The Hokies were the only team to defeat the National Champion Buckeyes last year.
They did it on the Buckeyes' home opener in Columbus, OH. A big caveat was that they were playing with redshirt freshman quarterback J.T. Barrett and not veteran phenom Braxton Miller who injured his shoulder before the start of the season. It turned out, Barrett was pretty good and went on to win nine games before suffering from an injury himself. Cardale Jones took over and the Buckeyes finished the rest of the season without another loss.
Well, Coach Urban Meyer must be scratching his head a little bit as it appears that he and his team will be going into this year's opener against the Hokies down yet another star.
On Thursday, the Buckeyes announced the suspension of four players, including All-American defensive end Joey Bosa. Bosa, the 2014 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, was going to prove to be tough to contain according to Coach Beamer. The revelation that he will be out will drastically change the Hokies' strategy in this game.
Beamer is calling this game "the most anticipated football game in Virginia Tech home football history." It certainly will be the first time since 2001, when Miami came to the 'Burg on their way to their 18th National Championship, that Virginia Tech will face a No. 1 team at home. To add to the intensity, the idea of this being a "revenge game" for Ohio State has been tossed around. There's no doubt this will be on everyone's mind going into this game.
To say that the Hokies struggle against teams in the top five would be an understatement. 1-28 all time and 1-20 under Beamer (Oh what a victory that was! Your's truly lost a bit of hearing permanently from that game against the No. 2 Hurricanes at Lane! But I digress.), the Hokies need another signature win to add to the resume. But, with Braxton Miller back at the helm of his team, the Hokies will have a huge mountain to climb to get that victory.
I for one will be there with bells on.
Go Hokies!
Friday, July 31, 2015
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Ready for Football?
This Sunday marks the start of a three day media blitz as the ACC Football Kickoff begins. You can watch live on ESPNU starting at 1:00 PM on Monday and Tuesday! #acckickoff
Set your DVRs, VCRs, or Betamax!
Set your DVRs, VCRs, or Betamax!
Friday, April 17, 2015
Eight Years Later
Yesterday brought a bit of a tear to my eye.
As I walked around at lunch and as I moved around the city at night, the amount of Chicago Maroon and Burnt Orange I saw yesterday was amazing. Sure, this is Washington, D.C. and the number of Hokie alum here is higher than most areas, but it sure was nice to see the support still is strong for the Hokie Nation.
I posted yesterday on the Book of Faces that we should take this time to remember the real issue is that of mental health and the lack of proper care for those suffering from mental illness. My hope is that, as we continue to remember the events of April 16th, change will eventually come to addressing this important issue.
We Are Virginia Tech!
Go Hokies!
Sunday, September 07, 2014
Preseason Rankings
Last night proved how much a croc the preseason rankings are. Are you telling me that losing one player makes your top 5 team become a team that probably will lose 6 games this year?
Don't get me wrong Virginia Tech is going to be a very good program this year and will win 9 or 10 or more games, but Ohio State lost its entire front offensive starting line from last year (one starter shifted from the right to the left which is basically a completely different position). I don't care how good Braxton (my phone must be hungry because it corrected that to Bacon) Miller is/would have been, and maybe he would have been the linchpin that propelled them to victory last night and later in the season, but you can't list that team as a top 10 team.
That said, Tech will not be able to do what it did last night against the likes of Shane Carden of East Carolina, namely put 8, in the box and run man coverage basically every play.
All that aside, I'm excited at what I see from both sides of the ball in these Cody two games.
Go Hokies!
Saturday, September 06, 2014
What Do I Know?
After watching the 2014 version of the Hokies play William&Mary last Saturday there are reasons to be very excited about the enormous game coming up tonight against Ohio State and there are reasons to be wetting our beds about that game. There's even a common reason that belongs in both categories. Unlike the HokieVision team this year, I suck at intros, so that's that, let's get into it.
Reasons To Be Wetting Our Beds
1) Coach Shane Beamer might be starting a true freshman tonight.
I can't imagine, watching JC Coleman take snaps last Saturday, that he will start the game against Ohio State. Sure Coleman scored a TD at the end of the game from the 2-yd line. And I can see him telling that story years from now about how this one time, he had a short yardage touchdown (it begins "the sea was angry that day my friends"). OK, so I really do like Coleman and he is a lot of things: great change-of-pace guy, should be running jet sweeps, playing in certain 3rd down packages, returning kickoffs, and he's a helluva good teammate in the locker room. One thing he is absolutely not is an every down back for a program trying to establish a power running game. That means that going into one of the toughest places to play in all of college football in a night game with the country watching, two kids who last fall were taking snaps in high school, will be starting. Can they run? Sure, but in that high pressure situation, can they remember the playbook? Can they block the right blitzer? Games turn on mishaps like these.
2) Two of the three Hokie linebackers
Is there a better feel-good-story than Derek DiNardo starting and playing most of the game last Saturday? He had a big scoop and almost-score, he made some tackles and he's an intelligent, instinctive football player. But at whip, he is not near the athlete needed in a game against playmakers like the Buckeyes have. The Hokies kept quiet about the extent of Ronnie Van Dyke's groin injury, but if he's not ready to go tonight, that's a significant Depends moment.
And Deon Clarke, despite all the pre-season hype, was nowhere to be seen. In reviewing the game tape I counted 3 missed big plays (two tackles for loss and a big potential sack) that spill to the Backer for them to make those EXACT plays and he didn't do it. Clarke ended up with 3 total tackles with only 1 solo and only 1 tackle-for-loss and that just isn't going to remotely get it done for Backer. Knowing Coach Foster, he has been up Clarke's tailpipe this week about sticking his nose in there and making those plays. but until we see it happen on the field, it's extremely concerning.
3) The Hokies are starting a true freshman at kicker
I was very impressed with Joey Slye on Saturday. His kicks got up in the air quickly and he made a tackle on the opening kickoff. But again, bright lights, first game on the road, never seen that many people hating you in one place, can he respond - forget with the game on the line at the end - but on a routine 30 yd attempt in the second quarter? The Hokies lost 3 games last year because of awful field goal kicking and while we learned there's a player with talent at the position this year, we have no idea as of yet how he's going to handle a pressure situation. I hope that Coach Beamer had a higher intensity version of his usual kicker sessions in practice this week, maybe where the entire team lines up around Slye and pipe in some noise and have everyone shouting things at him and charging towards him, etc. Nothing can fully prepare you to face that kick in the Horseshoe, so anything they can do would fall short, but it's worth a try.
4) Goal line offense
So all pre-season the Hokies and Coach Lefty talked about the power running game. And in the first game against William&Mary, on the goal line, the running game was an abomination. Now I'll be the first to say that the Tribe's defensive line is better than people think, even better than some other lines the Hokies will play this year, but they are NOT better than the defensive front for Ohio State. So much was wrong with the goal line offense, I don't know where to begin. JC Coleman was getting goal-line snaps (someone needs to bring a physics professor to the offensive staff meeting). There was a mishandled center-QB exchange. And then even beyond all of that, the Hokies still had 3 runs with Juice, who finished a few nachos short of the goal line each time. He didn't look like he had that "nose" for the end zone that some backs just seem to have (think Lee Suggs). I could be reading into that too early, and McKenzie didn't get a shot on the goal line, but it's nerve-wracking all the same.
Seven running plays inside the Tribe's 10 yd line resulted in 1 TD run in garbage time, but over half of the rushes were for no gain. I guess it's a positive that we don't have any backs that can lose 15 yards on a goal line rush, a la David Wilson, but he could also do this - which no backs on the current roster can do either. But when the good news is that the running backs don't lose 15 yards on a goal line carry, well........you know....... that sucks.
5) Knocked down/deflected passes
Despite Michael Brewer's fantastic performance, one major area of concern was deflected passes. Now, on the interception, LG Wyatt Teller came off of his man way too soon and the defender was left by himself standing in the passing lane, so it was easy to get a hand on it, with the result being a pick. But there were several other deflections, and don't think OSU defensive coordinator Luke Fickell wasn't focused on that this week with his defensive linemen and their pass rush lanes. These are momentum changing plays and there's really nothing you can do to fix pass deflections, short of hooking Brewer up to the rack and "lengthening" him to about 6'4". Since that's probably an NCAA violation, I would adamant about rolling Brewer out and hoping he can be some sort of accurate on the run.
OK, so now that we're all huddled all Blair Witch style in the corner about facing the Buckeyes let's see if we can't take a look at some things that have me excited about playing Ohio State tonight.
Reasons To Be Excited Enough To Run Through A Brick Wall
1) Coach Shane Beamer might be starting a true freshman tonight.
But wait, Mad Jay, I thought you said this was a reason to be wetting my bed? Well, it is, but it could also be a difference maker for the Hokies in a positive way. From what I saw out of Marshawn Williams and Shai McKenzie, the Hokies have the type of running backs that they've had in the past. When McKenzie's knee gets back to 100% after this season, he's going to be a real force, but even now he breaks arm tackles like they're being attempted by mosquitos and he hits the hole with abandon. Meanwhile, Juice Williams is out there just looking for contact, looking to punish opponents who dare attempt to tackle him, acting as if they insulted his mother.
If the Hokies can convert enough 3rd downs in the first half to give the Buckeyes a healthy dose of these two backs, then by the late 3rd quarter - especially early in a season before conditioning has really kicked in - the Buckeye defense might be completely exhausted. If you watched the LSU-Wisconsin game you saw this exact phenomenon occur, where in the 4th quarter, LSU was just running through huge holes for massive gains despite having been contained most of the rest of the game. They were running the same off tackle and power trap plays from earlier, but Wisconsin just ran out of gas on defense.
2) Michael Brewer is exactly what this team needs to run Coach Lefty's offense.
My favorite play happened to be exactly what VT beat writer Andy Bitter captured in his article. Mr. Bitter (boy, wouldn't the universe make more sense if he and Mark Berman switched names?) references a 3rd down and goal right before the half with the Hokies ahead 14-6. Brewer escaped pressure and rolled to his left and then.......he threw the ball out of the back of the end zone. How many times before have we seen a Hokie QB try and force a ball in there and bad things happen? Going into the half, Brewer knew the Hokies needed points and the play wasn't there so he got rid of it.
The rest of the day, Brewer ran the offense calmly and effectively, he didn't go into the tank when he threw that interception off the deflection, and he provided the steady hand that this team, with all of its youngsters, needs. We fans have heard about him all pre-season, but let me tell you about the players. More than any fishing trips, or restaurant buffets they've hit together, watching their QB perform on game day like Brewer did really begins to cement that leadership role he's in. I can't overstate how important that is, especially for a guy to transfer in and unseat a 5th year senior that's popular among his teammates. Brewer looks like he might be ready for the spotlight tonight.
