Fire Bryan Stinespring [FBS]

Signing Day Quick Hits

2012-02-02T23:24:00.001-06:00

At least a sentence about every player we inked this year, in order their LOI was received.

JC Coleman, RB - Enrolled early. Genetically enhanced Mike Imoh.
Donaldven Manning, DB - Enrolled early. Looks evil. Hope he plays evil.
Drew Harris, RB - If the knee heals, think Kevin Jones. If it doesn't think George Bell.
Alston Smith, DT - Half his DNA came from Bruce Smith.
Adam Taraschke, OL - An honest to god OL recruit with honest to god OL size.
Augie Conte, OL - Same as above, only more.
Der'Woun Green, WR - Rivals had him projected as a DB. Rivals also had LT projected as a tight end.
Seth Dooley, JATH - What the hell's a JATH?
Donovan Riley, DB - If he puts on 20 lbs without losing a step I'm guessing he plays Rover.
Chris Mangus, RB - A move to WR or defense might be in his future, but he's a legit RB.
Jerome Wright, RB - A move to a different position is almost assured.
Thomas Smith, WR - Damn near perfect size for a split end.
Desmond Frye, ATH - Could play either side of the ball.
Devin Vandyke, LB - Ronnie's little bro.
Brenden Motley, QB - Christiansburg High QB. Hopefully doesn't have to still live with parents.
Trey Edmunds, LB - Apparently might be a better running back than LB? And he's a kickass linebacker.
Jack Willenbrock, OL - Good size and good name for an offensive lineman. Can he grow a beard?
Dahman McKinnon, LB - Wins the Best Name Award for this class.
Ken Ekanem, LB - If he knee heals, he could be Xavier Adibi good.
Davion Tookes, DB - First verbal commit of the 2012 class.
Dakota Jackson, TE - Cav compared him to Jeff King. Jeff Fucking King.
Deon Clark, LB - Perfect size and speed to play whip. Could be a great one.
Joel Caleb, ATH - QB in high school, WR at VT. Might be the missing piece offensively.
Nigel Williams, DT - Good size. Could be a beast after Gentrification.
Mark Irick, WR - Tall, thin, and word is he's a burner.
Jarontay Jones, DE - All American defensive end who had a ton of offers. Major get.
Woody Baron, DE - Charlie Wiles wanted him specifically. That's enough for me.
Joshua Stanford, WR - I've got a weird feeling he's going to be the hidden gem of this class.

So this is what Signing Day success feels like.

2012-02-01T08:32:00.003-06:00

VT has gone two for three on their remaining big targets. Joel Caleb and Ken Ekanem have committed to Tech, while Korren Kirven has committed to Alabama. The trifecta would have been outstanding, but with the early play of Luther Maddy and Corey Marshall, and with AHop coming back next and Kris Harley coming off his redshirt year, I'm actually okay with missing out on a DT prospect.

Also, perpetually lukewarm commit Donaldven Manning actually enrolled early, so there was zero drama with him on signing day. And the rumors that Pennsylvania running back commit Drew Harris was starting to waiver in his decision proved to be false, as his was one of the first LOIs received by Tech this morning.

It remains to be seen if Miami will successfully snipe LB verbal Jawand Blue like they did Robert Lockhart, but all in all this is probably the best signing day I've seen since I came to campus is '97. Frank's youth movement on the coaching staff seems to be paying early dividends.

UPDATE
Jawand Blue is a Cane, and Charlie Wiles went OFF on him over the phone. A West Palm Beach sports reporter happened to be in the room for the call and apparently Wiles called Blue a liar and said Blue betrayed him. The reporter had been misinformed that it was actually Frank Beamer on the phone and he tweeted some of the conversation, which has led to "Frank Beamer" trending on Twitter.

Also, Blue was suspended for six weeks this season for throwing a punch in a game. He should fit right in at Da U.

Techmo Bowl Labor Day Spectacular?

2012-01-26T22:28:00.002-06:00

Reportedly the Georgia Tech athletics department is already reporting in the Atlanta area that the 2012 Techmo Bowl will take place in Blacksburg on Labor Day as the showcase ACC matchup of the opening weekend.

This assures us of two things. First, that we will play Austin Peay as our second game of the season if we can't tweak the schedule to get a bye in week two. Second, Bud Foster is going to destroy Paul Johnson having all summer and fall practice to prepare for the flexbone and a fully healthy defense.

Before anyone even brings up parallels to 2010 Boise State, remember that this would be a home game with no travel time involved, and Austin Peay is much, much worse than James Madison.

Mopefest over.

2012-01-24T08:48:00.004-06:00

Okay. I've officially moved through the five stages of grieving over the Sugar Bowl bullshit. Time to bring it all together.

This won't be a long, detailed post, because you can't overanalyze 2011. It was, as our beloved head coach would say, what it was. But I will say this: Mike O'Cain just simply works as play caller. I'm still 100% in Mike's corner, and will be for the foreseeable future (at least the duration of Logan Thomas' career as a Hokie) because this year I saw us be what I've always wanted to see us be. We dominated time of possession and we set the tempo of the game ourselves. We were proactive, not reactive. We weren't afraid to throw it, and we weren't afraid to run it, and the result was over 3,000 passing yards and over 2,500 rushing yards and the 35th ranked total offense averaging 414 yards per game. WE MOVED THE BALL EFFECTIVELY, which is what I have always longed for.

If you want to see VT adopt a spread option offense a la West Virginia or Oregon, you and I are at odds on what we want to see the program become. Spread option offenses are bullshit. They don't prepare players for the NFL, and as soon as they hit a spectacular defense they fall apart. See Oregon vs LSU in the season opener, for example. Pro style offenses prepare players for the NFL, which attracts better recruits. It's no wonder why we've been able to land recruits like Tyrod Taylor, Eddie Royal, Ryan Williams, and David Wilson even when Stiney was calling the plays: we put offensive guys in the League. I only look for that to improve with O'Cain in the booth on Saturdays. The results from his first full season seem to support that assumption.

That being said, let's cut the crap and officially name O'Cain co-offensive coordinator and give the man his richly deserved pay raise, what do you say, Frank? In one season O'Cain accomplished more on offense than Stiney EVER has, and he did it with a first year starting QB.

Now there is MAJOR room for improvement on offense, especially in the red zone. It might help that we won't have a tailback who runs 22 yards backwards on a goal-to-go play, but overall the offense just needs to be tightened up to move as effectively inside the opponent's 20 as it did outside of it this season. That should be objective number one in the offseason. Well, maybe objective number two. Objective number one is figuring out Clemson.

And I have to say it. Frank Beamer needs to restructure his role with this program. His special teams have become an albatross around our necks rather than the strength the team is built around. I don't think he needs to retire, because I think he has a few more years of coaching left in him. But I do think he needs to stop coaching special teams. He needs to transition to more of a CEO role, where his duties are primarily game planning and prep oriented, and on game day he needs to let his coaches coach.

This is going to be (another) long, dark offseason. The Sugar Bowl clusterfuck will leave a bad taste in my mouth until August when fall practice begins. But that's a feeling I'm getting used to these days.

Time for the once a month comment cleaning.....

2012-01-11T14:04:00.001-06:00

Jesus people. Clean it up. For real.

Why didn't I do a preview?

2012-01-03T23:58:00.000-06:00

I'm sure you've wondered. I wondered too. But now I know.

At the time I said I was too busy. Couldn't get around to it. Too much other work/family stuff to do.

Truth is, I've been no busier than I ever am leading up to a game. And I had four weeks. Instead I enjoyed the holidays. I spent time with the family. I overate. I worked. I didn't obsess over football.

I didn't do a preview because I knew this was going to happen. Deep down inside I knew. You knew too. Admit it.

We all knew this would happen. We didn't know the particulars, but we knew the end result. We're Virginia Tech. This is what we do.

I'm fucking sick of it. I'm sick of feeling this way and I'm sick of pretending we belong.

We don't belong.

Not with Frank Beamer and Bryan Stinespring.

WE DON'T BELONG

We are an incredible strength and conditioning program, and we've got the best defensive coordinator in the nation. We recruit better offensive talent than we deserve or than we know what to do with. And we have a head coach who has reached his Bobby Bowden moment.

Frank, you are old. You are out of touch. You are becoming a hindrance to the program.

We are an above average ACC team that must outrecruit our opponents if we have any hope of beating them.

It is what it is.

And I'm fucking sick of it.

SERIOUSLY WHO THE FUCK IS GOING TO KICK FOR US???

2011-12-30T22:49:00.003-06:00

Kicker Tyler Weiss has been sent back to Roanoke by bus from New Orleans, thanks to missing a 1 AM team curfew.

Unbe-goddam-lievable.

You've Got To Be Fucking Kidding Me

2011-12-23T00:53:00.000-06:00

Cody Journell has been suspended indefinitely. He's charged with felony home invasion. This is serious, serious shit that could land CJ not only off the team but in prison.

I miss Shayne Graham.

Quick Hits: Buying Time Edition

2011-12-14T23:32:00.003-06:00

Sorry for the silence, folks. I'm still here. Just not really. It's crunch time in the Illinois Hokie household, with the Christmas countdown still just barely in the double digits and much to be done. So please accept this randomness as my lame excuse to buy time until I can sit down and put a more meaningful blog post together.

He Did What?
With his 274 yard performance against Clemson in the ACCCG, Logan Thomas (who, if you haven't heard, stands 6'6", weighs 254 pounds, and came to VT expecting to play tight end) passed for more yardage in a single season than any other quarterback under Frank Beamer, claiming the title from Tyrod Taylor. Logan's 2,799 passing yards puts him 444 yards behind all-time single season passing yardage leader Don Strock, and if LT gets his per game average against Michigan he will become just the second Hokie QB to ever throw for over 3,000 yards in a season. LT has also set records under Beamer for attempts and completions.

Someone's Catching All Those Passes
Jarrett Boykin also broke the single season receptions record at VT with his three grabs against Clemson. He's now hauled in 57 catches on the year. Danny Coale is currently sitting at 52 receptions. In terms of yardage, Boykin sits at 2,854 yards in his career, while Coale is at 2,541. They are the first two receivers in Virginia Tech football history to go over 2,500 receiving yards in a career. It should also be noted, just because I like pointing it out, that Danny Coale was rated as a two star recruit by Rivals.

Forde Ounces to Freedom
Pat Forde, formerly of ESPN and currently of Yahoo! Sports, is leading the charge of moral indignation about Virginia Tech's Sugar Bowl invite. Forde fired his first salvo against the Hokies with this piece, penned shortly after the announcement was official. To be fair, there was a TON of backlash against the Hokies immediately following the announcement, and at first Forde was just more noise. Forde proved he intends on staying the course by calling the Sugar Bowl "a joke of a matchup" in this piece, written two days later, and then continued the drubbing a week later in this analysis. At this point it's fair to say we can expect all of December to be reserved for bashing the Hokies in Forde's column. Be sure to follow Pat on Twitter at @YahooForde to keep up to date on the Hokie Bashing. (By the way, did you know you can send people messages through Twitter? Interesting.)

Shots Fired On Campus With Confirmed Fatalities

2011-12-08T13:01:00.001-06:00

There are confirmed reports of gunshots fired on campus at VT with a police officer and another victim confirmed dead. At this time the suspect remains at large. He's described as a white male wearing grey sweatpants, a maroon hoodie, and a gray hat with neon green brim.

If you are anywhere near campus, go inside, lock your door, and stay there.

UPDATE: Everyone already knows this I'm sure, but the lockdown is over. I'm hearing that the second victim might have been the shooter but I don't think this has been confirmed.

To our readers on campus, please just give a quick shout in the comments to let me know you're all right.

Clemson Recap: A Quick Ride Down the Slippery Slope

2011-12-07T09:31:00.001-06:00

On the Hokies' first play from scrimmage, Mike O'Cain calls the zone read. A good call to open the game. Like we've seen before, Logan Thomas holds the ball between him and David Wilson for a loooooooong time, then pulls it back and commits to a run up the gut. He makes positive yardage but is met HARD by the Clemson defensive tackle. LT fights for positive yardage and starts to go down a little funny, kind of backward and to the side. Instinct overrides fundamentals and LT sticks out his hand - still clutching the football - in an attempt to brace himself. The ball pops free and Clemson recovers just outside of their own red zone.

Well, I think to myself, here we go again.

I liken that play to that moment when you're teetering at the very top of the track, before the roller coaster goes plummeting down the other side. Because the entire rest of this game made me want to throw up.

Addressing the defense first, I am not shocked to see us give up 38 to Clemson on the second go round. Since we first played the Tigers in early October we were down a starting mike, a starting whip, and backup whip, and a starting defensive tackle. Kyle Fuller was playing out of position at whip, which put Cris Hill at field corner. That meant when Jayron went out with his stinger we had backups playing both corner spots, one of them a freshman. I suspected that eventually the next man up in this defense was going to be unable to perform at a high level, and we finally saw that in the ACCCG. The only adjustment Clemson had to make at halftime on offense was "throw to Bonner's man," and that's exactly what they did. Now please do not misunderstand me, Detrick Bonner is going to be a BEAST by the time he graduates, and being pressed into so much playing time in critical situations this season is just going to help him marinate as a player. But against Sammy Watkins and DeAndre Hopkins, Bonner was outmatched. So was Hill, for that matter. Had we been able to play Hosley and Fuller at the corners all night then perhaps things would have been different, but we couldn't and they weren't.

I just want to take a moment here and tell all of the people who were grumbling that Jayron didn't "look hurt" during the game to just shut the fuck up. Seriously. You have obviously never had a stinger, or you'd realize that they aren't visible injuries until you try to push yourself physically. Jayron would have played if he could.

But anyway, I knew going into this game there was a good shot Clemson was going to put up more points against our defense the second time around. But I expected our offense to be able to match them.

The opening fumble aside, LT did not have a complete clusterfuck of a game, regardless of what the scoreboard said. Despite press coverage on his receivers all night, which gives our offensive scheme fits and has for years, LT still managed to complete half his passes for 276 yards and an absolutely beautiful touchdown pass to DJ Coles. He threw two picks, both in the second half after Clemson had blown the game wide open and VT was in full-on pass mode. And he looked very indecisive at times, holding the ball for too long before committing to a run or throwing the ball away, and was probably trying to overcompensate for that later when he drew and unfortunate intentional grounding call. Was it a great game for LT? No. But he still played pretty well for as craptacular of a night as it was, and I guarantee you the young man can learn a lot from this game. The problem on offense was not LT.

The offensive line. Sweet fucking Jesus, this shit again? A big, physical defensive line shreds Newsome's line all damn night. Again. I see it. I assume all the Hokies watching from the stands or on TV see it. Why the fuck does Beamer not see it. Once again, Newsome and his zone blocking scheme has zero answers when it's trench warfare up front. I am so fucking tired of this guy still drawing a paycheck. Newsome's ineptitude prevented David Wilson from ever getting a decent hole to run through, which accomplished one of Clemson's primary objectives on defense: make us one dimensional. It's pretty well established now that the formula for shutting down VT is to eliminate the run and play man press coverage on the corners.

I have to give credit to Mike O'Cain for his play calling when it became apparent what Clemson's defensive gameplan was. Mike did his best to call plays that are designed to exploit aggressive defenses. We saw screen passes to Wilson, coupled with a very nice go route from the backfield that I wish we had seen more of this season. We saw some quick slants to DJ Coles and Marcus Davis. We saw some delayed QB draws. In general O'Cain was calling the things you want to be called in the situation we were in. The problem is, they were getting routinely blown up due to the O line's lack of answers for Clemson's pass rush. Balls were getting tipped all night, and when passes from your 6'6" QB with an over the top release are getting tipped, you know their defensive line is getting into the backfield way too damn quickly.

I mentioned in the comments on another post that I was very frustrated by how little O'Cain actually had to work with in the situation he found himself in against Clemson. Stiney and O'Cain need to use the bowl practices and a good chuck of the offseason developing a package of plays specifically for use against aggressive press coverage that don't rely on the run, because with our performance against Clemson this season you can bet we're about to see a lot of defenses do their best Tiger impression against us. Our offense is still predominantly geared toward intermediate and long passes. Now in general, with the way LT throws a longer ball, there's nothing wrong with that. But we also need an answer for what Clemson did to us defensively, and we need to figure out a way to nickle and dime our way down the field when a defense refuses to give us the time we need to let the longer plays develop.

In response to the officiating of this game, I'm just going to say it was bad and move on. I don't harp on officiating, and I don't like fans who do. There is no defense for how bad these officials were in the conference championship game, and I do sincerely hope John Swofford addresses some of the terrible calls and non-calls. During the game I certainly felt like we were having to play both Clemson and the refs, which was frustrating. But more frustrating than that was the fact that we let it get into our heads. We started playing some very sloppy football as our emotions got the best of us. I would have loved to have seen a well officiated game, but even moreso I would have loved to see our players maintain their composure when bad calls started to go against us. Football is a game of controlled aggression, and usually the team that can better control their aggression wins.

I will say this about the officials, though. Through refusing to call horse collar tackles and helmet to helmet hits they allowed for a very dangerous game to be played. Had someone been seriously injured, whether a Hokie or a Tiger, it would have been on their heads. For this reason - and not for any hypothetical contribution they made toward the Hokies' loss - this officiating crew should be addressed by the conference.

So by the end of the night you had a banged up defense with backups pressed into too many starting roles and players having to play out of position. You had an offense with no answers on the offensive line. You had a playbook lacking against press coverage. You had a team that lost composure over some questionable officiating.

You don't win those, folks.

A Response to the Critics

2011-12-06T23:10:00.001-06:00

This is out of sequence, as I had wanted to do my recap of the ACCCG before responding to the criticisms Virginia Tech has faced from the national sports media upon being selected to play in the Sugar Bowl. But that's where my head has been the last couple of days, so that's why I'm going to write about first. This is the official FBS response to VT's critics:

We make no apologies for being selected by the Sugar Bowl, and fuck you for implying that we should.

The criteria for at-large selections by BCS bowls are very clear. The teams eligible for selection after all automatic bids are filled must have at least nine wins and must be ranked in the top 14 of the final BCS rankings. Virginia Tech fulfilled both of these requirements. There is no arguing that fact.

The word I've heard thrown around most over the last 48 hours is "deserve." Every hack trying to make an op-ed name for himself is screaming that Virginia Tech doesn't "deserve" to be in the Sugar Bowl, or that Kansas State or Boise State "deserve" to be there more. In response to that noise, Will Munny said it best.

Deserve's got nothing to do with it.

This happens just about every year when college football pundits get their annual playoff hardon and want to project the seeding of their own imaginary playoff system onto the selection process of the BCS bowls. But the bowls - especially the BCS bowls outside of the national championship game - are not a meritocracy. The selection process is less job interview and more beauty pageant. Teams with better resumes are routinely passed up for teams with more easily mobilized fan bases. The Hokies have been on the other end of that equation before, in 2000 when we finished the regular season with a single loss and a #5 ranking but got passed over for #11 Notre Dame, who put more asses in seats. It's the way it works.

Make no mistake, Kansas State had a phenomenal year. They are a very good football team worthy or recognition and acclaim. But they do not "deserve" to be in the Sugar Bowl more than we do because there is nothing to be found anywhere in any of the bylaws of the Bowl Championship Series that when making at-large selections the bowl committees should look at the resumes of the teams they are considering. All of this feigned moral indignation is a play to fill broadcasting hours and grab ratings, or the bitter rumblings of anti-BCS curmudgeons like Dan Wetzel.

Look, don't get me wrong. I don't particularly like the BCS. I think it's a pretty ridiculous method of crowning a national champion. But I don't exacerbate the problem by trying to make it more than it is. It isn't a playoff. Outside of the national championship game it is in no way designed to reward the best teams in college football. It's a bunch of bowls that have a contractual agreement with each other, and like all bowls they try to select participants that make for interesting matchups that guarantee sellout crowds and high television ratings. In pairing Virginia Tech and Michigan for their first ever meeting on the field, the Sugar Bowl committee hit a grand slam. Virginia Tech is the overall winningest team over the past sixteen years. Michigan is one of the most storied programs in the history of college football. And the Sugar Bowl has put them on the same football field for the first time ever. This is a great matchup and a great storyline.

There are six teams playing in a BCS bowl this year that actually "deserve" to be there: LSU, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Clemson. Those are your automatic qualifiers. They did what it took to guarantee their spot at the big money table: they won their conference. Outside of those six teams, it's a popularity contest. And this time around Virginia Tech is the cool kid with the keys to the convertible, while K-State and Boise are sitting in their mom's basement playing Dungeons and Dragons.

I'm Feeling Really Blog Post Happy All of a Sudden

2011-12-05T19:55:00.003-06:00

Let me again re-iterate that I don't think a couple calls (or non-calls) here or there, as horrible as they were, cost us a 28-point whooping. Momentum is an un-measurable commodity, so I reserve the right to whine about it for at least 2 more weeks. In the end, I'm ecstatic to have still drawn the Sugar Bowl - so kudos to Hokie Fans everywhere - and our propensity to travel well and spend dollars!

But to put some of the discussion to rest:

Horse collar tackle was banned in the NFL in 2005 offseason (the "Roy Williams" rule, Oklahoma Sooner/Dallas Cowboy Roy).

The CFL (what's that all aboot, eh?) banned it in 2007.

NCAA football (all divisions) caught up in the 2008-2009 season.

"Horse-Collar" Tackle (Rule 9-1-2-p). With this new rule, the committee addresses the potential hazard to a ball carrier that is grabbed by the inside collar of the jersey or shoulder pad and quickly jerked down. The rule prohibits all players from grabbing the inside back collar of the shoulder pads or jersey, or the inside collar of the side of the shoulder pads or jersey, and immediately pulling the runner down. This does not apply to a runner who is inside the tackle box or to a quarterback who is in the pocket. A key element is the immediacy of the runner being pulled down, because of the risk of injury. The horse-collar tackle is a personal foul and the penalty is 15 yards.

Click here, or here.

I Think He Got It

2011-12-05T15:13:00.004-06:00

Borrowed from Dic Tailgate. But I think he got it. What's Beamer's recourse to send pics like this to the head of ACC officials, or maybe one of the horse collars on Logan?

Not that I think this one play is a 28 point play, don't get me wrong. But momentum is a fickle beast. And, something as clear and blatant as this, although not worth 28 pionts - is just flat unacceptable for an official to miss. If I miss something this blatant and obvious in my job and cost my team (company), there are consequences. I'm just saying.

So...

2011-12-04T22:51:00.001-06:00

We wear our ass for a hat not once but twice this season and still finish ranked higher and with the better bowl.

Suck it, Clemson.

