Week 4: Virginia Tech vs. Marshall @ Blacksburg, VA 12:00 PM EST ESPNU

[awaz]

Hahahahahahahaha. Oh. Man. This is pants on head retarded.

1. This made me laugh quite a bit.
2. It's also how I felt the entire game.

 

[sparko]

our defense gave up yardage and TOP .. but in the second half played well against a good offensive team. That QB was pretty damned good. Bud bails this team out -- yet again. I look forward to better days for VT football. I'm tempering my expectations this season. This offense is far from good. Our lineman (even the few who are supposed to be strongest) .. they got pushed around by FUCKING MARSHALL!!!! It's gonna take some time for Grimes to get his guys in and breed the mentality needed. As far as offensive play calling...we need to spread the field out more. We don't have the horses in the trenches to hang with the better ACC teams. Take the last few Logan truck plays (which we had no success with all day). Throw 3-4 WRs out wide (that have to be accounted for), an H-back and work with only 5-lineman .. You're taking 2/3 of their defense out of the play right off the bat .. and it worked

 

[sparko]

and the play calling -- was far from creative in my opinion. too many 1st down inside-runs, then 2nd-and-long inside runs, making it 3rd and 6+ ... not enough bubble screens/short passes, still too many easy drops

... we shouldn't have won that game --- and i don't hang this shit on anything but the offense. oline needs to sack the hell up ... period.

/rant

 

[VTscores]

Another escape with a win.

They won't be as lucky in other games, so they really need to find an offense in there somewhere.

 

[Ragingcroc]

Looks like I missed a crazy one. Work can suck like that sometimes.

 

[Ragingcroc]

Jarrett's interception was a thing of beauty.

 

[awaz]

and the play calling -- was far from creative in my opinion. too many 1st down inside-runs, then 2nd-and-long inside runs, making it 3rd and 6+ ... not enough bubble screens/short passes, still too many easy drops

... we shouldn't have won that game --- and i don't hang this shit on anything but the offense. oline needs to sack the hell up ... period.

/rant

I'm sure this is because I don't study football in great detail, but I don't see any difference in play calling between this year and last year. Repeated read options on first down, that work one or two times a game. Very few down field throws. And the qb in the shotgun on clear cut qb sneak downs. Ya it might fail every now and then, but at least you don't go backwards on the goal line. They went to the I after the second pick, it was working, and then I don't recall seeing it again the entire game.

 

[Sleepy T]

The offensive line is not nearly as improved as we thought. These last couple games have shown that. If they can't get any better push up the middle than this...then the O will have some major trouble running the ball going forward. I am glad for the W...but starting to realize that this season (with regards to the OL and running game) may be doomed. GT up next...God help us.

 

[HoHumHokie]

The offensive line is not nearly as improved as we thought. These last couple games have shown that. If they can't get any better push up the middle than this...then the O will have some major trouble running the ball going forward. I am glad for the W...but starting to realize that this season (with regards to the OL and running game) may be doomed. GT up next...God help us.

IMO Gibson is better than 3 or 4 of today's starters...not sure what Grimes is doing there. LT is going to have to make quicker reads and be accurate with his throws. WR's are getting open, but LT doesn't want to throw to them unless they are 5 yds open. Stanford and Byrne need to be starting over Knowles. I would have like to have seen more of Caleb today as well...seems Mangus only runs the sweep. Hoping things will improve when JC returns. Any word on Edmund's injury?

 

[hokiegrad]

I guess I'm not quite as down on the new coaches as some of these comments sound. I know that was a terrible game but let's let the emotions subside a little. I'm convinced these coaches are doing better than last year's. Lots of kinks to work out still but the signs are there that we will get better.

 

[Sleepy T]

I am with you Hohum. Not sure why Gibson isn't starting. There has to be more to that story...

..and I think it has more to do with the players than it does the coaches. Frankly, I am not sure if some of the starting linemen (in particular the interior linemen) are very good or have their head in the game..

 

[VTscores]

I agree that the offensive coaching is better than last year, but there have been some problems on execution, and these haven't been the toughest teams VT will face.

