Week 5: Virginia Tech @ Cincinnati (in Landover, MD) (Sept. 29, 2012)

[Forty_Sixand2]

Don't get me wrong. I am very concerned about certain coaches and what they bring. I would like to see some changes. I am just not going to bail if it doesn't happen. It does say something when your head coach coaches special teams and fails to recruit, but I am not sure what goes on behind the scenes. If he is willing to be hands off, he has earned the right to go out on his own terms.

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

I am not as down on Stiney as some are. Our tackles (on film) have been fine. It is the middle of the line. His TEs have been open, they just drop passes (Malleck, Dunn) are are overmatched in passing situations (Martin). I wonder what the deal is with Redman.

 

[amszete]

So I was the one that said this team didn't exude the "fire" I would expect from a well coached team. I guess you could say it's really a lack leadership within our players on both sides of the ball as well within our coaching staff. Maybe I just have this crazy idea that Beamerball stands for running all over our opponents, smash mouth D, each player laying the wood with a chip on their shoulder making other players wince when they get back up for the next play, and being sound / making plays on ST when it matters most.

Will I continue to back the program - hell yes. But do I think CHANGES need to occur with program? Hell yes to that as well! I kind of feel our/my situation with donating to the program each year is analogous as being a shareholder in a public co. We all donate with certain expectations to be met. And when those expectations are not met on a continual basis whether it's a CEO/President (Beamer) or some other C-Level exec. (Steinbag, O'pain, etc) - over time changes need to be made if the co. is to keep faith with its shareholders and be viable.

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

Kyle Fuller acting like an adult on Twitter while all of his coaches don't:

David Teel ‏@DavidTeelatDP
#Hokies CB Kyle Fuler on winning TD: "I just made the biggest mistake I could make. I let the receiver get behind me. I take responsibility"

 

[Ragingcroc]

Just a few thoughts:
-LT has got to be more accurate with the football and make better reads. He was throwing everywhere but between the numbers and missed a lot of reads. He did show improvement on accuracy in the second half. The TD pass to Fuller was an insanely tight window.
-TEs had a pretty bad day catching the ball. Logan was off all day but I think they missed some easy ones.
-WRs had a pretty an ok game. Logan was off but they dropped some catchable balls.
-Guard play was pretty bad again.
-Running backs had a pretty good game. I really liked the coaches getting Dyrell invovled in the running game with fly sweeps. He made some good moves to get upfield.
-The defense was pretty interesting with no help deep. We were rushing 5 or 6 every play. We also had 4 DL, 2 LB and 5 DBs every play. We were pretty much playing man coverage across the board on the WRs.
-Our Defense dominated the run game. Awesome to see everyone flow to the ball against the spread.
-Exum and Manning got abused pretty bad in the passing game. However, its pretty hard to play coverage man on man with no safety help.
-I am not sure the defense was ready on that catch and score by the RB. Not sure who's responsibility the RB was.
-I'd really like to see what happened to Fuller on the last TD. The outside corners were playing deep, so I don't know what happened.

 

[Ragingcroc]

Kyle Fuller acting like an adult on Twitter while all of his coaches don't:

What do you mean?

 

[HokieChamp]

My opinion on the coaching:

Get rid of Newsome
Keep Stiney but not as OC, as O-Line Coach
Get a new OC. Don't make O'Cain the OC, get someone young and passionate on the rise.
Have Weaver retire.
FB can retire in a few years or so (Don't want a Bobby Bowden complex on our hands)

 

[awaz]

Exum needs to move back to Rover. I will risk what comes with a true freshman like Manning if it gets him out there and experience. Exum was a playmaker at Rover and needs to go back there.

BC - Fuller
FS - Jarrett
Rov - Exum
SS - Manning
Nickel - Bonner

The big thing I noticed on the defense side of the ball was tyem leaving exum on an island most of the night. I didn't understand that at all. He had a dreadful game. From what I could see, he broke up one pass that wasn't a penalty, and it was called anyway. He got away with one later so it's fine. But why do you hang him out to dry all game?

Im not as optimistic about the offense. Every game is the same, putrid early, decent to good in the 4th quarter. That seems to consistent to me and I don't understand that.

I see the changes from last year, but tey don't seem to be working, and in game I haven't noticed a really good adjustment yet. When I start noticing adjustments that should be made in football, there's a problem, because I don't know football that well.

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

The big thing I noticed on the defense side of the ball was tyem leaving exum on an island most of the night. I didn't understand that at all. He had a dreadful game. From what I could see, he broke up one pass that wasn't a penalty, and it was called anyway. He got away with one later so it's fine. But why do you hang him out to dry all game?

Im not as optimistic about the offense. Every game is the same, putrid early, decent to good in the 4th quarter. That seems to consistent to me and I don't understand that.