Clemson Knee-Jerk

2011-12-03T22:27:00.001-06:00

I always rewatch the game to break it down dispassionately before I write up my recap, and I'll do that here. This is not my game recap, but I want to get some of what I'm mulling over in the heat of the moment into a post while I'm still in the moment.

First of all, whiners blame the officiating, but GOD DAMN was that terrible. They called a roughing the passer on a blocked punt but missed a blatant horse collar tackle on our QB and a late hit out of bounds against one of our receivers. And that's just off the top of my head. I'm sure I'll find more.

More disheartening than all the bad calls, though, was the fact that it made our team lose composure. We started getting legitimate calls against us because we started playing undisciplined football. We got emotional, which goes against what Frank Beamer preaches. Don't panic, hang in there, take advantage of opportunities. We were the less disciplined team in the second half.

I don't know about the lack of carries by Wilson. I know the sideline reporter said he did not have an injury that was sidelining him, but you don't retape a player's ankle in the middle of the game for no reason, and I know I caught a glimpse of him on the sidelines on his hands and knees at one point. And late in the game he did NOT look like himself on some carries. I know DW is a gladiator and wants to be in the game even if he's missing a leg, but if the coaches were limiting him out of concern for his health then I can't fault that.

Defense and offense both came up way short here, but I have to fault the offense a bit more there if only because the defense was down Jayron Hosley. Dietrick Bonner had a terrible game, but I'm not going to crucify a freshman pressed into prime time duty against what is honestly a world class corps of receivers.

Their D line absolutely SHREDDED us. If you want to know why we make their defense look all world while every other team in the bowl subdivision steamrolls them it's because Curt Newsome's blocking scheme has ZERO ANSWER for big, physical D lines. Newsome has become the albatross around our knecks, more so than even Stiney in this admin's humble opinion. Cut our losses and cut Newsome. Now. Stiney is a good enough positions coach to take over the entire offensive line as well as tight ends, which opens up another coaching position to bring some new blood in somewhere.

We abandoned the zone read after the negative result on the first play of the game. Typical and frustrating to see. By the time we reincorporated that play into our game play Clemson's defense was playing with their ears pinned back.

Brent Mushberger and Kirk Herbstreit are just fucking horrible.

All that being said, I still think LT is going to come out the other end of this ass kicking a better QB. He threw a lot of picks tonight, but they all came after we were in panic pass mode and their secondary was sitting back to read routes. Dude still needs to tuck that ball on scrambles, though. Teach him, Mike O'Cain. You've done a great job bringing him along so far. Help him learn from his mistakes tonight.

Bring on the Chikin Bowl and an SEC also ran.

ACC Championship Game Open Thread

2011-12-03T16:00:00.000-06:00

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Our Distinguished Opponent: Redemption

2011-11-29T21:05:00.001-06:00

I'm not going to make excuses.

First time up, Clemson beat us. They beat the shit out of us. They humiliated us at home, at night, worse than we've been humiliated in a long time. They made me question if all the progress I thought I had seen up to that point with Mike O'Cain as our play caller had just been wishful thinking. In its own way that loss hit me harder than even the JMU debacle, if only because I could wrap my mind around losing on four days rest against a lackluster, taken for granted opponent more easily than I could wrap my mind around a prime time bedshitting like I witnessed against Clemson. But give the Devil his due. Clemson beat us. There's nothing we can do to change that.

This Saturday in Charlotte isn't about revenge. There is no revenge to be exacted for us not showing up against them the first time around. Beating them now won't take away the loss in October, and it won't make it any easier to swallow. This is about redemption, proving that what we saw on the field against Yabo Dabo in early October was a fluke that does not represent what this Virginia Tech team is and what it can do.

Virginia Tech takes the field in its fifth ACC championship game Saturday the matchup will be between two teams that have moved in opposite directions since their meeting in October:

	Virginia Tech	Clemson
Wins	7	4
Losses	0	3
Avg Points Scored	31.3	32.1
Avg Points Allowed	17.6	32.4

With the exception of Boston College and maybe North Carolina, every game Clemson has played in since playing us has either been a shootout or they've gotten routed. They're actually giving up more points than they score over the last seven games, and they have scored a LOT of points during that run. Part of what is going on is, of course, that Clemson is Clemson. I mean, honestly, who didn't see this coming? Another part of it is that there is now enough tape to study to fully exploit Clemson's bad defense to fullest possible potential. And part of it has been the deconstruction of Tajh Boyd.

Here is a comparison of what Tajh Boyd and Logan Thomas have each done the last four games:

	Boyd	Thomas
Passing TDs	4	8
INTs	7	2
Rushing TDs	0	4

It's not hard to see why the teams' records are what they are. Thomas has come on strong down the stretch while Boyd has faded somewhat. Some of that might be the injury that has essentially removed Sammy Watkins from Clemson's offense, but to see such an incredible nose dive from a player who looked like an All American QB through the first half of the season is unexpected.
On paper, the way these two teams are playing lately it seems like VT has to be the hands down favorite to win in Charlotte, and that makes me nervous. For one thing, the crowd at Bank of America stadium is going to be 90% Clemson, if only because Clemson has been in for two weeks now while VT just clinched this past Saturday. For another thing, this game represents the last real shot in the season to prove that Clemson isn't... y'know... Clemson. The Tigers will be playing with a chip on their shoulder and motivation shouldn't be lacking.
But we have the blueprint on how to beat the Tigers this time around. Georgia Tech and South Carolina gave it to us: run the ball down their fucking throats. (As an aside, I don't know what the hell we learned from the Tigers' loss to NC State.) We want to run zone read all night long, with a 50/50 split of LT trucking them inside and Wilson stretching them to the perimeter. Then we want to mix in some play action to stretch the field. And for the love of God just keep going. That's my plea to Frank Beamer this week. Up by 50? Try to go up 75. Five hundred yards total offense? Shoot for a grand. Because we've seen that Clemson can come back in a hurry (against Maryland and Wake Forest) and they aren't out of it till they start talking about Steve Spurrier.
On defense, it's all about pressuring Tajh Boyd. Gayle and Collins have to get pressure early and often off the corner. Look for Bud to throw multiple looks at Boyd to try to get him off his game, because it's now well established that the kid has an aversion to contact and once rattled takes about three possessions to recover, if at all. We also need Hosley, Fuller, Hill, and Bonner to lock down the semi-healed Sammy Watkins like they did the first time around.
But here's the problem I have going into Charlotte: this is the same damn script we needed and failed to follow on October 1. They're the same team - the same quick strike offense, the same porous defense - that we thought we had a handle on going under the lights in Blacksburg. They might be a little more "Clemson" (in the traditional, Tommy Bowden sense of the word) than they were the first time around, but they're essentially the same team we saw before. What reason do we have to believe that things will be different this time around?
Well, there's this....

Hokie, redeem thy self.

UVA Recap - Sucks to be hoo.

2011-11-27T22:41:00.001-06:00

We own this state, bitch.

What can I say? The only thing that could even be considered a stone's throw from a criticism is that in the third quarter it took a little longer than I would have liked to go from dominance to total annihilation. I got a little nervous after a couple of three and outs, but then we just effing steamrolled their asses in the fourth quarter. The result?

I hope Frank gave Chase a game ball. He was our MVP.

Let me just go down the list here...

Marcus Davis, well done, young man. I'd like to see these sorts of games more regularly than just bookends on the season. I know what you are capable of every game even if up until now you seemed not to.

David Wilson, welcome back to the endzone. It has missed you.

James Gayle, you naaaaaaasty.

Jack Tyler. Oh. My. GOODNESS. Between him and Kyle Fuller there's not an open field tackle that can't be made. At one point he had a Hoo on the ground slithering away like Jigsaw had just gotten done with him.

That's a strong safety that just went airborne, folks.

Logan Thomas...

I've wanted to see a complete game all season, with every phase of the game clicking. The fact that it happened against UVA - and not just UVA, but UVA in a season when they thought they really, legitimately had a shot - makes it so very much sweeter. Since the game ended, my wife has caught me chuckling to myself randomly like three times. Every time she asks what's so funny. Every time I answer, "Thirty-eight, nothing." And she just smiles. Like HokieJayBee said, perpetually the little brother.

Let's put this into perspective. When the UVA redshirt seniors that are leaving this year were freshmen, there still weren't any players on the squad who had ever beaten VT. And despite all the progress that Mike London has made - and let's give credit where credit is due, he's made a TON of progress in Hooville - the gap between the two programs seems to be widening.

Virginia Open Thread

2011-11-26T07:00:00.000-06:00

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Our Distinguished Opponent: Hate

2011-11-25T07:00:00.000-06:00

This is the face of the enemy.

Great rivalry games get great titles.

Alabama/Auburn is the Iron Bowl. Georgia/Florida is the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Oklahoma/Oklahoma State is Bedlam. Oregon/Oregon State is the Civil War. Pitt/WVU is the Backyard Brawl. Virginia Tech/Georgia Tech is the Techmo Bowl.

I hereby move that we refer to the Virginia Tech/UVA rivalry as the Culture War.

I fucking hate Virginia. I hate so much more about them than just their football program. I hate their pompous, self-important attitude. I hate their sense of entitlement. I hate their fairweather fans who hide behind non-revenue sports and academics when their football team sucks (often), only to come trolling out of the woodwork as soon as the program displays some basic level of competency (rare). I hate the fact that they have to create a YouTube video begging their apathetic, whiny student body to fill their shithole of a stadium against their in-state rival.

There is a basic, fundamental divide between Hokies and Wahoos. Hokies are rowdy and rough around the edges. We drink bourbon at a wine tasting. We're intense, not pretentious. We expect more than success; we expect excellence. We are proud to support our football team. We show up after losses. In fact, history proves we show up harder after losses. And we don't lose to the fucking Wahoos.

A man walks into a bar in Richmond on the last Saturday in November with a little dog under his arm. The bartender says, "No dogs allowed in here." The man says, "This is a special dog. He's been trained to watch the UVA/Virginia Tech game and react to it. When UVA scores a touchdown he barks. When VT scores a touchdown he does a backflip. When Virginia Tech wins he walks in a circle on his front paws." The bartender says, "That's amazing! What does he do when UVA wins?" The man replies, "I don't know. He's only seven years old."

This rivalry has become a joke, and I feel robbed for it. But start sculpting mountains out of your mashed potatoes, because this means something.

What's at stake? The Coastal Division. Our shot at redemption against Clemson. Our first 11 win regular season since 1999. Pride. Our dominance over the Hoos. Take your pick. But for me, first and foremost, this game is about maintaining dominance.

Mike London is doing his damndest to enact a culture change at UVA, and in year two he's already making some headway. He's starting to reestablish in-state recruiting. He has some signature wins to his name. Perhaps most importantly, he has his players believing they can win. If they beat us it has the potential to become a moment of transition between to two programs. We cannot afford to let that happen.

Throw the stats out the window. I don't care who leads what statistical category for the Hoos. On Saturday in Scott Stadium there is one maxim to follow, one supreme commandment: break them.

Whoever is trying to pass the ball against us, break them.

Whoever is trying to run the ball against us, break them.

Whoever is trying to tackle us, break them.

Break the Hoos. Win the Culture War. Own the state. Earn our shot at redemption.

One more time.

Happy Thanksgiving from FBS

2011-11-24T06:00:00.000-06:00

Or as Hokies like to call it, the Eucharist.

UNC Recap

2011-11-20T21:36:00.000-06:00

I hate when we finish ugly. Whether it's a drive, a game or a season, when we finish ugly it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It makes it easy to forget the positives and feel (incorrectly) that the entire effort was as bad from start to finish as it looked at the end. I'm not sure why it's so much easier to forgive a slow start than an ugly finish, but it's true. (Not that we don't indulge in our fair share of hand-wringing over slow starts.) Psychologists would probably call it the recency effect. I call it disappointing to watch.

All the credit in the world to UNC's defensive front seven, who are legitimately as big and as good as any defensive line we've faced this season. They made us fight for every yard we gained on the ground, like I thought they would. And credit as well to UNC's entire team for playing sixty minutes of football. Everett Withers and his team believed they were still in this game when they were down 17 with 9:49 left to play, when we quite obviously did not. The ensuing disparity of effort and intensity between the two sides damn near resulted in what would have been one of the great all-time VT collapses under Beamer. Thankfully the Tarheels came up just short.

Let's be clear about exactly what happened in this game: we quit. It's as simple as that. The game was in hand, UNC had been stopped cold, we were doing what we do this season on offense. Then we got up by a comfortable margin. It's cold, it's senior night, and we're ready to be in a warm locker room while UNC is busy trying to mount their comeback. And we played like absolute shit on both sides of the ball for the last nine minutes of the game.

It is important - in fact, I might argue it's absolutely critical - to remember that for the first three quarters of this game there were a fair share of positives. First of all, this was probably LT's finest effort to date as a quarterback. It certainly wasn't his best game statistically, but this was far and away the best defensive front seven he has ever faced, and for the first time all season our offensive line was just simply fracturing under their pass rush. LT had defenders in his face all game long and was forced to scramble out of a broken pocket on multiple occasions. The results were often incredible to watch, like his NFL-caliber throw to DJ Coles on the run - a play that even fooled ESPN's prime time camera crew - and his 18 yard scramble on 3rd and 19 that was reminiscent of a Tyrod Taylor play...if Tyrod Taylor had been involved in some freak taffy puller mishap. His 23 yard touchdown run on the zone read proves that play with LT and David Wilson is damn near undefendable. And his first touchdown pass to Chris Drager was NFL-right-now good.

Second, let's talk more about that drive that was capped off by the touchdown pass to the Drager Bomb. OH...MY...GOD. In the comments on the open thread my response was, "This is what this offense has ALWAYS been capable of," and I stand firmly behind that statement. That drive - all 18 plays and 7 minutes 59 seconds worth - is a summary of the difference between the offense this season as called by O'Cain versus the past nine years of futility under Stinespring. Ten passes, eight rushes. Six first downs. A key fourth down conversion. And an absolutely colossal swing of momentum in the game.

Third, the defense did a good job reverting back to the base Bud Foster defense after spending basically two weeks preparing to defend the flexbone. I wanted to talk more about this in the preview but was limited by time constraints and had to leave it as just a bullet point, but you really can't overstate how difficult it is for our defense to switch everything up for one game against Georgia Tech and then go right back to how they had been playing before that. We really do defend Georgia Tech completely differently than any other team we play, and while it took a while for us to settle in on D, once we did we locked the Tarheels down. No small part of that was the sidelining of Giovani Bernard, but after giving up a quick touchdown on a short field to open the game, the defense did not allow the Heels another point until they decided to start mailing it in come the fourth quarter.

But sweet Jesus the wheels damn near fell off on this one. It was nauseating to watch how close we nearly came to a world-class bed-shitting on senior night, which I would argue is a more hallowed event than homecoming. In the end we survived our trap game when many top teams did not, but we came perilously close to shooting ourselves right in the Lisfranc. There's no excuse for what we saw at the end of that game. Hopefully it will serve as a wake up call as we finish out the season.

UNC Open Thread

2011-11-17T18:00:00.000-06:00

Discuss amongst yourselves.

GT (UNC p)review

2011-11-16T08:41:00.001-06:00

Part the First: A Cornucopia of the Spectacular

First of all, thanks to all of you for the kind words of support.

Second of all, HOLY SHIT did you see that?

I always try to find an angle in my game reviews that maybe wasn't totally apparent when you just watch the game, some little quirk or stat or something that happened that was unusual or noteworthy. Against Georgia Tech it was hard to find some aspect of the game that wasn't spectacular in some form or fashion.

Spectacular Thing No. 1: LT finished with a relatively un-spectacular 209 yards passing. But 105 of those yards - over half - came from passes on third down with more than ten yards to go. The play calls on these downs might as well have been called Western Union; the pass that was coming was just that telegraphed. And remember that Georgia Tech's passing defense was supposed to be good.

Spectacular Thing No. 2: Although at times throughout the game it felt like GT was gashing Bud Foster's defense (and they were; see the part of my preview about blocking one defender out of the play making the entire defense look like idiots), our defense held GT to 134 fewer total yards, 85 fewer rushing yards, and 11.5 fewer points than they came in averaging. We did this exactly the way I said we would have to: by forcing Georgia Tech out of the triple option late in the game and once we did that set up...

Spectacular Thing No. 3: Georgia Tech had NEGATIVE ONE YARD TOTAL OFFENSE in the fourth quarter. I don't think I have ever seen a defense clamp down and ice a game the way this defense did against Georgia Tech, especially when the first three quarters were of a decidedly more "bend but don't break" flavor.

Spectacular Thing No. 4: We stuck with the run. Despite LT's ridiculous passing stats on third and long, the game plan was to line up and run at them until they proved they could stop it. And a twelve yard quarterback sneak for a touchdown proved they couldn't stop it. Every third and short I kept thinking to myself, okay, here's where we see a classic Stiney slow developing off tackle run by the tailback, and every time I was halfway through that thought LT was already eight yards down the field. Mike O'Cain called a BRILLIANT game with the exception of two plays, and I'll always cut some slack when the number of situationally inappropriate play calls can be counted on one hand. We stuck with what was working. That's a theme I could get used to.

Spectacular Thing No. 5:

It just doesn't get old.

I could write more about this game, but the combination of time constraints and physical exhaustion mandate that I instead move ahead to...

Part the Second: Our Distinguished Opponents: UNCheat

Thank God it's Senior Day.

There are so, so many reasons to be worried about this game:

We are coming off an emotional win against a heated rival.
Bud Foster has one week to get the defense back to playing base after changing essentially everything for one game.
Next week is a rivalry game (okay, UVA isn't much of a rivalry these days)
It's against a team that has nothing to play for but pride.

But this will be the final home game for a lot of really talented Hokies, who should be fully motivated to make their last game on Worsham Field a good one. I'm having a very difficult time wrapping my mind around the idea that after tomorrow we will never again see Danny Coale or Jarrett Boykin catch a pass inside Lane Stadium.

UNC is a schizophrenic mess of a football team. One week they look great, then they turn right around and get shut out by a very bad NC State team. We have no way of knowing which team will actually show up on a frigid Thursday night in Blacksburg, so we need to be prepared for their best shot.

This is a matchup of two stout rushing defenses versus two good running backs. Freshman Giovani Bernard is the primary workhorse for the Tarheels. He's over 1,000 yards rushing for the season and averages over 5.4 yards per carry. David Wilson, on the other hand, is David Wilson. Both backs will probably get their yards, but look for each man to have to fight for them.

The disparity in this matchup is our passing game against their passing defense. UNC is piss poor and defending the pass, giving up over 248 yards through the air. That's good for 90th in the nation and dead last in the ACC. Meathooks and 7-Eleven have an opportunity here to make their last game at Lane Stadium a memorable one.

I don't know if any players read this blog. If they do, please humor me in taking some advice from someone who never played the game at anything approximating this level. You only get so many of these. That rings true of everything, no matter what the hell it is. Downs of football. Years of college. Sunrises. You only get so many. Make every one count.

Thanks again.

A Quick Look Ahead to Next Weekend...

2011-11-16T02:36:00.001-06:00

Yup. They have to ASK students to come to the game.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled Thursday night pregaming.

Pardon my absence.

2011-11-12T20:50:00.001-06:00

Due to the death of my aunt I will be on the road for the next few days as I travel to attend the funeral. This will unfortunately delay my recap of the Georgia Tech game by a few days, and I'll probably just roll it into my preview for UNC when I get back from Virginia.

My apologies for the delay but it is regrettably unavoidable.

Go Hokies.

Georgia Tech Open Thread

2011-11-10T16:00:00.000-06:00

Discuss amongst yourselves.

When VT takes the field against Georgia Tech...

2011-11-09T21:20:00.001-06:00

they will be coached by the winningest active coach in the Bowl Subdivision.

Regarding Penn State

2011-11-09T08:43:00.000-06:00

Our Distinguished Opponents: Here we Groh again.

2011-11-07T14:53:00.001-06:00

Part Two: Fileting the 3-4

So here's the thing.

All that stuff I just talked about how to defend the flexbone? We can do all that and still lose. The triple option will always win in the end if a team is able to run it for the entire game, because even if you have the defense to stop it, that defense will eventually wear down from overexertion. Every defender has to go full speed every down against the flexbone, and by the end of the game even the best defense is gassed. So you have to get a triple option team away from the option. You have to dictate the flow and the speed of the game by making an option team play from behind and not giving them the luxury of grinding out a seven minute scoring drive.

Against Georgia Tech's flexbone, the best defense is a good offense.

You want to know why the Georgia Tech game gives you ulcers? It's because we have a rich tradition of shitting the bed on offense in this game. A lot. Here is the drive log for the first half of the 2008 Georgia Tech game:

And 2009:

And 2010:

We have a problem with slow starts, and slow starts against Georgia Tech can lose the game for you. So even if the defense stops the flexbone dead in its tracks, it will still be up to the offense to fulfill its end of the bargain and put points on the board. I'm not saying we have to drop half a hundred on the Ramblin' Wreck (it'd be nice), but we do have to make it a multiple possession game for them as quickly as possible. The secret to doing that is to aim our David Wilson cannon right at the heart of their defense and fire at will.

GT uses the same 3-4 defense that UVA used under Al Groh with no major noticeable tweaks. And like most 3-4 defenses, GT is better against the pass (185 yards allowed per game, 15th in the nation) than they are against the run (162 ypg, 69th nationally). If you watched the Hoos take down GT you don't need me to tell you that the weakest spot in their defense is right in the middle, so look for a lot of straight ahead runs. It's more difficult to find the outside against a 3-4 because the extra linebacker gives the defense more lateral quickness than a 4-3. That also means we will probably see a lot of 5 and 6 yard gains and probably not so many huge runs because once Wilson gets into the second level he's going to find quicker defenders there to tackle him. Oglesby also has the potential for a big game. I like his chances of plowing through an inside linebacker better than a down lineman.

Don't get frustrated without seeing Wilson blow through the defense for a 30 yard run. If we can get five to six yards a carry consistently we will hold our own in the time of possession battle and will keep our defense rested. What we need are more drives that look like our first scoring drive against them in '08. We came close to that last year, with our first three possessions each bleeding nearly five minutes off the clock. It's okay that the first series wound up ending in a punt, because it gave our defense a rest. But the INT in the red zone on our third possession is something we need to see less of. We need to take advantage of every scoring opportunity and not leave points on the field.

Having a bye week before Georgia Tech is something of a blessing and a curse. It's given Bud Foster the chance to set his defense exactly the way he wants it (and if you've been keeping up with the reports of defensive personnel shifts then you know he's given this a lot of thought). But it also has given Bryan Stinespring the extra time he always seems to use to overthink the hell out of his game plan. Mike O'Cain might be better served to let his 16-play "script" accidentally fall out of the truck as he comes to work Thursday. "Sorry, Bryan, geeze, I know it was in my briefcase this morning. You know... tell you what, I'll just take this one, okay?"