3) The tight ends are back in the offense
You're a defense and you've got them. It's 3rd down, you know the play that's coming, you have the receivers blanketed, you pick up the running back out in the flat and now it's just a matter of time before your defensive line comes and plants the quarterback on his ass. But what's this? A throw to a TE being covered by a safety and he screens the safety off with his body, makes the catch and it's FIRST DOWN Virginia Tech (said in my best Bill Roth voice).
That play is exactly what the tight end brings to the Hokie offense and Malleck did it twice on Saturday against William&Mary. Last year Kalvin Kline made a few of those plays, and was pretty decent as a receiver. But this year, the Hokies have an even better athlete in Bucky Hodges, and a better blocker and outlet route runner in Ryan Malleck and it absolutely destroys a defense to have those guys in there. Who do you cover Hodges with? Is it a run or a pass with Malleck at the end of the line of scrimmage? Even if you do cover Malleck he can get open against most linebackers and he can screen off any safety to give his QB a target to throw to. And Hodges made some freak-type plays Saturday as well. Malleck and Hodges (sounds like a law firm) are going to give OSU D Coordinator Luke Fickell a headache because I know Coach Lefty didn't show his whole hand on Saturday about how he wants to utilize these two guys.
4) Isaiah Ford and Cam Phillips
There you have it - the key ingredients that were missing from the Hokies lineup last year until Josh Stanford started coming on very late. In fact, Stanford's strained hamstring would normally be listed as a bedwetting reason if it weren't for the remarkable ability of these two receivers. Phillips ran a dig route Saturday for a first down on a third and long and it looked like he was an NFL receiver. I don't say that to hype things up, I'm just saying his body was dead square, he got low, especially for a player his height, had tremendous footwork and until the very last second, the DB didn't know which way Phillips was going to turn until Phillips planted, turned in and caught a well thrown ball for the first down. And Ford, well you can just feel the explosiveness Ford has if he can get the ball and start running in the open field.
Phillips isn't the fastest but he's going to get open and move the chains and the Hokies have to find ways to get Ford the ball as he's one of the few playmakers on offense (Demetri Knowles if he's fully healthy is the other) that can run with the speed of Ohio State.
5) Chase Williams is up to the challenge
We knew the secondary would be good (and Kendall Fuller was unbelievable Saturday). We knew the defensive line would be good (and Corey Marshall was unbelievable as well). And while I've already talked above about how two of the linebacker positions could be exposed on Saturday against the Buckeyes, the question mark for a lot of people headed into the season was Chase Williams. Now sure he was a little sloppy in his tackling on a few plays, but in terms of communicating out there to his teammates, he worked spectacularly with Detrick Bonner to have the Hokies aligned properly for most of the plays they faced. Every time I saw Williams shift a defensive player in a direction pre-snap, the play went that way. He also made some big plays, forcing a fumble, and getting some sacks.
I'd like to see more tackles out of a middle linebacker, but Williams showed the smarts, the leadership and the physicality that give me hope for this season. There's enough tremendous athletes on defense, if Williams gets them lined up properly by recognizing plays, the Hokies will have success tonight.
So that covers the 5 main causes for concern and the 5 main causes for excitement. And there are others on both sides of that coin. Some other concerns were - too many penalties (one cost Juice a goal-line touchdown run), terrible second level positioning of the linemen on screen plays, and poor form tackling. One exciting item was how bad Ohio State played against Navy. But those could all mainly be written up to first game of the year type of things. Both VT and Ohio State players will see their issues on film and make big gains between week one and week two. So I've alternated all week between being very pumped up about the upcoming game and putting on Depends before I go to bed. And now it's game day so -
GO HOKIES!!!!!!
Reasons To Be Wetting Our Beds
1) Coach Shane Beamer might be starting a true freshman tonight.
I can't imagine, watching JC Coleman take snaps last Saturday, that he will start the game against Ohio State. Sure Coleman scored a TD at the end of the game from the 2-yd line. And I can see him telling that story years from now about how this one time, he had a short yardage touchdown (it begins "the sea was angry that day my friends"). OK, so I really do like Coleman and he is a lot of things: great change-of-pace guy, should be running jet sweeps, playing in certain 3rd down packages, returning kickoffs, and he's a helluva good teammate in the locker room. One thing he is absolutely not is an every down back for a program trying to establish a power running game. That means that going into one of the toughest places to play in all of college football in a night game with the country watching, two kids who last fall were taking snaps in high school, will be starting. Can they run? Sure, but in that high pressure situation, can they remember the playbook? Can they block the right blitzer? Games turn on mishaps like these.
2) Two of the three Hokie linebackers
Is there a better feel-good-story than Derek DiNardo starting and playing most of the game last Saturday? He had a big scoop and almost-score, he made some tackles and he's an intelligent, instinctive football player. But at whip, he is not near the athlete needed in a game against playmakers like the Buckeyes have. The Hokies kept quiet about the extent of Ronnie Van Dyke's groin injury, but if he's not ready to go tonight, that's a significant Depends moment.
And Deon Clarke, despite all the pre-season hype, was nowhere to be seen. In reviewing the game tape I counted 3 missed big plays (two tackles for loss and a big potential sack) that spill to the Backer for them to make those EXACT plays and he didn't do it. Clarke ended up with 3 total tackles with only 1 solo and only 1 tackle-for-loss and that just isn't going to remotely get it done for Backer. Knowing Coach Foster, he has been up Clarke's tailpipe this week about sticking his nose in there and making those plays. but until we see it happen on the field, it's extremely concerning.
3) The Hokies are starting a true freshman at kicker
I was very impressed with Joey Slye on Saturday. His kicks got up in the air quickly and he made a tackle on the opening kickoff. But again, bright lights, first game on the road, never seen that many people hating you in one place, can he respond - forget with the game on the line at the end - but on a routine 30 yd attempt in the second quarter? The Hokies lost 3 games last year because of awful field goal kicking and while we learned there's a player with talent at the position this year, we have no idea as of yet how he's going to handle a pressure situation. I hope that Coach Beamer had a higher intensity version of his usual kicker sessions in practice this week, maybe where the entire team lines up around Slye and pipe in some noise and have everyone shouting things at him and charging towards him, etc. Nothing can fully prepare you to face that kick in the Horseshoe, so anything they can do would fall short, but it's worth a try.
4) Goal line offense
So all pre-season the Hokies and Coach Lefty talked about the power running game. And in the first game against William&Mary, on the goal line, the running game was an abomination. Now I'll be the first to say that the Tribe's defensive line is better than people think, even better than some other lines the Hokies will play this year, but they are NOT better than the defensive front for Ohio State. So much was wrong with the goal line offense, I don't know where to begin. JC Coleman was getting goal-line snaps (someone needs to bring a physics professor to the offensive staff meeting). There was a mishandled center-QB exchange. And then even beyond all of that, the Hokies still had 3 runs with Juice, who finished a few nachos short of the goal line each time. He didn't look like he had that "nose" for the end zone that some backs just seem to have (think Lee Suggs). I could be reading into that too early, and McKenzie didn't get a shot on the goal line, but it's nerve-wracking all the same.
Seven running plays inside the Tribe's 10 yd line resulted in 1 TD run in garbage time, but over half of the rushes were for no gain. I guess it's a positive that we don't have any backs that can lose 15 yards on a goal line rush, a la David Wilson, but he could also do this - which no backs on the current roster can do either. But when the good news is that the running backs don't lose 15 yards on a goal line carry, well........you know....... that sucks.
5) Knocked down/deflected passes
Despite Michael Brewer's fantastic performance, one major area of concern was deflected passes. Now, on the interception, LG Wyatt Teller came off of his man way too soon and the defender was left by himself standing in the passing lane, so it was easy to get a hand on it, with the result being a pick. But there were several other deflections, and don't think OSU defensive coordinator Luke Fickell wasn't focused on that this week with his defensive linemen and their pass rush lanes. These are momentum changing plays and there's really nothing you can do to fix pass deflections, short of hooking Brewer up to the rack and "lengthening" him to about 6'4". Since that's probably an NCAA violation, I would adamant about rolling Brewer out and hoping he can be some sort of accurate on the run.
OK, so now that we're all huddled all Blair Witch style in the corner about facing the Buckeyes let's see if we can't take a look at some things that have me excited about playing Ohio State tonight.
Reasons To Be Excited Enough To Run Through A Brick Wall
1) Coach Shane Beamer might be starting a true freshman tonight.
But wait, Mad Jay, I thought you said this was a reason to be wetting my bed? Well, it is, but it could also be a difference maker for the Hokies in a positive way. From what I saw out of Marshawn Williams and Shai McKenzie, the Hokies have the type of running backs that they've had in the past. When McKenzie's knee gets back to 100% after this season, he's going to be a real force, but even now he breaks arm tackles like they're being attempted by mosquitos and he hits the hole with abandon. Meanwhile, Juice Williams is out there just looking for contact, looking to punish opponents who dare attempt to tackle him, acting as if they insulted his mother.
If the Hokies can convert enough 3rd downs in the first half to give the Buckeyes a healthy dose of these two backs, then by the late 3rd quarter - especially early in a season before conditioning has really kicked in - the Buckeye defense might be completely exhausted. If you watched the LSU-Wisconsin game you saw this exact phenomenon occur, where in the 4th quarter, LSU was just running through huge holes for massive gains despite having been contained most of the rest of the game. They were running the same off tackle and power trap plays from earlier, but Wisconsin just ran out of gas on defense.
2) Michael Brewer is exactly what this team needs to run Coach Lefty's offense.
My favorite play happened to be exactly what VT beat writer Andy Bitter captured in his article. Mr. Bitter (boy, wouldn't the universe make more sense if he and Mark Berman switched names?) references a 3rd down and goal right before the half with the Hokies ahead 14-6. Brewer escaped pressure and rolled to his left and then.......he threw the ball out of the back of the end zone. How many times before have we seen a Hokie QB try and force a ball in there and bad things happen? Going into the half, Brewer knew the Hokies needed points and the play wasn't there so he got rid of it.
The rest of the day, Brewer ran the offense calmly and effectively, he didn't go into the tank when he threw that interception off the deflection, and he provided the steady hand that this team, with all of its youngsters, needs. We fans have heard about him all pre-season, but let me tell you about the players. More than any fishing trips, or restaurant buffets they've hit together, watching their QB perform on game day like Brewer did really begins to cement that leadership role he's in. I can't overstate how important that is, especially for a guy to transfer in and unseat a 5th year senior that's popular among his teammates. Brewer looks like he might be ready for the spotlight tonight.
