This may be a crazy take but maybe these reporters are tired of reporting the same ole' same ole' Tech stuff? Honestly if you think about it we must be the most boring team to report on to fans. Fancy Gap really has nothing to say most of the time except the humble "well we did our best, shucks I love this team stuff". We are a very consistent team filled with staff who seek not to "rock the boat" so to speak so that really doesn't make for exciting reporting.
Also, I have a feeling people such as KT are kind of fed up with where we are right now. Over the years with KT's reporting, you could tell (at least this is my take) he became very partial to VT. So when you are reporting on a program where it is evident we do have some major obstacles which are limiting us from being a top tier team on a national scale it has to be very frustrating. So there are only so many articles and stats where you can report on our "consistency". I guess you can put me in this category as well. I love the hell out of our team, but let's face it we will need alot of luck to go to a NC right now with the staff that we have in place. And with the programs that are on the rise and with the changes that are taking place, our window is closing (may have already closed).
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I wouldn't go so far as to be sure of anything with Stinespring. He may not be as horrible as many would have you to believe, but I wouldn't consider him a good OC. Therefore, it would not surprise me in the least if he continued with the status quo instead of learning from others. I certainly hope that the offense will be a year to year consistent success (much like the defense), but we've all had our hopes dashed too many times to be anything but cynical about Stiney's ability as an OC.
**Stiney rant upcoming
Many times it looks like it takes him forever to realize what adjustments need to be made. This season, the team made some better halftime adjustments, but let's face it, our athletes took over some games where Stiney got credit for the adjustments. The problem stems from the fact that the offense should never have been so slow out of the gates to begin with to warrant double-digit comebacks. The defense started out slow in almost every game, but the offense was expected to carry the team this year (for the first time in years). The offense almost never looked prepared or maybe they were just hungover every game.
I certainly give Stiney credit for having a little more success this season (thank you Tyrod), but the same problems keep showing up over and over from season to season. Against big, physical defenses (which all NC teams have) our OL can't do a thing with them. We're able to do well against average teams, but there are many cases of our running game getting shut down and our QB running for their life against elite defenses.
A good OC, given the number of years that Stiney has been OC, would have done one of two things by now. One, recruit actual offensive linemen rather than athletic TEs hoping to bulk them up. The guys we get now would probably be great in a spread offense with zone blocking, but we have a power-running/play-action philosophy and they get worn down against the big/elite defensive fronts.
Two, change your philosophy if you're going to keep recruiting the same players. You either go to the true spread offense with a dual threat QB or build a big/strong OL and recruit a pocket passer.
We've relied too heavily on dual threat QBs to put a bandaid on a severed limb. You can't tell me that it's impossible to recruit elite offensive linemen to come to VT.
While we get the most out of the players we do recruit and am grateful for the character of the kids coming in, there is only so much an elite skill player can do for a team with giant holes in the trenches. A good example of this could be found with the Philadelphia Eagles. Arguably the most talented skill position players in the NFL, but the OL was weak. I couldn't count the number of times the Eagles passed on 3rd and 1 or Vick pulled a miracle out of his butt because the OL was getting dominated (sound familiar?
**End rant. No back to your regularly scheduled program
