Game #1 - Appalachian St vs Virginia Tech

[Chrish1023]

very nice way to open the season. first and foremost, our defense looked stellar. our defensive line looks like it could be dominant this season. david wilson is going to tear the college football world apart this season, he is unbelievable. mark leal also impressed me in mop up duty

some concerns

the punting game was poor. something needs to be done there.

also, i realize that this was logan thomas' first start, but i dont think he played too well. he has a lot of potential, but im very thankful that we dont play any big time programs early in the season this year.

I couldnt really agree more with this post; wilson looked scary and our run defense was stellar. Logan kind of made me nervous too. I think he is just trying to put too much touch on the ball. That long throw to marcus davis was pretty nice and that was one of the few balls where he put some zip on it. Solid win though

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

A few quick thoughts and then I am logging off for an evening of watching football, a day of hiking and loving this town and a drive back to Pittsburgh. I will give a more detailed rundown later this week.

1. I saw DVD in the west side concourse. He had his badge on and was walking around taking in the scene, all smiles. Be is tall and has room to fill out.

2. I saw Cam Martin, Tyrone Garland and Victor Davila as well. Garland is like 5'11" by the way....maybe, ha.

3. If a 66-13 score could ever be closer than the game actually was, this was it. The Hokies could have dropped 100 today. The intensity was THERE.

4. Wilson is a beast, Hosley is a beast, Gayle is a beast...

5. Thomas wasn't great but his receivers dropped a few balls be hit in stride as well.

6. Leal is pronounced Lee Al.... Who knew! He also throws a nice ball.

7. Maybe DC does need to punt...

Have a good rest of the weekend fellas. GO HOKIES!!!

 

[NickVT10]

The WRs dropped atleast 5 balls so LT should have had a better day. He missed a few guys but I think he played good. Pretty good decisions and he throws and nice fade to the back corner where our guy will catch it or no one will. The defense looked awesome out there. Special teams looked good as well. Nice to see the block unit pick one up early. The running game looked great as well. We still need a little work but 3 more tune ups to do it.

 

[Hokie Swagger]

The WRs dropped atleast 5 balls so LT should have had a better day. He missed a few guys but I think he played good. Pretty good decisions and he throws and nice fade to the back corner where our guy will catch it or no one will. The defense looked awesome out there. Special teams looked good as well. Nice to see the block unit pick one up early. The running game looked great as well. We still need a little work but 3 more tune ups to do it.

im not really concerned about the stats, there were a couple of drops that would have helped his line. what i saw was logan thomas making some poor throws and some poor decisions. Dyrell made that sick catch, but that was a bad throw and decision to do so. from what i saw, not looking at the stats, i saw a rather raw quarterback with potential but lacking a lot of experience and it showed. he will do well for us, but like i said, im glad we don't have the toughest schedule to start the season this year so he can hopefully find a groove.

 

[h-hour]

A few quick thoughts and then I am logging off for an evening of watching football, a day of hiking and loving this town and a drive back to Pittsburgh. I will give a more detailed rundown later this week.

1. I saw DVD in the west side concourse. He had his badge on and was walking around taking in the scene, all smiles. Be is tall and has room to fill out.

2. I saw Cam Martin, Tyrone Garland and Victor Davila as well. Garland is like 5'11" by the way....maybe, ha.

3. If a 66-13 score could ever be closer than the game actually was, this was it. The Hokies could have dropped 100 today. The intensity was THERE.

4. Wilson is a beast, Hosley is a beast, Gayle is a beast...

5. Thomas wasn't great but his receivers dropped a few balls be hit in stride as well.

6. Leal is pronounced Lee Al.... Who knew! He also throws a nice ball.

7. Maybe DC does need to punt...

Have a good rest of the weekend fellas. GO HOKIES!!!

Hope you had/have a safe drive back up north!

 

[HokieGhost]

Yes, LT made some little mistakes that are easily corrected like overthrowing receivers. But, he didn't make any major errors. For instance, he didn't turn the ball over...no INTs and no fumbles. He was sacked once, but usually threw the ball away when he had to.

The Tech receivers had some drops yesterday, but that's not LT's fault...for the most part, he got the ball to where it needed to go. But, again, those are also easily correctable issues.

