2.) We actually saw three teams play this past Saturday: ECU, the VT team we've seen all season, and the VT team in the second half, which slightly resembled the team that had been hyped all offseason. The question going forward is which VT team shows up the rest of the season?
3.) It's a good thing for VT that Bryan Stinespring finally finished reading his copy of Screen Passes for Dummies at halftime.
4.) Darren Evans is still having ball control issues. WTF, Billy Hite? You've forgotten more about coaching running backs than most of the top RB coaches in the nation will ever know. I've been screaming about how Evans is holding the ball during his runs since Boise State, and I'm just a shlub in the stands.
5.) The debate over whether or not it was wise to burn David Wilson's redshirt is now officially put to bed on the injured hamstring of Ryan Williams. RMFW is out for BC, and if it's a serious hammy issue he might be touch and go through October. Evans has ball control issues to deal with and Tony Gregory is not ready to be in the two deep (though Jesus Christ the kid looked good in his limited playing time, no?). Wilson will get significant carries this week, and probably for the foreseeable future. But what does it say about the coaching staff that decided not to redshirt him that it took an injury to Williams to do it?
6.) After the win, this was posted on Seth Greenberg's twitter feed:
Great win Hokies! Real fans let the coaches coach and support the team. The is what Hokie Spirit is about!
Mmmmmmkay. I think Seth just told us to know our role and shut our mouths. I was debating on whether or not to devote an entire post in response to this, but I decided not to because a) Seth's probably my favorite coach of any sport at VT, b) he's entitled to his opinion, and c) it would be distracting.
I will say this, however. Of course ANY coach is going to want the fans to just let the coaches coach. Coaches by nature have a love/hate relationship with their fan base. They love em when things are good and hate em when things are not so good. Fans keep coaches honest, and the more vocal the fanbase when things aren't working the more the coaches dislike it because it draws attention to potential deficiencies in the coaching that might contribute to underwhelming performance. When a coach's team is winning, that coach wants to be surrounded by thousands of screaming fans. When the team is struggling, the coach would rather coach in a vacuum. I get that.
But I'll step outside with anyone who claims that just because I run a blog calling for the ouster of our offensive coordinator that I somehow don't "support the team." I live, breathe, and shit Virginia Tech football. I spend all summer getting excited for it, all fall obsessing over it, and all winter depressed because it's over. My closet is divided into three section: work clothes, orange, and maroon. Every year I spend hundreds of dollars to make the 700 odd mile journey from Illinois to Virginia to see as many games in person as my finances will allow. My daughter was a Virginia Tech cheerleader at age two (in Illinois) and had the Hokie Hi! cheer memorized to go with her costume. I didn't have my voice back from the Boise State game until Thursday.
I support this team with every ounce of my being. Anyone who says I'm less of a "real fan" because I criticize the coaching staff is using the same logic that said it was unamerican to question presidential policy after 9/11. The way I see it, these players - who give everything they have to Virginia Tech football - are being done a disservice by the way Bryan Stinespring does his job. I'd consider myself less of a fan if I didn't call him out on that.