3) The tight ends are back in the offense
You're a defense and you've got them. It's 3rd down, you know the play that's coming, you have the receivers blanketed, you pick up the running back out in the flat and now it's just a matter of time before your defensive line comes and plants the quarterback on his ass. But what's this? A throw to a TE being covered by a safety and he screens the safety off with his body, makes the catch and it's FIRST DOWN Virginia Tech (said in my best Bill Roth voice).
That play is exactly what the tight end brings to the Hokie offense and Malleck did it twice on Saturday against William&Mary. Last year Kalvin Kline made a few of those plays, and was pretty decent as a receiver. But this year, the Hokies have an even better athlete in Bucky Hodges, and a better blocker and outlet route runner in Ryan Malleck and it absolutely destroys a defense to have those guys in there. Who do you cover Hodges with? Is it a run or a pass with Malleck at the end of the line of scrimmage? Even if you do cover Malleck he can get open against most linebackers and he can screen off any safety to give his QB a target to throw to. And Hodges made some freak-type plays Saturday as well. Malleck and Hodges (sounds like a law firm) are going to give OSU D Coordinator Luke Fickell a headache because I know Coach Lefty didn't show his whole hand on Saturday about how he wants to utilize these two guys.
4) Isaiah Ford and Cam Phillips
There you have it - the key ingredients that were missing from the Hokies lineup last year until Josh Stanford started coming on very late. In fact, Stanford's strained hamstring would normally be listed as a bedwetting reason if it weren't for the remarkable ability of these two receivers. Phillips ran a dig route Saturday for a first down on a third and long and it looked like he was an NFL receiver. I don't say that to hype things up, I'm just saying his body was dead square, he got low, especially for a player his height, had tremendous footwork and until the very last second, the DB didn't know which way Phillips was going to turn until Phillips planted, turned in and caught a well thrown ball for the first down. And Ford, well you can just feel the explosiveness Ford has if he can get the ball and start running in the open field.
Phillips isn't the fastest but he's going to get open and move the chains and the Hokies have to find ways to get Ford the ball as he's one of the few playmakers on offense (Demetri Knowles if he's fully healthy is the other) that can run with the speed of Ohio State.
5) Chase Williams is up to the challenge
We knew the secondary would be good (and Kendall Fuller was unbelievable Saturday). We knew the defensive line would be good (and Corey Marshall was unbelievable as well). And while I've already talked above about how two of the linebacker positions could be exposed on Saturday against the Buckeyes, the question mark for a lot of people headed into the season was Chase Williams. Now sure he was a little sloppy in his tackling on a few plays, but in terms of communicating out there to his teammates, he worked spectacularly with Detrick Bonner to have the Hokies aligned properly for most of the plays they faced. Every time I saw Williams shift a defensive player in a direction pre-snap, the play went that way. He also made some big plays, forcing a fumble, and getting some sacks.
I'd like to see more tackles out of a middle linebacker, but Williams showed the smarts, the leadership and the physicality that give me hope for this season. There's enough tremendous athletes on defense, if Williams gets them lined up properly by recognizing plays, the Hokies will have success tonight.
So that covers the 5 main causes for concern and the 5 main causes for excitement. And there are others on both sides of that coin. Some other concerns were - too many penalties (one cost Juice a goal-line touchdown run), terrible second level positioning of the linemen on screen plays, and poor form tackling. One exciting item was how bad Ohio State played against Navy. But those could all mainly be written up to first game of the year type of things. Both VT and Ohio State players will see their issues on film and make big gains between week one and week two. So I've alternated all week between being very pumped up about the upcoming game and putting on Depends before I go to bed. And now it's game day so -
GO HOKIES!!!!!!
Tuesday, April 01, 2014
The Buzz on Williams
In today’s culture of big money athletics, it’s about wins and losses. And the new Hokie men’s basketball coach, Buzz Williams, brings winning credentials to the Virginia Tech program. He took over the Marquette basketball program, which was already playing in one of the toughest conferences in basketball at a high level, and took them to even greater heights. The Golden Eagles, during Williams’ tenure, played in the tournament every year and more importantly, with the exception of one season, they played as far or further into the Big Dance every year, culminating in making the Elite Eight last season.
The question that comes to my mind is “How?”. As I’ve progressed in my own career, the principles of leadership have become more relevant and more important to me and so I have studied them. It’s not like James Johnson wanted to fail. He had been in coaching for 19 years and though this was his first job as a head coach, he’s a good recruiter and understands basketball fundamentals. But his time leading the VT basketball program was absolutely awful. So I wanted to learn about why Buzz Williams has had the type of success that he’s had, see what he has in common with other great leaders and what he may do differently. To that end I’ve spent the past week watching every Buzz Williams clip I could find and reading stories about him all the way back to his first head coaching gig at New Orleans in 2006. And for those fans expecting the Hokies to come out and start competing for NCAA tournament berths right away, I’ve got a surprise for you - that isn’t likely but even if it happens, it’s not what Buzz Williams is working on with the 2014-15 Hokie basketball team right now I can assure of you that.
Sunday, February 09, 2014
The 2014 Recruiting Smacktacular
The Year of Getting Better
The Class of 2014 has been long awaited. The Hokies have been recruiting super stud defensive players for years, because, well, Bud Foster. And what else needs to be said there, right? And make no mistake, there are a few stellar defensive players coming to Tech in 2014 as well. But competing for top talent on offense has been very hit or miss for a few years for Virginia Tech. Finally, this year’s class has OFFENSIVE prospects from around the country that the Hokies went head-to-head with other top schools on and came out on top. Unfortunately the Hokies lost OLine coach Jeff Grimes but went 4 for 5 in keeping his prospects (very rare these days). And Scot Loefler got to put his stamp on the offensive side of the ball in the class. Very key was the fact that the Hokies also re-recruited and landed their two best prep-school prospects from the 2013 Class. Both of those players were highly touted and pursued by the top schools in the country by the end of the year and both decided to stick with Tech. The Hokies lost DB Cequan Jefferson to Temple, but if you read our 2013 Recruiting Smacktacular, then you already know that wasn’t much of a loss.
Of course, it’s ironic that there were a few misses on the defensive side of the ball that would have had this go down as the best recruiting class in VT history, but it’s obviously still an extremely strong class. And there’s more to be said about the recruits inside the state of Virginia, which we’ll cover in the wrap-up. There were also still a few players chosen that don’t look ready for college football in this class, but very few.
As always, check out our friends at Rivals for the full measureables on each prospect. What you'll read about below are my insights after reviewing every scrap of tape I could find on these prospects from Youtube, from high school coaches, from ESPN and from BeamerBall's site itself. It's taken a month but I love it and if you do too, read on.
Thursday, February 06, 2014
Recruiting Smacktacular Inbound
Just a heads-up that the complete breakdown of the Hokies 2014 Recruiting Class is in process and will be posted here sometime this weekend. Get excited about many of these future Hokies!!
GO HOKIES!
GO HOKIES!
Saturday, September 28, 2013
3 Key Plays - VT vs. Georgia Tech
With the kickoff of the ACC season, it's time to bring back our world famous segment - 3 Key Plays. These are the plays that made the difference in the game in the Hokies 17-10 victory on Thursday night.
1) With 12:28 left in the 1st quarter, facing 2nd and 4, the Hokies capitalized on a fumble by throwing a crossing route to DJ Coles (who hung on!!!) and he took care of the rest, dashing into the end zone. This score gave the ferocious Hokie defense the lead and really set the tone for the game. It was a well-executed passing play and it was a WORLD of difference between being held to a FG and scoring a TD after creating that turnover. Big play.
2) With 3:34 left in the 3rd quarter, the Hokies had Georgia Tech in 3rd and goal from the 10 yd line. The ball had been on the 1, but the defense had moved the Yellow Jackets back to the 10. A terrible, floaty pass to the end zone by Vad Lee provided an easy interception opportunity for Detrick Bonner. However, Bonner had other plans, deciding to run up the back of the receiver and sit there for 2 seconds while the ball fluttered toward them and then knocked the ball down. Even though he was beaten on other routes, it was clearly his worst play of the game. Instead of a pick, ending the GT scoring threat, or at least stepping in front of the receiver to force a FG attempt, he was flagged for pass interference and the Jackets converted on the next play to cut the lead to 14-10. Awful play and it made the game a lot closer than it should have been.
3) 8:24 mark of the 4th quarter and the Jackets, trailing 17-10, have a 4th and 2 at their own 33 yd line. Instead of punting it and letting their defense (which destroyed the Hokies in the 2nd half) squash the Hokie offense, Coach Paul Johnson decided to go for it. DT Derrick Hopkins, who played like an impostor of Ndamukong Suh the entire night, blew up the inside handoff to RB David Sims and stuffed the play short of the 1st down. The Hokies would miss a chippie FG that would have iced the game, but they ran the clock down another 3 minutes and kept GT pinned deep.
1) With 12:28 left in the 1st quarter, facing 2nd and 4, the Hokies capitalized on a fumble by throwing a crossing route to DJ Coles (who hung on!!!) and he took care of the rest, dashing into the end zone. This score gave the ferocious Hokie defense the lead and really set the tone for the game. It was a well-executed passing play and it was a WORLD of difference between being held to a FG and scoring a TD after creating that turnover. Big play.
2) With 3:34 left in the 3rd quarter, the Hokies had Georgia Tech in 3rd and goal from the 10 yd line. The ball had been on the 1, but the defense had moved the Yellow Jackets back to the 10. A terrible, floaty pass to the end zone by Vad Lee provided an easy interception opportunity for Detrick Bonner. However, Bonner had other plans, deciding to run up the back of the receiver and sit there for 2 seconds while the ball fluttered toward them and then knocked the ball down. Even though he was beaten on other routes, it was clearly his worst play of the game. Instead of a pick, ending the GT scoring threat, or at least stepping in front of the receiver to force a FG attempt, he was flagged for pass interference and the Jackets converted on the next play to cut the lead to 14-10. Awful play and it made the game a lot closer than it should have been.
3) 8:24 mark of the 4th quarter and the Jackets, trailing 17-10, have a 4th and 2 at their own 33 yd line. Instead of punting it and letting their defense (which destroyed the Hokies in the 2nd half) squash the Hokie offense, Coach Paul Johnson decided to go for it. DT Derrick Hopkins, who played like an impostor of Ndamukong Suh the entire night, blew up the inside handoff to RB David Sims and stuffed the play short of the 1st down. The Hokies would miss a chippie FG that would have iced the game, but they ran the clock down another 3 minutes and kept GT pinned deep.