They will need some better answers against GT on Thursday if they want to have a chance of winning that game.

 

[VT_Antzo]

That was a crazy game...glad we escaped with the win and now we're 3-1.

Game Thoughts:

Offense:
QB - Much better play by Logan (though he did have a few head scratchers) it was great to see him take the game in his hands in the OT's and plow forward for those extra yards. Reminded me of 2011 when I used to call him Mr. 3rd and 4... because with his frame he should get those yards more than 80% of the time.
RB - Solid play considering the issuses with the oline...I would still like to see more play calls where we get the ball out to the RB's in the open flat more, and screen passes would have been great in that weather.
WR - Played better and had so very clutch catches.
TE - Playing very well considering how nervous we all were when we lost Malleck for the year.
Oline - I don't know what Gibson did to lose his job, but we need to do something with the oline...they have not played well since Week 1 and even then they didn't play that well either.

Defense - The defense as a whole had a down game, we couldn't stop Marshall at all...lets take this as a learning experience and move forward.

Special Teams:
K - Journell was suspended for the game and we had to use a kicker who has never attempted a kick in a game (in the pouring rain!). They need to tighten up ASAP.
P - Nice first down run
KR/PR - The ghost of Lee Suggs came back and had a block in the back negating a nice return...

On to ACC Play vs. GT on Thursday Night!

 

[757Hokie83]

if with how suspect our offense has been, if anyone had told me that we would go into 3 OTs with marshall, i'd have told them they were insane....wtf happened to the D? They were having their way with us

 

[VTscores]

My favorite line from commentators about this overtime:

Are you not entertained?

The short video compilation from this game on TKP reminds us that although we lost some hair and some of us are now on heart medication, that was the most exciting game the Hokies played all year.

I don't want this all the time, but I'm so glad they won it.

The Key Play | serious and not so serious coverage of the virginia tech hokies

 

[Sleepy T]

Not trying to give the offense/team a pass on the last couple games, but is there anyone that thinks that Marshall and ECU might be pretty damned good teams and a more than formidable opponent for VT.

Preseason expert predictions have ECU, Marshall, and Tulsa the odds on favorites to win that conference. After looking at their schedules, It wouldn't shock me if one (or both) of those teams are 9 win teams. ECU has UNC coming up this weekend after a bye. That should be a better gauge of how good ECU is...or better yet how much the VT Offense sucks.

 

[VTscores]

Not trying to give the offense/team a pass on the last couple games, but is there anyone that thinks that Marshall and ECU might be pretty damned good teams and a more than formidable opponent for VT.

Preseason expert predictions have ECU, Marshall, and Tulsa the odds on favorites to win that conference. After looking at their schedules, It wouldn't shock me if one (or both) of those teams are 9 win teams. ECU has UNC coming up this weekend after a bye. That should be a better gauge of how good ECU is...or better yet how much the VT Offense sucks.

I think ECU and Marshall are both pretty good teams. I also think VT's offense is struggling a bit.

They aren't mutually exclusive.

We'll find out how good VT is when they face ACC opponents. There will be a real test on Thursday.

 

[NickVT10]

ECU and Marshall are above average teams IMO. They aren't great but they aren't FAMU or FIU. They will have winning records and make bowls. We struggled more than we should have but I wasn't expecting blow outs either.

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

When I looked at the VTScoop pictures on Facebook from the game, two major things jumped out at me.

1. The weather seemed much worse than it looked on TV. That one Miami game was similar. I was there and it was horrid but on TV it just looked like some rain. I'm sure this had an effect on both teams.

2. The players looked downright giddy in the post game pics. It really put into perspective the game. These 18-23 year old young men battled to the finish and win and even if it was against Marshall, it meant a ton to them. That is always good to see and really puts things into perspective.

The pics are great and I would recommend checking them out for sure.

 

[sparko]

good call 46 .. i checked em out and there are a lot of great pics. scooter, evan, and those guys on vtscoop do a hell of a job ... tariq is straight beastin it this season ..

our whole D is playing lights out. Imagine if Tone and RVD had been in the mix up to now. Marshall and ECU are both SOLID teams and more-so, very solid offensively