Week 8: Virginia Tech @ Clemson (Oct. 20, 2012)

[BeachNHokie]

Bud should mail that photo and a turd to John Swofford's office. If the ACC doesn't come out and make a statement about the officiating in that game then there is something wrong with the whole operation.

 

[757Hokie83]

Not going to totally blame it on the refs, but, after the call where they blew the play dead on LT, and that blown fumble call, it sure seemed to take the wind out of our sails.

Those refs should never be allowed to call another collegiate game. Maybe middle school would be more their speed.

 

[ACC_HOKIES]

It sounds like the refs were as bad as they seemd from the nose bleeds. I won't blame them for the lose, but it didn't help our razor thin margin of error.

One question I had for those watching on TV, WTF was going on with Hughes getting hit on the botched snap punt? It looked like he got roughed. Is there an exemption for rugby style kicks? Give credit to him for atleast getting it away.

Our defense played excellent for a large portion of the game. Clemson fans were very very restless just before the LT whistle, fumble review, and push off sequence gave them a two score lead.

Offense was just a mess. The only bright spots were Fuller and LT finally running with conviction. I don't know what happened with the big loss reverse deep in our own territory. The twice attempted double pass was horrible. I like Davis but I don't think we should be asking him to throw across the field after we've shown the play to the defense once.

This was my second trip to Clemson. Highly recommended for those who've never been. I've somehow managed to sit infront of the two most annoying bitches in their fanbases recently, but virtually everyone else in their fanbase are great.

 

[awaz]

i dont really think we would've won if the refs had been better, but that obviously hurt the hokies chances

i'm ok on bang-bang judgement calls like the 'in the grass' call on LT.. i disagree, but it happens.. but the two fumbles that they reviewed upstairs, how do you miss those? i don't get that

 

[Ballboy534]

It sounds like the refs were as bad as they seemd from the nose bleeds. I won't blame them for the lose, but it didn't help our razor thin margin of error.

One question I had for those watching on TV, WTF was going on with Hughes getting hit on the botched snap punt? It looked like he got roughed. Is there an exemption for rugby style kicks? Give credit to him for atleast getting it away.

Our defense played excellent for a large portion of the game. Clemson fans were very very restless just before the LT whistle, fumble review, and push off sequence gave them a two score lead.

Offense was just a mess. The only bright spots were Fuller and LT finally running with conviction. I don't know what happened with the big loss reverse deep in our own territory. The twice attempted double pass was horrible. I like Davis but I don't think we should be asking him to throw across the field after we've shown the play to the defense once.

This was my second trip to Clemson. Highly recommended for those who've never been. I've somehow managed to sit infront of the two most annoying bitches in their fanbases recently, but virtually everyone else in their fanbase are great.

If the punter carries the ball outside the tackle box, he loses the protection provided to the kicker. Since the snap was low and he ran to the left of the hash marks, he lost said protection.

Glad you've enjoyed your trips; our fans do try and accommodate visiting fans (unless you're SCar, and even then we're generally more cordial than most other rivalries). The upper decks (especially on the visitors side) can be a little more annoying/aggravating for visiting fans. A lot of those seats are single game sales and overflow students.

 

[Hokie200proof]

I'll take the blame for this one fellas... after changing my wallpaper to sunset Lane before the Duke game, I, in a moment of sheer insanity, changed it to a pic of Felix Baumgartner stepping out of his capsule at 128K ft.


I'll change it back before we play Boats n' Hoes U.

 

[sparko]

Maybe Wang knows what he is supposed to do, but just struggles to do it.....probably better than Gibson or others missing assignments. I could argue that Gentry is one of the key players of the years who has molded VT into a solid program. The S and C program is not the issue.

Not that I would expect anything different from an o-lineman .. but if you read his twitter -- he's much more concerned with his food options than mastering a blocking scheme ...

and i agree -- S & C is not the problem and it's not the S/C coach's responsibility to make them block and use their strength/leverage effectively.

 

[ACC_HOKIES]

If the punter carries the ball outside the tackle box, he loses the protection provided to the kicker. Since the snap was low and he ran to the left of the hash marks, he lost said protection.

Glad you've enjoyed your trips; our fans do try and accommodate visiting fans (unless you're SCar, and even then we're generally more cordial than most other rivalries). The upper decks (especially on the visitors side) can be a little more annoying/aggravating for visiting fans. A lot of those seats are single game sales and overflow students.

Thanks for the clarification on the punter. The rule makes sense. I really hadn't seen that scenario happen very often, especially from in the stadium.

We had a great time. Love the town, the fans and the gameday atmosphere. It's a travesty that the ACC doesn't set us up to play eachother more often.

