TechSuperfans!
Where are the Hokies' heads?
by MadJay
The Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles are much like the Cincinnati Bearcats were earlier this season. They are outmatched talent-wise against the Hokies but not by very much and they are a very well coached football team. Unfortunately for Southern Miss, they are going to be missing two of their best football players for the game against Virginia Tech – Damion Fletcher their best all-around player who has been 33% of their offense this year and Travis Cooley one of their best offensive lineman are hurt.
One might think that this is great news for Virginia Tech and Virginia Tech fans because it sets the stage for a positive scenario. First of all, the defense needs a team that they can dominate to get their confidence and try to get their sense of “team” back. Southern Miss is a terrible passing team and now they are without a great RB and a great offensive lineman. All factors point to the VT defense just smothering everything Southern Miss tries to do.
And therein lies the problem. It is nearly impossible for the defense to feel good after this game. The only possible way they can feel even decent about themselves is if they destroy this opponent. If the defense isn’t dominant or even worse, plays like it did against Boston College, then there are going to be some VERY, VERY dark clouds over this football program. The only good thing I see here is that even if they hold Southern Miss to 3 points or less it still won’t make them overconfident heading into the Clemson game.
Offensively is where the real opportunity is in this game. I have seen Coach Beamer’s decision at QB and I disagree but that’s all said and done. Sean Glennon is the starter and against Southern Mississippi both he and the entire offense have a chance to get some much needed confidence. These Golden Eagles defense played the high powered Florida offense very tough for a half so scoring a lot of points against the Golden Eagles qualifies as a genuine achievement for the VT offense. The Golden Eagles have a few injuries in the defensive secondary so it’s an even better chance to air out the ball and showcase a strong passing game. If that happens, then the running game can get going. The opportunity for execution on offense is there against an overmatched opponent and I hope that the entire group on the VT offense is excited and plays well. If they do not, watch for the Clemson game to become an absolute disaster. If the Hokies can’t generate a very solid offense and put up points on Southern Mississippi, the team is in for a very long rest-of-the-season.
The other reason I hope that the Hokies jump out to a big lead at halftime is that Ike Whitaker at QB and Elan or Kenny Lewis at RB need valuable game time in the second half. These players have to get out on the field in real-live situations and develop experience. Right now the backups have almost no meaningful snaps and that could really bite the Hokies badly if they suffered even a minor injury to the first string. Not to mention these players could be contributors to the program in the future, but you only find that out based on how they play the game. I want someone who practices well, but who the Hokies really need on this team are gamers.
We’ll be able to tell a lot about the mentality of the team watching this game. If they play disciplined football with few penalties and no personal fouls and focus entirely on Southern Mississippi as a team, I’ll believe that the season has a chance to be salvaged, and the coaches and seniors will deserve a lot of credit. If they continue what happened last Thursday night at Boston College, there is no bottom to how low this team can go in the remaining games. As I always say, we’ll find out when they play the game.
GO HOKIES!!!!!!
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