We've never put together a great offensive game against Paul Johnson's Yellow Jackets. We've averaged 305.3 yards per game and 8 points before halftime against them. In other words, this nerve-wracking rivalry with the Ramblin' Wreck (say that three times fast) has been of our own making. This year the game could follow the same script - and very possibly cost us an appearance in the ACCCG - or we could finally show up on both sides of the ball and prove that the only Tech worth talking about in this conference is Virginia Tech. I have no doubt that Bud Foster is ready. Now lets see if Mike O'Cain can do (once more) what Stiney couldn't.

Topic for Discussion

2011-11-06T08:43:00.001-06:00

After watching this season's GAME OF THE CENTURY^TM, how much better is the defense at Bama and LSU than ours, if at all?

What's the reason for whatever difference you see? Better scheme? Better defensive coordinator? Players with better measureables?

Our Distinguished Opponents: Captain Chopblock and the Kneecappers

2011-11-04T22:28:00.000-05:00

Part One: Deboning the Flexbone

Ah, the Techmo Bowl. Since Paul Johnson brought his three headed dragon of an offense to Atlanta there is no conference game that fills me with more anticipation, excitement, and nausea.

Forget Miami and screw the Hoos. It's readily apparent that Georgia Tech is our true nemesis. The winner of VT/GT went on to win the division and the ACC every year PJ has been with the program, though of course the Ramblin' Wreck did get their '09 conference title stripped by the NCAA for some cardinal sin or another. But let's get down to brass tacks: this game is our season. Georgia Tech has one remaining conference game, at Duke. Losing this game would give us as many conference loses as GT currently possesses (2), and the chances of GT losing to the Blue Devils is slim. That means even if we won out against UNC and UVA, Georgia Tech would still own the tiebreaker against us and would be off to Charlotte, most likely to pants Clemson again and punch their ticket to Miami.

So a big game deserves a big preview. A two part preview, even (since I have the bye week to work on it). And it deserves the type of preview I almost never do: a preview of our defense.

My knee jerk reaction is never question the defense. We have a bad game? Don't question the defense. We have an off year? Don't question the defense. The defense is fine. And even if the defense isn't fine, the defense will be fine. Because Bud Foster is a very bad man. He's the best defensive coordinator in football. I trust his judgement implicitly. I named my son after him, for Christ sake.

But Georgia Tech is a different kind of animal, and to understand how critical this game is you have to understand why Georgia Tech has given Bud Foster fits the last three years. So that's what I'm going to spend this first part of the preview talking about. It's going to be a long wall of text and it's going to be boring if you don't like getting into specifics, so I'll put a jump here. Follow it if you like. I'll get around to posting my preview of our offense versus their defense in a couple of days, which will read much more like the normal previews I do. In the meantime, enjoy some Georgia Tech cheerleaders.

The knee-jerk reaction is to say our rushing defense is ranked 7th in the nation, so we should do a better job of defending Georgia Tech's option offense this season. And the knee-jerk reaction in this case would be dangerously wrong, because the type of rushing GT will be doing against us is nothing like the rushes we've crushed so far this season. Bud Foster's defenses blow up the run by forcing the ball carrier toward specific defenders using slants and blitzes. The ball carrier then winds up running into a wall of Maroon jerseys, typically pretty close to the line of scrimmage. Our defenders swarm to the ball and the next thing you know it's 2nd and 12 and time to dial up a corner blitz. Later, rinse, repeat.

You can't swarm to the ball against the flexbone. You can't blitz it. You can't gang tackle. You basically can't do any of the things that make Bud Foster's defenses nightmare-worthy.

The key to stopping the flexbone is disciplined man defense with gap control. Each defender has a specific assignment, and the defender must stay on his assignment regardless of where the ball is, because in a properly executed flexbone offense the ball can wind up pretty much anywhere at pretty much any time.

This is the base flexbone formation:

It's basically the old wishbone formation with the two running backs that would line up flanking the fullback on either side moved up (or "flexed") to flank the tackles, where a slot receiver would normally line up. There will be basically no variation in Georgia Tech's running plays. On each play Tevin Washington will show a handoff to the fullback. Washington will either let the fullback take the ball on a dive up the middle or he will pull the ball back and run in the direction of one of the two slot backs. That slot back will then become Washington's pitch man, and Washington can either keep the ball himself or pitch the ball to the pitch man depending on how he reads our defense. So if we swarm to the ball while Washington has it he just pitches it and watches the slot back take off downfield. It's the exact same principle as setting up a screen pass, except you have the opportunity to do it on every single play.

In a pure triple option Tevin Washington would never know before the snap what direction the ball was going to wind up going on that play. Who winds up keeping the ball is determined by how the offensive line blocks and what the quarterback reads in the defense. In this regard the triple option requires more trust in a quarterback than any other type of offense. But GT by all accounts does not run a pure triple option. There will be plays where Tevin Washington knows who will get the ball before he snaps it. But if they're executed correctly Bud Foster will never know which plays are predetermined runs and which are true triple option plays. If you gamble that the next play is a pre-designed fullback dive and you sell out to stop it, and the play winds up being a true triple option, you are fucked.

Notice in the picture above that there are actually two slot backs. That means that if Washington keeps the ball he can then run either left or right. So not only do you have to worry about defending against the fullback dive, the quarterback keeper, and the pitch man, you have to worry about which direction the quarterback and the pitch man are running. The direction of the run, though, is almost always predetermined, because the offensive line has to be prepared to block in the direction of the run. Georgia Tech usually runs its option pitches toward the short or boundary side of the field, which is typical of most option offenses. That means when they run the option pitch to the wide side it's basically a misdirection play, and they've just misdirected themselves into a lot of real estate for our defense to have to cover on short notice. That's why the really big runs from scrimmage have tended to be in that direction for Georgia Tech this season.

How the fuck do you defend this?

You pick a man and stay on him.

Gross oversimplification, yes. But it's basically the truth. Here's a very brief, dumbed down version of who will be doing what on our defense. I'm going to assume with Tweedy still not 100% Foster is going to chose to play nickel most of the game against GT like he did last year. Against the flexbone that basically makes the nickel back's responsibility identical to the whip, so we're really just starting Cris Hill at field corner and Kyle Fuller at whip.

The defensive ends stop the fullback dive. That's D-Hop and Maddy's assignment all game long. If they can't blow up the fullback dive every play we're in for a long night. Collins and Gayle want to scrape off the ends and blow up the QB keeper as soon as Washington pulls the ball back from the fullback. This will not happen often.

Hosley and Hill play man coverage against their receiver all game. What becomes difficult for them is that on some triple option plays the receivers will block them and on other triple option plays the receivers will run routes. Sometimes by covering those routes the cornerbacks will be eliminated from defending against the run. Likewise the corners have to be careful not to try to shed the first block the receivers lay on them, because the receivers could be jamming them on a stop and go route. So the corners can really only help defend the run once Washington is past the line of scrimmage, and by that point the receivers have probably taken them far enough downfield that they would be making a touchdown saving tackle if they tackle at all.

Barquell Rivers and Tariq Edwards are basically spies. They have to read the offense before they can engage. They have no set-in-stone assignment, which means they will get mostly assists this game because the play will have almost fully developed by the time they commit to a ball carrier.

That leaves Whitley, Exum, and Fuller. My guess is they'll put Whitley on the field slot back to guard against the "misdirection" option play. And now we're down to two defenders for their two primary offensive weapons. Traditionally the whip - in this case, Kyle Fuller - has taken the pitch man, which would leave Exum on the quarterback.

Remember when GT beat us in 2009 and we heard all about how Bud based his entire offense around Kam Chancellor? At the time I thought it was a really risky proposition, but that's because I didn't understand the flexbone. (Who does, anymore? It's not 1946.) The flexbone forces you to base your defense around one defender: the guy who has the quarterback. It's the cornerstone of defending the option. Contain the quarterback, you debone the flexbone.

If Bud is going to shut down Georgia Tech, Maddy and D-Hop must blow up the fullback dive consistently. The dive in the triple option is the offensive equivalent of Chinese water torture. It will ping you to death four yards at a time. If Washington keeps, Fuller's first job is to eliminate the pitch man. If you force Washington to bail on the pitch and cut upfield himself then Barquell Rivers and Tariq Edwards are much more likely to be able to arrive at the ball and assist Exum, especially Rivers who has lost a step laterally due to his quad injury. This will also keep the mike and backer more rested, meaning we're much less likely to have a boot print on our neck in the fourth quarter. If Washington does pitch it, Fuller has to bring down the pitch man alone and in space, because if the pitch man reaches the second level of the defense he's probably going to have way more than just first down yardage. We are in good hands here. I don't think we've ever had an open field tackler like Kyle Fuller before. If there is a defender on this team who can neutralize the boundary slot back consistently it's Fuller.

Now there is one thing that Bud Foster loves to do that he can still do effectively against Georgia Tech: disguise coverages. We will come out with the assignments I've described above. Or if not exactly as I've described above - meaning Bud has found man matchups he prefers to what I've predicted - then they will at least be the same assignments we show on defense for a while. But things will get really interesting for Tevin Washington when on one play Jayron Hosley covers the pitch man, Kyle Fuller has QB contain, and Exum becomes boundary corner. These sudden shifts in defensive assignment can confuse the hell out of the quarterback when he tries to read the defense, because if he sees Fuller breaking on him he might assume that leaves the pitch man uncovered. Except when he pitches, Jayron Hosley is all over the slot back like Bibi Jones on a married pro athlete. Blown up play. Turnover. Happiness.

This is how Bud Foster will win against Georgia Tech.

Keep in mind, in this game you are going to see our defense do some things you are very unaccustomed to seeing. You might find yourself screaming at your television, urging Kyle Fuller to lay out Tevin Washington. Remember that if he did that, we would lose. If GT manages a big run despite the appearance that defenders were in position to make the tackle, remember that there is a good reason why those defenders didn't make that tackle. Successfully eliminating one defender on one play can make our entire defense look like idiots, especially if the man their defense eliminates is Kyle Fuller or Antone Exum.

Take a deep breath and a healthy swig of bourbon. Keep track of how many fullback dives you see. Get a little nervous when you see them run to the wide side. Understand what our defense is trying to do, and let them do it.

In Bud we trust.

Quick Hits

2011-11-03T08:00:00.000-05:00

Since there's no game to preview this week I thought it might be a good time to revisit a few things.

Wilson Watch Update
Mr. Wilson is on pace to break Ryan Williams' single season rushing record at Virginia Tech.

Through 9 Games	Williams '09	Wilson '11
Rushing Yards	1,109	1,185
Rushing TDs	10	7
Receiving Yards	176	99
Receiving TDs	1	1

Wilson is on pace to run for 1,711 yards in a 13 game season, which would break both Ryan Williams' record and his own personal goal of 1,700 yards. If the Hokies make the ACCCG and give David an extra game to work with he projects to run for 1,843 yards, which would break Thomas Jones' all time ACC single season rushing record and make him the first ACC player in history to crack the 1,800 yard mark.

Interesting to note that after nine games Ryan Williams actually accounted for one more yard of total offense than David Wilson has. Wilson has caught up a bit in the receiving game since my update in late September, but he is still not the passing target RMFW was.

I'd also like to point out that despite the fact that it feels like DW hasn't found the end zone a lot this season, RMFW only had three more touchdowns by this point in the 2009 season. Ryan padded his stats down the stretch that year with back to back 4 TD games against NC State and Virginia. Should Wilson have a similar late season explosion you will see his name skyrocket up some people's Heisman short lists.

It's How You Finish

These numbers speak for themselves:

Quarter	DW's YPC
1st	5.9
2nd	5.5
3rd	6.8
4th	7.2

David Wilson does not slow down. He does not tire out. He gets better as the game goes on and has his best runs when we need it most. There's a reason defenders are trying to punch his junk in the pile: he breaks their spirit.

Extended Handoffs

Lost in all the hype surrounding David Wilson's record-breaking pace and LT's development as a quarterback is the fact that Virginia Tech could potentially see its first 1,000 yard receiver this season in one Danny "Open Like a 7-Eleven" Coale. Through nine games DC19 has 627 receiving yards. To crack four digits Danny would need to average 74.6 yards per game if we make the ACCCG, and 93.25 ypg if we don't. He's currently averaging 69.7, so he's going to need that extra game to stand much of a chance. But I can think of no receiver in VT history that I'd rather see reach this particular milestone more.

Also, both Coale and Jarrett Boykin are on pace to break Ernest Wilford's single season receptions record (55) regardless of whether or not we make the ACCCG.

But Play Calling Doesn't Really Matter

In beating Duke, VT went over 400 yards of total offense in a game for the seventh time this season. Last season, with senior QB and ACC player of the year Tyrod Taylor leading the offense, the Hokies managed the same accomplishment six times all year.

(P)Laying Down on the Job

2011-11-02T12:00:00.000-05:00

In his onfield interview immediately after the ECU game, Frank Beamer said he had to go into the locker room and apologize to his players for not having them prepared to play. It was an incredible moment: the man with the second most coaching wins in Bowl Subdivision football, who has been atop his program for 25 years in the era of drive-by coaching, felt he had to apologize to his players. He didn't pass the buck. He took the blame.

Then we came out cold against Wake Forest. And then against Duke. The reason given by the coaching staff both times? Not being ready to play. Stiney stood up and took the heat for the first quarter at Wake Forest. This week it was again Frank Beamer who said the team just didn't quite show up in Durham.

How many times can you apologize for not being ready to play before the apology rings empty?

It's a classic criticism of the Virginia Tech football program: we "play down" to our opponent. We squeak by teams that - simply judging from a talent and quality of coaching staff level - we should roll. That is one problem area that has not improved with the adjustments to play calling made after the Orange Bowl.

The possible culprit at I see it? Frank Beamer's favorite word. "Consistency."

"We practice the same way every week, win or lose," Frank told a reporter in an interview earlier this season. The game prep never changes in Blacksburg. We prepared for Duke the same way we prepared for Miami. Not in the technical aspects, of course. We game plan on both sides of the ball based on what scheme the opponent is going to be using against. But in regards how the offense and defense practices, how reps get assigned, how much time goes to film study, it all stays the same week to week. In other words, we treat every opponent the same on paper.

The problem is that the players don't treat the opponents the same. We naturally don't get as "up" for Duke as we do for Miami. A noon kickoff on the ACC network doesn't keep the adrenaline levels as high as a primetime game on ESPN. In practice it's the same. In the minds of the players, it's two completely different animals.

To a certain extent it's the job of a head coach to manufacture excitement when it's lacking. We don't really like to think about these players needing a little extra "rah rah" to get their motors revved up, but it's the truth. Barry Switzer once said it shouldn't matter who the opponent is, great teams go out onto the field to play against themselves. To be elite you have to relish every opportunity to play a down of football and make the most of it, regardless of what team is lined up against you. And instilling that mindset into a program is the job of the head coach. Beamer tries to do it through preaching consistency, but the message is falling just a little short. The players obviously understand that we are not a program that panics, and that consistency is what has allowed us to be one of the best rebounding teams in college football. Heartbreaking losses like BC '07 and JMU '10 did not derail our seasons the way you see gut wrenching losses derail the seasons of other teams. We have the mindset of always getting back up when we've been knocked down. What we are lacking is the iron-jawed determination to pay no attention to what the jerseys lined up against us say.

Putting it another way, you have to actively find a reason to bring your best effort onto the field for every game. This is David Wilson's epic locker room speech before the 2009 International Federation of American Football Junior World Championship:

It's fair to say Mr. Wilson was ready to play. He also got his team ready to play. He found his motivation in something as simple as which locker room his team was assigned. But David Wilson is a special player. You're always going to get his best effort every week. And, unfortunately, he's also the exception. There's a reason why momentum is such a crucial factor in college football, and the higher the level of college football the more crucial it is. The BCS conferences are stocked with the most talented players coming out of high school year after year, and quite often these players were so far above their peers in talent level that all they had to do was show up every Friday night and go through the motions and they'd be pretty much unstoppable. But when you make the transition from high school football to BCS-level college football you're suddenly on a much more level playing field, even when you're facing the Dukes and Wake Forests of your conference. That transition requires a lot more attention to detail and development of sound mechanics, but it also requires the ability to put your entire focus on the game at hand regardless of your opponent. It's the coaching staff's job to help their players make that transition. Our coaching staff does a fantastic job of coaching up the fundamentals and the techniques that are needed to compete at this level. But they don't seem to be so good at keeping the fires stoked under the player's asses.

There's another potential downfall to Frank Beamer's complete devotion to consistency: lack of accountability. After they enjoy their much needed and much deserved days off during this bye week, the players will begin to practice in preparation for Georgia Tech just like they did after beating Miami, just like they did after beating ECU, just like they did after losing to Clemson. The approach and the mindset will be essentially the same as it would have been had we dropped half a hundred on Duke and been playing our fourth string by halftime. The particulars of the last game will have no bearing on the preparations for the next. There were some players who barely brought their D+ game to Durham, let alone their A game, but this will be a week like any other for them. So, really, what's the incentive to show up every week?

Don't get me wrong. A win is a win. And not every loss should be punished. But there should be consequences and rewards for performance. Perhaps there are, and it happens behind closed doors and well away from the media and the public (as it should), but based on everything we've heard about the mindset of practice inside the Virginia Tech football program, there's nothing to indicate that it is. But if, say, someone were to have to run steps or do a hundred up-downs or get up in front of the team during film study and explain why he consistently gave up on his routes and gave minimal effort on his blocks for the entire Duke game, then perhaps we would see an improvement in fundamentals.

I often shy away from being critical of the players, and in general I think it's a good policy. But we also must remember that these are in fact men, not boys, who are playing this game. They are representatives of our university and their effort, or lack thereof, is a reflection on Virginia Tech. They are also learning, as I learned in college, what it really means to be a man and how to live your life when the person you are ultimately most accountable to is yourself. That was a difficult lesson for me to learn. I can't imagine doing it while the eyes of so many people are on you every Saturday. But Virginia Tech and its football program have an obligation to these players to help them learn that lesson. Not holding them accountable when they fail to meet expectations of effort and focus would be a disservice to them and a failure of our coaching staff.

I was at the Appalachian State game this season. It's a heck of a drive but I always try to make it down for one game each season. I always stop by Volume Two Bookstore and among the other overpriced items I walk out with I always buy this year's team bracelet. Yes, they're exceptionally lame in general, but I've bought one every year since 2007 and in its own weird way it helps me feel a little more connected with my alma mater and its football program now that I've moved so far away from it. Instead of the more familiar "Team United" slogan, this year's bracelet has this season's motto: "Every day in every way." That, of course, is the foundation of Virginia Tech football: 100% effort in all phases of the game. But it's not enough just to tell these young men that's what you expect from them. You have to show them what it means. And in this case I think Frank Beamer is missing the forest for the trees.

Duke Recap

2011-11-01T08:00:00.000-05:00

I never write my review until I've watched a game a second time. Why? Because when I watch the game live, I'm watching as a simple spectator, a fan, an alum. As such, my focus on the game is shallow. I follow the ball pretty much exclusively, without paying any attention to blocking, assignments, or any of the Xs and Os that go into a successful game plan. While watching live I'm prone to snap judgments and tend to fly off the handle a bit. Only upon a second watching, when I really break down the game, can I set the excitement of the moment aside and give an honest assessment of our game plan, our play calling, and our effort as a team. This week was no different, and I can honestly say my outlook on this game shifted significantly after giving it a second look.

First things first. The game plan was solid. We came out again this week showing the spread look that has worked its way onto the field as our base formation this season. It worked well, but we also used a lot of LT under center, which also worked well especially in play action. Mike O'Cain called a nice, unpredictable mix of runs and passes, did indeed get David Wilson ten touches before halftime, and perhaps most importantly did not shy away from the pass for the rest of the game when LT tossed a couple of picks early on. In the first half LT led the Hokies down the field on drives that covered 85, 90, and 77 yards. We scored first, for once. Going into halftime the Hokies had run 40 plays for over 300 yards.

So what happened in the second half? Did the lack of focus and discipline catch up to us? Did the game plan break down? Did we make bad adjustments at halftime, or did Duke make some great adjustments on defense?

Watching the game live, my knee jerk reaction was that we were playing way too conservative in the second half. The numbers from the game appear to support that position, too. In the first half we passed 18 times; in the second half we only passed ten. On every series of downs in the second half on which our possession ended, we ran the ball on both first and second down. But when I went back and watched the game a second time I realized that Duke simply took away the big play in the second half. In the first half VT had five plays of 25+ yards, while in the second half we only had one. It wasn't for lack of trying. We were still taking our shots downfield in the second half, we just weren't hitting on them.

On the first play of the fourth quarter LT threw a beautiful ball to Jarrett Boykin on a deep slant over the middle, a play on which Boykin got absolutely jobbed by the Duke cornerback. Not only did the defender lock arms with Boykin for the last three steps before the ball arrived (oh the beauty of 1/15 slow-motion on my DVR), he also grabbed Boykin's facemask as the ball was arriving, preventing Meathooks from jumping for a very catchable ball. The no-call on this play baffles me. Later in the fourth LT throws yet another beautiful ball, hitting Danny Coale perfectly down the right sideline. But Coale, who had a step on his defender, lost his grip on the ball as he was falling to the ground and the Duke corner managed to scoop it away as he rolled over top of Danny. That play was just a heartbreaker, as Coale catches that ball at least eight times out of ten. And a couple of other times in the fourth quarter LT had to check down off a deep receiver who was covered and take the shorter pass.

It also didn't really register while I was watching the game live that in the second half our average starting field position was our own 15 yard line. Four of our seven drives started inside of our own 20, and two started inside our own five. I don't know how much of an excuse this really is, since both of our first half touchdown drives started at our own 15 and 10 yard line, respectively, but it's a tall order to be called on to drive the length of the field repeatedly, especially when for whatever reason your opponent has effectively clamped down against the big play.

And that brings up the kicking game, unfortunately. Look, we have to realize that Branthover is a true freshman. He is not Demler redux, he's just inconsistent. Unlike Demler, Branthover has the leg to boot it 50+ yards every punt. He just needs to get his mechanics nailed down to be able to do it consistently, which is probably what Beamer had hoped to give him a redshirt year to be able to do. So please don't hang this kid out to dry because he's not quite ready for prime time. Having said that, punting is going to be an adventure down the stretch as it has been all year. We're going to lose the field position battle this year and there's nothing we can do about it, so our offense just needs to accept that more often than they would prefer they are going to be looking at 80+ yards to the endzone.

