Game #2 - Virginia Tech at East Carolina

[awaz]

well, at least it looks like Logan is taking the right kind of attitude about this past saturday:

"Oh, I'm putting all of it away for a learning experience," Thomas said. "We came down here, and they gave us a battle. They gave us one of the hardest games I've ever been a part of. It's only my first year starting in college. I'll definitely remember this one for the books. First road win, but also the beating I took here today."

"I need to step up in the passing game," Thomas said. "I've had too many incompletions and too many bad passes, but it's right around the corner. I think we'll get better throughout the year and once we do, it's going to be a tough offense to stop."

Growing pains come for Logan Thomas in Hokies' win - Washington Times


and another positive from this weekend...we've got our first 2-0 start since 2006.

yep, i like the attitude he's got.. and i like him, i think he could be a real solid qb and a real mismatch for teams.. i was just saying he played poorly and that thinking about playing leal on saturday shouldn't have been out of the question as the game progressed with us losing/tied.. sometimes the team needs a jolt.. i expect him to play better every week as the season goes on

 

[757Hokie83]

i agree completely

 

[wildturkey]

You can't play Leal in that situation. It would kill LT's confidence. At the very least, there would always be something in the back of his head saying "Am I getting pulled because I sailed that pass too high"? He played poorly, he knows it and he'll work on it. The best thing about the game was O'Cain recognized he was playing poorly and decided to go 90% runs, knowing that the O-line could easily push ECU around for DW and JO. It may not work in ACC play, but it was decent call. I'm almost positive in the same situation, Stinespring would have doubled LT's passes.

You guys shouldn't complain about the spread. It's what we need, more variety on offense to go along with our power running. The problem was LT wasn't accurate with his passes in the game so that's why the spread didn't work out so well. And as I said in my earlier post, if they incorporated more shorter, easier throws for LT in our formations, that would help a lot.


And just nitpicking here, layoff Coale's "drop" in the endzone. That was good coverage. If you want to rail on someone, call out DJ Coles who dropped a pass that hit him dead in the numbers with no one within 10 yards of him.

 

[Ragingcroc]

How can anyone be complaining about the spread. Logan Thomas gained 6.0 yards per carry running the read option out of the spread. It wasn't even skewed by a big run like most rushing totals are, his longest run was 9 yards. If we can gain 6 yards every play we will win every game. Logan Thomas will get yards almost every time in the read option unless they want to give David Wilson the corner.

 

[HokieGhost]

Notebook: Defense silences its critics : Collegiate Sports Blog

The Hokies starting offensive line graded out exceptionally again Saturday, posting grades across the board as follows: Andrew Lanier 89, Greg Nosal 87, Andrew Miller 83, Jaymes Brooks 93, Blake DeChristopher 91***8230;The 88.6 average is the highest as far back as at least the end of 2009. Brooks***8217; 93 is the highest grade for a starter in over a year***8230;Michael Via will work at guard to help replace the injured David Wang, who broke his foot and will miss 8-10 weeks.

 

[Lumbee09]

You can't play Leal in that situation. It would kill LT's confidence. At the very least, there would always be something in the back of his head saying "Am I getting pulled because I sailed that pass too high"? He played poorly, he knows it and he'll work on it. The best thing about the game was O'Cain recognized he was playing poorly and decided to go 90% runs, knowing that the O-line could easily push ECU around for DW and JO. It may not work in ACC play, but it was decent call. I'm almost positive in the same situation, Stinespring would have doubled LT's passes.

^This^

If LT is pulled, he doesn't get a chance to develop. The best thing the staff could have done was keep him in and let him try to get the win. Getting the W this weekend, despite struggling, will do a lot to boost his confidence on the road. I wonder at times what Glennon could have done if he was never pulled for Tyrod (or if he had a suitable offensive line).

 

[Ragingcroc]

^This^

If LT is pulled, he doesn't get a chance to develop. The best thing the staff could have done was keep him in and let him try to get the win. Getting the W this weekend, despite struggling, will do a lot to boost his confidence on the road. I wonder at times what Glennon could have done if he was never pulled for Tyrod (or if he had a suitable offensive line).

Glennon had an entire year as starter to develop though.

 

[wildturkey]

I wonder at times what Glennon could have done if he was never pulled for Tyrod (or if he had a suitable offensive line).

2 more INTs and a FF after a sack, that's what.

 

[Sleepy T]

As good as Leal has looked, I don't think replacing LT with him was the answer. I agree with many of you in saying that it would not have been good for his confidence and frankly, he isn't going to be "on" every game. This was just his second start, there will be some growing pains. I think it is safe to say, we are going to have to grind some games out this year. Even in exceptional years there are going to be a couple of those games for every team (see Auburn vs. Bama last year, VT vs. WV in '99, I could go on and on). We will need to gring some out and hinestly, get lucky to have a chance at going undefeated. Fortunately, it looks as though the defense is going to be lights out this year. Our offensive line is playing well, and our return game/P&J has the potential to make something happen everytime the opposing team kicks the ball. VT will be fine. Everyone wants the offense to score 30+ a game and defense to hold the opponent to less than ten, but that isn't going to happen every game. I will take a stellar defense and an efficient running based offense any day over a shoot-out every week, every time, where you wonder if the D can hold on that final drive (ala Boise '09).

 

[Lumbee09]

Glennon had an entire year as starter to develop though.

2 more INTs and a FF after a sack, that's what.

Glennon did develop into a decent QB that was tormented by VT fans. I do not agree with the coaches pulling TT's redshirt in 2007 during the LSU game. Tyrod should have redshirted that year (Just imagine how amazing our team this year would be if we still had Tyrod). Glennon finished 2007 completing over 60% of his passes, 12 touchdowns, and only 5 interceptions. 2008 after a bad ECU game they replaced him and it was downhill from there for him.