Sunday, September 08, 2013
Game Review - VT vs Western Carolina
In beating Western Carolina 45-3, the Hokies had their best team performance since last season's 37-0 win vs. Bowling Green. But there were some huge differences which provide me a much greater sense of optimism coming out of this ballgame than I felt after the Bowling Green game last season.
If you think back to that Bowling Green game last season, the Hokies basically needed Logan Thomas to BE the offense. Their first three series were a joke until Thomas finally started running the ball himself and moving the offense. They scored 21 pts in the 2nd quarter and went on to win. The defense pitched a shut-out but they gave up 266 yards to a team that would go on to lose to such notables as Kent State and San Jose State.
Watching this game against Western Carolina, yes the offense got started a little slowly, but when it began to work it was because the entire offense was coming together. The passing game started to click, the running game began to emerge and the defense was absolutely smothering. The only reason Western Carolina got 3 points was because of a missed catch interference call while Kyshoen Jarrett was fielding a punt on his 10 yd-line. The ball bounced off his foot, WCU recovered and the Hokies held them to a field goal. The remainder of the game, the defense was simply dominant in every facet.
The key to this offensive unit playing more competently (I'm not ready to call it a resurgence yet, until they do it consistently against better competition) has clearly been the offensive line. The Hokies gave up no sacks on Saturday and were clearing running lanes for all of the backs. And this without their best player - RG Andrew Miller who came out of the lineup with an ankle in the first quarter.
The other major difference between this game and the game against Bowling Green is that the Hokie coaches were rotating in dozens of different players throughout the entire game! There was no hesitation to play true freshman Kalvin Kline at TE, and he delivered with 4 receptions. The Hokies freely rotated in defensive linemen and receivers to keep the players fresh and give lots of young players plenty of reps. And it paid off with big plays by Willie Byrn, Nigel Williams and of course, I'm sure you didn't expect to read a review of the game and not hear about RB Chris Mangus.
Yours truly has been scratching his head about Mangus since the spring. Mangus redshirted in 2012, the Hokies lost Michael Holmes to dismissal this year and I figured Mangus would be in the mix at RB. I was asking our source in the program and all sportswriters why there was no mention of Mangus. Even before the Alabama game with Coleman out and Caleb suspended, the coaches seemed to suggest that they would play Mangus reluctantly, because they had no choice. Was it blitz pickup, ball security issues, what exactly was the reason he wasn't being given a vote of confidence?
I knew it wasn't his ability to run the ball as he was TSF's #1 underrated recruit in the 2012 class. And after running tough at the end of the Bama game last weekend, Mangus got a chance to show that element on Saturday to the rest of Hokie Nation as he took a pitch, broke a tackle on the way to the edge and then beat 3 players with an angle to take it to the house for a 76 yd score. Mangus needs to figure in to the Hokie offense. He is the kind of big play threat that the Hokies didn't have last season. Whether he's in the slot, in a 2 back set with Edmunds or Coleman, or what, Coach Loefler needs to find a way to work Mangus in to the offense.
Speaking of Edmunds, he demonstrated that the first game vs. Alabama wasn't a fluke. No, he didn't rush for over 100 yards, but he averaged 4.5 yds/carry and ran with toughness and elusiveness. I didn't see a single called run for Logan Thomas in the game. I'm sure there will be plenty of read-option as the season progresses, but not on Saturday. Thomas made some crisp throws with great accuracy and velocity. However, he also had two interceptions, though one of them was not his fault. The first interception was a "make-a-play" ball that QB's give to their #1 receivers on any given Saturday. I saw dozens of those plays in other games last weekend (watch Teddy Bridgewater's TD pass to the end zone in the Louisville game as a perfect example). Thomas threw the ball in a 1-on-1 situation with Knowles and WCU DB Trey Morgan. Knowles is either supposed to catch the ball, or knock it down. He did neither.
The second INT was also a ball thrown to Knowles, but it was a worse pass and an easier interception. Knowles has speed but he looks like a guy without a lot of wide receiver play in his background, which is, in fact, the case. He needs to develop his ball skills in order to become a true additional threat in this offense. We'll see what Coach Moorehead is all about in his ability to develop these receivers. Catching was better on Saturday but there were still 4 dropped balls which is 4 too many.
If Andrew Miller's ankle is ok and WR Charley Meyer fully recovers from his hamstring injuries and is capable of making the types of catches and plays that we heard about all summer, this offense can take another step forward against ECU on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Hokie defense will face a much higher talent level challenge than they did against WCU and it will be on the road to boot. As always, we'll learn more about the Hokies next week, and I hope I get to watch the game again.
GO HOKIES!!!!!!!
If you think back to that Bowling Green game last season, the Hokies basically needed Logan Thomas to BE the offense. Their first three series were a joke until Thomas finally started running the ball himself and moving the offense. They scored 21 pts in the 2nd quarter and went on to win. The defense pitched a shut-out but they gave up 266 yards to a team that would go on to lose to such notables as Kent State and San Jose State.
Watching this game against Western Carolina, yes the offense got started a little slowly, but when it began to work it was because the entire offense was coming together. The passing game started to click, the running game began to emerge and the defense was absolutely smothering. The only reason Western Carolina got 3 points was because of a missed catch interference call while Kyshoen Jarrett was fielding a punt on his 10 yd-line. The ball bounced off his foot, WCU recovered and the Hokies held them to a field goal. The remainder of the game, the defense was simply dominant in every facet.
The key to this offensive unit playing more competently (I'm not ready to call it a resurgence yet, until they do it consistently against better competition) has clearly been the offensive line. The Hokies gave up no sacks on Saturday and were clearing running lanes for all of the backs. And this without their best player - RG Andrew Miller who came out of the lineup with an ankle in the first quarter.
The other major difference between this game and the game against Bowling Green is that the Hokie coaches were rotating in dozens of different players throughout the entire game! There was no hesitation to play true freshman Kalvin Kline at TE, and he delivered with 4 receptions. The Hokies freely rotated in defensive linemen and receivers to keep the players fresh and give lots of young players plenty of reps. And it paid off with big plays by Willie Byrn, Nigel Williams and of course, I'm sure you didn't expect to read a review of the game and not hear about RB Chris Mangus.
Yours truly has been scratching his head about Mangus since the spring. Mangus redshirted in 2012, the Hokies lost Michael Holmes to dismissal this year and I figured Mangus would be in the mix at RB. I was asking our source in the program and all sportswriters why there was no mention of Mangus. Even before the Alabama game with Coleman out and Caleb suspended, the coaches seemed to suggest that they would play Mangus reluctantly, because they had no choice. Was it blitz pickup, ball security issues, what exactly was the reason he wasn't being given a vote of confidence?
I knew it wasn't his ability to run the ball as he was TSF's #1 underrated recruit in the 2012 class. And after running tough at the end of the Bama game last weekend, Mangus got a chance to show that element on Saturday to the rest of Hokie Nation as he took a pitch, broke a tackle on the way to the edge and then beat 3 players with an angle to take it to the house for a 76 yd score. Mangus needs to figure in to the Hokie offense. He is the kind of big play threat that the Hokies didn't have last season. Whether he's in the slot, in a 2 back set with Edmunds or Coleman, or what, Coach Loefler needs to find a way to work Mangus in to the offense.
Speaking of Edmunds, he demonstrated that the first game vs. Alabama wasn't a fluke. No, he didn't rush for over 100 yards, but he averaged 4.5 yds/carry and ran with toughness and elusiveness. I didn't see a single called run for Logan Thomas in the game. I'm sure there will be plenty of read-option as the season progresses, but not on Saturday. Thomas made some crisp throws with great accuracy and velocity. However, he also had two interceptions, though one of them was not his fault. The first interception was a "make-a-play" ball that QB's give to their #1 receivers on any given Saturday. I saw dozens of those plays in other games last weekend (watch Teddy Bridgewater's TD pass to the end zone in the Louisville game as a perfect example). Thomas threw the ball in a 1-on-1 situation with Knowles and WCU DB Trey Morgan. Knowles is either supposed to catch the ball, or knock it down. He did neither.
The second INT was also a ball thrown to Knowles, but it was a worse pass and an easier interception. Knowles has speed but he looks like a guy without a lot of wide receiver play in his background, which is, in fact, the case. He needs to develop his ball skills in order to become a true additional threat in this offense. We'll see what Coach Moorehead is all about in his ability to develop these receivers. Catching was better on Saturday but there were still 4 dropped balls which is 4 too many.
If Andrew Miller's ankle is ok and WR Charley Meyer fully recovers from his hamstring injuries and is capable of making the types of catches and plays that we heard about all summer, this offense can take another step forward against ECU on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Hokie defense will face a much higher talent level challenge than they did against WCU and it will be on the road to boot. As always, we'll learn more about the Hokies next week, and I hope I get to watch the game again.
GO HOKIES!!!!!!!
Sunday, September 01, 2013
Game Review - VT vs. Alabama
I thought the strangest I would EVER feel after a Hokie loss was the the Pittsburgh game from 2012. It was the first one where I implemented my gameplan of recording the game but only watching it if the Hokies won. And when I saw that they had lost, I deleted the game from the DVR and felt the most bittersweet emotion I can imagine. Bitter because I couldn't believe I was going to NOT watch or attend a Virginia Tech football game for the first time in 20 years and sweet because I knew that my blood pressure, my stomach ulcer and my unbroken household goods were all the beneficiary of the decision to not watch.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Game Preview - VT vs. Alabama
Last season was a strange time for me. It was the first season I didn't watch (either live, on the Internet, TV or in person) every Virginia Tech football game in 20 years. I've already outlined why I chose to do that, with the straw that broke the camel's back being the catch that they robbed from Danny Coale in the 2012 Sugar Bowl. As a result I only watched the Hokie wins last season and thank God for that, because if I hadn't made that decision I can only imagine how beyond miserable my life would have been.