Not to say this game can just get written off as a couple of missed big plays and bad field position. This was a lousy effort. We were looking forward to the bye week and looking ahead to Georgia Tech. We played without urgency, enthusiasm, or spirit. And we most certainly did not give the dozens of fans who crowded Wallace Wade Outdoor Stadium their money's worth. But we escaped back to the bus with a win. We sleepwalked through an inferior opponent and lived to fight another day.

Marcus Davis... what the fuck? I'm not calling you out or cutting you down. I am saying that you are better than you played today. Next season you will be called upon to anchor this corps of receivers. It's time to nut up or shut up, young man.

But even in this underwhelming performance there were some bright spots on offense. Logan Thomas's jump pass to Eric Martin for the first touchdown was maybe the best touch I've seen LT put on a pass all season, and that aspect of his game could become a major weapon in his arsenal if he works on it in goal-to-go situations. Extra defenders will break on LT as soon as he leaves the pocket because he's such a hoss to bring down on the open run. This will frequently bring a receiver open, and if LT can routinely hit them on little flicks like this then he is going of frustrate the hell out of a lot of defensive coordinators. Despite the two picks - one of which was the result of poor route running rather than a poor pass - LT was threading the ball into tight coverage all day and has developed so, so much since I watched him from the stands against Appalachian State.

And to our injured, exhausted and beleaguered defense: thank you. You gave us this W when our offense came out cold in the second half. Enjoy your bye week, as you have most certainly and especially earned it.

Hokie Halloween from FBS

2011-10-31T00:00:00.000-05:00

Duke Open Thread

2011-10-29T07:00:00.000-05:00

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Comments not related to Virginia Tech football are subject to deletion.

Our Distinguished Opponents: Dook

2011-10-27T12:00:00.002-05:00

It's the law to use this picture on all VT/Duke previews in all sports.

After doing this blog for a couple years now I've pretty well developed my routine. At the start of the week I like to take a day or two to familiarize myself with this week's opponent by checking their record, any common opponents we've already faced, and the stat sheet.

Duke's record? Losing. But they've already won as many games (3) through week 8 this year as they did all of last year. The bad news is with their remaining schedule (VT, @Miami, @UVA, GT, @UNC) they might not win another game. Our common opponents? Duke edged BC by a point and got edged by Wake Forest by a point. While not technically a common opponent because it's different seasons, Duke got shellacked by Stanford by about the same margin as we did. Stats... well, here's where my jaw hit the floor.

The Duke Blue Devils have the 22nd ranked passing game in the nation. Junior quarterback Sean Renfree is averaging 256 passing yards per game. He's completing 67.8% of his passes. He's passed for 47 more yards than LT in one fewer game. The caveat - and there's always a caveat with Duke, isn't there? - is that it's almost exclusively a short passing game. Renfree is only averaging 6.6 yards per attempt. Of his 185 completions, only 11 have gone for 25 yards or more. And he only has six touchdown passes on the year. But he's only been held under 200 passing yards once this season, against Stanford. He's no Seth Doege, but his numbers are enough to make me question my original assumption that we wouldn't really need Jayron Hosley this week.

The reason Renfree passes so damn much (39 attempts/game, 11th in the nation) is because Duke has zero run game. Their leading rusher is Juwan Thompson, a sophomore whose closest flirtation with a hundred yard game came in week 1 when he put up 86 yards against Richmond. Against Bowl Subdivision opponents he's yet to crack the 70 yard mark in a game. Thompson has shared carries with junior Desmond Scott who, on paper, is the more explosive back, averaging a near-Wilsonian 6.1 yards per carry. Altogether the Blue Devils are averaging exactly 100 yards per game. There's only ten teams in the nation that fare worse in the running game.

We picked the best possible time to be facing the worst possible rushing team. Three of our starting front seven are gone for the season (Godspeed in your recovery, Bruce). James Gayle couldn't go against BC on his bum ankle. J.R. Collins came out of the BC game with a finger injury, though he did return. That leaves Tariq Edwards and Derrick Hopkins as the only two members of our front seven that you can legitimately describe as "healthy." Not to downplay what the backups have managed to do in step-up duty this season - this musical chairs front seven is still locking down the run to the tune of 7th in the nation. But on the injury front I'm starting to feel like this defense is Spaceball One and we've just hit ludicrous speed.

Bud Foster's gone to plaid!

Things are only marginally better in the secondary. Hosley is sure to still be nursing that twinged hamstring, as that's a hell of an injury to bounce back from. Antone Exum also came out of the BC game for a while with a thigh bruise, though he would return and finish the game. Playing armchair coach, I'd say rest Hosley and play Exum. Detrick Bonner has risen to the occasion and played the boundary at a high level in Jayron's absence. The free safety position behind Exum, however, is still an unproven commodity. Despite my sagacity, however, early indications are that Hosley will give it a go against the Blue Devils. Fingers crossed, people.

Looking at the other side of the ball, Duke's defense is yielding 398.9 yards per game to its opponents and the majority of that is given up through the air. The Blue Devils rank 102nd in the nation against the pass, versus a comparatively more respectable 48th against the rush. Put those numbers into the Stiney/O'Cain blender and hit puree, and what's likely to pour out is another pitch and catch gameplan like we saw in the first half against Boston College. If the receivers come ready to play this week LT should have a good opportunity to put up 300 yards through the air. But here's hoping that Mike O'Cain has learned from experience and is committed to getting David Wilson ten touches before halftime.

This game is the final obstacle remaining before the most desperately needed bye week in Hokie history. Barring catastrophic injury or monumental bribery we aren't going to lose to Duke. But it would be nice, for once, to see LT and the offense come out firing on all cylinders, bury the Blue Devils by halftime, and get our starters off the field before Lisfrancs start spontaneously combusting all over the place.

The Narrow Line Between Suck and Awesome

2011-10-25T08:51:00.000-05:00

So I reconsidered. I spent like two frickin' hours breaking down each series of downs on which the first six drives of the Boston College game stalled, so I figure, what the hell, someone else might actually enjoy reading this crap.

I also think this exercise shed some light, for me at least, on the difference between bad play calling and bad game planning. While breaking down these 18 plays only one jumped out at me as a bad call. But of the 18 plays, 12 were passes while only 6 were runs. VT is not built to have a 2:1 pass/run ratio. While the individual calls were all pretty decent, the overall trends in the calls were too aggressive in the passing game while not respecting what David Wilson can do on the ground.

Follow the jump for the detailed breakdown.

FIRST DRIVE
1st and 10 from the VT 22: For the first play of the game the Hokies come out in a five wide shotgun set, trips right. For once we actually pass out of this formation. LT throws to Boykin down the left sideline with a little too much velocity on the ball but on target. I'm getting tired of writing this this season, but the ball deflects off the receiver's hands, incomplete. To make matters worse, before the snap Boykin lines up on the 20 yard line, two yards behind the line of scrimmage, which gets VT flagged for illegal procedure with too many men in the backfield. I'm guessing maybe he thought the opening kickoff was a touchback, maybe? But still, how hard is it to just check where the ball is before the snap? BC declines the penalty, preferring the loss of down to the loss of five yards. Between mistiming his jump and drawing a flag, Boykin, who was coming off back to back solid performances, earns an F minus for the first play of the game.

2nd and 10: Still in the shotgun, three wide single back set. LT dumps it off to Wilson on a delay out of the backfield for a pickup of five. Nice play to set up a manageable third down.

3rd and 5: Shotgun again, trips right single back with Drager lined up left. If this was an option run LT never even hinted at pitching it. Kevin Pierre-Louis sheds Jaymes Brook's block and forces LT to take it a bit more to the outside where he runs into Danny Coale blocking a safety. LT comes up a foot short. Insert your random "game of inches" bullshit here, because one play later Michael Branthover shanks a 9 yard punt and BC capitalizes to score the first touchdown of the game.

The drive was doomed when: Boykin lined up wrong, then mistimed his jump and tipped the pass on first down. Or just time the jump right and come down with the ball. That would have forced BC to accept the penalty, which would have backed VT up five but still given then three downs to get the fifteen yards. We got 9.75 yards in two plays on this drive so 3rd and a long 5 wouldn't have been the end of the world. This was a freshman-level double decker mistake from a senior wide receiver.

SECOND DRIVE
1st and 10 from the VT 32: David Wilson runs out of the shotgun to the short side of the field, bounces outside and slips trying to cut upfield. Gain of 2 yards.

2nd and 8: More shotgun. Wilson, lined up as slot receiver, comes in motion before the snap. LT fakes the end around to Wilson then pulls the ball back and runs ahead for 4 yards. Sets up a makeable 3rd down.

3rd and 4: Three wide shotgun set. LT motions Drager from left to right pre-snap, leaving Boykin with man coverage on the short side of the field. BC brings a corner blitz and LT has to hurry the throw, sailing it above Boykin's head and out of bounds.

The drive was doomed when: The Hokies failed to pick up the blitz on the edge, giving LT the time he needed to connect with Boykin. LT had what he wanted in coverage but didn't get three seconds to step into his pass.

THIRD DRIVE
1st and 10 from the BC 12: The Hokies have put together a decent drive up to this point and are knocking on the door. LT under center with two tight ends in for max protect on blocking. Wilson is the single back, two receivers left. LT floats a beautiful fade to a WIDE OPEN Jarrett Boykin, who fails to get a foot down in bounds. This one was an absolute heartbreaker to watch as Boykin realizes as soon as he plants his foot how badly he just fucked up.

2nd and 10: Same formation. Wilson runs off left tackle, bouncing it outside as he runs into the blitz. Gain of four.

3rd and 6: After a timeout, VT hurries to the line in a five wide shotgun set. I might be wrong here, but to me this looks like a QB draw all the way and LT unloaded it out of the back of the endzone when he saw the blitz coming.

The drive was doomed when: Boykin forgot where he was in relation to the sideline. A toe drag knots the score at 7. Instead VT settles for a field goal.

FOURTH DRIVE
1st and 10 from the VT 42: LT throws deep over the middle off play action and overthrows Danny Coale by ten yards.

2nd and 10: Bubble screen to Danny Coale who can't quite find the edge. Gain of three.

3rd and 7: The play I've wanted to see all season. Wilson, lined up in the slot, comes in motion before the snap. LT tries to hit Wilson on a wheel route, completing the pass but throwing a bit behind DW. Instead of catching it in stride Wilson has to wait and adjust, giving the BC defenders time to close in and snuff out the play. If they get the timing right on this play Wilson is 40 yards downfield. As it stands, this was a gain of two.

The drive was doomed when: LT failed to hit Wilson in stride. But please, Mike O'Cain, please do not give up on this play. Work on it in practice. This could be money down the stretch.

FIFTH DRIVE
1st and 10 from the VT 42: Wilson runs out of the shotgun to the short side for a gain of three. At first I thought this was a read option play that LT let go, but this was a designed handoff all the way.

2nd and 7: LT tries to hook up with Marcus Davis on the far sideline. Either the throw was off target or MD7 ran a bad route. Hard to tell.

3rd and 7: LT takes a shot downfield, trying to hit Boykin down the left sideline but is forced to hurry his throw as the O line fails to pick up the linebacker on a blitz. LT gets destroyed as he releases the ball and Boykin can't quite make the grab.

The drive was doomed when: the BC linebacker came through untouched on the blitz. You give LT one to two more seconds and I honestly think he makes that throw.

SIXTH DRIVE
1st and 10 from the VT 18: Two tight end set, two wide left, single back. LT rolls right off play action and tries to hit Randall Dunn down the right sideline but Manny Asprilla breaks on the ball and bats it away. Not a bad play call here at all, but that's just good defense by Asprilla.

2nd and 10: LT tries to set up a halfback screen to Wilson. The BC offensive line sniffs it out and LT dumps the pass at Wilson's feet to avoid the sack. Again, good defense by BC to realize a screen was being set up.

3rd and 10: LT is flushed from the pocket, pulls it down and runs right. Kevin Pierre-Louis takes a perfect angle and knocks LT out of bounds two yards short of the first down. The play by play guy make such a BFD here about Pierre-Louis giving up 35 pounds to LT and still forcing him out of bounds, but when you take the right angle and play disciplined defense that will happen every time.

The drive was doomed when: it started. BC played damn near perfect defense on this series of downs.

VT would not punt again in this game. The only other drive that "stalled" in the sense that it didn't result in a touchdown occurred when DW ran straight up the middle on a very makeable 3rd and 2 from the BC six yard line. This wasn't a failure to sustain a drive, it was Frank Beamer not being an asshole.

Again, compare the game plan to the play calling. All of these drives stalled in part because the Hokies were out of balance on offense, but the individual play calls all make fairly good sense in the circumstances under which they were called. This is a critical distinction with Mike O'Cain in the booth instead of Stiney: when you have a play caller who understands the flow of the game and how to use play calls to set up future play calls, then as an offensive staff you can make effective adjustments in the way you want to attack the opposing defense.

Also, having given this some more thought, don't dismiss the possibility that it was precisely all the passes in the first half that set DW up to have such a monster second half running the ball. I still think MOC went a tad bit overboard with 25 passes in the first half, but BC obviously came out of the locker room after halftime expecting more of the same, and they were completely unprepared for Wilson running it down their throats on the first drive of the third quarter.

BC Recap

2011-10-24T13:09:00.000-05:00

Should we have scored more on them? Yeah.

Why didn't we? How much time ya got?

You can talk all you want about coming out flat, playing down to our opponent, lacking spark, or whatever. But this was a strange game plan we came out with in the first half. We were throwing it around like a Big XII team (that's still a thing, right?) instead of taking what the BC defense would give us. And here's a tip: the BC defense will give you a lot this season.

I was going to use this recap to break down how each of the first six drives stalled. When I was done writing it I sat back, reread it, and got so bored I went narcoleptic on my keyboard. I'm not going to bore you with the details of how each particular play shook out, because if you're interested in that you can watch the replay of the game. What's important to remember is that the pass-happy attack of the first half wasn't working to sustain drives. We were moving the ball okay after the first couple of series - we went into halftime with 201 total yards on 40 plays - but we weren't finishing. In the second half we recommitted to the run without going ECU 2, Electric Boogaloo. As soon as BC had to respect the run then the passing game opened up like an airplane bottle in the north endzone. Here, lookit:

	1st Half	2nd Half
Pass Attempts	25	11
Completions	12	10
Wilson carries	6	11
YPC	3.5	10.3
Points	6	24
Adjective	Stupid	Balanced

Perhaps, as very bad as BC had been coming into this game, Mike O'Cain wanted to use it sort of like he used the non-conference games, to let LT sling it around a little. LT's passing game has come a long, long way since Appy State and he's getting better every week. But it's still not enough to carry the entire game for the Hokies, especially when your receivers make some pretty egregious mistakes like they did in this one. (DRAG THE TOE, JARRETT!!!) It's also possible that the offensive staff is hoping to rest Wilson a bit before the stretch run against Georgia Tech, UNC, and Virginia to close out the season. We'll definitely need DW to have fresh legs if we're going to earn that rematch against Clemson in Charlotte, but only giving him six touches in a half is inexcusable.

So, it was a questionable game plan. Was it a bad game plan? Well, it didn't work but that doesn't mean it was a bad plan from the start. Coming into the game against us, BC's pass defense was ranked significantly lower than their run defense. Both were bad, but passing defense was worse for the Eagles. It makes sense to want to pass more against any defense that has Luke Kuechly on the field because you can just throw over him, whereas you have to run past or through him. But in post game interviews both Stiney and O'Cain said BC showed them some looks on defense that they had not used so far this season, which our offense was not prepared for.

This is nothing new, folks. Just like how Bud Foster starts scheming for Georgia Tech in February, every ACC team on our schedule circles the date of our game on their calendars as soon as the schedule is published. It's easy to lose sight of that while we're busy wringing our hands over our history of offensive issues, but we get our opponents' best shot every single time.

Anyway, we gave the aerial assault thing a shot. It didn't work out like we planned. We stuck with it for a half, had some success on the third series of the game, had some more when BC switched to a prevent against our ~~two~~ one minute drill, went into the locker room and adjusted. And it was a solid, well thought out adjustment that let our offense run away with this game. Don't undersell how important that was for our offensive coaches, who are notoriously hardheaded about sticking with the original game plan come hell or high water, to switch things up for the second half. We didn't see that very often while Stiney was up in the booth, so I'd encourage you to enjoy it now.

David Wilson is Over 1,000 Rushing Yards, Leads the Nation

2011-10-24T08:25:00.003-05:00

DMFW.

Bruce Taylor done for the season.

2011-10-23T21:11:00.001-05:00

~~This is not officially official, but it will be tomorrow.~~ It's now official per hokiesports.com. Bruce Taylor is set to have season-ending surgery to repair the foot sprain he suffered in the third quarter against BC. ~~The prevailing rumor is that~~ The injury is a Lisfranc sprain, the same injury that ended JGW's season against Miami.

This is ~~getting~~ ridiculous.

Boston College Open Thread

2011-10-22T07:00:00.000-05:00

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Our Distinguished Opponents: Bottom College

2011-10-20T09:00:00.000-05:00

Almost forgot it was Homecoming.

Boston College is bad this year. Really, really bad. Like, the worst team we'll face all season bad. Worse than Appy State. Worse than Duke. If we played Blacksburg High in a scrimmage, I'd have to think long and hard about which might be the better team.

They're not always this bad. Usually they're a competent, well coached football team who notch out more wins than their limited talent pool and halfhearted fan base would merit. But this year they're just embarrassing themselves. As for the particular reason why they're shitting the bed so magnificently this season I couldn't begin to formulate a guess. Of course when Montel Harris went down early on I knew the Eagles were going to struggle on offense, and when they announced a short time ago that he was done for the season then I knew the wheels had fallen off completely. But I am shocked to see this BC team struggle so badly on defense.

Boston College has built their name and (limited) reputation on the strength of their defensive front seven and especially their linebackers. They play hard and they play tough and they play well above their pay grade as recruits when the defensive coaching staff in Chestnut Hill coaches them up. Except for this year. This year the secret to beating BC's defense is simple: run away from Luke Kuechly. The All-Western Hemisphere linebacker leads the team (and the nation) with 99 tackles on the year, which gives him a full 43 more tackles than the Eagles' second leading tackler Kevin Pierre-Louis. Putting this into perspective, our two leading tacklers - Bruce Taylor and Antone Exum - combined have eleven fewer tackles on the year than Luke Kuechly. So LT's primary read on every play should be, "Where's Kuechly?" We should then throw or run in the other direction.

By the numbers Boston College just pretty much sucks at life this year. In every major statistical category the Eagles rank in the top half of the Bowl Subdivision in only two: punting and scoring defense. Of course they're good at punting with as much experience as they have at it this year. But the scoring defense (which is just barely in the top half of the country at 58th) ranks a full 37 places higher than their total defense. That means BC clamps down against scoring plays. So like against Wake Forest, VT is probably going to need some big plays to open the flood gates.

As for what our defense should be able to do to their offense... Let's put it this way: rest anyone who shows even a hint of an injury this week.

UPDATE: James Gayle will start versus BC. Personally I'd like to see him get in about a half of work just to shake the rust, then ice down his ankle and give it another week before trying to go a full game against Duke. Jayron Hosley will not dress for the game this week. And let's be honest, after watching what a nagging hamstring issue did to RMFW last season, I think we can all agree it would be just fine if Jayron doesn't play a down until the Georgia Tech game.

On paper, this game should have a homicide detective assigned to it. This is the part where I feel obligated to say that BC always plays us tough, blah blah blah, but the last time BC visited Lane the Hokies dismantled them 48-14, outgaining them by 441 yards to 163. This BC team is significantly worse than that one. If we somehow screw the pooch badly enough to lose to these guys it would seriously be on the level of a Temple '98 or a JMU '10 meltdown.

But don't feel sorry for the Eagles, because as far as BC's clusterf**k of a season goes, I look at it as their chickens coming home to roost. No offense to Frank Spaziani, who I think is an absolute hell of a defensive coordinator, but Boston College inflicted this wound upon themselves when they showed Jeff Jagodzinksi the door. Personal feelings about the man aside, Jags did what no one should be able to do in Chestnut Hill: have the Eagles contend for ACC championships. Gene DeFillipo said Boston College was going to be a destination job under his watch, but rather than ponying up the resources to make coaches want to stay there his answer was to fire anyone who entertained any notion of going elsewhere, even the NFL. The Boston College athletics department is like that batshit crazy girl you used to date who never wanted to give it up but also wouldn't talk to you for two days if the cashier at Kroger smiled at you. In the end it's no wonder that girl winds up living alone in a one bedroom apartment with thirty cats.

Mid-Season Stats Update

2011-10-19T08:35:00.004-05:00

After seven games this season, we're bowl-eligible and have either six or seven games left (seven if we're in the ACC Championship). That means we're at the halfway point of the season. Time for a stat update!

Scoring Defense: 14th nationally

This is a great place to be, but let's be honest--at Virginia Tech we want to rank in the top 10 of this category every year. We are the highest ranked ACC team, though. Total defense has us at #15 with Florida State ahead of us, but scoring defense is the category that matters. In addition we're #8 against the rush, but only #52 against the pass. Hopefully Jayron gets healthy.

Scoring Offense: 44th

We obviously need some work on offense, though that Clemson game definitely hurt our average here. In fact, if we had scored 14 more points in that one game (17 total), we'd be ranked a full 10 spots higher in this category. That still leaves us lower than the #21 and #24 of the past two years, however, but if Logan Thomas continues to improve and DMFW continues to run out of his shoes I expect us to move up in this category. We're currently 6th in the ACC in scoring offense, behind #10 Georgia Tech, #21 Clemson, #28 Florida State, #39 NC State and #40 (tie) Wake Forest.

Rushing Offense: 34th

Passing Offense: 63rd

A few other stats I noticed:
Turnover Margin: #51 (+2)

3rd Down Conversions: #46 (44%)

Opponent 3rd Down Conversions: #13 (30%)

Punting: #117

Stats obtained from cfbstats.com. Most of the referenced stats are clickable links.

Almost enough to make you endure driving a Hyundai.

2011-10-19T08:29:00.000-05:00

Wake Forest Recap

2011-10-17T22:10:00.001-05:00

At 12:30 mark of the second quarter, I wasn't doing so well.

I'd just endured a first quarter almost as bad as the Clemson forfeit. VT had managed to rack up 8 yards through fifteen minutes of play. It was doing nothing to raise my spirits that on their fifth drive the Hokies nearly tripled their total yardage for the game by moving the ball 18 yards before punting it. I was not, shall we say, in my happy place.

