Week 10: Virginia Tech @ Boston College, Saturday 11/2 12:00pm on ABC/ESPN/ESPN2

[hokiegrad]

in case anyone was wondering about that PI call...obviously the refs reviewed and said it was tipped because they just needed an excuse to pick up the flag

Tipped ball???? - YouTube

looks to me like pretty indisputable evidence that the ball was not tipped

Oh absolutely. That was obvious at the time, I thought. But I can't get worked up over it when it really wasn't PI and the flag never should have been thrown.

 

[757Hokie83]

Oh absolutely. That was obvious at the time, I thought. But I can't get worked up over it when it really wasn't PI and the flag never should have been thrown.

true. but they called it, penalties are not reviewable, i'm fine with them wanting to look at the replay to see if the ball was tipped, it indisputably was not, so the call should never have been reversed. Granted, they would've just gotten us back at another point

that's why the refs huddle together before announcing the penalty, they had a chance to pick up the flag then, but didn't

also, I've seen where some think that Meyer was held before the ball was thrown, and that they didn't call that because the PI was the more severe penalty, but they cant assess a new penalty on a replay either (I didn't see it, but saw some on tkp talking about it)...oh well, it is what it is

 

[Taz_Hokie]

College football players often aren?t allowed to talk a good game - The Washington Post

The difference between a good team and a mediocre one is a senior quarterback who makes plays when his team is struggling to find a way to win.

I can agree with that.

 

[Sleepy T]

Ehh. Feinstein is up there with Skip Bayless and Colin Cowherd if you know what I mean. Who really cares what he thinks ... these are college players, not NFL players .. how do you think they are going to act.

 

[757Hokie83]

McFarling: Hokies quarterback has little to work with | roanoke.com

 

[VTscores]

McFarling: Hokies quarterback has little to work with | roanoke.com

Great article, and on the mark.

Thomas doesn't have a lot of luxuries on this offense, and the new coaching staff hasn't had time to fix that. I don't blame Loeffler or Grimes for that, either.

I think Beamer does owe Logan Thomas for sticking around this year, and I think VT is a better team than they would have been otherwise. In spite of the final score, VT actually had an offense in the BC game. Yes, they should have won it, and would have if they had been able to play mistake-free.

I'm still hoping for a Miami miracle.

 

[757Hokie83]

 

[ckhokie]

McFarling: Hokies quarterback has little to work with | roanoke.com

The article passes the buck too far. Trying to legitimize the ridiculous pick 6 is where you lose me.

I'd counter this article using the same logic it uses:

He got sacked six times. Perhaps he held the ball too long on one or two of them, but six? Poor blocking plays into that somewhere.

8 turnovers in two games. Sure, a few may have been the fault of someone else, but at the end of the day, it's shitty QB play

 

[757Hokie83]

good write up on tkp today too

In Defense of Logan Thomas | The Key Play

 

[VTscores]

good write up on tkp today too

In Defense of Logan Thomas | The Key Play

Pretty righteous article, and right on! I hope Loeffler reads it.

 

[wildturkey]

I hate the "doesn't have talent" line of thought. Every debate about how good of a QB LT is and when you point out his flaws, someone circles it around to what he has around him. Because LT doesn't have NFL talent around him, we're suppose to cut him some slack? Since when does poor decision making get excused because the guy around you might get a camp invite instead of being a 4th round pick? If surrounding talent were that big of an issue, why isn't Sean Glennon lighting up the NFL right now? A great QB makes people around him better so its not that big a deal if he has great talent around him. A good QB can do that to an extent as well. But a hohum QB can't do that. And that's what Logan Thomas is. He's a hohum, average quarterback no different from a lot of guys around the country. He's not a freshman, he's a 5th year senior. He's not getting any better at VT. He is what he is. Bemoaning the fact that he has little to work with actually proves it. What you're saying is he's not good enough so he needs better talent around him. But most people use it as if to say "if he had NFL talent around him, he'd be an NFL QB talent too!"