Just for fun for comparative purposes, here are the stats for all of the Tech QBs' first starts going back to Mike Vick:

Sept 3, 2011 - Logan Thomas vs Appalachian State
Passing: 9-19 - 149 yds - 2 TDs - 0 INT - 1 sack
Rushing: 3 for 19 yds - 0 TDs

Sept 15, 2007 - Tyrod Taylor vs Ohio University
Passing: 18-31 - 287 yds - 0 TDs - 0 INTs - 3 sacks
Rushing: 10 for 40 yds - 1 TD

Sept 2, 2006 - Sean Glennon vs Northeastern
Passing: 15-18 - 221 yds - 3 TDs - 1 INT - 1 sack
Rushing: 3 for 7 yds - 0 TDs

Sept 4, 2005 - Marcus Vick vs NC State
Passing: 10-21 - 108 yds - 1 TD - 0 INTs - 3 sacks
Rushing: 13 for 57 yds - 0 TDs

Sept 21, 2002 - Bryan Randall vs Texas A&M
Passing: 10-11 - 119 yds - 0 TDs - 0 INTs - 0 sacks
Rushing: 17 for 49 yds - 0 TDs

sept 1, 2001 - Grant Noel vs UConn
Passing: 16-20 - 267 yds - 3 TDs - 0 INTs - 0 sacks
Rushing: 3 for 7 yds - 0 TDs

Sept 4, 1999 - Mike Vick vs JMU
Passing: 4-6 - 110 yds - 0 TDs - 0 INTs - 1 sack
Rushing: 4 for 64 yds - 3 TDs

 

[ACC_HOKIES]

My thoughts on the game:

-The David Wilson Show has begun. The onfield results speak for themselves, but I did notice a couple small things, off the stat sheet. One, he was galloping around the pregame motivational huddles. Two, he clearly signaled to Logan Thomas when the play clock was running low.

-Logan Thomas was serviceable in his first start. He missed some open routes and was inaccurate at times, but there is clearly potential once he settles into his role. The receivers both helped and hurt at times.

-Offensive penalties must be eliminated.

-Defense was well prepared, focused, and was solid in tackling. This seems like a very dynamic and flexible unit. We'll see some different schemes and dynamics against East Carolina's offense, so we should have a great idea of this year's defense very early in the season.

-P&J was only called once, and resulted in a block.

-We handled our business against an inferior opponent (no offense to Appy State- they compete at a top level with their peers). Got a good warmup, found things to work on, and avoided injuries. A good combination on opening week. Beams always says that the most improvement in a team tends to occur between game 1 and 2.

-WTF happened to the team during ES? For those not there in person, the team didn't run out until seconds after ES stopped. Lane Stadium coordinators need to run some steps!

-It was announced that this is the largest Corps of Cadets at Virginia Tech since 1942. I think that's an awesome sign for our University's oldest tradition!

Hope everyone from out of town had a safe trip. GO HOKIES!

 

[Taz_Hokie]

-It was announced that this is the largest Corps of Cadets at Virginia Tech since 1942. I think that's an awesome sign for our University's oldest tradition!

Might have just been me, but I thought I noticed quite a bit more attention on the Corps than in previous broadcast, they even got some of the guys from the Skipper crew up close.

 

[wildturkey]

I'm trying not to get too pumped up because it was against an FCS school. We're suppose to put up numbers like that against FCS schools, but there's still some stuff to look forward to and some stuff to be a little wary of.

Pros:

-As expected, DW is a beast, but as a bonus, JO appears to be quite a nice compliment. It's been awhile since Oglisby has had RB reps and it looks like he doesn't have any rust. This is a great sign for when Wilson needs breaks and I'm sure Shane will have clever ways of getting them both touches

- The defense looked great as a whole. Did Gayle hulk up during the summer or what?

- Leal (or Le-Al) looked good. I know it was against FCS back ups, but as far as poise, decison making, etc, I thought he did well. It's nice to know we'll have a capable back up just in case.

Cons:

-I'm stunned Frank sent a punter out there that punted that poorly. Is that really the best we have? I hope it was just first game jitters. Otherwise, we're going to be putting a lot of pressure on our defense giving teams short fields

-Not really a con, but I thought Thomas was shaky. It's probably just me because I was perhaps wrongly expecting more. I thought he had happy feet, missed several open WRs and checkdowns, and forced some throws. Davis and Roberts bailed him out a few times. The good news is that's all correctable. I'm sure O'Cain will be all over him this week in film. He did get better as the game went along and showed good poise when he chose to stay in the pocket.


A very good day overall. Plenty to be proud of while still having stuff to build upon.


BTW, new user here. Anyone want to tell me how to get one of those snazzy VT logos under my rep power number? Is it like a Stonecutters thing where I have to wear the rock of shame first?