But in the end it was nice to watch LT, DW and the rest of the offense overcome a sluggish start to put on what honestly became a clinic in the second quarter, coming all the way back from being down 0-10 to take a 21-10 lead into halftime, then step on Wake Forest's throat in the second half en route to a 38-17 statement win over a good Demon Deacons squad.

And the defense... sweet cheebus give it up for these guys. We spot the Deacs ten points on the road and manage to lose our all-everything corner in the process, then proceed to lock them down for the rest of the game save one touchdown drive set up by yet another mental meltdown on special teams. (There will be a rather long post coming about the state of our special teams whenever I can devote the time to it. Probably during the bye week. I have a lot to say about this particular topic.)

Some of you rules lawyers out there help me out with this, though. How in the hell did we get an illegal substitution penalty on defense before the snap? My understanding has always been that illegal substitution penalties get called on the offense when they break the huddle and on defense when the ball is snapped. Did the officials dick this one up on the call?

Detrick Bonner, who I have previously called out on this blog over blown coverages, grew up in this game and showed promise for a post-Jayron world. He made a few touchdown saving shoestring tackles and he absolutely robbed Chris Givens of a touchdown in man coverage late in the third quarter. Earlier in the year Bonner looked like a freshman trying to play cornerback for Torrian Gray. Now the young man is starting to look like a Torrian Gray product at corner.

And to anyone who played a down on our defensive front seven, you, sir, have moxy. I cannot believe the pressure we got on Tanner Price all game long. What should have been a glaring weakness on our D with all the injuries piling up wound up being a highlight of the night.

But seriously, what was up with that first quarter? Four three and outs. Our longest play from scrimmage was a five yard screen pass to Jarrett Boykin. Our first drive of the game lost three yards. I don't know if it was a Miami hangover, or if Wake Forest's defense came out frothing at the mouth. But it seemed like as soon as Boykin snagged that deep pass down the left sideline then the switch was flipped and the offense never looked back. After going 3 of 11 for 19 yards in our first five series, LT went 14 of 21 for 261 yards and two TDs the rest of the way. Through five possessions David Wilson was averaging 0.75 yards per carry, then over the rest of the game averaged 10.2 per carry.

Let me put this another way. Through the first quarter, VT had 8 total yards of offense. Over the last three quarters the Hokies rolled up 465 yards. That's 155 yards per quarter over the last three quarters. If you had that effort from the get go that would be a 620 yard game.

But I'm not going to sweat the first five series of the game too much when six of the last eight series put points on the board. LT overcame a shaky start to lead his team to a win in his first conference road game. David Wilson got his yards and lost a shoe. And the receivers stepped up, especially Jarrett Boykin who finally put together consecutive games with over 100 receiving yards. It took them a while to get going, but in the end the offense answered the bell and looked good doing it.

Hokies crack the BCS Dirty Dozen

2011-10-16T19:57:00.003-05:00

The first week of the BCS rankings are out, and color me shocked but VT is ranked 12th. That makes the Hokies the highest ranked team in the Coastal division and second only to Clemson in the conference.

You won't hear me talk much about rankings as a general rule, especially since with the loss to Clemson and soft out of conference schedule our ceiling this year is most likely an ACC championship and Orange Bowl berth. But 12th is entirely better than I would have predicted.

The computers are showing us some love, with half of them ranking the Hokies in the top 10. VT's worst computer ranking comes from Sagarin, who has the Hokies 14th, the same ranking as in the coaches' poll.

Lots of football left to be played.

Wake Forest Open Thread

2011-10-15T07:00:00.000-05:00

Discuss amongst yourselves.

JGW done for the season.

2011-10-13T13:42:00.001-05:00

Sorry to bump the Wake Forest preview so quickly but I just got word the Hyphen is done for the season.

The culprit is a Lisfranc sprain. I had to hit up Wikipedia, but it sounds like this is a nasty injury that can lead to compartment syndrome and can be career threatening.

In other news, James Gayle is not traveling with the team to Wake.

I need a drink.

Our Distinguished Opponents: Old Man Herbert

2011-10-13T09:00:00.001-05:00

Wake Forest? Yawn. This one should be a cakewalk. Hopefully Mark Leal will get a chance to take some...

What?

Has it been five years already? Dammit, that means Wake Forest is due to field a halfway competent team again. Just our freaking luck.

Wake Forest is the Vanderbilt of the ACC: small, overpriced, not quite the right fit in the conference, and with a fan base that doesn't get excited even when the team doesn't suck. Probably because they know that by next season order will be restored and their football program will once again regain its rightful place as conference bottom feeder. They made these guys cross-divisional rivals with Duke for a reason.

But every so often Jim Grobe manages to scrape together a team that is irritatingly non-terrible. They did it in 2006, when they managed to make the ACC an even bigger football joke by becoming its champion. And it looks like they're giving it what for again this year.

On the other hand, these guys have never beaten us. I mean, they beat VT pre-Beamer, back when we had a meaningful rivalry with VMI and got excited when we beat the Hoos. It's like beating the Patriots before they had Brady. Doesn't count. Under Beamer VT is 3-0. We survived them 17-10 our first year in the ACC, we spanked them 27-6 the year they actually managed to win the conference, and last year we dismantled them 52-21. Yes, the Deacs look better this year than last, but they don't look as good as they did in '06 with Riley Skinner.

I guess I should throw out some obligatory stats just to make this preview look all official. Wake's leading rusher, Josh Harris, is only averaging about 82 yards per game. He's gone over 100 yards once this season, last week against a Florida State team that is officially now mailing it in. The Deacs are a completely one-dimensional team. They're so pass-happy even their wide receivers get in on the action. Seriously. Wide receiver Michael Campanaro has thrown three passes on the year for the Deacs. He's 3 of 3 for 106 yards and 2 TDs, sporting a passer rating of 616.8. The man usually passing the ball for Wake isn't quite so spectacular, but is still pretty damn good. Tanner Price has thrown for 1,352 yards and 10 TDs but only 2 INTs through five games. Still, if Wake stays true to form they should come out passing against us, which will put the game into the hands of our secondary - the one area of our defense that hasn't been destroyed by injury. The front seven might have some trouble getting pressure on Price if Gayle isn't 100%, but all in all I have supreme confidence in Torrian Gray's defensive backfield. Then again, Josh Harris absolutely humiliated Bud Foster's defense last season by piling up 241 rushing yards against them in the lopsided loss. He was literally about 70% of their offense against us. So expect Jim Grobe to test the waters in the running game, hoping to duplicate last season's success. But I also guarantee you that Bud Foster has been watching tape of last year's game all week. Probably in a dark room while sacrificing a virgin.

UPDATE: Harris is questionable with a bum hamstring. Grobe might be bluffing, but it's looking like if Harris plays at all against the Hokies it will be in extremely limited capacity. Look for the bulk of the handoffs to be taken by Brandon Pendergrass, a senior who is averaging 3.7 yards per carry in backup duty this season. If Harris can't go that will make Wake's offense that much more one dimensional.

Defensively the Demon Deacons are annoyingly solid. They do tend to give up quite a few yards through the air (over 222 per game), and their scoring defense (23.4 ppg) ranks quite a bit below their total defense statistically, which indicates they are prone to give up the big scoring play. That means LT, DW and the entire offense will have to take advantage of the opportunities that Wake presents them if they're going to become bowl eligible this Saturday.

The Miami game was as good of a turnaround as I could have asked for after Clemson. Now - to risk sounding like a broken record - I need to see where the offense goes from here. We've probably already seen LT's best and worst game this season, and now the question is where will he settle in as his baseline? The good news is as far as away games in the ACC go, he's not exactly walking into the lion's den for his first road conference game. This will be a good opportunity for LT to prove that Clemson, not Miami, was the outlier in his season.

Just A Quick Note

2011-10-10T22:00:00.003-05:00

Just a quick note, infer what you choose.

Key words and topics for discussion: "up" year, "down" year, injury ravaged, talent level, opponent's defensive rankings, opponent's offensive rankings

Current 2011 Virginia Tech National rankings:

Scoring Offense: 56th out of 120

Total Offense: 54th out of 120

Scoring Defense: 14th out of 120

Total Defense: 13th out of 120

The Ballad of Logan Thomas

2011-10-09T17:39:00.002-05:00

"Everybody was wanting to crown him the next whoever. That's not right. That's not fair. Now, do we expect big things? Absolutely." - Mike O'Cain

"This is where legends are made. This is where you make your legacy. Go ahead and do it." - Tyrod Taylor

"Holy motherf**king sh*t!" -Illinois Hokie

No other Virginia Tech quarterback under Frank Beamer has ever thrown for over 300 yards against the Miami Hurricanes. No other VT QB under Beamer has ever thrown three touchdown passes against the Canes. No Hokies QB has ever flirted with a 92% completion rate, trucked a UM linebacker, or broken the spirit of the Hurricanes quite like Logan Thomas just did.

I'm a wee bit closer to writing off the Clemson game as an aberration.

So is LT going to be this good every week? Hell, no. I don't think he conceivably could be. But as I watched him lay the foundation of a legendary career against the rival Hurricanes I marveled at the fact that, in time, he could be better. As good as he was - and my God, you don't need me to tell you how good he was - there were still some rookie mistakes in his game. He fumbled twice, once because he took his eyes off a shotgun snap and once because he failed to secure the football on a sack. (Side Note: Best two yard gain I can recall ever seeing, Mr. Lanier.) He threw a pass when he was two yards beyond the line of scrimmage. And on the drive that heralded the Dawn of the Age of Logan, he had to slow himself down a bit and remember that he still had 90 seconds and two timeouts to work with.

But make no mistake: what Nebraska '09 was to Tyrod Taylor, Miami '11 is to Logan Thomas. The difference is that TT's miracle moment came in the last two minutes of an otherwise forgettable game, LT's was a masterpiece strung together over four full quarters.

This was the game I needed to see after Clemson. This is what all of Hokie Nation needed to light a fire under its collective asses. And this is what I dreamed our offense could look like after the changes to the offensive staff and play calling structure were announced after the Orange Bowl.

Are we a lock to win out? Hell no. Especially if the injuries to Gayle and the Hyphen are serious. Our defensive front seven is pretty much shredded by injury right now, so we might be seeing a lot more shootouts like this one. And I don't expect LT to win them all like this. Don't get me wrong. I think he is capable of winning them all. But I also think we might see a rookie mistake at an inopportune time that might cost us a game down the stretch. That's the thing that amazes me most about what I saw out of LT against Miami. He's still learning how to play his position at the highest level of college football. He looked that good against one of the best passing defenses in college football, and he's still learning.

Miami Game Review

2011-10-08T19:16:00.002-05:00

Dear Hokie Defensive Line, get healthy.

Dear ACC Officials and Replay Officials, get glasses.

Dear Logan Thomas, welcome to the big leagues.

Dear Bryan Stinespring and Mike O'Cain, good game.

That is all.

Miami Open Thread

2011-10-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Our Distinguished Opponents - Da U

2011-10-06T09:00:00.000-05:00

Oh, Miami. Am I ever glad to see you.

Because there is no other team I'd rather watch the Hokies beat the shit out of after the violation of the senses that was the Clemson game.

Your claim to fame this season is beating an Ohio State team that is a shell of its former sweater vest wearing, tattoo bartering self. And for being dumb enough to let an ass clown like Nevin Shapiro get on the inside of your program. And for having a coach that looks like a bigger douche than Al Groh on the sideline. Seriously, at least at UVA games the tie-wearing dick smacks are relegated to the stands.

Miami's defensive statistics is more lopsided than I am toward the end of the tailgate. They are crazy good against the pass (179 yds/gm, 18th nationally) and dogshit poor against the run (202 yds/gm, 105th nationally). So we should probably throw a heavy dose of Wilson and Oglesby at them and limit LT to some safe, high percentage throws. But on paper it looked like our offense lined up well against Clemson, so throw the clipboard out the damn window.

On the flip side of the ball, Jacory Harris is still Jacory Harris. Thank you, Jesus. But the Canes have a hell of a running back in Lamar Miller, who is averaging over 6.7 yards per carry. The smallest starting O lineman for Miami is their 305 lb. center, and with Antoine Hopkins done for the year our front four just hit defcon infinity against the run. Expect the Canes to have undersized true freshman Corey Marshall dead in their sights until he proves he can hold his own on the D line. That could make for a long day.

After last week I have absolutely no idea what to expect. I'm just hoping for a good old fashioned VT turnaround.

Where do we go from here?

2011-10-04T09:00:00.000-05:00

What the hell just happened?

I know it's three days later, but that's still how it feels. I imagine this is how I would feel if I had been excited to go watch a heavyweight boxing match, only to show up and find out that Abe Vigoda was one of the boxers. It's not just painful to watch. It doesn't make rational sense. VT hasn't been held out of the end zone since 2006 at BC. We haven't been held out of the end zone at home since we got blanked by Cincinnati in 1995. Which is to say that our offense was worse than we've seen it in a very long time.

Provide me a moment here to explain myself. You see, I had very high hopes that things were different. And these weren't the same sort of unfounded kindergarten dreams I had secretly harbored at the start of every season, that maybe this year things would be different. I actually saw a difference. With my own eyes. The biggest difference, of course, was that on game day Bryan Stinespring was down on the sideline being primarily a position coach. But there seemed to be substantial evidence that this really was a different offense, not just on paper but in real live ballgames. We were moving the ball effectively, really as well as I could ever expect a VT offense to do, to the tune of 425 yards a game. That's a real, big boy number, the sort that we have never seen out of a VT offense with a first year starting QB under Stiney. We hadn't cashed in as many points as we should have - I'll admit that freely - but a lot of that, I thought, was tinkering with the offense late in games when the W was pretty much in hand. And trying to develop chemistry on the offense was more important, I felt, than running up the score. So by an large, I thought I had a pretty good handle on this O.

Well, nevermind.

HokieJayBee already handled the game review for Clemson - Mad Libs style - and he did a far better job than I could have, seeing as though he was actually in the house. He touched on several points that I agree with, and I really don't have anything constructive to add to them so I'll leave them be. I do want to make a couple of points in specific regard to the Clemson game and the season in general, though, so I'll do that now before I go on my editorial rant.

1) If you're calling for LT to be benched...just stop. Sit down. Better yet, go away. Mark Leal is not the answer. That's not a knock to Leal, it's just the truth. LT has to goods. He's raw as hell right now and needs work in the passing game, but keep in mind that he spent the entire summer before he came to VT learning how to be a tight end.

This is another point I'd like to bring up, or more of a subscript to the general point - LT is NOT a tight end playing quarterback. He was a quarterback in high school. He was projected by the recruiting services to be a tight end in college. He committed himself to learning that position to give himself the best shot at making a major 1A school. But he is not a tight end playing quarterback. I know it might make some people feel better to scream it, but it's not true.

Anyway, LT's for real. He needs to attend the Manning Passing Academy this offseason like Tyrod did, but he has a legitimate skill set. He needs work on vision and timing. He can't carry the team right now. He's learning. Let him learn. If he looks like this again next season we'll revisit this point.

2) The defense is legit. It held Clemson to 183 fewer yards than it had been averaging, and 14 fewer points even after giving up the late score to make it a rout. And it held Chad Morris's up tempo offense to just 67 snaps. I said all last season that Bud Foster had earned a rebuilding year. Consider the defense rebuilt.

And on with the rant...

I don't know what to make of this. And that's not a rhetorical device, I literally don't know what to make of the offensive meltdown against Clemson, at home, at night. I've spent a fair amount of time breaking the game down. In general, I thought it was a decently called game. There were some terrible calls, but fewer than I have come to expect with Stiney in the booth. Like I thought we would, we saw a lot of hurrying to the line on 3rd and 1 with a quick snap and a quarterback sneak. It worked every time, and kudos to Mike O'Cain for not showing that a lot in the non conference games. Clemson seemed unprepared for it. Josh Oglesby's loss of five yards on 3rd and 1 was horrible, but it was called as an off tackle run and not as a sweep like most people are saying. If you go back and watch the play, JO tries to make his cut upfield but then bounces the run outside because he has defenders closing in. This was still a bad play call because JO needs to be pounding between the tackles. It shouldn't have been called off tackle because that gave the play the potential to turn into what it did. But I'll give O'Cain one bad play call a game. I don't expect perfection. And try as I might, I can't find another play call in the game that makes me want to break something. In all, I thought the calls were pretty much situationally appropriate when I broke the game down. A lot of the pass plays in the fourth quarter were just four receivers running go routes, but let's be honest, those are the only damn plays in the playbook when we're in desperation mode. I can't fault O'Cain for using what he has to work with.

I just don't know how to interpret this offensive performance. This was bad. This was worse than Sean Glennon bad. Worse than Grant Noel bad. This was worse than just a Stiney offense. Because hell, even with Stiney calling the shots we had enough talent to punch the ball in at least once a game. We have a lot of talent on this team. And like I said after the Marshall game, throughout the first four games of this season, the offense looked like a by God offense. We've shown we can move the ball against defenses that are no worse than the one we faced this past Saturday. Then against Clemson, an admittedly bad defense in just about every way, the longest sustained drive we can manage is 48 yards. We hit a brick wall, and we hit it hard. And I just can't make what I saw this week fit with what I've seen the last four weeks.

If we're a bad offense, fine. I'm used to it. Honestly. If we're going to stink on ice offensively that's one thing, and I'll deal with it. But to watch the first four weeks as we consistently move the ball down the field, and when the only real thing that was stopping our drives were turnovers or penalties - namely, ourselves - gave me one sense of this offense. Then to watch us fail so miserably in a game that was custom made for us to win, it was literally like watching another team. I can't evaluate the offense during the Clemson game, because I don't even know what I'm looking at.

There's a part of me that says it all goes back to the first two drives, or specifically how they ended: a pick and a fumble. This coaching staff shies away from turnovers like a whipped dog. Frank Beamer has nightmares of loose balls rolling around Worsham Field and wakes up in cold sweats. When a play winds up with the ball in the other team's hands we have a tendency to lock down on O and stay away from whatever it was that caused the turnover. Except right off the bat we had turnovers off the pass and the run. So there was just a general sense of timidity from the offensive staff for the rest of the game that kept us from ever getting into rhythm. We were scared to do anything risky. I mean, we punted from the Clemson 32, for Christ sake. So much for Frank saying he wouldn't hesitate to trot Myer out there for a long field goal in a critical situation.

Maybe the ACC defenses just really are that much better than what we faced from ECU, Arkansas State, and Marshall. Or maybe forces aligned beyond our comprehension that just made Saturday night the perfect shitstorm. Maybe everybody had mono. But whatever it was, I'm not ready to give up on this offense and LT yet. I saw enough through four games to make me not throw in the towel because the fifth was a dud. To put this Clemson mess into perspective I need to see what happens next. Do we have a respectable showing next week against Miami, a team in disarray but a potentially potent defense, or do we stink up the joint again? Do we rebound in typical Hokie fashion or do we fold? Does LT learn from this or does one bad game shake him?

To try to decipher what we are, I need to see where we go from here.

Clemson "Game" Review

2011-10-03T15:14:00.002-05:00

I Have A Confession To Make. Even when I want to write a decently serious post, and maybe even put forth some research/statistical efforts prior to writing --- I don’t write out an outline or writing plan of any sort that would please any level of English teacher. I might have a general paragraph plan in my head, on where I want to start and where I want to end up, maybe even a bulleted list in my head of a couple certain topics/rants I want to include. But I admit that I am so passionate about VT football and this blog’s main topic, that I generally just get to typing and let it fly. I find it therapeutic for myself to scream via my keyboard, on here. It makes the days between game days more bearable for Mrs. HokieJaybee and Lil HokieJayBee.

The Confession Strikes Back. As I was driving into work this morning, having a ~half hour to stew to myself, of course this weekend’s Hokie game crept into my head and wouldn’t let go. Anger returned, I think my hands even got cold again from Saturday night’s rain and wind at Lane. And, gasp, I actually did sort of actually start planning out a post, like a “real” writer would do. I didn’t write anything down while driving in excess of 70 mph, of course (safety first, Mother HokieJayBee reads this blog). But, I did actually start planning out a real plan for a post.

Confession Admittance, Third Blood. So in my planning, while driving to work, I came up with a general layout for the topics/paragraphs I wanted to write about today. And then I started planning on how I was going to tell the story of certain points, the angles I would use, and even what anecdotes and humorous interjections I would use and where. I didn’t start thinking of line by line verbiage, but I started thinking in terms of similar to a blanket contract form an attorney would use, with copy/pastes and an “insert name here” type layout.

The Fourth Confessional. So I get to actually writing. And as my anger rises again to blood curdling levels, I got to thinking……(dangerous, I know). If the coaching staff doesn’t give a shit about our offense, or changing anything, or putting forth any effort worth speaking about, then I don’t either. So, here’s my post. In all its (planned) glory. You can fill in the rest as you read if you’d like.

[insert humorous opening line about how it wasn’t a game, but more of a scrimmage for Clemson to work on their silent snap count in a noisy environment]. [insert line about only scoring 3 points, how me and Lil HokieJayBee and the friends I had over yesterday to watch the NFL ticket could have scored more on Clemson’s run D]. [confirm stat from previous commenter about first time not scoring a TD in Lane since year XXXX]. [research to see if any of those games with a TD scored at Lane were defensive/special team’s scores only, and this “streak” of scoring TD’s on O is more telling stat than I first thought].

[open the meat of the post with some caveats]. [insert caveat about how those opinions represented on the comments section of the blog are not necessarily the opinions held by the blog administrators]. [wave daddy finger about raising the maturity level on some of the comments and eliminating some of the childish name calling and poop jokes]. [insert caveat that we here at FBS are not calling for Frank Beamer to be fired]. [insert standard lines about how Frank built the program, he’s immune to people calling for his head, etc.]. [admit we know Frank just signed a new contract extension and we know he’s not going anywhere, and we know he’s not going to change anything on the coaching staff, but we can dream right]? [admit we know this is a little free blogspot blog on google, and it’s just some alumni with passion for VT football to improve, and we see Bryan’s involvement with the offensive coordinatorship as the main culprit in VT’s path to the promise land of college football --- but that we know we’re nothing to the big alumni money or to actually getting something done]. [admit maybe we just partially write it sometimes just for the therapeutic nature of getting these rants out, and hopefully someone, anyone, else gets a kick out of it sometimes or maybe even occasionally agrees with us].

[go on a doomsday kick]. [insert annual, “I’m not donating any more to VTAF if Bryan is still on staff!!!!” line]. [insert line about how some commenters will say that I’d really be hurting the other sport’s athletes, not football, if I stopped my donation to VTAF]. [insert that after what was on the field on Saturday night, I don’t care]. [insert line about how I’m just flat out tired of feeling this way, every year, EVERY season]. [insert somber line with words like “let down”, “disappointed”, and “ashamed”].

