Game Thread: #17 VT vs. East Carolina University 12pm ESPN

[ckhokie]

Reminds me of the NCST game a couple years ago. David Wilson ran back the 2nd half kick and we were in business

 

[sparko]

Oline stinking it up as usual. We won't run the ball very effectively this season either. Facyson has looked very average so far this season (not just this game). Our LB corps has been a pleasant surprise so far this season and Sam Rogers and Buckt are fucking BALLERS !!

Brewers height will continue to be a challenge with regard to his vision.

Where are you jet sweeps? We get 5-30 yards everytime we run one.

And last .. ECU is a pretty good all around team but they were last season too

 

[Taz_Hokie]

Not sure where he came from, but I'm liking this Bucky Rogers guy.

 

[wildturkey]

Ridiculous. Numerous opportunities to get back in the game in the 3rd and a goal line opportunity at the start of the 4th and we get jack shit. We don't deserve an opportunity to come back much less win it.

 

[ckhokie]

These looks like the Hokies of old unfortunately. Inept O. OL getting crushed. Unable to get points on the board.

 

[757Hokie83]

This is the worst i've ever seen in my 15 years of following vt. Including jmu.

Should be what, 45-7 right now?

 

[VTscores]

VT needed Jeff Grimes for a few more years before LSU poached him.

The defense played really well, except for the first five minutes and the last 1:20.

 

[wildturkey]

We didn't deserve to win that game, period. You can give credit to a few guys for clawing out a comeback but I fully believe it had more to do with ECU playing not to lose than it did us turning things around. We put up a terrible effort in the 1st half in a game everyone knew we had to respect and we ended up spotting them 21 pts and it should have been a lot more. In the 2nd half, we played better (not good, just better) but still squandered numerous opportunities to come back so we wouldn't have been so pressed on time. Too many mistakes with penalties, technique, and just bad play. I'm sure there's some that will chalk it up to youth but I disagree. Youth is what kept us even in the game. It was guys that have been around and have experience that made the bulk of the mistakes.

This was a bad loss, make no mistake about it. You can live with it if its a back and forth game where you're trading punches with a good team. But you can't come away satisfied with anything the way things shook out today.

I said in maybe my first post in this topic that its cliched but we'll learn the most about our team for this season in how they played this game. So what we've learned is this is basically going to be a weekly "capable of" team. What that means is week to week, they're capable of just about anything, wins or losses. That's actually improvement over the last two years (those teams never could have won at the Horseshoe) but it basically means we aren't solid contenders for the ACC. It's just going to be a week to week thing and the standings will sort themselves out. The positive in it is so far everyone else in conference (at least Coastal) is in the same boat.

 

[VTscores]

Once VT got the tie with 1:20, seems to me the defense has to hold that.

As much as the victory against Ohio State was to Foster's credit, he needed a better plan for East Carolina - this was really on the defense. They did manage to keep things clamped up for most of the game, though, which kept VT in it.

I can't remember the last time VT had a decent offensive line. That has been a sore spot for years. They got manhandled today.

Georgia Tech is next up.

 

[virginiatechhokie07]

Once VT got the tie with 1:20, seems to me the defense has to hold that.

As much as the victory against Ohio State was to Foster's credit, he needed a better plan for East Carolina - this was really on the defense. They did manage to keep things clamped up for most of the game, though, which kept VT in it.

I can't remember the last time VT had a decent offensive line. That has been a sore spot for years. They got manhandled today.

Georgia Tech is next up.

I think the defensive game plan was fine. In my mind the execution was poor by the guys at the beginning. Facyson and Fuller looked lost sometimes, and getting into our limited depth at corner hurt us some. Kids showed heart on playing hard to the end.... Youth at key positions showed today in my mind.

 

[Sleepy T]

I like the way the team battled back in the 2nd half. Sucks the way this one ended.

We were pretty well outplayed and someone said it right, as poorly as they played, VT really didn't deserve to win the game.

I think ECU is a little better than we thought (I think everyone knew they were capable). Gonna go ahead and pick them to win at least 10 games again this year. Wouldn't surprise me if they won out.

I think this VT team got a little dose of reality today. Might be a good thing. I still think they are good enough to get back to the ACCCG. There were bright spots, particularly the youngsters Ford and Phillips.
The offense will get better, but as always, will only go as far as the OL takes them.

One thing is for sure, the running game (OL) must be better for that to happen. If they continue to get pushed around, teams will start to game plan around it and drop into zone the entire game (like ECU did). I am not ready to go all out O Line hater mode like I seem to do nearly every year. But honestly, I haven't been that impressed, especially wrt the running game.

On to GT!! They aren't exactly killing it this year. Should be a very winnable game. Certainly not a gimme.

 

[HoHumHokie]

Did I miss something with Josh Stanford? Did he get hurt or just benched for Cam Phillips?

 

[ckhokie]

Probably his back to back uncontested drops

 

[Sleepy T]

Did I miss something with Josh Stanford? Did he get hurt or just benched for Cam Phillips?

Not sure, But he dropped several important (very catchable) balls. A lot of drops in that 2nd half, buy several players....

 

[sparko]

Yeah .. Have a feeling Phillips will start passing JS by soon if today was any indication. Facyson needs to get his game cleaned up or I could see Chuck or Riley taking more of his playing time.