Speaking of miserable, that's what the Hokie's chances look like going up against the two-time defending national champion, semi-pro Alabama Crimson Tide in the kickoff game on Saturday. Thirty-one Hokies on the travel roster are true or redshirt freshmen. At least seven projected players from the two-deep headed into the spring have either left the team voluntarily or non-voluntarily or are injured and out/questionable for the game. Now if you want details about who's in or out, what the spread is, what Nick Saban eats for breakfast or countless other factoids about the game, there are limitless places to find that on the 'Net. But you're here to see an off-the-wall look at the upcoming game so here we go:
Ok, so the odds haven't looked this bad since 300 Spartans stood at Thermopylae against the countless hordes of Persians. But I think there are two angles that I think people are overlooking. First of all, it may play out like people expect and the Hokies lose the game, but just as those Spartans eventually lost to the Persians, in their valiant effort they inspired a larger victory in the broader war and the Greeks did expel the Persians from their lands. The Hokies, if they rise to this occasion and play well, it could absolutely serve as the catalyst to bring the team together and contend for an ACC title in 2013.
Second of all, the Hokies could actually win the game. Let's be honest, the talent gap favors 'Bama, that much is clear. But it's not like the talent gap between Michigan and Appalachian State in the Wolverines stunning loss in 2007. And that game was played in Ann Arbor. It's not like the talent gap between Jacksonville State and Ole Miss back in 2010 when the Rebs lost, also at home. This is a neutral site game and though the Tide have the advantage in a few areas, the Hokies are fielding what has the potential to be the best defense since the '07 ACC Championship season.
And the first game of the season is a wildcard to begin with. The players may or may have not fully picked up the scheme. A blown coverage here, a missed assignment there and a few gamechanging plays could also go VT's way. Of course, the Hokies are also susceptible to these types of mistakes, I'm just saying we won't know which way that cookie crumbles until after kickoff.
And the biggest reason I feel like the Hokies have a chance in this game is because of how much sits on Alabama's shoulders. They come in the prohibitive favorite, the team attempting to go for a three-peat national title which would be the first time since the 1940's that would have happened. If the Hokies keep the game close, suddenly the pressure rises. Doubt can begin to creep into the Alabama players' minds. The image that is burned indelibly in my mind is AJ McCarron after that LSU game when they went on their game winning drive late last season, sitting on the sidelines in absolute tears of relief. So much is piled on this team's shoulders, it could lead to playing tight. The Hokies on the other hand are in the position they've always excelled in - a chip on their shoulder with everyone betting against them. It's what Coach Beamer built the program on back in the Big East days. You can almost hear and see Rodney Dangerfield on this team, adjusting his tie talking about "I don't get no respect".
Of course, the Tide do still have a defense filled with future NFL draft picks and two studs at RB and WR in TJ Yeldon and Amari Cooper, with a senior QB in McCarron. And Nick Saban is obviously one of the best, if not the best coach in the business. Besides, I'm not even watching the game live, or on delay if the Hokies lose. So the Hokies will be down one loud screaming voice supporting them.
And so knowing that's the place I'm at as a fan now, and facing a nearly unbeatable opponent to kick off the new season, with half a dozen key players either having left the Hokies or sitting out injured and 31 freshmen on the travel squad, I can understand someone wondering what the hell business do I have being so incredibly excited about Saturday's game in the Georgia Dome vs. Alabama?
The answer: I'm still stone cold crazy. I may have found a more successful way to address my illness by only watching Hokie wins in order to save my TV, my household furniture and my children's view of their father, but just like every other year the sleepless nights have started this week and that pit is forming in the very bottom of my stomach. Virginia Tech football is about to take the field again and while I'll only know if I'll be watching the game Saturday night after it's over, you can be 100% certain of this fact - if the Hokies win, I'll watch the game twice back-to-back staying up however late that night it takes.
As always (and for the first time in 2013) - GO HOKIES!!!!!!!!!!
Speaking of miserable, that's what the Hokie's chances look like going up against the two-time defending national champion, semi-pro Alabama Crimson Tide in the kickoff game on Saturday. Thirty-one Hokies on the travel roster are true or redshirt freshmen. At least seven projected players from the two-deep headed into the spring have either left the team voluntarily or non-voluntarily or are injured and out/questionable for the game. Now if you want details about who's in or out, what the spread is, what Nick Saban eats for breakfast or countless other factoids about the game, there are limitless places to find that on the 'Net. But you're here to see an off-the-wall look at the upcoming game so here we go:
Ok, so the odds haven't looked this bad since 300 Spartans stood at Thermopylae against the countless hordes of Persians. But I think there are two angles that I think people are overlooking. First of all, it may play out like people expect and the Hokies lose the game, but just as those Spartans eventually lost to the Persians, in their valiant effort they inspired a larger victory in the broader war and the Greeks did expel the Persians from their lands. The Hokies, if they rise to this occasion and play well, it could absolutely serve as the catalyst to bring the team together and contend for an ACC title in 2013.
Second of all, the Hokies could actually win the game. Let's be honest, the talent gap favors 'Bama, that much is clear. But it's not like the talent gap between Michigan and Appalachian State in the Wolverines stunning loss in 2007. And that game was played in Ann Arbor. It's not like the talent gap between Jacksonville State and Ole Miss back in 2010 when the Rebs lost, also at home. This is a neutral site game and though the Tide have the advantage in a few areas, the Hokies are fielding what has the potential to be the best defense since the '07 ACC Championship season.
And the first game of the season is a wildcard to begin with. The players may or may have not fully picked up the scheme. A blown coverage here, a missed assignment there and a few gamechanging plays could also go VT's way. Of course, the Hokies are also susceptible to these types of mistakes, I'm just saying we won't know which way that cookie crumbles until after kickoff.
And the biggest reason I feel like the Hokies have a chance in this game is because of how much sits on Alabama's shoulders. They come in the prohibitive favorite, the team attempting to go for a three-peat national title which would be the first time since the 1940's that would have happened. If the Hokies keep the game close, suddenly the pressure rises. Doubt can begin to creep into the Alabama players' minds. The image that is burned indelibly in my mind is AJ McCarron after that LSU game when they went on their game winning drive late last season, sitting on the sidelines in absolute tears of relief. So much is piled on this team's shoulders, it could lead to playing tight. The Hokies on the other hand are in the position they've always excelled in - a chip on their shoulder with everyone betting against them. It's what Coach Beamer built the program on back in the Big East days. You can almost hear and see Rodney Dangerfield on this team, adjusting his tie talking about "I don't get no respect".
Of course, the Tide do still have a defense filled with future NFL draft picks and two studs at RB and WR in TJ Yeldon and Amari Cooper, with a senior QB in McCarron. And Nick Saban is obviously one of the best, if not the best coach in the business. Besides, I'm not even watching the game live, or on delay if the Hokies lose. So the Hokies will be down one loud screaming voice supporting them.
And so knowing that's the place I'm at as a fan now, and facing a nearly unbeatable opponent to kick off the new season, with half a dozen key players either having left the Hokies or sitting out injured and 31 freshmen on the travel squad, I can understand someone wondering what the hell business do I have being so incredibly excited about Saturday's game in the Georgia Dome vs. Alabama?
The answer: I'm still stone cold crazy. I may have found a more successful way to address my illness by only watching Hokie wins in order to save my TV, my household furniture and my children's view of their father, but just like every other year the sleepless nights have started this week and that pit is forming in the very bottom of my stomach. Virginia Tech football is about to take the field again and while I'll only know if I'll be watching the game Saturday night after it's over, you can be 100% certain of this fact - if the Hokies win, I'll watch the game twice back-to-back staying up however late that night it takes.
As always (and for the first time in 2013) - GO HOKIES!!!!!!!!!!
Monday, July 29, 2013
Sunday, February 10, 2013
The 2013 Recruiting Smacktacular
The Year of "2012 - The Sequel"
The Class of 2012 had some excellent skill position players, some of whom were ready to take the field last season, others who show great promise for the future. There were even a few prospects at defensive end. But it was lacking in any sort of depth for those warriors in the heart of the trenches- the "Big Uglies" as the legendary broadcaster Keith Jackson used to call them.
The Class of 2013 if anything, exhibits even greater talent away from the line of scrimmage, than the 2012 Class did. And there are some Class of "2012" members who actually count in the Class of 2013. If you want to see the profiles of Seth Dooley, Woody Baron or Jerome Wright, please see our 2012 Recruiting Smacktacular.
However, despite better talent in the four offensive line prospects that come into this class than 2012, the Hokies yet again fall miserably short in getting bigtime offensive line prospects, or even enough prospects into the class. My Calm and Beloved Reader, you have to look no further than LAST SEASON to see what happens when a team doesn't have a full complement of high quality offensive linemen at their disposal. Despite strong play from Nic Becton and Vinston Painter at tackle in their one-on-one battles with ends (at least in the games I watched), the interior of the line was a mishmash of garbage, never playing with any drive off the ball or any consistency, as various players came into and out of the lineup. The results speak for themselves.
Having said that, after spending the past several weeks going over interviews, game film and comments from high school coaches and teammates, I will admit that I am excited about the overall quality of the class. The Hokies can do battle with programs from around the country to land talent, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. And there appear to be very few bad apples in this class as well, which bodes well for continued team chemistry. These players are consistently mentioned for being the type of hard-working, team-first players that the Hokies have built their program on and that I'm proud to see represent Virginia Tech. Having said all of that, this is called the Year of 2012 The Sequel because there still isn't enough "beef" to make the difference on the interior that is so obvious to me when I watch the top teams in the country. If you don't have at least one NFL 3rd round or better draft prospect on your offensive and defensive line every season, you're just not going to be able to compete at the top of college football in today's game.
Now, that was plenty of ado, so without much further ado, let's get into it. As always, check out our friends at Rivals for the full measureables on each prospect. But if you want to know who's going to be a stud and who's going to be an also-ran, continue on down the wormhole.
The Class of 2012 had some excellent skill position players, some of whom were ready to take the field last season, others who show great promise for the future. There were even a few prospects at defensive end. But it was lacking in any sort of depth for those warriors in the heart of the trenches- the "Big Uglies" as the legendary broadcaster Keith Jackson used to call them.
The Class of 2013 if anything, exhibits even greater talent away from the line of scrimmage, than the 2012 Class did. And there are some Class of "2012" members who actually count in the Class of 2013. If you want to see the profiles of Seth Dooley, Woody Baron or Jerome Wright, please see our 2012 Recruiting Smacktacular.
However, despite better talent in the four offensive line prospects that come into this class than 2012, the Hokies yet again fall miserably short in getting bigtime offensive line prospects, or even enough prospects into the class. My Calm and Beloved Reader, you have to look no further than LAST SEASON to see what happens when a team doesn't have a full complement of high quality offensive linemen at their disposal. Despite strong play from Nic Becton and Vinston Painter at tackle in their one-on-one battles with ends (at least in the games I watched), the interior of the line was a mishmash of garbage, never playing with any drive off the ball or any consistency, as various players came into and out of the lineup. The results speak for themselves.