[talk about how we are *that* team nationally]. [insert line about complacency]. [talk about how that’s what this boils down to, is 10 wins and a possible shot at another ACC title game enough]. [insert line on how we aren’t a respected team nationally]. [admit that the balance of the ACC isn’t helping with that reputation, but still]. [ask readers if we’re just spoiled now, because this coaching staff, this level of recruiting and type of players we get, we have seen the ceiling]. [ask readers if 10-3, 11-2 and getting beat in a good sized bowl every year is all we want]. [assert that with the current coaching staff, that is the peak of possible performance, that is the pinnacle].

And honestly, that’s where I stopped my planning. I really did have a ton more to write, but I’m tired. I’m tired of getting my hopes up. It’s too depressing. You know what’s most depressing? It’s that I’m not tragically shockingly let down anymore. To fear and not be surprised by a loss to a good Clemson team? That’s one thing. To have it go EXACTLY as I knew it would – the same horrible game plan, the same play calling (situationally has *NOT* improved, see David Wilson up the middle on 3rd and short, Josh Oglesby around the corner on 3rd and short, lack of misdirection, lack of QB sneaks on short yardage with a 6’6” 250 pound QB…..), and yes, the same bad execution of simple items – well that’s the most depressing. Our players didn’t get beat behind the woodshed by a better Clemson team, they got beat on the white board and on the practice field on Monday-Thursday. [reminder caveat that I blame the players NONE, zero, zilch, na-da, at the college level. These are kids, simple robot muscle memory machines. Teach them better. Be better Frank, Bryan, Mike, be better.]

[insert line here about “even I” could have called my way to 3 points against that D at home at night]. Yes Frank, I could have. When are you opening your door again for all takers on that OC interview?

Clemson Open Thread

2011-10-01T07:00:00.000-05:00

Discuss amongst yourselves.

The Stinescreen... Explained... But Still Stupid.

2011-09-29T13:29:00.000-05:00

Stiney explains the Stinescreen to ESPN's Heather Dinnich

Apparently, the Stinescreen has been at fault for not getting the ball to our hoss RB's even more than I ever imagined. Glennon must have been deathly afraid of opposing safeties, which sounds about right.

Our Distinguished Opponents - Klempsun

2011-09-29T09:12:00.002-05:00

"IT'S JUST ANOTHER STADIUM"

This is not a game preview.

If this were a game preview, I'd talk about how Clemson hasn't beaten Virginia Tech since 1989, and about how in the five games we've played since then the average Virginia Tech margin of victory has been 22.6 points. I'd talk about how Clemson's offense is prolific (503 yards, 37.75 points per game), but its defense is anemic (90th Total D, 85th Rushing D, 73rd Passing D, 66th Scoring D). I'd talk about how Tajh Boyd has never started a game away from home in his career, and how he's never thrown a pass with Torrian Gray's secondary on the field or against a Bud Foster defense that lives to disguise coverages and blitzes and confuse young quarterbacks. I'd talk about how important it is for David Wilson and Josh Oglesby to stay patient and wait for their blocks, because this is a defense that our O line can open holes against. I'd talk about how important it is for the secondary - especially the safeties - to stay disciplined and not freelance, because the drops we've been fortunate to see from other offenses we've faced will be long touchdowns by Clemson. I'd talk about how the preseason was over, and about how now VT begins the quest to repeat not only as ACC champions, but as undefeated, undisputed ACC champions.

This is not a game preview.

This is a call to arms.

"They don’t change the field. The ball is the same, you put on your uniform the same." - Dabo Swinney, Clemson head coach

"If we score fast enough and often enough, it might be a little quiet in there." - Tajh Boyd, Clemson quarterback

"We don't expect the fans, the crowd noise, to affect the way we do things. For us to go in there and win at Virginia Tech, that’s going to be something. The plane ride back is going to be fun for all of us" - Landon Walker, Clemson right tackle

The gauntlet has been thrown down. Riding high on a 4-0 start, including wins over two programs whose names carry more gravitas than the Hokies, the Clemson Tigers are coming into Lane Stadium confident. Overconfident, I would say. Yes, they have beaten the defending national champions, the Auburn Tigers, a team that no one in their right mind expects to compete for another title - national or SEC - without Cam Newton. Yes, they've beaten Florida State. Or, more succinctly, they've beaten FSU's second string, since their starting quarterback, three of their four starting receivers, and their starting cornerback were out with injuries. But they beat them, and they beat them on a national stage. So they are sure of themselves.

But all of this has been done at home, in front of a friendly crowd. This team does not know the meaning of the word noise. Not a single player on this Clemson squad has played a game at Lane Stadium. So you can understand why they don't know what they're about to walk into Saturday night in the mountains. It is up to us to show them. If you are going to this game, remember that you, along with 66,232 of your friends, are the voice of Hokie Nation. You are why Lane Stadium ranks as high in intimidation factor as stadiums that hold 40,000 more people. And just like the young men suiting up for Frank Beamer, we need four quarters of effort from you. Scream until your voice breaks. Jump until your knees give out. And take the biggest damn key ring you can find. Remind Clemson that it was against them in 1999 that Corey Moore christened Lane Stadium "the Terror Dome." Show the Tigers - and the world - why the words "night game at Lane" should strike fear into the hearts of opposing teams.

On a critical play from the FSU 1 yard line, Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd had to call time out because his center could not hear him calling for the snap over the crowd noise. The game was at Clemson.

The gauntlet has been thrown down. Hokies, pick it up.

HJB's Clemson Preview

2011-09-28T12:16:00.003-05:00

Assumedly more in-depth and stat-friendly Clemson preview to come from IH.

What’s up FBS’ers?

Sorry I’ve been quiet on the boards this year. My biggest reason (excuse?) is my wife is 8.5 months along and a few weeks from delivering Lil HokieJayBee #2. And I’ve been working around the house and such preparing for the arrival of #2.

I made it in for the AppSt and ArkSt games, but really didn’t have much to say thus far and didn’t really warrant a blog post from any of it. All 4 games have gone how I expected. ECU could have used another mop up score for the west coast voters to see a higher margin, but we clearly took our foot off the gas and were fine with the ToP win.

I expected to be 4-0 at this point, and am actually a little happier than I expected to be (regarding the way in which we got to 4-0). I’d like to think I’m football knowledgeable enough to recognize situational “bad” calls that are similar to NFL preseason coaching, where you call a certain play you want to see your young QB run, regardless of current game situation.

In regards to being satiated at this point at 4-0 but not ecstatic about the offense, we’ll see against Clemson. There is no more “get out of jail free card, we understand training wheels and situational bad calls to bring up a new QB” for MOC. This is our season right now in a nutshell. To be 5-0, with a conference win, against the current winner of the other division, this could be huge. And Clemson is currently growing into one of the media’s little darlings with their Auburn and FSU wins. This will be good press for us to end their pretty little run right now and put LT and DW more firmly on the national map rather than the current “meh, they’re top 15 I guess but no Tyrod or RMFW” vibe I get from the media outlets thus far this year. (Note I am not whining and saying we deserve more press than the “meh” line, yet. I’m saying this is the game to do it. Clemson did *us* a favor on their run through Auburn and FSU, if you want to look at it that way. I am not opposed to stealing thunder. We do it 8 out of every 10 years when Miami is backer than back while being back and having swagger back. Then they play us and they’re not back and we’re in or near the top 10.)

So, for Clemson and going forward in ACC play, here’s HJB’s list of wants/changes/suggestions/pleads/begs………………(None of these are complaints about being 4-0. None of these are doomsday VT hatred predictions. Just some wish-list-tweaks for our O. Of which I know the Devil’s Advocate answer could be that HCFB and MOC already have these tweaks in mind and we haven’t seen it yet to protect the playbook through the OOC schedule and we’re saving it for ACC play. In which case, I simply get to take credit for it.)

1. We need to run more sweeps with DW. He’s faster than everyone on the field. Not “off tackle”. I mean sweeps, even give DW two extra steps and run a few actual pitch plays. I mean, TE crack-back-contain, WR hold your block for 2 seconds without holding --- DW only has to beat one OLB to the edge for a 7-10 yarder, or beat one SS to the edge for a 15+TD run. We do not run outside enough, never have. And I’m not liking MOC continuing that avoidance. I hope to see ~10 sweeps against Clemson. FSU did it, and successfully last week. And I’d like to think, even if I’m wearing Chicago Maroon tinted shades, that DW is faster than FSU’s RB. Even if the sweeps start to fail, they will cause the LB’s to spread or lean ever-so-slightly, and make our middle running a little more fruitful.
a. And dear God run the sweep to the wide side of the field. When and if we actually do run outside, HCFB and BS always ran it to the short side of the field. Thus eliminating half of the advantage of the sweep itself and your RB’s speed, because there’s a defender over there on every team, who NEVER misses a tackle. His name is sideline.
b. You can’t have an “a.” without a “b.” This is that b.
2. Reverses. I am not a big fan of reverses in general, they are a misdirection trick play only to be used sparingly. But, I am a big fan of reverses when you fake them as often as we do. (note: I’m counting the wide trail on LT’s read-option plays in my calculation as unused “reverses”). But we *NEVER* hand it to the reverser. I vote either run the reverser more often, thus making all the fake reverses we run, have some validity and hold a tackler or two at psychological delay – or stop running the fake reverses so often. At this point, the other team ignores the reverser, and we’re down a blocker. If we’re *NEVER* going to hand it to him, he’s not doing any good faking anymore, and he could be blocking someone.
3. Bubble screens. Ok, so I can’t argue with the results of the bubble screens thus far this year. Literally they are gaining yards. Figuratively they are good for bringing up a new QB (completions, safe, stats, etc.). I promised my brother and other VT game viewing friends I’m not allowed to whine about the bubble screens anymore until LT throws a pick-6 out of one that was clearly read by the D.
a. NOT SO FAST MY FRIEND. For the love of everything that is holy. Pump fake a friggin bubble screen to Coale, and have Marcus Davis (who faked like a blocker on said pump bubble screen) release and run a go. Dear God, it would be a TD, I’d bet a steak-and-cheese on it.
b. And, even if you overthrow MD on the bubble-screen-blocker-go, all future bubble screens would have the benefit of the safety or deep nickel corner waiting back one extra second to ensure MD doesn’t release and go. Giving the bubbler a few more yards to run each time.
c. If b. here were to be true, I know I owe you a steak-and-cheese. But it would be worth it as one of our coaching staff’s favorite calls will now have a better chance to work.
4. Speaking again on 2.b. LT needs to overthrow more than underthrow. IllinoisHokie already mentioned in other posts that LT’s interceptions have come on underthrows, and they’ve come in mop up time. So, benefit of the doubt says we’re not mad at LT for them, it might have even been a called back shoulder underthrow. But, not being mad at some of his learning curve through our butter OOC schedule is different than agreeing to not be mad now but we don’t want to see it anymore. LT has a cannon. We have fast receivers. Go. Go fast. Try to overthrow them. They’ll run under it. Cannon will go off. Fans will jump and celebrate. HokieBird will lift the fake barbell 7 more times.
5. Did I really see Billy Hite on the sidelines at Marshall? Was he really wearing a headset? Whatever consultant role he has, I vote it does not involve sideline work, and definitely not headset availability. And oh please oh please oh please, not redzone play calling input. Billy, you had a great run, go play golf. (not a golfer? Fishing?)

Other than that. Go Hokies!

Quick Hits

2011-09-28T08:27:00.002-05:00

Randomness that doesn't deserve its own blog post...

WILSON WATCH UPDATE

Through 4 Games	Williams '09	Wilson '11
Rushing Yards	502	516
Rushing TDs	8	5
Receiving Yards	120	22
Receiving TDs	0	0

Wilson is on pace to break RMFW's record, but his own stated goal is a considerably higher 1,700 yards rushing. That would require about 131 yards per game over 13 games. DW is currently averaging 129. Whether he makes it or not might depend on making the ACCCG to give him an extra game to work with.

But check out the disparity in the passing game. DW has been a non-factor so far as a receiver. I'm hoping that's because MOC is saving it for conference play.

WORST WHEN IT MATTERS LEAST

LT's line through 4 games:

60 of 105 for 761 yards, 4 TDs, 4 INTs; 25 rush for 118 yards and 1 TD

The stat everyone is circling is those interceptions. Admittedly, even Mike O'Cain uses interceptions along with completion percentage to grade a QB (TD's not so much). But check this out. Three of LTs' four interceptions have come in the 4th quarter when VT is ahead by 15 or more. In other words, when the outcome is pretty much in hand. I've thought for a while now that LT's picks have been more a result of tinkering with the passing game rather than an inherent problem in his game. This seems to support that notion.

Also, LT's stats put him on pace to throw for 2,473 yards assuming a 13 game season. Tyrod threw for more than that last season. Other than that, it would be the best passing performance by a Hokie QB under Frank Beamer, and it would set a record for the most passing yards by a first year starter.

THE GREAT WALL OF FOSTER

Virginia Tech's defense has surrendered 172 total rushing yards to our opponents so far this year, good for second in the nation behind Stanford. Josh Oglesby, our backup running back, has more yardage (174) against our opponents than all four of our opponents combined managed to get against us.

Marshall Review - The Preseason Comes to a Close

2011-09-26T16:00:00.004-05:00

In summary...

1.) Inside running is an issue. This is not entirely because this offensive line is poor at run blocking. In fact, there were openings for DW to run through between the tackles, yet for some reason he was running INTO his blockers several times throughout the game. It was a bit of an off day for Wilson, looking somewhat like he did his freshman year when it was obvious that running fast was more important to him than running smart.

And defenses continue to stack the box against the run. There are consistently eight defenders engaging the O line as soon as they see LT extend for a handoff. Marshall consistently had all three linebackers playing to read on the run. It doesn't matter how good your five O linemen are, they simply will not block well against the defense's entire front seven. And if you bring in a couple of tight ends for extra blocking help then you've clogged up the line of scrimmage so badly the back can't find a crease to hit.

I'm starting to think the only way to solve the inside running problems is to make opposing defenses respect the passing threat. And with the way LT has looked passing the last two games, if defenses refuse to respect it then VT is going to win a lot of games this season.

2.) Special teams are a bigger issue. Danny Coale as punter does not seem to be the answer, though Danny wins the Nick Sorensen Award for doing whatever it takes to help the team. I'm not asking for 50 yards a punt from Demler, but we need at least 40 with good hang time on a consistent basis. Branthover is the last potential ace in the hole. I don't like that his first career punt might come in our ACC opener.

And Journell... woof. What to make of this? Cody was rated the #3 kicker in the nation coming out of high school, where he booted a 54 yarder his senior year. He even booted a 50 yarder on Worsham Field when the coaches were taking a look at him during his recruiting. This kid looked like pure gold. But apparently in Virginia high school football they kick field goals off a kicking tee? The story is Cody's having a tough time adjusting to kicking off the ground instead. I really hope he gets the kinks worked out, because I think he could be a weapon if he adjusts.

3.) There is a huge dropoff between our starting DBs and the second string. On Marshall's lone touchdown drive Dietrick Bonner was out of position the entire series and wound up surrendering the score. It's one thing to get beat. It's another to apparently not understand your coverage assignment. Multiple times. On the same drive. Pray for no injuries here.

4.) LT was above 60% on his passes for the second week in a row. His passing yardage was not breathtaking (229 yards), but no small part of that was Mike O'Cain calling short passes because that's what LT needs the most work on. And for the first time this season LT looked to be putting some touch on his shorter throws. Also helping him out were the receivers, who had no egregious drops in this game and who finally look to be getting in sync with their QB.

Another positive I noticed from LT in this game was that the receiver staredown that he has displayed thus far was notably absent. He was looking off receivers and scanning the field before most throws, which also means he's probably getting the hang of his check downs. This kid's pocket presence is unlike anything we've seen in Blacksburg since the Druck, maybe all the way back to Don Strock.

The one blemish on LT's day? The long INT in the 4th. And here I gotta tweak MOC a little. Or, well, maybe not. Because I don't think it was necessarily a bad call, but it was most definitely a bad design. The play started out beautifully, with LT showing a pump fake for the first time all season. LT held on to the ball a bit longer after the pump fake that I would like, which diminished its effectiveness, and then underthrew the ball. In general I don't harp on underthrows. MOC actually teaches his QBs to underthrow rather than overthrow because it gives our receivers an opportunity to adjust to the ball and make a catch. That shows trust in our receivers and really isn't a bad idea if you have a receiving corps you can lean on. But this particular play, with the pump fake, should have gone for the home run. Let the receiver run under it and catch it in stride or let it fall incomplete and come back to the huddle for the next play. And I'm the biggest Danny Coale fan in the world, but DC was the wrong target for that throw. When I first watched the play I thought Coale was running a go route. After reviewing the film I realized it was actually a stop and go, which relies on a receiver's speed to put distance between himself and his coverage. Danny Coale is many things, but he is not a burner. Throw that pass to Marcus Davis. Hell, I don't even know what DJ Coles 40 time is, but I would have felt more comfortable trying that with him. Dyrell Roberts would actually be my first choice, but considering he's got about the same luck as the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, what can you do?

In summary, what I wanted to see against Marshall was putting it all together. We came |---this---| close to doing that. There were some notable problems on inside running. But it was not the total disaster some are making it out to be. Both DW and JO had some long runs between the tackles. The problem was doing it consistently. LT's passing game has come miles since the Appy State game, as have the receivers. The defense is Lunch Pail. But heading into ACC play the special teams are still short bus special.

But I'm still more satisfied with our opening four games than I have been in years. For one thing, we're 4-0. For another, even though the first four games have been an experiment with Logan Thomas, under Mike O'Cain calling the plays this offense has looked like an offense. Sure, our non conference opponents weren't world beaters this season. But when you actually break it down the situation surrounding the first four games this season are very similar to what they were in 2006. That was Sean Glennon's first season as starter, and like LT Glennon was more of a pocket passer than the QB he replaced. And VT's first four opponents that season were not very good: Northeastern, UNC, Duke, and Cincinnati. That was John Bunting's last season at UNC and the Tar Heels went 3-9 on the year. Cincinnati, meanwhile, was decent at 8-5 and a bowl win.

	2006	2011
Total Yards	339	430
Passing Yards	221	219
Passing Attempts	95	114
Points	30.5	34.25
ToP	25:17	36:02

The points per game has been adjusted to account for only those points put on the board by the offense (including the place kicker). So we have almost 100 more yards per game, more points per game by the offense, and pretty much the same passing yardage per game even with all the receiver drops the first three weeks of the season. And look at that time of possession difference. Look at it. Behold it in all its glory. Greater than ten more minutes a game. Call me old school, but ToP is getting way undersold here. What it represents is sustained drives, something that happened with infuriating rarity under Stiney as play caller. With MOC in the booth VT is keeping the offense on the field, which means the defense is on the sideline sipping Gatorade and devising new and inventive ways to make the opposing quarterback suffer. So the offense is setting up the defense to dominate by being fresh late in the game. In other words, like I said before, this offense actually looks like an offense.

Marshall Open Thread

2011-09-24T07:00:00.001-05:00

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Our Distinguished Opponents - Marshall

2011-09-22T16:00:00.001-05:00

WE ARE... honestly not very good.

Someone explain why the hell we're playing an away game against a C-USA school? Again?

Really all you need to know about Marshall is that their quarterback isn't named Byron Leftwich. They suck at the run (94th nationally at 115.67 yards per game), they suck at the pass (91st, 193), and they really suck on defense giving up more than 32 points and 411 yards per game. The one area where they aren't completely abhorrent is defending the run, where they give up a very middle of the pack 129 yards per game.

Despite all the suck coming from Huntington I am quite jacked about this game. Because this is the final tune up. The dress rehearsal, if you will, before we start our conference campaign in earnest. As I have noted elsewhere, the offensive coaching staff this year has treated the non-conference games the same way pro teams treat preseason games, using them to try new things, tinker, find what works and what doesn't, and just generally bring the offense and Logan Thomas along. The progress has been fun to watch as so far this season VT has looked like a balanced attack (Appy State), a smashmouth ball control offense (ECU), and an aerial assault (Arky State). Now VT needs to put it all together. What I personally hope to see in this game offensively is a repeat of the Appy State game with a much better completion percentage for LT. I don't so much mean the score; it's ridiculous to go into any game hoping to see your team drop 60+ on its opponent. I'm talking in terms of our offensive line getting significant push on run plays, especially up the middle, and holding their blocks for 4-5 seconds against the pass rush. I hope to see DW and JO hit the hole hard and with a burst. I hope to see LT throw on target and the receivers come down with balls that are in their area. I guess in general I just want to see the offense click before we hit conference play next week.

But don't take for granted that C-USA officials will be calling this game. After looking back at the ECU game what bothers me most isn't the penalties the refs called against VT, because the majority of those calls were procedural and you really can't argue whether or not a lineman jumped. Of greater concern was the number of penalties the refs called against ECU: zero. The refs let the Pirates get away with bloody murder in that game, and my guess is the same thing will happen this Saturday in Huntington. That means the Hokies are going to have to play disciplined football and, most importantly, not get goaded into stupid penalties for reacting to Marshall players who know the refs are going to be looking the other way.

This week will be another dose of road adversity for LT, who didn't stand up so well against it the first time. The refs will probably be in the home team's back pocket, so the Hokies will have to beat both a bad team and bad officiating. All in all this week promises to be a good test of how far LT and the offense have come over the first four weeks of the season.

UPDATE: Jarret Boykin is out for this game, due to a hamstring injury he sustained during practice this week. DJ Coles is listed as Boykin's backup and should get his first collegiate start in Boykin's place. That would make our top two receivers Coale and Coles. So... West Virginia... Coal mining... Yeah.

Realignmageddon

2011-09-20T14:00:00.000-05:00

Our "new" conference is starting to look a hell of a lot like our old conference.

ACC commish John Swofford announced over the weekend that Pittsburgh and Syracuse had been unanimously accepted as the 13th and 14th members, sending the current conference realignment frenzy into overdrive and assuring that when the smoke cleared the ACC would still have a seat at the big money table. Swofford did this shrewd ACC style: by raiding the Big East. The technicalities are yet to be hammered out, as the Big East has a 27 month notice requirement for exiting the league. At this point there might not even BE a Big East 27 months from now.