Glennon had to deal with a lot at VT, and I hope that LT doesn't go through that. In Glennon's 2006 season we heard the "We want Ike" chants. I really hope I don't hear a single "We want Leal" chant this year.

 

[ckhokie]

As good as Leal has looked, I don't think replacing LT with him was the answer. I agree with many of you in saying that it would not have been good for his confidence and frankly, he isn't going to be "on" every game.

Of course it's not the answer. It was his SECOND GAME. And first on the road, in one of the most hostile environments he will probably see all season.

After seeing many of the same folks who said we should take out LT for Leal also trying to say that we needed to take Jayron off punt return, I stopped paying attention to this thread for the most part. I suggest everyone else should too...

 

[ckhokie]

Glennon finished 2007 completing over 60% of his passes, 12 touchdowns, and only 5 interceptions.

Glennon also had the benefit of 4 NFL WRs on those teams..

 

[NickVT10]

Please don't compare LT to Glennon. That is an insult to LT. LT had a rough game but both games the WR had some drops. He made a few poor decisions later in the game that should have been INTs but he is still young. He is going to make some rookie mistakes because he is a rookie. The play calling needs to change to give him more easy, confidence building throws early and then let him start going down field more. I think he will be fine in a few games by the time Clemson rolls around. The way Clemson is playing ECU might be a better test than them...

 

[hunzworth]

LT had a rough game but both games the WR had some drops. He made a few poor decisions later in the game that should have been INTs but he is still young. He is going to make some rookie mistakes because he is a rookie. The play calling needs to change to give him more easy, confidence building throws early and then let him start going down field more. I think he will be fine in a few games by the time Clemson rolls around.

we had 4 drops that would have resulted in 2td's and 2 first downs (to be fare the ECU defense had at least 1 sure int drop) that would have changed the #'s quite a bit.

While i really had no problem with the play calling against ECU, i do agree that we need to go with the short passing game more often. I was really expecting to see a lot of slants, drags, etc, now that LT is our QB. I honestly wonder if part of the reason is that while TT was here they were put so far to the back of the PB that the staff hasnt worked them back in yet. We also need to get the TE's more involved, except for the Dunn TD catch against appy, im not sure a TE has caught a single pass this year.

As far as the gameplan against Ark st, i'd say it will be much of the same: a heavy dose of the RB's, enough passing to keep them honest, and try and spread them out some to run LT.

 

[NickVT10]

we had 4 drops that would have resulted in 2td's and 2 first downs (to be fare the ECU defense had at least 1 sure int drop) that would have changed the #'s quite a bit.

While i really had no problem with the play calling against ECU, i do agree that we need to go with the short passing game more often. I was really expecting to see a lot of slants, drags, etc, now that LT is our QB. I honestly wonder if part of the reason is that while TT was here they were put so far to the back of the PB that the staff hasnt worked them back in yet. We also need to get the TE's more involved, except for the Dunn TD catch against appy, im not sure a TE has caught a single pass this year.

As far as the gameplan against Ark st, i'd say it will be much of the same: a heavy dose of the RB's, enough passing to keep them honest, and try and spread them out some to run LT.

I would like to see DW get less carries believe it or not this game. He looked exhausted last game and took a beating. JO and TG should get some more carries. I would also like to see a FB in more of the running plays so that DW isn't meeting as many LBs in the holes.

 

[HokieGhost]

Grading completed for the ECU game:

hokiesports - the notebook

I find it interesting after all of the discussion on this board about "poor play" that the coaches gave LT a grade of 85.

 

[awaz]

woah now.. i said LT played poorly.. it would take a lot worse than poorly for me to compare him to glennon

and just a quick hit cause i hear it occasionally, the o-line wasn't as bad as glennon made it out to be.. the guy couldn't read a coloring book let alone a D1 defense.. when you want 10 seconds to throw the ball, the line is going to disappoint you

 

[awaz]

Grading completed for the ECU game:

hokiesports - the notebook

I find it interesting after all of the discussion on this board about "poor play" that the coaches gave LT a grade of 85.

i dont really get the grading system, truly. serious questions, do the coaches have a guideline that they go by for grading them? or do they just make a guideline on a game by game basis? i would like to know more about that.. i had never really seen anybody talk about 'grading' until last season and now it seems to be a pretty serious buzz word

if its the later, where they're doing it on a game by game basis.. you have to believe the coaches aren't going to grade him much lower than about an 80 to keep his confidence up.. just like they wont pull him to keep his confidence up.. if they truly think he only has 15 percentage points of improvement in him, then i'd be nervous.. but perhaps my expectations are too high

 

[Ragingcroc]

Even LT knows he had a bad game and said so. I suspect the coaches will not pull any punches or baby him when watching game tape. So I really don't know what the grading part is about. Maybe they are grading him as a first year starter? He also made some good decisions in the read option. He gained 6.0 yards/carry and hardly got stopped for no gain so it wasn't like he was forcing it. They could have also figured the read option into his grade.

 

[awaz]

Even LT knows he had a bad game and said so. I suspect the coaches will not pull any punches or baby him when watching game tape. So I really don't know what the grading part is about. Maybe they are grading him as a first year starter? He also made some good decisions in the read option. He gained 6.0 yards/carry and hardly got stopped for no gain so it wasn't like he was forcing it. They could have also figured the read option into his grade.

thats true.. he did do well in the read option, even though i dont like it, it did work.. i'd probably like it more if the passes out of the spread were different.. i felt like they were trying to force downfield passes early in the ecu game