That TKP article kind of undercuts itself too. It ends with the jist of "LT gives us the best chance to win, but we need to call the game like Leal was QB". So...why not put Leal in? 1st off, you're arguing against an unknown if you say LT gives us the best chance to win. WE have no idea what Leal can do because we haven't seen him in meaningful action so none of us can say LT gives us the best chance. The coaches can say it, but coaches can be wrong. How many times in football and other sports has a starter been "the guy", only to have something happen where the backup comes in and exceeds the starter and all expectations. The case for putting in Leal is simply knowns vs unknowns. Thomas is a known commodity. Leal is an unknown. He may be great, he may be the same as LT, he may be worse but the point is even if we lose, at least we know we tried everything we could to win. That TKP article is too much of an apologist piece. I love their stuff, but sometimes I think they do that a tad too much. It's ok to be critical you can be critical without being negative. Instead of all the LT can do this this and this and he's the man stuff, it should be written with what the underlying tone ends up being; scale back the offensive responsibilities of LT. He's not a great QB so stop calling plays as if he is.

 

[VTscores]

The article clearly states that Logan Thomas is the best athlete on VT's offense, and that while they should call the game differently to more closely approximate the long term structure of VT's offense, Logan Thomas should be running it. BECAUSE he has a stronger arm and certain athletic gifts.

 

[wildturkey]

The article clearly states that Logan Thomas is the best athlete on VT's offense, and that while they should call the game differently to more closely approximate the long term structure of VT's offense, Logan Thomas should be running it. BECAUSE he has a stronger arm and certain athletic gifts.

Being the best athlete doesn't translate to being the best quarterback.

 

[hokiegrad]

Lack of talent around the QB is clearly going to impact the O greatly. If you don't see you that... LT isn't playing TE or OL or FB or TB or WR. He can't throw the blocks we need out of those guys or run the routes we need them to run or hit the holes we need the to hit...This both limits the ploaybook (e.g. running away from our TEs) and limits the effectiveness of what we do run. A great player at any position helps but at no position is it a panacea. You need 11+. Just one that isn't cutting it is a huge handicap. We have more than one / inconsistency spread around (even worse... Can't as easily predict what you need to play call around).

And don't fall into thinking Leal is a huge unknown. To us yes. To the coaches less so.

 

[VTscores]

Being the best athlete doesn't translate to being the best quarterback.

It doesn't NOT translate that way, either. Who is in a position to make that assessment? Certainly not the fans, who have very limited access to all the comparative information.

 

[ACC_HOKIES]

This is the same conversation the whole fanbase had last year. It might be painful to admit it for some, but Logan Thomas is still our best player on offense. He makes horrible mistakes, and even at his best our offense looks bad, but he's the single greatest chance to gain yards or score on offense. We barely have a line, we have no running game, and the times that LT can throw a catchable pass is not uncommon to being dropped. That doesn't excuse the bad decisions LT has made recently. He's got to protect the ball.

No personnel changes will suddenly make this offense even mediocre. We just need to accept this right now, limit the turnovers, and grind out those horribly painful type wins we got earlier in the season. I know that sounds unacceptable to some. We want our team to rise up and compete at the top levels. However, it is the only realistic chance we have to win games right now.

 

[hokiegrad]

I loved this quote from the article: "Instead of calling for Loeffler to play Leal instead of Logan, why not call for Loeffler to play Logan like he would play Leal?" Thought he made a pretty good case.

 

[Sleepy T]

I dunno. I still think the "Beams will never bench Logan argument because he came back for a 5th year" argument is ridiculous. Beamer has replaced more than one veteran quarterback with much better options over the last 10-15 years .... not sure why anyone would think he wouldn't play the best option now, especially with an ACC championship and BCS game still on the line. Frankly (no pun intended)...if the coaches saw sooo much in Leal and were ready to move on, they probably would have quietly and nicely told LT to move onto the NFL draft after last season.

As far as the talent around him....look at his sophomore season when he had Wilson, Coale, Boykin, a better O-Line compared to the production (or lack of) he has had with the receivers and running game this year and last .... 180 degree regression?? Coincidence?? I think not. Sure, part of it falls on LT, especially some of the decisions..but not all of it. Dude is just trying to make a play.

If you put a top flight NFL QB on the Jags...does that QB make them Superbowl/AFC Championship contenders?? Prolly not.

 

[amszete]

As I mentioned I am probably in the minority here and that's ok, but I have a very hard time with people saying we have a lack of a running game when we have a decent power back that powers his way on avg for 3-4 yards a carry.

Our biggest problem I feel is not committing to the power run game when the team match-ups are right. We may not have a Lee Suggs type of situation where he can pound 5+ yards with a line but I think we can/should be able to still run the ball.

 

[ckhokie]

If you put a top flight NFL QB on the Jags...does that QB make them Superbowl/AFC Championship contenders?? Prolly not.

Andrew Luck took virtually the same team from 2 wins, to the playoffs.

Just sayin.