This is not a sexy move. Syracuse and Pitt aren't setting the world on fire. But I still like it, for a couple of reasons. For one thing, both Pitt and 'Cuse can enhance both football and basketball in the ACC. You hear no mention of hoops during all this expansion talk, but the ACC is still primarily a basketball league (though that might slowly be changing) and Syracuse especially should help the conference maintain its roundball dominance. For another, while neither team has been in contention for anything major in college football lately, both programs do have strong football traditions and might find some success in the ACC under the right circumstances. Especially with regard to Pitt, joining the ACC might bring with it some increased recruiting leverage that might help even the in-state recruiting with certain other big name Pennsylvania schools. Pitt is also on the upswing, having posted at least 8 wins in the last three seasons under Dave Wannstedt and claiming a share of the Big East championship last year. New head coach Todd Graham is attempting to install a quick strike, high octane offensive scheme and has a proven record of winning at Tulsa, who were perennial contenders in C-USA under Graham and even finished the 2010 season in the top 25.

Syracuse... Well, they're good at basketball.

Lost in the quickly developing addition of two new schools was the fact that ACC presidents also unanimously voted to increase the conference exit fee from $13 million to a hefty $20 million, a move clearly intended to prevent the SEC from making the conference its own personal Big East. Another strong move, and one I'm a little surprised was unanimously approved, considering all the rumors of FSU and Clemson to the SEC. Why vote to cost your program an addition $7 mil if you are seriously considering leaving the conference? I'm not saying the Noles or the Tigers won't go if called to the Promised Land, but at the very least their programs are maintaining the appearance of conference loyalty to the very end.

And this thing isn't over by a country mile. After the press conference, which most reporters watched with open jaws, John Swofford went on record saying he was currently happy with the 14 team alignment (an alignment, I might add, that no ones has a clue about what it looks like divisionally), but that the conference "is not philosophically opposed to the idea of sixteen teams." There are some HUGE names still out there up for grabs, and managing to snag a Texas or a Notre Dame would be seen as a major coup for the ACC. Swofford is nearing the end of his tenure, and building the ACC into a superconference would be a fitting swan song for the man who did conference expansion before conference expansion was in.

Arky State Recap

2011-09-19T22:47:00.002-05:00

It was obvious from the first snap that this game was going to be the Logan Thomas Passing Clinic. And it was obvious that Arkansas State was going to let it happen, consistently selling out to stop the run and making LT beat them through the air. So he did, and he looked like a quarterback doing it. LT and the receivers started to build some chemistry, most notably with Danny Coale. By the end of the day LT completed an eyelash under two thirds of his passes for 292 yards, two touchdowns and two picks. (One of which should have been negated because an Arkansas State defender was BLATANTLY offsides. Godawful no call by the refs there.) The improvement from the first two weeks to this game was dramatic, and LT's numbers could have been even better if it hadn't been for a couple of drops, most notably by tight end Randall Dunn and fullback Martin Scales. But I guess I'll accentuate the positive and focus on the fact that the drops weren't coming from the wide receivers this week. Part of that is because LT's finding touch on his passes, like his GORGEOUS touchdown pass to Danny Coale, which he floated just over the reach of an Arkansas State defender right into Coale's chest.

Taking on the passing game from another perspective, I was pleased to see Mike O'Cain calling aggressive passing plays. The deep post to Danny Coale immediately following Jayron's interception was textbook offense immediately following a big turnover, but something that VT simply hasn't done enough during Stiney's tenure. The play action to George²on 3rd and 1 was something I've wanted to see for the better part of a decade. And I even liked the call to pass to the fullback out of the jumbo set on 4th and 1 from the 2. But again I ask, why are we passing to Martin Scales when Joey Phillips showed the steady hands all through practice? Are we still punishing him for his drop against Appalachian State in week 1? I'm fine with that so long as we use the same logic here and never pass to Scales again.

Regardless, through three games I'm now ready to put the official IH Seal of Approval on Mike O'Cain as play caller. For three weeks we've watched the Virginia Tech offense take what the defense has given them for four quarters, when what the defense has given them has been different in every game.

I approve.

As for the running game, I refuse to press the panic button like so many others seem to be doing. The offensive line did not get great push against Arky State's defense, but again I'll say it's tough to get push against eight men in the box. The Red Wolves were selling the farm to stop the run and DW still managed to grind out 88 yards and a touchdown to compliment the passing game. Plus, we all did watch the ECU game, right? Dude was probably a little tired. And he ran for 300 through the first two games. So, yeah, no worries on the run game from me.

Defensively...

This team could win if we had Sean Glennon. I can give no higher praise than that.

Arkansas State Open Thread

2011-09-17T07:00:00.001-05:00

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Our Distinguished Opponents - Arkansas State

2011-09-15T12:00:00.001-05:00

Their mascot is apparently a 1930s Disney character.

Who?

We've played Arky State three times. Our average margin of victory is 44.3 points. They've never scored more than a touchdown against us in a game. The offense has a chip on its shoulder and the Lunch Pail is back.

Game over. We win.

ECU Review - Devil's Advocate Edition

2011-09-12T14:14:00.000-05:00

First off, eff my neighboring state for fielding two craptacular football teams who need three OTs. Seriously. And while we're at it, eff Fox for not cutting away from that game on the east coast. While I was stuck watching the Hawkeyes and Cyclones battle it out to see who wanted it least I figured it's just because I'm stuck out here in the heart of ~~outer Siberia~~ Big Ten country. Nicely done, Rupert. Your sports coverage is almost as intelligent as your news.

Now, on to business. I've thrown around several ideas on how to do this game review. And seeing as though I disagree with just about everyone I've talked to about this game the best way I can think to do it is just basically transcribe the conversations I've had.

Devil's Advocate: God, that game SUCKED!!!

Illinois Hokie: Actually, there were a LOT of positives in that game. I'm encouraged moving forward this season.

DA: What did you like about that crapfest?

IH: Well, for starters, the Lunch Pail Defense is BACK. The D held ECU to 2.1 yards per play, 112 total yards, and negative fifteen yards rushing. This D looks to be in 2005 form.

DA: Yeah, okay, the D looked great. But the offense was horrible! We only managed to put up 17 against them!

IH: Look, I wanted to see a 50 point shellacking just as much as anyone. But just because we didn't trounce them doesn't mean we weren't successful on offense. We rolled up 241 yards rushing against them and won the time of possession battle by nearly 15 minutes. Before you say the offense was horrible you need to look at what the offense was actually trying to do.

DA: Come on, man. The offense was just as bad as when Stinespring was calling plays.

IH: Was it? Remember LT's interception on the fade to Boykin in the end zone, late in the second quarter? Up to that play in the game we'd run 21 plays: 12 runs, 9 passes. After that pick VT ran 45 plays no counting the three kneel downs at the end: 34 runs and 11 passes. Know what that's called?

DA: What?

IH: An adjustment. The kind of adjustment this very blog lambasted Stinespring for never being able to make. And check this out. Before that crazy pick in the end zone, VT was averaging 4.3 yards per carry. After the adjustment, when we basically lined up and said, "Here we come, try and stop us," we actually improved to 5.5 ypc.

DA: Then why did I want to punch my TV? Why did we drop in the polls? Why is everyone so pissed off?

IH: Because the adjustment - and I should note, it was a successful adjustment - was to a ball control offense. Ball control isn't popular because it's not fast, it's not sexy, and it's not high scoring. It's about grinding out long, sustained drives, controlling time of possession, and making your opponent desperate. And it worked.

DA: So it's more of the same. Boring and conservative.

IH: Boring? Yeah, maybe. But conservative? ECU had blanked us up to the adjustment. We weren't doing this to protect a lead, we were going ball control to try to TAKE a lead. The coaches basically looked at DW, Oglesby, and the O Line and said, "This one's on you guys." And they responded with long, sustained scoring drives. Touchdown drives of 8 plays, 78 yards, and 13 plays, 89 yards. Six and seven minutes off the clock. Just completely seizing control of a game when, honestly, nothing had been going our way from the start. That's definitely not conservative. And a few years ago our offense wouldn't have been able to do that, because Stiney wouldn't have been able to adjust on the fly. Calling ball control isn't easy. The defense knows you're coming, so you have to use some misdirection effectively and call plays you know give your O line a chance to open holes.

DA: You make it sound like it's all sunshine and roses.

IH: Hell no. First off, way too many penalties. Some of that was home cooking by the C-USA refs, like that BULLSHIT pass interference against Jayron. But a lot of it was procedural. You either move out of your stance or you don't. And this senior line shouldn't be doing that. But Beamer admitted in the post game that he didn't have his guys ready to play. They won't repeat that mistake.

And LT's going through some growing pains. He's making some sophomore mistakes, which Mike O'Cain will correct, but also he and his receivers just aren't on the same page yet. Right now our receivers couldn't catch a bus. There is no reason for all the drops. Kevin Sherman needs to get that shit figured out fast.

DA: We won't be able to pull this ball control crap against our ACC schedule.

IH: No, we won't. This one was a situation call. We knew ECU could beat us. They've done it before. If we had stuck with our original game plan maybe LT and his receivers might have turned the corner, but maybe not. So the decision was do we make this a learning opportunity for our new QB, or do we do what we need to do to get the W and live to fight another day? We adjusted to the situation and won the football game. Now the coaches will study the hell out of this game film and try to adjust the issues. In the meantime, LT and the receivers need to be playing pitch and catch on the drillfield between classes trying to establish chemistry and trust. But if he keeps averaging 5.9 yards per carry he'll be able to rely on his legs while the passing game comes along.

Our Distinguished Opponents - ECU

2011-09-09T12:00:00.002-05:00

Interesting fact of the week: Dominique Davis has never thrown a pass with Jayron Hosley on the field. Hosley was suspended for last year's ECU game because Frank Beamer decided to suspend the entire team after the JMU loss and Jayron had to go first. So Saturday should be fun for Boston College transfer. Good luck with that.

Another interesting fact: ECU had the worst defense in college football last year. That's not a joke. It's not even an exaggeration. Out of 120 Division 1A teams last season, ECU's defense ranked 120th. To improve upon this pile of rhinoceros feces head coach Ruffin McNeil flipped the defensive scheme from a 4-3 to a 3-4. The same type of defense the TRUTH averaged over 10 yards per carry against last Saturday. Lord, we thank thee...

But here's the thing about the Pirates... they have a nasty history of playing us way tougher than any CUSA team ever rightfully should. When Jim Weaver signed the ~~pact with Satan~~ agreement to schedule a 755 year home and home series with ECU he probably thought he was chalking up an easy yearly win for the good guys. The results? In 2007, the first game of series, VT eked out a narrow and entirely unsatisfying 17-7 win which served as a harbinger of the nasal rape that was to follow against LSU. The following year in a "neutral site" game in Charlotte, VT suffered what at the time was its most embarrassing non-conference loss. The Hokies avenged that loss the following year by boring the Pirates to death, 16-3. And last year, with the Hokies staggering on the verge of total collapse, the Pirates went into halftime leading 24-21.

So don't be shocked if the game stays uncomfortably close for an uncomfortably long time.

Oh, who am I kidding? We're gonna smoke their punk asses.

Appy State Recap

2011-09-07T11:26:00.002-05:00

I forgot what it feels like to be 1-0.

Got back to Illinois on Monday, but with one thing and another I haven't had a chance to post about it until now.

First impressions:

Logan Thomas is further ahead than Bryan Randall or Tyrod Taylor were for their first start. Part of that is O'Cain finally getting to work with a quarterback from the very start, knowing that he is THE guy. Another part of it is the benefit of LT's redshirt year, which neither Randall nor Tyrod had. But no small part of it is that the game just comes naturally to LT. He's already leading this offense. Yes, he was 9 of 19, which is a subpar completion percentage, but four of his incompletions were flat-out drops. That's not to say that they weren't partially LT's fault; he still throws the intermediate pass with too much velocity, which makes them easier to drop. He also stares down his intended receiver, which is going to result in a pick or two before he's breaks the habit. But LT's deep ball is beautiful, and his fade pass to the corner of the end zone is going to put points on the board this season.
The offensive line might finally be as good as advertised this season. They opened up holes for the tailbacks all day and gave LT time to throw. They're big, they're nasty, and apparently they finally understand their gap assignments.
Bryan Stinespring belongs on the sideline. He was lighting up his players all game. Bryan is a players' coach, and he needs to be around his guys during the game. That showed in abundance.
The defensive front four are the best we've had in a while. By the second quarter they were forwarding their mail to Appy State's backfield. James Gayle might be Darryl Tapp good.
David Wilson is the TRUTH.

But what about Mike O'Cain as play caller? Well, the jury's still out. Here's the thing: I'm not so sure Stiney couldn't have put up numbers approximating these against Appy State. The Mountaineers were just outmanned and with a talent gap that wide I'm not sure there really was a game plan that wouldn't have been successful against them. I need to see what happens when VT's offense is challenged before I sign off completely on O'Cain. But I'll say this: throughout the game I tried to guess what our next play was going to be. I was wrong more often than I was right.

When was the last time anyone could say that about our offense?

New Shirt Design

2011-09-07T10:36:00.003-05:00

Hit up our Spreadshirt Store to order one.

Game Day Chatterbox

2011-09-03T11:15:00.001-05:00

Thoughts during the game? Leave 'em here.

Say it ain't so?

2011-09-01T14:34:00.003-05:00

We haven't played WVU since October 1, 2005, but they are still a big rival for us Virginia Tech fans and alumni. We even have (or had?) a trophy signifying the rivalry.

That being said, I am displeased with the recent turn of events.

It appears couch burning (and other kinds of street burning) in Morgantown is (finally) a punishable offense. What are we going to tease them about now?

In any case, hopefully this gets Jim Weaver's attention and he considers not renewing that ECU contract and looking at WVU for a long-term, non-conference opponent. (Although, in my opinion, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville would be an even better frequent, non-conference opponent.)

Sidenote:
Apparently the couch that burned the legislators' pens towards inking the new law occurred the night Osama bin Laden was killed. Which was perhaps the one opponent all WVU and Virginia Tech fans (and USA citizens) wanted to beat more than any other. I guess burning a couch after a football game was fine, but burning a couch after killing the most wanted (hated) man on the planet was not.

Let the grand experiment begin.

2011-08-31T10:37:00.001-05:00

"We believe the main objective of the VT football program - a national championship - will escape us as long as Stinespring is making the calls." - FBS mission statement

Okay. So let's put that to the test.

For a guy who helps run a blog called Fire Bryan Stinespring, I'm not really the hater you might assume me to be. I've always said Bryan Stinespring has something to offer Virginia Tech football. He's was a good offensive line coach and is a good tight ends coach. He's dedicated, puts in the extra effort, and I think he genuinely wants Virginia Tech's offense to be successful.

He just stinks on ice as a play caller. I mean bad. Like stupid bad. No feel for the in-game flow whatsoever. He's still calling five step drops when the opposing defense is sending the house. Over and over and over again. It's a miracle he hasn't gotten a quarterback killed.

But the dirty little secret here is I actually like the offense Stinespring has put together, just not the way he calls it. There's a lot to be said about a pro set offense. Recruits like it because it hypothetically makes for an easier transition to the League. It's not gimmicky like Paul Johnson's flexbone or Ruffin McNeil's air raid. It works. If it's called correctly.

I think VT has everything it needs to be successful on offense in Stinespring's playbook, so long as someone can pick the right play out of that playbook at the right time. Stiney has never shown a propensity for that. So lets see what Mike O'Cain can do.

Our Distinguished Opponents

2011-08-21T22:16:00.002-05:00

This speaks for itself.

Yup, We're Still Here.

2011-08-19T00:53:00.005-05:00

Welcome back, folks. It's been an eventful summer in the VT Football front office, and yet nothing has changed: We have two new coaches, but didn't let anyone go. We have a new man calling the plays, but the same (crappy) OC. And we *still* have a trophy case for our national championship trophy that we haven't won.

So where does that leave us, the loyal writers and readers of FBS? For yet a second season in a row, we're taking the "wait and see" approach. Last season, our optimism based on the talent on the offensive side of the ball led us to relax a bit. That relaxing break lasted just long enough to see Boise State walk all over us.

Lesson learned: Talent does not trump Stiney.

This season, we're left wondering what QB coach, and new play-caller Mike O'Cain can do with the playbook. Stiney's playbook. Keep in mind that O'Cain was once NC State's Head Coach, and has served as UNC's and Clemson's OC. This isn't his first time calling the shots, and he wasn't so bad at it the last time around. He's put nationally ranked offenses on the field from the OC spot, but eventually fell victim to Tommy Bowden and his incredible ability to throw anyone and everyone under the bus.

The short of it: he's a good coach who has gotten a raw deal in his past. My question: will this be another raw deal? The way I see it, O'Cain has been put in this position for one of two reasons: either he legitimately has the ability to improve our play calling based on his close relationship with new QB Logan Thomas (as we have been told in so many interviews with those involved)...

OR this is a ploy to insulate Stiney from criticism after what could very well be the most disappointing season in recent memory. Either way, FBS still exists, and we won't go anywhere until VT has a different OC. Let's just hope that this season turns into Mike O'Cain's application for the permanent position.

If not, you know where to find us.

To the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee

2011-03-13T21:30:00.000-05:00

That is all.

In Honor of Last Night...

2011-02-27T11:43:00.003-06:00

I know this is a basketball post but I like to use every excuse possible to post this picture. Last night definitely makes a good excuse.

So what the hell just happened?

2011-02-23T10:18:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was an interesting day. We went from having a new OC to not having a new OC to having the same OC but a new coach calling the plays. Confused? Me too.

So here's what actually happened. Stinespring still officially carries the title of offensive coordinator. But he's not going to be calling the plays on game day. That duty now falls to quarterbacks coach Mike O'Cain. There were some rumblings that this was a bogus move, as both O'Cain and Stiney have shared the booth for the last few years, and the question of who was making the actual play call would be hard to determine. But hokiehaven.com is reporting that Stiney will actually be on the sideline on game day now instead of in the booth. That means the play calls really will come from O'Cain and O'Cain only.

So what the hell is an OC who doesn't call plays? To be honest, I wasn't sure myself. But if I'm piecing this together correctly, here's what we can expect.

1) The playbook will not change. There will be no offensive overhaul and no new system installed at VT. We will still be a pro set offense, and we'll still benchmark the Indianapolis Colts as the example of what we want to be offensively.

2) Stiney, as OC, will still be the one who is (technically) in charge of developing the game plan against VT's opponents through watching film and studying defensive tendencies in our opponents. O'Cain will be with him just about every step of the way, but what VT wants to do offensively on any give Saturday will be developed by Stinespring, as always.

3) On game day the show is all Mike O'Cain's, from kickoff to last whistle. Stiney will be on the ground, and from that vantage point he'll be watching the opposing defense and passing along information to the booth, suggesting adjustments.

What do we make of this? Well, very simply put, CFB finally admitted Stiney was in over his head on game day. He knew a change needed to be made. But he also would not ask one of his favorite assistant coaches to take a pay cut. So Stiney gets to keep the OC title and his salary, while still getting him out of the booth.

It's not a perfect setup. But I'm cautiously optimistic.

The way I see it, the problem has never been the playbook itself. We have a decent variety of plays from which to choose. There's no timing routes, and there never will be. Frank doesn't trust them. But aside from that, an offense has everything it needs to win with what's in VT's playbook - as long as the plays are called effectively.

I've said it too many times, the biggest weakness Stiney has displayed is his complete inability to adjust in-game. If his game plan works the way he thought it was going to work then it's all good, but as soon as a defense confuses or surprises him then things take a turn for the worst. Put very simply, Stinespring displays no feel for the game. He can teach fundamentals, and he can even design some decent plays. But he will never be a master at in game adjustments. This reassignment of duties appreciates that fact.

Will it work? Who knows. I'm in the minority, but I think Mike O'Cain has done an acceptable job as QB coach at VT. Sean Glennon never made the cut, but O'Cain helped mold Tyrod Taylor into a passing quarterback and VT's all time passing leader. His resume as a play caller isn't stellar, but it's also better than Stinespring's. And if you listen to the spin from Beamer, O'Cain has some sort of freaky weird vulcan mind meld going on with Logan Thomas.

The bottom line is that you usually want your QB coach calling your plays. It's the way it's done at just about every division 1A school, and for good reason. I support this move if only because it uses that model.

I'm cautiously optimistic about this. It's not the ideal situation, as Stiney is still technically our OC. But my biggest criticism of Stiney has always been his play calling and lack of adjustment. This addresses that weakness. I have always said I think Stinespring has something to offer VT, and I'm glad to see him given the offensive tackles to coach if only because it takes two-fifths of the offensive line away from Curt Newsome. Stiney has done an excellent job of coaching tight ends the last five years, and I look for him to produce some outstanding offensive tackles as well.

I can't speak for my fellow admins at FBS, and I can't speak for our readers, but personally I'm going to give this arrangement a shot before I condemn it. It's not all that I would have hoped, but it's damn more than I expected.

FBS is about to be obsolete.

2011-02-22T10:58:00.006-06:00

From Kyle Tucker's Twitter:

WOW. QB coach Mike O'Cain now the #Hokies' O-coordinator. Stinespring to coach TEs and OTs. Newsome to coach interior linemen.

EDIT: The Richmond Times Dispatch reports it's official. Stiney out, O'Cain in. Read the story here.

Additional Coaching Changes, Cornell Brown Edition

2011-02-16T16:38:00.002-06:00

More coaching changes today! Jim Cavanaugh is being promoted to an administrative position, similar to Billy Hite. Cavanaugh is moving from "recruiting coordinator, strong safety and outside linebacker coach" to "director of high school relations and director of recruiting," according to Rivals. Replacing him will be former Virginia Tech All-American Cornell Brown. Brown has experience coaching in the CFL and NFL Europe, as well as coaching the Miami Dolphins' linebackers during training camp in 2006.

A little more about Brown from Rivals:
"Brown played for the Hokies from 1993 until 1996 earning first team All-American honors as a defensive end in 1995 and 1996.

Brown posted 14 sacks in 1995 for Virginia Tech while earning National Defensive Player of the Year honors by the Football News. He was once again an All-American despite missing three games to injury in 1996.

Brown was subsequently drafted in the sixth round by the Baltimore Ravens in the 1997 NFL Draft where played with the Ravens from 1997 to 2004 including as part of the Super Bowl XXXV Championship squad."

Links:

http://virginiatech.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1189830

http://virginiatech.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1189826

http://www.hokiesports.com/football/recaps/20110216aaa.html

2011 Football Schedule: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

2011-02-15T21:46:00.000-06:00

The 2011 ACC football schedule has (finally) been released. And while there's a lot of buzz around the recent coaching hires in Blacksburg and Chestnut Hill, we'd be remiss in our duties if we didn't go through the schedule with a fine tooth comb.