Having said that, after spending the past several weeks going over interviews, game film and comments from high school coaches and teammates, I will admit that I am excited about the overall quality of the class. The Hokies can do battle with programs from around the country to land talent, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. And there appear to be very few bad apples in this class as well, which bodes well for continued team chemistry. These players are consistently mentioned for being the type of hard-working, team-first players that the Hokies have built their program on and that I'm proud to see represent Virginia Tech. Having said all of that, this is called the Year of 2012 The Sequel because there still isn't enough "beef" to make the difference on the interior that is so obvious to me when I watch the top teams in the country. If you don't have at least one NFL 3rd round or better draft prospect on your offensive and defensive line every season, you're just not going to be able to compete at the top of college football in today's game.
Now, that was plenty of ado, so without much further ado, let's get into it. As always, check out our friends at Rivals for the full measureables on each prospect. But if you want to know who's going to be a stud and who's going to be an also-ran, continue on down the wormhole.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
2012 Hokies Football - Mad Jay looks back
I started following Virginia Tech football the year I started attending there - 1993. When I chose the school, it was because of its reputation as a great engineering school and I had no idea the football program was in such a shambles, coming off of a 2-8-1 season. I attended every home game my freshman year, had great seats as a student, and saw the Hokies end up going 9-3, winning the Independence Bowl and starting a bowl streak that continues to today.
I was already a huge football fan, so it was easy to turn Hokie football into my religion. And for these past 20 years, I re-arranged my life around VT football games. Spent untold amounts on going to games, ordering them up on TV or the internet and watching them all. The last 10 years were spent watching the team beat its head against a wall because of ineptitude on the offensive coaching staff. In 2011, I finally saw a glimmer of hope on the offensive side of the ball, with Coach O'Cain doing a good job in his playcalling on gameday and Coach Stinespring completely removed from the booth. But that culminated in Coach Beamer throwing the Sugar Bowl away with several unbelievably bad decisions, and I knew that was the end of it for me. I wouldn't risk health nor home, life nor limb for Coach Beamer anymore. Watching Hokie wins was all I was capable of.
So in 2012, I only saw 7 of the Hokies' games. Now you can draw your own conclusions on if my following the team closely had any impact on their record, but either way, thank goodness I chose this course for 2012. The wins were so ugly, I shudder to imagine what the losses looked like. I know it would have done irreparable damage to my health to watch this entire season the way I had watched the previous 20. But since I didn't, I'm in no place to do a position group by position group breakdown of the team. I only saw just over half the games. But there are some observations that are pretty obvious to me, just from watching the wins, including the Rutgers game.
1) I think Coach Stinespring felt emasculated after the 2011 season. He was offensive coordinator in name only, and the only one in college football who didn't call the plays, if the head coach didn't have that duty (like CPJ at Georgia Tech for example).
As a result, Coach Stiney was determined that 2012 would have his mark on it. So he went to several NFL teams and Texas in order to create some new mastermind hybrid/pistol offense. And not only that, with so many aspects of the offense being new, now he was "needed" in the booth again. The 2011 formula of Stinespring doing the rah-rah thing on the sidelines while O'Cain called the offense from the booth were gone. And from the look of the results on the field, it was an unmitigated disaster.
The offense was uncomfortable in all aspects. Logan Thomas never looked in rhythm. The running game was a joke, with far too little Martin Scales and far too much shuffling of players for any of them to get into the flow of the game. The playcalling, particularly in the Russell Athletic Bowl, was desperate. If there was any play that even remotely worked, the Hokies would just call that exact same play a second time in a row. Grasping at straws is what it felt like and you could sense that there was conflict in the booth between Stinespring and O'Cain. I understand why Coach Stinespring wanted to change things up from 2011- the offense had success and he was only peripherally involved. What I don't understand is why Coach Beamer the Elder allowed this.
2) Coach Foster hasn't lost a step. Having watched the final three games of the 2012 season, that looked every bit like a Hokie defense of old. People flying to the ball from all over the field, forcing turnovers and three and outs. The defense only allowed a 22% third down conversion rate, which would have been the best in the nation over the course of a season by more than 4%!! I think it is one of the strangest things that Coach Foster was never given a chance to be head coach of a good football program. He's everything I'd want as that coach if I were an AD.
3) This 2012-13 offseason is absolutely critical. Now that VT has danced so closely with missing a bowl, I think Coach Beamer recognizes how fragile it is. I don't think he wants to step down, but not even he can remain oblivious to the dramatic difference between the level of execution on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. The difference has been there for years, but it was easy for Beamer to remain loyal to his friend Stinespring when the team was winning 10 games every year. The incompetence can be overlooked no more. And so the rumor mill swirls about what's going to happen.
4) Here's what I think should happen - Coach Cav should step down and retire and Coach Stinespring takes that position as Director of Recruiting. Coach Sherman is gone to Purdue to coach receivers. Coach O'Cain and Coach Newsome should take the first job that comes along that they can land. In Newsome's case, a trip back to JMU makes a lot of sense, considering his recruiting ties to the area and the fact that he belongs coaching at that next level down anyway. This frees up a new offensive coordinator to come in and bring in a staff that knows his offense. And it keeps Stinespring in the program as a recruiter which he's good at. Plus he's not going to land a job anywhere else as a coach. This is what I see as a best case scenario and will create a lot of buzz going into the 2013 recruiting class and beyond.
5) Speaking of recruiting, we will have the annual recruiting class breakdown ready to go in early February. This class is shaping up to be yet another very talented class, headlined by the Army All-American Defensive Player of the Year - Kendall Fuller (younger brother of past Hokie Vinnie and current Hokie Kyle). But it also looks light on offensive linemen which would fly in the face of everything Coach Beamer should have learned going through the lean 2005-2008 years. But then again, the entire point of this post has been how Coach Beamer is in a kind of old dog/new tricks situation. How he handles the next 30-60 days will have far-reaching implications on his legacy and the future of Virginia Tech football.
I just hope I get to watch a lot more games next year.
GO HOKIES!!!!!!!!
Monday, October 29, 2012
Game Preview - VT vs. Miami
Isn't this something? The Hokies are 4-4 which means I've only watched 4 games of Hokie football this year. I know this is going to sound nuts, but the year before I got to Tech the Hokies were 2-8-1. I went to nearly every home game during my career at Tech, missing 2 maybe 3 games total and the Hokies grew into a force to be reckoned with.
I watched the Hokies religiously every year after I left Tech, getting back to as many games as I could, spending god knows how much money on ESPN Gameplan back in its infancy where you had to pay for the entire day and then I'd just watch the Hokie game. And then this year, before the season started, I decided I'm only going to watch wins and the Hokies go back into the tank again.
Maybe there's a karmic connection between my willingness to suffer the pain, wear and tear of supporting Hokie football all-in and the Hokies having great seasons. Even knowing that, I can't go back. The dull, sick feeling of seeing a Hokie loss scroll across my iPhone totally sucks, but it pales next to the wrenching agony I used to be in. My home life is better, my health is better and who knows - maybe this poor performance by the team will force Coach Beamer into making those changes on offense.
Having said that, let me offer what I've seen in the Hokie wins that might tie into what's been going on this season. As if it wasn't plainly obvious what's going on to anyone who has watched Hokie football with even the least bit of zealotry the past few years. The reasons for failure are no different than they have been for a decade or more. The Hokies are missing the gamechangers in the trenches and the offensive scheme and playcalling has reverted to the trainwreck we all witnessed from 2006-2009.
I wonder if there's anything different about how the offensive coaching is structured during the week and on gameday than it was last year in 2011 when Tech's offense showed the first signs of making sense since the Rickey Bustle era? When it relied on rightly timed calls and decent execution instead of the magic of a Tyrod Taylor or a Bryan Randall making a heaping glass of lemonade out of a stinking pile of lemons?
Hmmm, yes that's right. Boy Wonder Bryan Stinespring has left his motivational hot spot on the sidelines where he pumped everybody up during the 2011 season, and joined Coach O'Cain in the booth this year. And during the offseason he brought the pistol and pre-snap motion concepts into the playbook and is doing most of the game-planning work around those during the week. Suddenly, and I'm sure on a COMPLETELY unrelated note, even in Hokie wins, the offense has looked like a circus, complete with damn Benny Hill music and people running around chaotically at 1.5x normal speed!!!!!!!
Now despite this preposterously poor performance on offense, the Hokies find themselves at 4-4 and 2-2 in the conference. And because UNC is ineligible, the Hokies actually are in complete control of their destiny to - and I know how stupid this sounds, believe me - GO TO THE ACC TITLE GAME as the Coastal Division representative.
It starts against a Miami team that is coming off of 3 straight losses but has dealt with a lot of injuries and is now coming off it's bye week. It starts on the road IN Miami on a Thursday night on national TV. And the key to the game will be can the Hokies cobble together an O-line that can get a push on the defensive front and actually execute a sensible offensive gameplan? I think the Hokie defense can hold these Canes to 17-20 pts, but I'm completely unconvinced the offense can put up that many.
And by the way, speaking of defense, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that this season, Coach Foster's defense has shown a chink in it's armor, to be sure. But I think it's safe to say they're showing improvement. The defense I saw flying around the field in the final 3 quarters vs. Duke is what I'm accustomed to seeing. And by all accounts, the Hokie D was a force against Clemson, holding it to a season low in yardage.
Lastly, let me go ahead, since I have to do this every few years or so (see item #10) and defend Logan Thomas. All this garbage from Todd McShay and even fans in Hokie Nation about how the "ball doesn't come naturally out of his hand" or any of the other countless ridiculous things that have been said, are just plain dumb. Thomas is on track to have a better season than last year statistically, minus the INT's, and several of the ones I've seen haven't been his fault (tipped balls or heaves at the end of a half). Sure he's had some bad throws, overthrowing most of the time in that case, but this is his 2nd full season as a QB. LT has unlimited talent, he's a leader, he has poise, his receivers have dropped a lot of passes, and the fact is, Thomas has made throws throughout his career that very few QB's are capable of making. Period.
So the Hokies have a shot to hit the reset button on their season on Thursday night. They either will or they won't and it's my personal hope that I get to stay up until 1 or 2 in the morning that night watching a sweet Virginia Tech victory.
GO HOKIES!!!!!!
I watched the Hokies religiously every year after I left Tech, getting back to as many games as I could, spending god knows how much money on ESPN Gameplan back in its infancy where you had to pay for the entire day and then I'd just watch the Hokie game. And then this year, before the season started, I decided I'm only going to watch wins and the Hokies go back into the tank again.
