your boy Tyrod. Not many teams run it because few of them have the athleticism at QB to make things happen if there is confusion on a play. This could make our offense EXPLOSIVE; worst case scenario we'd at least be able to pick up 10yrds and a 1st down, which is all we could ask for.
Beamer is a good folksy guy who is good at keeping people together, not at X's and O's and certainly not X's and O's during a game.
People work for Nick Saban and Urban Meyer for their abilities. People work for Frank Beamer for his character; Beamer certainly lived up to his billing. "Nice guys come last". He had his butts kicked many times by superior "ability" coaches.
Being Korean American and coming from an Eastern culture, I can really relate to this. In Eastern military thinking, you need 2 types of generals. "Competent" generals (Saban, Meyer, Whipple, Spurrier, etc) and "Character" generals (Beamer, Bill Stewart, Zook, etc).
"Character" generals are known to rule supreme and known to command the "competent" generals in Eastern thinking.
Totally out of nowhere but just wanted to throw it in.
GO HOKIES!!!!!!!!
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