THE GOOD

For the first time since 2007 the Hokies will be opening their season in Lane Stadium, which indicates that the rehab must be working for Jim Weaver. We also open against a 1-AA opponent. This is, in principle, a good idea. But Appalachian State is no scrub. They're a hell of a lot better than than the 6-5 JMU squad that VT shit the bed against in 2010. And this is the same program that recorded one of the great all time upsets against Michigan at the Big House and effective sent Lloyd Carr packing.

But I'll take it.

The general apologist argument about the JMU loss is that the heartbreaking 4th quarter loss against Boise State coupled with a short week set the Hokies up for disaster against the Dukes. Opening the season against one of the best teams at the 1-AA level will test that theory. Will the Hokies be ready to make a statement, or will Appy State expose the post-Tyrod Hokies right off the bat?

The Hokies follow up the opener with their other three non-conference opponents, and believe me, there's nothing to see here. Torrian Gray leads his secondary to Greensboro to feast on the Air Raid offense of East Carolina. The Hokies are back in Blacksburg the following week against Sun Belt opponent Arkansas State, then hit the road to Huntington, West Virginia, to face Marshall. The Thundering Herd present the biggest threat of a trap game, as VT opens conference play against Clemson the following week and Marshall just barely managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory against West Virginia last season.

Once the Hokies enter ACC play, they only back to back away games once, at Duke on October 29 and then at Georgia Tech on Thursday, November 10. Even then the Hokies have their bye week between the two games, which means the Hokies are never on the road in consecutive weeks during the season. And if the run defense is not dramatically improved from last season there's no better time for Bud Foster to have a bye week to prepare than before facing the Yellow Jackets.

The Hokies get their toughest conference opponents - Clemson, Miami, and UNC - at Lane Stadium. The toughest ACC opponent VT has to travel to play is Georgia Tech, and it's not clear how well the Yellow Jackets will manage to adapt in the post-Josh Nesbitt era.

THE BAD

The offense will be breaking in a new starting quarterback and a new starting tailback - though admittedly a tailback with a ton of experience. Whenever you replace starters at such critical positions you want some time to break them in and raise their confidence. The Hokies get that in their first four games, but as soon as the calendar flips to October it gets real.

Clemson just landed a monster recruiting class. While that doesn't always translate to immediate on-field success, head coach Dabo Swinney is under intense pressure to finally turn the corner, and knocking off the defending ACC champions at home would be a huge step in that direction.

We follow up Clemson with a visit from Miami and new head coach Al Golden. And really, who the hell knows what we'll get from the Hurricanes? Golden turned Temple into a winner, but it took him time. His turnaround in South Beach may be quicker since he has substantially better talent to work with. Either way, it's been Virginia Tech that has emphatically demonstrated the Hurricanes' lack of back-ness the past two seasons, and you can bet the entire roster is frothing at the mouth to beat us.

Other than that, there really isn't much of anything else bad about this schedule. The only other criticism I can make - and I'm admittedly nit-picking here - is that the Hokies are only home on consecutive weekends once during the whole schedule, against Clemson and Miami the first two Saturdays of October.

THE UGLY

Our strength of schedule.

As it stands right now, not a single team on the Hokies' 2011 schedule looks to be ranked in the preseason polls and depending on how the season shakes out VT might not play a ranked opponent all year.

If Logan Thomas is as promised and David Wilson doesn't crack under the pressure of being THE MAN, and if Bud Foster can shore up his run defense without a discernible decline in pass defense, then the 2011 Hokies could have a legitimate shot of going 12-0 in regular season play if they manage to catch a few lucky breaks here and there. Even if they do, I'd expect them to enter the ACC championship game in December outside the top 5 and without any realistic shot of playing for a BCS championship.

This season will provide an excellent opportunity to develop some of the younger talent on this team. Virginia Tech also has a strong nucleus of upperclassmen, especially on offense along the line and in the receiving corps, who can provide leadership and inspiration while the younger talent is getting their football legs under them. 12-0 is not an unreasonable goal to set for this season, given the level of opponents the Hokies will be facing. I don't personally think we'll reach the top of that particular mountain - I see the Hokies stumbling once or twice in conference play. But even if the Hokies should manage to make history and go undefeated, we should view that accomplishment in context and not read more into it than what's actually there.

GO HOKIES!!!

Now we're going to see what VT passed on...

2011-02-14T22:14:00.002-06:00

http://espn.go.com/blog/acc/post/_/id/22160/bc-names-offensive-coordinator-2

Yup. The same day we find out that Shane's headed home, we find out that former VT QB Coach Kevin Rogers is taking over the offense at Boston College. Now we'll get the opportunity to see what we had and passed on versus what we got stuck with. Rogers vs Stiney. Rogers vs Foster.

October 22nd just got circled on my calendar.

SHANE BEAMER RETURNING TO VT!!!

2011-02-14T14:19:00.005-06:00

From Rivals:

"Gamecock Central has learned recruiting coordinator and special teams coach Shane Beamer is leaving to take a job on the Virginia Tech coaching staff.

The Hokies are coached, of course, by Beamer's father, Frank. Beamer is expected to be named an offensive coach on the Virginia Tech staff. "

http://virginiatech.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1188875

This is great, especially considering he just pulled in the #1 recruit in the country today for South Carolina.

EDIT: More here: http://www.hokiesports.com/football/recaps/20110214aab.html

EDIT #2: Some more info from Rivals--Shane is going to be taking over as the Running Backs Coach. As a result, Billy Hite is being "elevated to an administrative role within the football department, as assistant to the head coach and senior advisor." He was previously the Associate Head Coach and Running Backs Coach. In his new role, Hite will be "retiring from active coaching," according to Rivals.

Link: http://virginiatech.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1188898

While most of us are very optimistic about bringing Shane Beamer into the program, it is a little sad to see Billy Hite handing the Running Backs duties over. Hite has coached at Tech for 33 years and has been here longer than Beamer. While it may seem like the end of an era, Coach Hite (I'm still calling him "Coach") will still be with the program and I'm sure Shane (Coach Beamer? Coach Little Beamer? Coach Shane?) will have a great opportunity to learn from one of the best RB coaches in the game.

Some Dr. Saturday love.

2011-01-28T16:47:00.000-06:00

Matt Hinton runs a blog for Yahoo! Sports' college football section called Dr. Saturday, which is always one of my favorite reads during the season. This past Wednesday Hinton penned a reflective on the Hokies' 2010 offense, with specific emphasis on Tyrod Taylor's contribution. Click here to read the whole piece. It's well worth it.

It's the end of the piece, which focuses on the aftermath of Tyrod's departure for greener NFL pastures, that I'd like to note here, though:

"[Tyrod's departure] leaves a gaping question mark for 2011, considering towering, 6-6/240-pound successor Logan Thomas has barely played and both Evans and Williams are on their way to the draft with two years of eligibility remaining apiece. You can almost hear entire sections of the playbook going back under lock and key from here."

Yeah. Hinton understands VT pretty damn well.

Any reservations I had about Logan Thomas at QB evaporated with a pass over the middle against Miami on 3rd and 16 to convert for the first down. LT has the goods to be a legitimate QB. What he does not have, however, is the trust of Bryan Stinespring and Mike O'Cain.

The reason why Tyrod Taylor put together one of the most impressive careers at quarterback that VT has ever witnessed is not only because of his freakish athletic ability, but also because through watching his play the coaches on offense eventually developed enough trust in him to eventually say, "Okay, just go play football." And he did. And he kicked some butt.

Logan Thomas doesn't have that trust. He hasn't earned it yet. And until he does, get ready for a lot of LT looking to the VT sideline after the offense is set to get the audible. It's easy to forget how often we saw that just a couple of seasons ago, isn't it?

Beefing up the O Line

2011-01-18T10:00:00.000-06:00

Quick hit here. Not much going on in Hokiedom except the general post-Orange Bowl hand wringing that will most likely continue into the Spring, but I did want to make mention that 2010 offensive guard recruit and local biggun Caleb Farris has enrolled at VT for the spring semester.

Farris has busted his ass getting ready to join the Hokies while spending a year since signing his LOI at a community college. I'm high on this kid just because of his mindset, work ethic, and... oh yeah, he's effing HUGE:

That's Farris on the right. On the left, for comparison's sake, is redshirt defensive tackle/jukyard dog/third trumpet of the apocalypse Nick Acree.

Farris comes in at 6'4" and 315 pounds. This is significant in two regards.

1.) He's not a converted tight end, and
2.) He has honest O line size.

Looking ahead to the spring we also have the redshirt coming off of OT Mark Shuman (6'6", 309lbs.) and new starting center Michael Via (6'7", 300lbs). Throw in BDC and David Wang and VT would actually have an offensive line without a body under 300 pounds.

It won't happen, of course, because Greg Nosal is not losing his starting spot (nor should he) and Shuman and Farris will not start as freshmen. But seeing these numbers signifies a shift away from the type of O linemen that VT has recruited since Curt Newsome came onto the staff.

The "smaller, more athletic" recruits haven't worked out so well for VT, and apparently the recruiters have noticed. Let's just hope that these behemoths can make Curt Newsome look competent the same way Tyrod made Stiney look like he knew what he was doing.

Bill Roth, would you please, for the love of God, shut up.

2011-01-12T22:56:00.005-06:00

I'm going to quote something here. Then I'm going to rip it to shreds.

"In the ACC, Tech doesn’t play teams like Stanford, Boise State, Alabama or LSU. Thanks to some sensational recruiting within the region, Tech has better players than many of its ACC brothers. A record 13 players were named All-ACC, remember? But to beat truly elite teams, Tech needs even better players. It needs more elite players."

If you want to read this in its larger context, go here. But trust me, there's not much of a larger context to find. The gist of the article is Stanford pwned VT because Stanford had more elite players.

I call bullshit. (Pardon the French, but I gotta call a spade a spade.)

Bill, you're a hell of a play by play guy. I'd rather listen to you than to any ESPN announcer, and don't get me started on Raycom's mongoloids. But outside of the booth you're turning into nothing more than a Frank Beamer status quo apologist. Let's run down the list here, Bill.

Tyrod Taylor is elite. Ryan Williams is elite. David Wilson is elite. Jayron Hosley is elite. Bruce Taylor is elite. Half the freaking starting roster on both sides of the ball are elite players.

You know who isn't elite? Bryan Stinespring. The man couldn't make an adjustment if his jeans were too tight.

Bill, I love ya. I'll listen to your broadcasts of Hokie football whenever I can. And I can't really blame you for toeing the company line. After all, we all know which side your bread is buttered on. But you're throwing the players under the bus by saying that what beat VT in the Orange Bowl was a disparity in player talent. The talent gap in Miami was entirely between the two coaching staffs.

Evans and Williams are both GONE.

2011-01-09T22:09:00.006-06:00

Darren Evans and Ryan Williams, two of the best Virginia Tech running backs ever, are no longer Virginia Tech running backs. Both have decided to take their talents to where they can get paid. Evans declared his intent to enter the 2011 NFL draft this past Thursday. Williams wrestled a bit more with the decision and finally announced today.

This sucks.

Not that I can hold it against either of them. Evans is projected to go somewhere between round 4 and round 7, which would normally mean returning for another year to improve draft stock would be in order. But Evans has a wife and a kid, and even 7th round money is enough to easily support a family of three.

Williams is projected in the first or second round. No one is stupid enough to pass on that kind of money. Right, Andrew Luck?

So it's the right decision for each of them. But it still sucks. It sucks that we had the greatest collection of talent at running back this season that VT has ever had, and yet the running game struggled to get going all season. It sucks that Darren Evans can't risk coming back another year to try to jump into the second or third round in 2012 for fear of Billy Hite's idiotic 3-back rotation limiting his carries too much to prove himself. It sucks that nobody had the balls to admit that 2008 was a rebuilding year and keep the redshirt on Tyrod, possibly enticing Williams - the fiercest competitor the VT O has had in a good while - to come back for TT's redshirt senior season next year for the chance at making history.

It all just sucks, mmmkay?

Welcome.

2011-01-08T01:03:00.001-06:00

There’s a lot of new faces on the blog in the past couple of days, and even though many of them are using the “anonymous” user name, I just wanted to extend a friendly “welcome.”

For those of you who are visiting us for the first time, here’s the skinny on the blog: The Fire Bryan Stinespring Blog was formed in January of 2008 in the minutes following our 21-24 loss to Kansas in the Orange Bowl. It was an embarrassing game, to say the least. The goal of the blog was simple: to get Offensive Coordinator Bryan Stinespring canned and replaced by someone who could assemble an offense to compliment mastermind Bud Foster’s defense and Frank Beamer’s always impressive special teams.

In 2009, the site was handed over to myself, Illinois Hokie and HokieJayBee to run, and we’ve done our best to keep up the fight. We’ve redesigned the site, added t-shirts (which we don’t profit from, BTW), added guest bloggers, polls and pertinent contact info (feel free to send Jim Weaver a letter or email, while you’re here - his contact info can be found just below the t-shirts). We host discussions on what we can do to help raise BS awareness among the Hokie faithful, and we make suggestions on who might be a good replacement.

After reading and posting here for the last three years, we’ve had two important realizations:

Head Coach Frank Beamer, no matter what, deserves to run this team for as long as he wishes, since without HCFB, we’d still just be a random independent program with no direction. We wouldn’t have BeamerBall. We wouldn’t have Bud Foster. We wouldn’t have Michael Vick, Tyrod Taylor, DeAngelo Hall, Jake Grove, etc, etc. One could argue we wouldn’t even have Seth Greenberg and Malcolm Delaney, either, since football has financially supported our other athletic programs for years, and taken them from independent, to the Big East and now to the ACC.

Without the boosters, the anti-Stinespring movement will not succeed. As long as the money keeps streaming in, there is nothing forcing Weaver or Beamer to make changes. There are plenty of boosters who remember the old days, and would be content with an endless stream of 10-win seasons. We probably won’t reach them, but I know there are a few, a precious few, who are just as pissed as you and me, and they are the people we need to appeal to. We need to attract them to the site, and give them a voice.

I know you all are frustrated. I am, too, but we need to keep it civil around here if we are going to attract the boosters. So please, leave your personal attacks and put downs at the door. Don’t use the contact info for threats of violence. Don’t use profanity or petty name-calling - this isn’t a 3rd grade playground. Make your theories, suggestions and arguements, but keep it civil.

So on behalf of myself, IH, HJB and all of the real fans who frequent the site, welcome. There’s 240 days left til kickoff. Let’s get something done.

Can Someone Ask Him For Me?

2011-01-06T12:53:00.005-06:00

With apologies to IH, pushing his Wednesday post down, I couldn't resist posting this little nugget.

I hadn't seen this article when it was written, on the 3rd, pre-Orange Bowl, by Darryl Slater.

The article starts like every recent Bryan article starts. VT O sucks, has for 9 years, here's some numbers and ranks and how badly we've really sucked. About mid-way down, there's the prototypical 2010 rhetoric, complimenting an improved offense and giving this year's ranks for scoring and total yards. This particular article even goes as far to say "Hokie Offense Ready for Stanford", well, at least based on an interview with Bryan himself......

It is at this point that I'm going to make an assumption of Darryl's interview conversation with Bryan, based on the context of the article. My assumption is that Darryl asked something along the lines of, "is this season rewarding?" / "how does it feel to have a highly ranked offense and silence the critics?" / "does this season vindicate Frank sticking with your sorry ass all this time?" / etc.
[editor's note, don't knock my assumpted conversations! Maybe Darryl did say "sorry ass"!]

Anyways, digression is a hobby of mine. Sorry. Oh yeah, I assume it was a question similar to that from Darryl to Bryan at that point of the interview, because Bryan answered:

---"""I'm going to reserve final judgment on that until after the Orange Bowl," Stinespring said. "But going into this game, I think this offense has been exactly what you've been looking for."""---

Well well well. Here we are. After the Orange Bowl.

Could someone with access to Bryan ask him for me? It's after the Orange Bowl, can we please have your final judgment on VT O 2010?

Ass.

The third biggest game of Frank Beamer's career.

2011-01-05T22:42:00.003-06:00

This one's tough to write.

It wasn't the worst loss I've witnessed as a fan of Virginia Tech football. Losing to JMU at home was more humiliating. And the 2007 dismembering at the hands of LSU was actually more painful to watch. But I don't think I've ever been so tempted to put something through my Vizio as I was in the second half of this shitty, shitty game.

I could spend forever breaking down the X's and O's, but I seriously think that would sink me into a tailspin depression that would last into the spring. But I will say that this game highlighted more perfectly than any other game that the offensive success Virginia Tech has enjoyed the last two seasons has been solely to the credit of Tyrod Taylor. In the second half, when Stanford started dialing up their chaos blitz package - designed to always bring 5 or 6 guys after the quarterback but to disguise where the extra bodies are coming from - about every third or fourth down, Tyrod's trademark magic was essentially snuffed out. That's not a knock on T-Mobile. But after going down two scores in the third quarter VT was in full on pass mode and Jim Harbaugh knew it. He also knew Curt Newsome's O Line could not pick up the blitz quickly enough even though they had the numbers to stop it. In a situation like that, it takes coaching, not an athletic quarterback, to lead a team to victory. Instead Stiney dialed up five step drop after five step drop, essentially serving Tyrod up on a silver platter. Typical results from an atypically horrible offensive coordinator.

There are so many things for which Bryan Stinespring could be crucified in this game, but the list reads like every criticism we have heaped at his feet for the past nine years: the trademark power run up the gut on 4th and 1 that was DOA, the lack of screens or slants to keep the opposing defense honest, the glaring absence of toss sweeps to David Wilson when the weakness in Standford's run defense all season has been speed to the outside.

Make no mistake, the talent on offense could have won this game for the Hokies, and despite the final score it almost did. Tyrod's interception at the two yard line would have been a touchdown had he led Boykin straight into the endzone rather than toward the middle of the field - away from the pursuing corner but toward the safety. Jayron Hosley could have set a single season record for interceptions and put six points on the board but simply couldn't hang on to Andrew Luck's errant pass in the third quarter. But once the floodgates opened for Standford it was simply too much to overcome, and the Cardinal did to us what we have done to teams the last two years. And my God does it suck to be on this end of it.

Frank Beamer said in the week leading up to this Orange Bowl that it was the third biggest game of his career, behind the 95 Sugar Bowl and playing for the BCS championship against FSU. And in the third biggest game of Frank Beamer's career Stanford proved how woefully inadequate Frank Beamer's offensive coordinator is at his job. I'm getting so tired of writing this, but when it mattered most Bryan Stinespring produced the least. When the game was on the line and it was up to his offensive coordinator - not his five star miracle of a quarterback - to find a way to win, Frank Beamer got embarrassed in the third biggest game of his career.

Welcome back, everybody.

2011-01-03T23:32:00.000-06:00

It was fun while it lasted. Eleven game winning streaks make this place pretty quiet. But tonight we saw... again... what happens when Stiney's original gameplan is stuffed by a good - make that great - opposing defense.

Some people are also raking Bud Foster over the coals for this one. And yes, the defense sucked it up. But as I've said before, the defense gets a total pass from me this season no matter what. Bud Foster has earned a rebuilding year.

So anyway, the tshirts are over there --->

So is Jim Weaver's contact info.

Let's make some noise.

Orange Bowl - Open Thread

2011-01-03T15:00:00.001-06:00

It's official: Orange domes for the Orange Bowl

2010-12-20T22:55:00.000-06:00

Let the smear campaign/lovefest begin.

Personally when I heard the rumor of orange helmets I shuddered a bit, but to be honest... I don't hate these. Though I'm sure there are plenty of people who do.

Apparently Virginia Tech football now has more fashion critics than Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. As for my personal preference, we could be wearing gold lamay as long as we're kicking the shit out of our opponents.

Friedgen Fired, Huge Opportunity for Hokies

2010-12-18T16:46:00.006-06:00

ESPN is reporting that Maryland is forcing head coach Ralph Friedgen to take a buyout of his contract. The buyout is going to give Friedgen $2 million for next season, the last year on his contract.

Say what you will about Ralph, but he knows offense. He won a national championship with Georgia Tech as OC in 1990. If there's a time to replace Stiney, it's now.

EDIT:

Wishful thinking.

EDIT #2: I feel a little dumb for not realizing this before, but Miami isn't keeping Mark Whipple around as OC in the Al Golden era. Another awesome possible Stiney replacement.

Head coach in waiting (for something better to come along).

2010-12-14T22:20:00.000-06:00

Since it's too early to preview the Orange Bowl and there isn't much else going on to talk about I thought I'd get this off my chest.

A lot of people have been howling for Jim Weaver to officially announce Bud Foster as Head Coach in Waiting. I personally have never been in favor of a HCIW deal for Bud. Not because I don't want him as our next head coach. I do. Desperately and with naked abandon. Weaver could announce Bill Cower was the next head coach of the Hokies and I'd be pissed it wasn't Bud. Seriously.

I don't support a HCIW deal for Bud Foster because I think HCIW deals are worthless in general. The assassination of Bobby Bowden in Tallahassee showed that having a Head Coach in Waiting can be a cancer to a program, but forget that for a second. Proof that the whole concept of the HCIW is based on flawed logic has played out (and continues to play out) as we approach this bowl season.

Will Muschamp, the poster child of the HCIW deal, has bailed on Mack Brown and Texas to return to his SEC roots at Florida. With Jimbo holding the reigns at FSU and Muschamp bolting for Gainesville that leaves Maryland's James Franklin as the highest profile Head Coach in Waiting in division 1A. And he'll be named as Vanderbilt's head coach by the end of this week.

HCIW deals offer the false promise of retaining a talented assistant coach. But in the current business environment of major college football a hotshot coordinator will almost always take an offer for a head job at another program NOW as opposed to the head job at his current program EVENTUALLY. And we're currently seeing those dominoes fall.

There is a simple truth that the setup of the HCIW system wants to gloss over: if an assistant coach doesn't feel a sense of loyalty to his program or his head coach then he's not going to stick around if something better comes along.

If you do want to entice a popular and talented assistant coach to remain on staff, an annuity deal like the one Jim Weaver structured for Bud Foster is a much smarter way to do it. You can argue that the $800,000 Foster is due in addition to his salary in 2014 is too low a figure or too long a delay on the payout. But with each passing season it makes less financial sense for Bud to accept a position elsewhere as he approaches his payout. And with each passing season any position that might lure Bud away from VT would have to come after him with an increasingly larger paycheck. But let's not kid ourselves. Eight hundred grand in four years isn't going to keep Bud in Blacksburg if a BCS program he feels he can win at makes him an offer. Turnover is the reality of any compensated position in competitive sports.

I want Bud Foster to be the next head coach at Virginia Tech as badly as anyone. But naming him head coach in waiting would have no bearing at all on whether or not he actually is.