 

[sparko]

that is good clarification .. i thought that it might have had something to do with the ball touching the ground .. but once he's outside of the tackle box, he's fair game?? i thought it was a miracle that he got it off .. people are still barking about special teams .. overall, i think they've been much better this season. people need to stop worrying so much about us blocking kicks and returning TDs .. they're rare .. nice when you get them but somehow relying on that to be part of what helps you win is just crazy .. our STs should worry about 3 things only:

- kicking FGs and PATs accurately
- winning the field position game .. kick the ball well, cover well -- with a good defense, go for the touchback .. this willy-nilly kicking it high and cover to pin them on the 15 instead of 25 .. is just stupid little shit that we need not worry with .. kick the fucking ball as hard as you can in-bounds and take it from there.
- make no big mistakes (no penalties, no big returns, no busted assignments)

honestly, who gives a shit about blocking punts? you rush the punter and more times than not, it results in a penalty .... not worth it unless you're playing from behind late IMO -- get the ball back and expect your offense to drive

 

[Ballboy534]

That was a hell of an effort by the punter just to get that kick off; the snap was horrendous. I was thinking "holy shit, did he really just get off a 45+ yard punt with his off foot????" until the announcer clarified that he was left footed.

 

[757Hokie83]

that is good clarification .. i thought that it might have had something to do with the ball touching the ground .. but once he's outside of the tackle box, he's fair game?? i thought it was a miracle that he got it off .. people are still barking about special teams .. overall, i think they've been much better this season. people need to stop worrying so much about us blocking kicks and returning TDs .. they're rare .. nice when you get them but somehow relying on that to be part of what helps you win is just crazy .. our STs should worry about 3 things only:

- kicking FGs and PATs accurately
- winning the field position game .. kick the ball well, cover well -- with a good defense, go for the touchback .. this willy-nilly kicking it high and cover to pin them on the 15 instead of 25 .. is just stupid little shit that we need not worry with .. kick the fucking ball as hard as you can in-bounds and take it from there.
- make no big mistakes (no penalties, no big returns, no busted assignments)

honestly, who gives a shit about blocking punts? you rush the punter and more times than not, it results in a penalty .... not worth it unless you're playing from behind late IMO -- get the ball back and expect your offense to drive

no letting the ball hit you when your return man has yelled Peter!

 

[VTfoozball]

Trying to pin them inside the 25 on kickoffs is probably Beamer's idea. He's still living in the 90's when Beamerball was winning games. Uhh those days are gone and they aren't coming back. Time for him to pay some attention to offense. Everyone else has

 

[ACC_HOKIES]

no letting the ball hit you when your return man has yelled Peter!

I've always preferred the returner running to the ball even after calling everyone off. He's sometimes the only one who knows where the ball is. If he can't fair catch it, at least he's close enough to react to a touch. Tech's returners are always so far away that I think it's much tougher for blockers to know where the ball is. I think that's what happened Saturday.

 

[hokiecheme11]

Trying to pin them inside the 25 on kickoffs is probably Beamer's idea. He's still living in the 90's when Beamerball was winning games. Uhh those days are gone and they aren't coming back. Time for him to pay some attention to offense. Everyone else has

I'm right with you Fooz, just kick the ball out of the damn endzone!

 

[m477hokie]

This was the most painful loss of the year for me, for two reasons. 1) I thought we actually showed up and played to our potential on defense, and got things rolling on offense early in the game. 2) The officiating killed our momentum, and we are a very emotional team, like it or not. That's how you have a set of games at the beginning of the season where a defense as good as ours plays badly.

 

[VTscores]

Trying to pin them inside the 25 on kickoffs is probably Beamer's idea. He's still living in the 90's when Beamerball was winning games. Uhh those days are gone and they aren't coming back. Time for him to pay some attention to offense. Everyone else has

I, for one, would like someone to take an interest in special teams as well.

It's not that special teams don't influence games, it's more that our special teams make too many mistakes and not enough positive plays. The number one rule of special teams is to be disciplined about it.

Blocking kicks is good, but don't run into the kicker.

Don't let a kickoff touch you and let the other team recover it.

Don't get a penalty when the other team is punting on 4th down.


You know, stuff like that.

 

[MattB4VT]

when are we going to start a miami game thread?

 

[757Hokie83]

I, for one, would like someone to take an interest in special teams as well.

It's not that special teams don't influence games, it's more that our special teams make too many mistakes and not enough positive plays. The number one rule of special teams is to be disciplined about it.

Blocking kicks is good, but don't run into the kicker.

Don't let a kickoff touch you and let the other team recover it.

Don't get a penalty when the other team is punting on 4th down.


You know, stuff like that.

punt you mean....dont let the other team recover the kickoff no matter what

 

[hokiegrad]

our ST has actually been better this year, I think. We haven't been running into kickers every other game. Our coverage has not been bad with a couple extremely notable exceptions. We've had some good returns. Our punting is much improved from last year. Not NFL-prospect level, but he is a true freshman doing better than the guys we had been trotting out, and he'll get better. There are definitely things that could be better, but you don't go from bad (and let's face it, we were bad last year) to great all at once. I'll take the progress, as long as it continues.