Week 2: Virginia Tech v Austin Peay (9/8/2012)

[robV703]

On offense:

• Improved guard play, snaps for Benedict - nope. Our guard play is bad. Probably our biggest issue
• Lots of carries for Holmes, Coleman, and Scales -more carries this game, but not as much success as I would have liked. See above...
• Better audibles / checks by LT - Was still not super accurate, but there were a few plays where he checked into a big gain
• More vertical routes for our TEs - both Dunn and Mallek were target downfield
• Lots of Leal and the backup OL - Didn't get as much playing time as you'd like

Special teams:

• New punt returner - This was a pretty obvious change. Got to think Jarrett will be the guy

Comments in quote

 

[VTfoozball]

"Overall I'm pretty disappointed with the way we played. If the offense doesn't take a huge step forward, especially with the interior running, we are looking at some losses."

(mocking chant) NEWW-SOOMME NEWW-SOOMME NEWW-SOOMME

 

[hokiecheme11]

Caleb Farris is the world's worst snapper

 

[Ragingcroc]

Caleb Farris is the world's worst snapper

All of the missed snaps were catchable balls. The snaps weren't good but Thomas has got to catch those.

 

[hunzworth]

I think our D and special teams played about as well as could be expected, i know we gave up the TD drive but overall we pretty much shut them down. On offense LT has got to fix the accuracy issues and our WR's have got to start hanging on to catchable balls. I dont think there is any need to hit the panic button yet but we will certainly need for things to start clicking before we hit conference play.

-IMO the OL isnt as bad as it seems as we have seen a lot of blitz in the past two games which has kept the middle pretty clogged.

-Im not really surprised we didnt play that well in this one, we never seem to "get up" for games like this. Just glad we didnt have a jmu repeat.

 

[VTscores]

Can this be a blessing in disguise?

It seems to me that it might make sense for Logan Thomas to stay another year until he's more consistent. He certainly isn't going to win a Heisman like this.

 

[wildturkey]

Beamer said post game he was disappointed in the slow start and thinks it might be because of the quick turnaround. After losing to JMU and struggling to get going today, how about telling Weaver to stop scheduling quick turnarounds.

I guess that's the reason we started out so poorly. Guys just sort of half assing it for awhile. How else could you explain the OL not generating enough push to get the RBs any decent running room? They can't be that bad so it has to be an effort thing. We got the win comfortably but I still don't like it. These kind of efforts make for bad habits.

I blame this all on those awful helmets. It's impossible to play good when you look so bad.

 

[Nortazhokie]

Beamer said post game he was disappointed in the slow start and thinks it might be because of the quick turnaround. After losing to JMU and struggling to get going today, how about telling Weaver to stop scheduling quick turnarounds.

I guess that's the reason we started out so poorly. Guys just sort of half assing it for awhile. How else could you explain the OL not generating enough push to get the RBs any decent running room? They can't be that bad so it has to be an effort thing. We got the win comfortably but I still don't like it. These kind of efforts make for bad habits.

I blame this all on those awful helmets. It's impossible to play good when you look so bad.

Georgia Tech is rolling Presbyterian tonight 52-0 at the end of the 3rd quarter, and they had to travel with the short turnaround. They also had a crushing loss that could have seen them come out flat as a pancake tonight, but they didn't. They've rolled up over 600 yards of offense in 3 quarters tonight, while pitching a shutout.

 

[VT_Football_Fan]

Our players were as bored to be there as I was watching. Seriously enough with scheduling the Austin Peays. I realize a lot of teams bitch out of playing us, Auburn and Arkansas most recently, but does beating Austin Peay, Richmond, etc really prepare you? I don't think so. Its like a practice. Atleast Marshall and ECU had a little fight.

 

[HokieChamp]

Can someone tell me how many WR screens we threw? It seems like there was at least one on every offensive possession. I know it's basically a staple play in our playbook, but that doesn't mean the rest of the pages are literally stapled shut.

 

[Camfantasy]

Can someone tell me how many WR screens we threw? It seems like there was at least one on every offensive possession. I know it's basically a staple play in our playbook, but that doesn't mean the rest of the pages are literally stapled shut.

Although I do think we run too many screens, I think it was meant to utilize our size and speed on the outside.

 

[hokiecheme11]

Really got to see a lot more pre-snap motion this week. I thought it looked pretty good and certainly created some opportunities on jet sweeps (and Holmes second TD)

 

[EvanGWatkins]

Our players were as bored to be there as I was watching. Seriously enough with scheduling the Austin Peays. I realize a lot of teams bitch out of playing us, Auburn and Arkansas most recently, but does beating Austin Peay, Richmond, etc really prepare you? I don't think so. Its like a practice. Atleast Marshall and ECU had a little fight.

Yep lack of effort on all sides. I will say I really liked the raw talent of Nicolas, could tell he has the ability to be very good once he learns hos to play the position,but his raw athleticism was very impressive

 

[Chrish1023]

So I spent the first half at the stadium then on and off watching the second half at my place (ie, I didn't see everything), but here are my thoughts:

-Jarret seemed to be in on a ton of tackles and had a few open field tackles as well. Not to mention he had the punt return that sparked us a little bit. He has seemed very impressive these first two games.
-Logan had another meh game. He was sailing them a little bit again and there were a few times he easily could have checked down instead of trying to run and inevitably getting sacked. Like I said last week, I'm hoping he gets it together soon.
-Our OL seems pretty good in pass protection as a number of our big plays occurred when Logan had time and was able to find guys running free over the middle. That being said, the run blocking still leaves something to be desired. The fact that we can't get enough push to complete these 4th and short situations worries me.
-I know Marcus Davis has been dropping it, but Logan isn't helping. If he's running routes over the middle, LT HAS to hit him in the chest. When Logan throws those high, Davis is left completely vulnerable when he reaches up for them.
-We had success running it outside in the second half so I hope we start to do that a little more. In regards to the playcalling, it drives me fucking nuts when we don't do play action around the goal line. If it's 1st and goal from inside the 5, Logan would walk into the endzone if we did a play action bootleg. I don't know if I've ever seen that play not work on 1st down around the goal line.
-The defense looked solid again. The DBs weren't really tested since they ran every play, but the front 7 was doing a decent job of stopping them. Obviously AP broke off a few long runs, but I guess I'm ok with that when the 4/5 of the other runs are going for <2 yards.

I'm not totally ready to accept this team as being average, but if we don't assert ourselves against a pathetic Pitt team, then I might be. I'll give the players the benefit of the doubt since they had the short week and the weather sucked yesterday. Hard to get excited when you play a shitty team and it feels like a tornados coming.

 

[Hokie Swagger]

i've been really really pleasantly surprised by jarrett, i was concerned about his size at the rover position, but he has done a great job in run support. jack tyler continues to impress as well

 

[VTfoozball]

Told you guys about Nicolas. You can see the potential there and now all he has to do is stay out of trouble and gain 20 pounds

 

[Nortazhokie]

Told you guys about Nicolas. You can see the potential there and now all he has to do is stay out of trouble and gain 20 pounds

Nicolas played very well yesterday. You could see he was a little chippy too with a mean streak, which is a good thing as long as he can keep it under control (both on and off the field).

 

[NickVT10]

I have no problem running those quick WR screens. when done right we get 10 yards every time

 

[NickVT10]

I actually wish Logan would check to those more often if the matchups are good on the edge.

 

[VTfoozball]

I have no problem running those quick WR screens. when done right we get 10 yards every time

And when done at the right time. Like NOT in the GT game when the DBs were crowding