He is the BC. The BC is left in man to man in our 4-2-5 defense. I agree. Normally you put your more physical corner there. He has the size to be physical but if we are going to put anyone on an island, it needs to be Fuller.

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

What do you mean?

didn't mean the "on twitter" part

It is just nice to see someone taking responsibility for what happened. It would be nice to see the coaches come out and say, "we called a bad game" once in a while.

 

[m477hokie]

I don't think they called that bad of a game. I thought we just executed very poorly. I don't know x's and o's very well but I mostly thought it was a lack of execution on offense and a lack of ability in the secondary.

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

I don't think they called that bad of a game. I thought we just executed very poorly. I don't know x's and o's very well but I mostly thought it was a lack of execution on offense and a lack of ability in the secondary.

I am honestly not sure about how Gray is evaluating and keeping Exum on the boundary. Also, we seem to be in Nickel more often that I would do it. I am not the coach though. GOD do we need a healthy Tariq back as well.

 

[EvanGWatkins]

I am honestly not sure about how Gray is evaluating and keeping Exum on the boundary. Also, we seem to be in Nickel more often that I would do it. I am not the coach though. GOD do we need a healthy Tariq back as well.

Not all his choice sometimes ...

 

[Ragingcroc]

 

[wildturkey]

So here's my observations:

Non-game related

-If we still had rep, I'd neg the hell out of Foozball. If you're going to be that fair weathered, feel free to blow on out of here the next time the wind picks up.


Game related

-Offensive play calling needs some improvement. The sweeps to the short side of the field are stupid. Stiney and O'Cain will get murdered for this game (and season) but the majority of the reason the offense stinks is...

-Logan Thomas. Let's not be kind here. He's been terrible this year for a player of his caliber. The offense was revamped in the offseason to tailor to his skills. When he struggles, the entire offense becomes stagnant. There's no NFL RB to bail him out anymore. It's all on him. He's missing pre-snap blitz pick ups, he's locking onto receivers and not going through his progressions and he's not just overthrowing guys, he's throwing to different area codes. To make matters worse, his strongest asset last year (the read option) has also decreased in efficiency because he's keeping WAAAAAY too much. I don't know if he's not reading the defense correctly or if he's arrogantly calling his own number, but its a shock if he ever hands off. Until he plays better, the offense is going nowhere. You can bitch about the OC all you want, it ain't changing a thing.

-Stop the revolving door at RB. 60% carries for JC, 40% for Holmes. Use JC in some HB screens as well. There. Problem solved. It's not that hard.

-Defense played well first half, couldn't get off the field in the 2nd. I thought the front 4 played better this game getting some pressure (which I hadn't seen much this year) but the back 7 gave up yards on quite a few busted coverages and on 3rd downs.

-Seriously, how long are Foster and Gray gonna keep Exum at DB? He was good last year safety (I don't care what we call them, the two guys in the back are safeties). Right now we're weak at the corner and safety position. Seems to me it makes a lot of sense to plug that safety hole with Exum (who played well last year) and platoon that corner spot. Better to have 1 area of weakness than 2.

 

[757Hokie83]

My opinion on the coaching:

Get rid of Newsome
Keep Stiney but not as OC, as O-Line Coach
Get a new OC. Don't make O'Cain the OC, get someone young and passionate on the rise.
Have Weaver retire.
FB can retire in a few years or so (Don't want a Bobby Bowden complex on our hands)

Agreed. And hate on me if you want, but if beamer is unwilling to make the necessary changes, I'm ready for him to retire. As long as we have our current staff, we are in for disappointment

 

[Ragingcroc]

So here's my observations:

Non-game related

-If we still had rep, I'd neg the hell out of Foozball. If you're going to be that fair weathered, feel free to blow on out of here the next time the wind picks up.

LOL

Game related

-Offensive play calling needs some improvement. The sweeps to the short side of the field are stupid. Stiney and O'Cain will get murdered for this game (and season) but the majority of the reason the offense stinks is...

-Logan Thomas. Let's not be kind here. He's been terrible this year for a player of his caliber. The offense was revamped in the offseason to tailor to his skills. When he struggles, the entire offense becomes stagnant. There's no NFL RB to bail him out anymore. It's all on him. He's missing pre-snap blitz pick ups, he's locking onto receivers and not going through his progressions and he's not just overthrowing guys, he's throwing to different area codes. To make matters worse, his strongest asset last year (the read option) has also decreased in efficiency because he's keeping WAAAAAY too much. I don't know if he's not reading the defense correctly or if he's arrogantly calling his own number, but its a shock if he ever hands off. Until he plays better, the offense is going nowhere. You can bitch about the OC all you want, it ain't changing a thing.

Pretty much agree with everything here. It seems like the WRs were getting open as well so I am pretty confused on his performance.

-Stop the revolving door at RB. 60% carries for JC, 40% for Holmes. Use JC in some HB screens as well. There. Problem solved. It's not that hard.