Maybe there's a karmic connection between my willingness to suffer the pain, wear and tear of supporting Hokie football all-in and the Hokies having great seasons. Even knowing that, I can't go back. The dull, sick feeling of seeing a Hokie loss scroll across my iPhone totally sucks, but it pales next to the wrenching agony I used to be in. My home life is better, my health is better and who knows - maybe this poor performance by the team will force Coach Beamer into making those changes on offense.
Having said that, let me offer what I've seen in the Hokie wins that might tie into what's been going on this season. As if it wasn't plainly obvious what's going on to anyone who has watched Hokie football with even the least bit of zealotry the past few years. The reasons for failure are no different than they have been for a decade or more. The Hokies are missing the gamechangers in the trenches and the offensive scheme and playcalling has reverted to the trainwreck we all witnessed from 2006-2009.
I wonder if there's anything different about how the offensive coaching is structured during the week and on gameday than it was last year in 2011 when Tech's offense showed the first signs of making sense since the Rickey Bustle era? When it relied on rightly timed calls and decent execution instead of the magic of a Tyrod Taylor or a Bryan Randall making a heaping glass of lemonade out of a stinking pile of lemons?
Hmmm, yes that's right. Boy Wonder Bryan Stinespring has left his motivational hot spot on the sidelines where he pumped everybody up during the 2011 season, and joined Coach O'Cain in the booth this year. And during the offseason he brought the pistol and pre-snap motion concepts into the playbook and is doing most of the game-planning work around those during the week. Suddenly, and I'm sure on a COMPLETELY unrelated note, even in Hokie wins, the offense has looked like a circus, complete with damn Benny Hill music and people running around chaotically at 1.5x normal speed!!!!!!!
Now despite this preposterously poor performance on offense, the Hokies find themselves at 4-4 and 2-2 in the conference. And because UNC is ineligible, the Hokies actually are in complete control of their destiny to - and I know how stupid this sounds, believe me - GO TO THE ACC TITLE GAME as the Coastal Division representative.
It starts against a Miami team that is coming off of 3 straight losses but has dealt with a lot of injuries and is now coming off it's bye week. It starts on the road IN Miami on a Thursday night on national TV. And the key to the game will be can the Hokies cobble together an O-line that can get a push on the defensive front and actually execute a sensible offensive gameplan? I think the Hokie defense can hold these Canes to 17-20 pts, but I'm completely unconvinced the offense can put up that many.
And by the way, speaking of defense, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that this season, Coach Foster's defense has shown a chink in it's armor, to be sure. But I think it's safe to say they're showing improvement. The defense I saw flying around the field in the final 3 quarters vs. Duke is what I'm accustomed to seeing. And by all accounts, the Hokie D was a force against Clemson, holding it to a season low in yardage.
Lastly, let me go ahead, since I have to do this every few years or so (see item #10) and defend Logan Thomas. All this garbage from Todd McShay and even fans in Hokie Nation about how the "ball doesn't come naturally out of his hand" or any of the other countless ridiculous things that have been said, are just plain dumb. Thomas is on track to have a better season than last year statistically, minus the INT's, and several of the ones I've seen haven't been his fault (tipped balls or heaves at the end of a half). Sure he's had some bad throws, overthrowing most of the time in that case, but this is his 2nd full season as a QB. LT has unlimited talent, he's a leader, he has poise, his receivers have dropped a lot of passes, and the fact is, Thomas has made throws throughout his career that very few QB's are capable of making. Period.
So the Hokies have a shot to hit the reset button on their season on Thursday night. They either will or they won't and it's my personal hope that I get to stay up until 1 or 2 in the morning that night watching a sweet Virginia Tech victory.
GO HOKIES!!!!!!
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
3 Key Plays - VT vs. Duke
Wow, it felt REALLY good to watch a Virginia Tech game again. Although I have to admit, after seeing the score, I was in a complete state of shock watching the first quarter. I was thinking to myself "How in the name of all things maroon and orange are the Hokies going to come back, shut Duke down and rip off 41 straight points?" And what's so interesting about that is that it made identifying the three key plays that much easier.
1) With all the momentum in the world against the Hokies, they faced a 20-0 deficit and a 2nd and 2 at the Duke 44 yd-line late in the 1st quarter. Logan Thomas dropped back and found WR Marcus Davis for a 40 yard bomb that put the ball down on the 4 yd-line and the Hokies would pound it in from there, making the score 20-7. Huge turning point.
2) The next play was the critical play of the game. Ahead 20-10, Duke had driven down to the Hokies 29 yd-line with about 30 seconds left in the half. One more completion and it was a definitely make-able FG for the Blue Devils to recapture the momentum and go ahead 23-10. But QB Sean Renfree's throw hit the all-time leading receiver in Duke's history (Connor Vernon) in the hands at the 20 yd-line and miraculously it bounced off, settling in Detrick Bonner's hands, who returned it to the Duke 42 yd-line.
3) And the coup de gras was Logan Thomas finding Davis all along down the near sideline for a 42 yd TD completion on the very next play to make it 20-17 going into halftime and the Hokies steamrolled in the 2nd half, running away with the game.
Make no mistake folks, the Hokies played with a lot of guts. But that pass to Connor Vernon is caught 99 out of 100 times, and we're talking about a completely different ballgame if that had happened. The Hokies have to execute at a very high level at the skill positions this year, because the offensive line is a MASH unit of injuries and they weren't exactly dominant even when the starters were healthy. Plus they just lost their best lineman in Andrew Miller at center and the backup, Caleb Farris is also out with an ankle.
The team is ok, but they are a long way from being good. We'll see what steps they can take against Clemson. Look for the preview later this week.
GO HOKIES!!!!!!
1) With all the momentum in the world against the Hokies, they faced a 20-0 deficit and a 2nd and 2 at the Duke 44 yd-line late in the 1st quarter. Logan Thomas dropped back and found WR Marcus Davis for a 40 yard bomb that put the ball down on the 4 yd-line and the Hokies would pound it in from there, making the score 20-7. Huge turning point.
2) The next play was the critical play of the game. Ahead 20-10, Duke had driven down to the Hokies 29 yd-line with about 30 seconds left in the half. One more completion and it was a definitely make-able FG for the Blue Devils to recapture the momentum and go ahead 23-10. But QB Sean Renfree's throw hit the all-time leading receiver in Duke's history (Connor Vernon) in the hands at the 20 yd-line and miraculously it bounced off, settling in Detrick Bonner's hands, who returned it to the Duke 42 yd-line.
3) And the coup de gras was Logan Thomas finding Davis all along down the near sideline for a 42 yd TD completion on the very next play to make it 20-17 going into halftime and the Hokies steamrolled in the 2nd half, running away with the game.
Make no mistake folks, the Hokies played with a lot of guts. But that pass to Connor Vernon is caught 99 out of 100 times, and we're talking about a completely different ballgame if that had happened. The Hokies have to execute at a very high level at the skill positions this year, because the offensive line is a MASH unit of injuries and they weren't exactly dominant even when the starters were healthy. Plus they just lost their best lineman in Andrew Miller at center and the backup, Caleb Farris is also out with an ankle.
The team is ok, but they are a long way from being good. We'll see what steps they can take against Clemson. Look for the preview later this week.
GO HOKIES!!!!!!
Thursday, October 04, 2012
Game Preview - UNC vs. Virginia Tech
Every once in a while, in football, you'll have a game that isn't about the matchup. The personnel groupings of the offense vs. the defense don't mean a damn thing when considering who will win the game. Sure, the Tarheels bring a different defensive scheme and offensive scheme to the table than they did last year. But the defense is the old 4-2-5, bring six on the rush, cover with five that Gary Patterson perfected at TCU. And the offense is the Gus Malzahn/Chad Morris-influenced offense that the Hokies have seen against Clemson, ECU and others. It's the "snap the ball as many times as you can in a game to tire your opponent" philosophy.
Sure, the Hokies struggled to stop Clemson, but the point is that these schemes aren't "new". They are, however, in their first year of implementation at UNC so those players don't have all the execution details down yet. To that point, UNC has played 5 games. Their losses? To Wake Forest and Louisville. Their wins? Against Elon, East Carolina and Idaho. So they haven't beaten anyone good, and they've crushed their less talented opponents.
But all of that is really thrown out the window. Because, this is one of those season-defining games that Coach Beamer has literally built his career on. I remember it, in 1995 coming against Miami. More recently, in 2010 it was against NC State in Raleigh and in 2011 it was against Miami at Lane. The formula is simple. Coach Beamer loses some games in the season he shouldn't lose and the team's back is against the wall. Are they going to get back up off the mat and fight? Or will they pack it in? And you know what? Hokie Nation eats this up and for that matter, so does the rest of the country. The Hokies became the Little Team that Could. Sure we might lose some games we shouldn't, but by golly, we pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and make a good season out of it (with 2003 being the glaring exception, when a huge win against #2 Miami was followed up by a loss at Pitt). Yeah, those losses knock the Hokies out of the national title picture every year, but America loves an underdog right?
And so here in 2012, we till this same ground. The Hokies find themselves at that tipping point yet again, having lost to Pitt and Cincinnati. The players had their obligatory "players-only" meeting this week. The coaches are gee-whizzing and aw-shucksing about how talented the opponent is and how it really isn't about the slow starts. And really, I haven't watched the Hokies losses, but I've read about them and I think it's obvious that the 2012 Hokies team has the talent to beat UNC. They unleashed over 300 yards of offense on Cincinnati in the 2nd half. They held Georgia Tech to 192 yards rushing. These guys can play, but the question is - will they?
There is one defining characteristic easily recognized in most Coach Beamer teams - guts. His teams hit, play physical and almost never give up. I mentioned earlier the 2003 Hokies and they are an exception. That was a team filled with incredibly talented, but selfish locker room cancers, like DeAngelo Hall and Marcus Vick. They did NOT play hard-nosed and go all out, every snap.
Now, I don't get the sense that this year's team is filled with prima donnas, per se, but even in the wins I watched, I didn't see a relentless, gutsy, go all-out like this is your last snap, type of effort that I'm accustomed to. The execution has been sorely lacking to be sure, but I think there's something that's been going on during the week that has led to that. Bruce Taylor tipped me off a little with his post-Cincy-game locker room comments about how "they're ain't gonna be any more joking around during the week. It's all serious now." That same message was re-delivered by Taylor during the players-only meeting on Monday.