 

[wildturkey]

Yeah .. Have a feeling Phillips will start passing JS by soon if today was any indication. Facyson needs to get his game cleaned up or I could see Chuck or Riley taking more of his playing time.

I dunno if he'll get passed or not. He was pretty bad out there today, crossing himself up multiple times but its not like Clark or Riley were much better. I saw several plays where Clark and Riley got mixed up and lost their man. It happened to Riley quite a bit on some of those screen throws. Basically, everyone in the 2ndary, both DBs and safeties, sans Fuller had a poor to middling day. Foster's plan was fine, they just didn't execute as well this week. Though I would have liked to seen him tone down the aggression just a bit to not keep the DBs on an island so much. I mean we all know ECU loves to throw and throw deep, why keep inviting them to do it after they burn you so badly numerous times at the start. I'm sure people will point out how ECU didn't score from the 2nd quarter on to the end of the game and will say the defense really stepped up, but I still say ECU stopped challenging us down the field. At the end of the game, they went back to it and got two huge gainers right away. Don't get me wrong, we did play better and there were adjustments, I just think it was more what ECU didn't do than what we did.

Not that it matters but I got a strategy question that I was thinking of during the game. What was the yardage before the 4th and 10 in the 4th where we went for it and ended up getting a hold? I was thinking if a FG attempt would have been around 45 yards, why not kick it? If we make it, its 21-17, we get a touchback and try to force a 3 and out (something we had to do anyway since we punted). But if we made that kick, if we got the ball back we could go for the win. Just curious. I know the announcers briefly mentioned it but said "Beamer may not trust his kicker with a long FG" but never said how long it was. If it was 40 to 45, we probably should have kicked it. But 45 or greater, yeah, going for it was fine.

 

[VTscores]

The corners were getting their butts kicked, so the island strategy just wasn't working. You can call it execution, and you'd be right. But part of the plan needs to be an understanding of the capability you have, and the capability of the other team. I think they should have started a bit more conservatively, and tried some different looks. Cardon was throwing the ball perfectly, and VT's corners looked tired when the game started. 21-0 isn't indicative of a good plan.

East Carolina, and in particular Cardon, was studying VT film on the bus home from South Carolina. He knew exactly what he was going to be facing. I just think he should have seen something different at the start of the game. Hindsight is 20-20, of course, and it certainly could have been worse. VT almost pulled it off anyway.

VT has a young team, and it showed today. We all knew before the game that it was going to be tough to settle down and focus on East Carolina. The bright side is that they have the capability to come back from a 21 point deficit. While I would have preferred a win, they're back to earth now. And they should have a bit more confidence. There were lots of mistakes on offense and defense, but most can be corrected. There were too many drops of catchable passes.

At least Boston College knocked off USC. No question that this is now the biggest upset of the week. Boston College and Pitt are looking pretty formidable at this point. The ACC coastal is wide open.

 

[Hokie200proof]

Can we start a new Gameday thread?

Tired of looking at this at the top of the page. I felt a mixture of emotions after the loss... which really began when we kicked off out-of-bounds. That was so classic "cHokies" that I knew it was over. When they got on our side of the 40, I was hoping they'd score quick and let us have a prayer at a long return or a quick strike of our own.

But, fuck it. It's over and not entirely unexpected (which is the frustrating agony of this loss). I'd normally take this monday as chance to update "The Dream Has Ended" thread to 2014, but I never thought National Championship was a possibility. In fact, I thought ACC CG was a lofty goal with a new QB, etc. That dream is very much alive and the road to that promised land begins this weekend.

So... let's move on.

 

[HoHumHokie]

Stay focused guys and build off what we have done so far

 

[ACC_HOKIES]

Back down to earth this week. Very disappointed, but plenty of us knew that ECU could play. Frankly, we didn't deserve to win even if we had pulled it out.

Summary: I was looking for consistency, and its exactly what we've lacked. Running game still didn't get to an adequate level, although there were moments, and we were playing from behind. Special teams has yet to impress, although has been adequate. We missed on defense.

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Something struck me in the second half: What percentage of our OLine problems are intensity/desire? We've had some good players on the line within the past decade, but the unit has frankly underperformed. I'm just really taken aback how the staff can get in their faces in the second half of this game, and all of the sudden he run the ball and pass protect. They didn't appear to really change techniques, besides playcalling (some roll outs for Brewer and occasionally lead backs for the rusher). This happened throughout the past three seasons and beyond, where we could dominate for small parts, but largely fall back to a horrible level. I'm just continuously puzzled by OLine play, and the coaches desperately need to put these guys in positions and mindsets to dominate.

The defense really put us in a bind in the first quarter. The system backfired on us in this one, and the offense wasn't ready to pick up the slack. Granted they really got us out of some jams once we stabilized. It wasn't that they gave up 28 points either, as much as how and when ECU scored. We played stressed the entire time, expending a ton of energy to pull ourselves back up and finally get the offense really productive, only to fall apart with no time left.

The drops were inexcusable.

Going for it on fourth and goal, wasn't a horrible decision (personally I'd always take the points, since we had time). Getting three probably doesn't change things anyway. However, the decision not to throw the fade when Hodges was paired against a small DB was not good. In two games it's already proven the best redzone weapon we've had in three years.

Which brings me to Mr. Hodges. Love ya buddy. You're doing great. Please stop celebrating every time you catch the ball.