I don't understand why fans complain about the revolving door at RB. Its one position where you can do that and not see a fall off. Anyway, Martin Scales got a whole 2 carries and those were near the goal line. Most of the RB carries were between Holmes and Coleman. LT had too many carries and Dyrell took some carries away on the fly sweep.

-Defense played well first half, couldn't get off the field in the 2nd. I thought the front 4 played better this game getting some pressure (which I hadn't seen much this year) but the back 7 gave up yards on quite a few busted coverages and on 3rd downs.

It seemed to me we were rushing 5 or 6 on almost every play would be a part of the pressure we got on Cinnci's QB. It seemed like Bruce Taylor and Jack Tyler were blitzing on almost every play.

-Seriously, how long are Foster and Gray gonna keep Exum at DB? He was good last year safety (I don't care what we call them, the two guys in the back are safeties). Right now we're weak at the corner and safety position. Seems to me it makes a lot of sense to plug that safety hole with Exum (who played well last year) and platoon that corner spot. Better to have 1 area of weakness than 2.

Exum hasn't been very good in coverage. To be fair, our DBs were pretty much man to man the entire game with zero help deep. Even our "safeties" were near the LOS and manned up on inside receivers.

 

[sparko]

defense -- they played very well in the first half .. you can't hang this loss on them, regardless of what the stats may say. after the final cincy touchdown and they were up by 2 kicking the extra point, i saw bonner in on the PAT with his hands on his hips not even TRYING to block the pat (a return would've given 2 pts and tied the game). considering his play in the first 5 games and after seeing THAT lack of effort and shit-attitude, he should be fucking benched..period. He is not delivering as a starter. i'd love to put exum back at safety but what is our other option at cornerback?? manning is NOT the answer right now. he is a true freshman and it definitely shows. if anything, start cole at rover and swap jarrett and exum. where in the hell are you jayron hosley????? we played a good game defensively. like i said, i don't care what the stats say. D did its job, other than the busted play with the flat pass to the RB and the last second TD, we battled through secondary issues and bullshit penalties to keep a good offensive team to 13 points. they couldn't run the ball for shit. it was a great defensive gameplan.;

offense - what can i say? LT3 only shows up late in the game when it matters. our interior line is not playing well at all. you can preach all you want about execution but bottom line .. our coaches should know now what it working (short passing game, quick outside running game) and what isn't. so why does it take 3 quarters for them to start calling plays to our strengths? this coaching staff is being out-coaches by big east teams. these players are being out-hustled by everyone imaginable.

i fear that the 10-win streak may be gone after this season. i don't see us beating fsu or clemson and based on what i see from miami, unc, and duke, any of them could beat us.

the silver lining -- think we'll be returning everyone next season and i think we'll still kick uva's ass

 

[Hokie Swagger]

still dont get why our safeties weren't playing deeper at the end of the game, we didnt give our corners any help then and we got burned. not too surprised. our dline again getting minimal pressure all game long, so disappointing. logan isnt close to the player he was last year, its not just a slow start, he just has lost it for whatever reason. offensive line wasnt very good, but thought jc and holmes did a good job today.

had a good time at the game, but that ending just crushed me. even making a bowl is going to be tough this season i think looking at the rest of our schedule. really ready for beamer to shake the offensive staff up, meaning actually firing people. just annoys me that clemson goes and hires a hc head coach to be their oc and their offense explodes instantly, and we are stuck with this bc frank doesnt want to hurt anyones feelings

 

[hunzworth]

Dont really have a whole lot to say about this game but here goes.

On defense i could pretty much just copy&paste the comments that i've had after every game.

- We need to stop playing so much man in the secondary.

- Exum needs to move back to safety. Let bonner play nickel (he has been ok there) and some cb.

- Not having a backer is really hurting our defense. It limits our play calling and coverages and puts a lot of pressure on our DB's.

- We did get some pressure this game but it was mostly when blitzing 6+.

on offense:

1st half: same old shit.

2nd:

- Martin is not the road grader TE we have heard about. He gets beat a lot.

- Would have made a big difference is Dunn catches the ball that gets picked off. He gets a pass though because everyone has a bad play or two.

- I think we found a nice rhythm with our RB's today, i didnt mind the rotation at all. Holmes seems to have figured out he isnt a dancer and JC is just electic with the football in his hands.

- Again i think outside running opened things up for the entire offense.

- Hope to see Davis play like he did today for the rest of the season.

- LT seemed to have got in rhythm in the second half also. Hope that maybe this was his turning point.

Honestly im not as upset as some. I knew this game would be a struggle and that we had problems that played to the hand of cincy. You never feel good about a loss but there were times today that we saw flashes of what we can be, im just hopeful that we can put those flashes together and get it going as we head into ACC play.