I think what he was trying to explain to the younger players is that it takes a hard-nosed approach, ALL THE TIME. In Middle Drill. In position drills, every rep each player has to show toughness and competitiveness. You can't take it easy, joke around during the week and then just turn it on like a light switch at kickoff on Saturdays. So really the game on Saturday at UNC has more to do with if the Hokies are able to play with the intensity, focus and execution that have enabled them to beat more talented teams in the past. I think we're going to learn more about how the season will unfold based on HOW they play this game. If Taylor's message to the team really sank in, they are going to come out and play with guts and intensity from the opening whistle and execute like they are capable of, because during the week they listened to coaching and practiced each rep with that intense focus. If not, they will lose to UNC and the season will likely go off the rails like the 2003 season. Oh and by the way? 2003 was the last time the Hokies didn't win 10 games in a season. I hope this year turns out different.
GO HOKIES!!!!!
Sure, the Hokies struggled to stop Clemson, but the point is that these schemes aren't "new". They are, however, in their first year of implementation at UNC so those players don't have all the execution details down yet. To that point, UNC has played 5 games. Their losses? To Wake Forest and Louisville. Their wins? Against Elon, East Carolina and Idaho. So they haven't beaten anyone good, and they've crushed their less talented opponents.
But all of that is really thrown out the window. Because, this is one of those season-defining games that Coach Beamer has literally built his career on. I remember it, in 1995 coming against Miami. More recently, in 2010 it was against NC State in Raleigh and in 2011 it was against Miami at Lane. The formula is simple. Coach Beamer loses some games in the season he shouldn't lose and the team's back is against the wall. Are they going to get back up off the mat and fight? Or will they pack it in? And you know what? Hokie Nation eats this up and for that matter, so does the rest of the country. The Hokies became the Little Team that Could. Sure we might lose some games we shouldn't, but by golly, we pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and make a good season out of it (with 2003 being the glaring exception, when a huge win against #2 Miami was followed up by a loss at Pitt). Yeah, those losses knock the Hokies out of the national title picture every year, but America loves an underdog right?
And so here in 2012, we till this same ground. The Hokies find themselves at that tipping point yet again, having lost to Pitt and Cincinnati. The players had their obligatory "players-only" meeting this week. The coaches are gee-whizzing and aw-shucksing about how talented the opponent is and how it really isn't about the slow starts. And really, I haven't watched the Hokies losses, but I've read about them and I think it's obvious that the 2012 Hokies team has the talent to beat UNC. They unleashed over 300 yards of offense on Cincinnati in the 2nd half. They held Georgia Tech to 192 yards rushing. These guys can play, but the question is - will they?
There is one defining characteristic easily recognized in most Coach Beamer teams - guts. His teams hit, play physical and almost never give up. I mentioned earlier the 2003 Hokies and they are an exception. That was a team filled with incredibly talented, but selfish locker room cancers, like DeAngelo Hall and Marcus Vick. They did NOT play hard-nosed and go all out, every snap.
Now, I don't get the sense that this year's team is filled with prima donnas, per se, but even in the wins I watched, I didn't see a relentless, gutsy, go all-out like this is your last snap, type of effort that I'm accustomed to. The execution has been sorely lacking to be sure, but I think there's something that's been going on during the week that has led to that. Bruce Taylor tipped me off a little with his post-Cincy-game locker room comments about how "they're ain't gonna be any more joking around during the week. It's all serious now." That same message was re-delivered by Taylor during the players-only meeting on Monday.
I think what he was trying to explain to the younger players is that it takes a hard-nosed approach, ALL THE TIME. In Middle Drill. In position drills, every rep each player has to show toughness and competitiveness. You can't take it easy, joke around during the week and then just turn it on like a light switch at kickoff on Saturdays. So really the game on Saturday at UNC has more to do with if the Hokies are able to play with the intensity, focus and execution that have enabled them to beat more talented teams in the past. I think we're going to learn more about how the season will unfold based on HOW they play this game. If Taylor's message to the team really sank in, they are going to come out and play with guts and intensity from the opening whistle and execute like they are capable of, because during the week they listened to coaching and practiced each rep with that intense focus. If not, they will lose to UNC and the season will likely go off the rails like the 2003 season. Oh and by the way? 2003 was the last time the Hokies didn't win 10 games in a season. I hope this year turns out different.
GO HOKIES!!!!!
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Cincinnati PostGame
I have had several of you contact me and ask how things are going in my new approach to the season where I find out the Hokies football score after the game and then only watch the game in a win. So I would like to take a brief opportunity to address that and then comment on the season to date.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Game Preview - VT vs. Cincinnati
Unlike many of you, I was not that fired up after the Bowling Green win last week. It wasn't a key game, didn't deserve 3 Key Plays in what became a blowout and the Hokies got off to yet another slow start this season on offense. The way the offense looked last season, with Coach Stinespring down on the sidelines and O'Cain in the booth, does any human being on the planet understand why Stiney moved back to the booth this year?
The offense has suddenly turned to mush. Last year's offense was no juggernaut but it seemed somewhat crisp at times, for the only time I can remember in Stiney's tenure. Now there is no way that this change back to sloppy play and slow starts can be just a coincidence. The Hokies go into FedEx Field on Saturday against a Cincinnati team that SMOKED the Pitt Panthers. The same Pitt Panthers that took the Hokies behind the ol' woodshed two weeks ago in a game that I gloriously did not and will not ever see. So Cincy is for real and a slow start could absolutely be the end of the Hokies in this one.
VT Offense vs. Cincy Defense
The Hokies will be without RB Tony Gregory as his knee flamed up after a solid performance last week. Michael Holmes seems to have hit a freshman wall, while JC Coleman continues to improve, so don't be surprised to see Coleman get a lot of playing time. And I'm still trying to figure out why Martin Scales isn't getting more carries. But while the Hokies do need to find some running game, the mission critical key to this entire game is going to be the play of Logan Thomas. LT has to rise up and make some plays. Yes, there have been drops and poor protection at times. But he's going to have to take over a game at some point this season and overcome all of that and Saturday seems like that kind of opportunity. Cincy is a senior-laden defense, they're not going to make stupid mistakes. It's going to take bigtime throws and making plays with his feet for Logan to get the Hokies going on offense. Not average plays, but BIG plays. He certainly has the physical talent, it's time to see how psychologically ready he is.
Cincy Offense vs. VT Defense
Cincy will spread the field and then hit you with the Florida running game. Unbalanced lines, motion, QB read plays, it's the full enchilada of spread offense. The Hokies have made a change in the starting lineup on D, with super-athletic Ronny VanDyke getting his first start over the embattled Jeron Gouviea-Winslow at whip. JGW will still probably play, but you need athletes all over the field on defense to slow the Bearcat offense down. Butch Jones is a helluva coach and Bud Foster has his work cut out for him. If the Hokies can get out to an early lead and make the Bearcats more one-dimensional, that would be a huge help in freeing up the defensive line to pass rush, but it'd also be a huge help if Kate Upton applied to be our house-cleaner. Doesn't mean it's going to happen.
Special Teams
The Hokies have been much improved on special teams this season but I think this will be a push between the two teams. Both the Hokies and Bearcats have attempted few FG's, and while Cincy has the edge in punting, the Hokies have the edge in punt returns. I expect field position to be a back and forth tradeoff most of the game.
As it often does, Saturday's game will likely be determined by time of possession and turnovers. Not that it will necessarily be a close game. These two teams are momentum teams, more than most, and if one gets going and scoring points, it could be a looooonnnnnggg day for the opponent. I really hope the Hokies win so I can watch this game, because if they don't, I have a feeling it's because they'll lose worse than they did to Pittsburgh. The crowd leans VT and that could help, so if you're in the DC area, turn out and BE LOUD!!!!
GO HOKIES!!!!!
The offense has suddenly turned to mush. Last year's offense was no juggernaut but it seemed somewhat crisp at times, for the only time I can remember in Stiney's tenure. Now there is no way that this change back to sloppy play and slow starts can be just a coincidence. The Hokies go into FedEx Field on Saturday against a Cincinnati team that SMOKED the Pitt Panthers. The same Pitt Panthers that took the Hokies behind the ol' woodshed two weeks ago in a game that I gloriously did not and will not ever see. So Cincy is for real and a slow start could absolutely be the end of the Hokies in this one.
VT Offense vs. Cincy Defense
The Hokies will be without RB Tony Gregory as his knee flamed up after a solid performance last week. Michael Holmes seems to have hit a freshman wall, while JC Coleman continues to improve, so don't be surprised to see Coleman get a lot of playing time. And I'm still trying to figure out why Martin Scales isn't getting more carries. But while the Hokies do need to find some running game, the mission critical key to this entire game is going to be the play of Logan Thomas. LT has to rise up and make some plays. Yes, there have been drops and poor protection at times. But he's going to have to take over a game at some point this season and overcome all of that and Saturday seems like that kind of opportunity. Cincy is a senior-laden defense, they're not going to make stupid mistakes. It's going to take bigtime throws and making plays with his feet for Logan to get the Hokies going on offense. Not average plays, but BIG plays. He certainly has the physical talent, it's time to see how psychologically ready he is.
Cincy Offense vs. VT Defense
Cincy will spread the field and then hit you with the Florida running game. Unbalanced lines, motion, QB read plays, it's the full enchilada of spread offense. The Hokies have made a change in the starting lineup on D, with super-athletic Ronny VanDyke getting his first start over the embattled Jeron Gouviea-Winslow at whip. JGW will still probably play, but you need athletes all over the field on defense to slow the Bearcat offense down. Butch Jones is a helluva coach and Bud Foster has his work cut out for him. If the Hokies can get out to an early lead and make the Bearcats more one-dimensional, that would be a huge help in freeing up the defensive line to pass rush, but it'd also be a huge help if Kate Upton applied to be our house-cleaner. Doesn't mean it's going to happen.
Special Teams
The Hokies have been much improved on special teams this season but I think this will be a push between the two teams. Both the Hokies and Bearcats have attempted few FG's, and while Cincy has the edge in punting, the Hokies have the edge in punt returns. I expect field position to be a back and forth tradeoff most of the game.
As it often does, Saturday's game will likely be determined by time of possession and turnovers. Not that it will necessarily be a close game. These two teams are momentum teams, more than most, and if one gets going and scoring points, it could be a looooonnnnnggg day for the opponent. I really hope the Hokies win so I can watch this game, because if they don't, I have a feeling it's because they'll lose worse than they did to Pittsburgh. The crowd leans VT and that could help, so if you're in the DC area, turn out and BE LOUD!!!!
GO HOKIES!!!!!
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