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

Welcome wild turkey! Glad to have you aboard. It looks like you figured out the team logo things, now here, carry my pads back to the locker room

Great breakdown as well. I agree on what you posted. I will feel a lot better after how I see us come out against ECU.

 

[wildturkey]

ECU should be interesting considering they gave South Carolina trouble for awhile.

 

[Lumbee09]

Our offense should put up similar numbers next week against ECU. Their defense has a lot of issues. The question will be how the VT defense does. ECU's spread offense puts up big numbers. It would be a real feat to shut them down.

 

[HokieGhost]

Demler had two punts that were pretty bad and one that was so-so out of five attempts. But, on the bright side, there were no returns by ASU:

1. His first punt was a pooch kick from the ASU 34 and was meant to be downed inside the five. The two down-field guys for Tech allowed the ball to get into the end-zone. That counted for a 34 yard punt and a touchback. No return, ball out to the 20.

2. His second punt was not very good at all. It traveled 30 yards from the VT 30 to the ASU 40 and was fair-caught. No return.

3. The third punt traveled 34 yards from the VT 33 to the ASU 33 where it went out-of-bounds. No return.

4. #4 was VERY bad, but again, there was no return. It traveled 20 yards from the VT 26 to the VT 46 where it was downed.

5. #5 was pretty decent. It traveled 44 yards from the VT 39 to where it was fair-caught at the ASU 17. No return.

Hopefully, the last punt indicates that he's gotten himself zeroed-in and he's ready to roll next week against ECU.

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

Demler had two punts that were pretty bad and one that was so-so out of five attempts. But, on the bright side, there were no returns by ASU:

1. His first punt was a pooch kick from the ASU 34 and was meant to be downed inside the five. The two down-field guys for Tech allowed the ball to get into the end-zone. That counted for a 34 yard punt and a touchback. No return, ball out to the 20.

2. His second punt was not very good at all. It traveled 30 yards from the VT 30 to the ASU 40 and was fair-caught. No return.

3. The third punt traveled 34 yards from the VT 33 to the ASU 33 where it went out-of-bounds. No return.

4. #4 was VERY bad, but again, there was no return. It traveled 20 yards from the VT 26 to the VT 46 where it was downed.

5. #5 was pretty decent. It traveled 44 yards from the VT 39 to where it was fair-caught at the ASU 17. No return.

Hopefully, the last punt indicates that he's gotten himself zeroed-in and he's ready to roll next week against ECU.

Personally, I thought we should have given Cody the shot at that 51 yarder early on. Our D was on fire and it would have been a great chance let him have a go of it, but they went with the punt. I guess he needs chances in a game like that as well.

Also, Demler was working on punts the entire second half on the sideline right in front of us with one of the grad assistants and some input from Stiney on occasion, so he knows he has work to do and was tryin to work it out.

 

[Hokie Swagger]

lets be real guys. we will have punter issues all season. if our starting wide receiver almost won the starting punting job, that should be an indication of where we are with our punters.

 

[HokieGhost]

It was announced that this is the largest Corps of Cadets at Virginia Tech since 1942. I think that's an awesome sign for our University's oldest tradition!

I debated for a while before responding, but here goes....

I don't think I would have chosen the word "awesome" to describe "the largest Corps of Cadets at Virginia Tech since 1942". There's a reason for the recent increase.

In 1942, the military was gearing up to fight in the largest declared war the US ever fought. We needed officers for all of the new units being formed, and replacements for the officers already lost in the Philippines. The service academies, military schools, and ROTC programs were pumping out brand new officers as quickly as they could be trained and shipped overseas. That cycle continued until it became clear that WWII was rapidly coming to an end in 1945. On a side note, and for obvious reasons, Tech didn't play a football schedule during 1943 and 1944.

Currently, we're in the process of replacing a lot officer casualties from the undeclared and never-ending wars against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Iraq. We're also recently replacing a lot more officers with combat experience who have chosen to resign their commissions rather than take the chance of surviving yet another deployment to the Middle East without being seriously wounded or killed. Some of those officers have done four or five tours already, and they and their families (if they're still married) have had enough.

 

[HokieGhost]

lets be real guys. we will have punter issues all season. if our starting wide receiver almost won the starting punting job, that should be an indication of where we are with our punters.

I can't recall any first-year punter that didn't have issues during their first season. Even experienced punters shank one every now and then.

 

[HokieGhost]

nwartersLNA Nathan Warters
Frank Beamer says David Wilson broke 15 tackles Saturday. Billy Hite thinks that's a record.