Game #2 - Virginia Tech at East Carolina

[hokiehi21]

WHEW. Glad we got the W. I think we can officially say our defense is back baby.

Sucks that we lost David Wang though

 

[Chrish1023]

i think hosely was just trying to make a big play to try and make up for our lack of offense. he needs to be back there for us because he can be a game breaker.

Yeah that's what i'm guessing he was thinking. probably wanted to make a big play since his other big play (the interception) got called back on an interesting PI call

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

An ugly win. I don't think our O was actually as bad as it looked and I don't think our D was as good as they looked. Balls were dropped on both sides.

I hope I can check this up to Logan playing his first road game. Still, I am nervous as hell.

Kyle Fuller got the game ball last week and he deserves it this week as well. What a stud.

Also, how much of an upgrade is Edwards!

What happened to Wang?

 

[HokieGhost]

Yeah that's what i'm guessing he was thinking. probably wanted to make a big play since his other big play (the interception) got called back on an interesting PI call

How do you manage to get 12 penalties while your opponent gets NONE?

At one point, Coach Beamer went after the officials about sounds being made by the ECU defense designed to draw our offense off-sides.

The PI penalties on Hosley and Whitley were questionable at best. Enough has been said about the Hosley call, but the guy Whitley was guarding stumbled and Whitley ran up on him while the uncatchable ball went sailing downfield.

The hit out-of-bounds on Oglesby after his first TD should have been a personal foul, but nothing was called. Wilson got speared more than a couple of times in the piles, but nothing was called.

Those Conference USA "officials" need to be retired or sent down to ref high school games.

 

[HokieChamp]

So, Wang is out 8-10 weeks after having foot surgery. Is Gibson going to take his place
or Gough?

 

[HokieGhost]

Just in case anyone is interested, Tech has given up a total of 102 yards rushing on 52 attempts for a 2.0 average yards per rush.

 

[HokieChamp]

Some quotes:

Stinespring on Logan Thomas:

"He did a nice job. He'd like to have a couple throws back. Again, you put a young quarterback and a snap decision there and he did a really good job out there. He handled everything, checked in and out, blitz, max protection, what is hidden in this whole deal is we caught Logan with what Auburn does, the quarterback decide play, he got a lot of mileage out of that, we're going to have to run him more, he was getting positive yardage."

Beamer on the win:

"I actually apologize to our team. We weren't mentally ready to go, we had too many young kids traveling for the first time. We had such a great game last week and everyone thought it would happen again this week. We had 12 penalties and turnovers, that's just not good Virginia Tech football. That's my fault; we were just not ready to play as we should be. I tell you this, that second half, I'm proud of our football team. The defense hung tough against a good offense and offensively we drove the ball 80-yards when we had to. We had to come in and learn a lesson and to still learn and win the football game, gut it out, we got good kicks and didn't get on that fumble, but we did some gutty things in the half and there is something to take in this football game to be a better football team.


Link from Rivals

 

[wildturkey]

What an awful game. I want to feel a little bit of happiness since we won but I just can't. The only positive thing I can say is its a damn good thing that Foster has the defense playing well again.

First off, this game was sloppy. No excuse for all the penalties (minus the BS pass interference on Hosley's INT). Beamer's quote after the game about not being ready is what frustrates me to no end with him. What the heck do you mean not ready? THAT'S YOUR JOB. I'd rather see you bitch the players out than make it seem like you coasted all week drinking lemonade in the practice tower.

The offense was just terrible today. I know people will give Wilson lots of cred, but really, we scored 17 pts today because our O-Line was way bigger than ECU's D-line. That's it. If that were UNC, Miami, or any other AQ conference line, we wouldn't have had the same result. We can't just give it to DW and expect him to get us 8 yards every carry.

Which brings us to LT. There's no sugar-coating it, he sucked. He's new so don't take it like I'm giving up on him or he's no good, but he needs some serious help. He doesn't look comfortable at all and as someone else already said, he rarely even put the ball in stride with the receiver. Stinespring and O'Cain aren't doing him any favors either. Would it kill them to run some short slants, curls, or drag routes for 5 to 8 yards? How about some HB or TE screens? Seriously, just give him some quick, simple throws right now to build his confidence. You're not doing him any favors having him sit in the pocket for 4 to 5 seconds looking for a big gain when A) He's looking to run as soon as anyone gets remotely close and B) His deep throw accuracy isn't all that great to begin with. They need to do a lot more with him. Saying "screw it, we're just going to run 95% of the time" is not an acceptable alternative unless you want to go 8-4.

One last thing, Beamer needs to chew Hosley's ass out. I love Hosley, but he made some rookie level mistakes today. He fielded several puts over his shoulder that were inside the 10 (a common known mistake) and for some odd reason, decided to run backwards on that final ECU punt. Just chill out, Hosley. You don't need to break a Sportscenter highlight every punt.

 

[hokiecheme11]

Would it kill them to run some short slants, curls, or drag routes for 5 to 8 yards? How about some HB or TE screens? Seriously, just give him some quick, simple throws right now to build his confidence. You're not doing him any favors having him sit in the pocket for 4 to 5 seconds looking for a big gain when A) He's looking to run as soon as anyone gets remotely close and B) His deep throw accuracy isn't all that great to begin with. They need to do a lot more with him. Saying "screw it, we're just going to run 95% of the time" is not an acceptable alternative unless you want to go 8-4.

^^^^^^ This!
I don't understand what happened to short routes. Not only would they get LT in a rhythm, it would help our WRs too. Which would hopefully bring down the number of drops that are absolutely infuriating.

 

[awaz]

The offense was just terrible today. I know people will give Wilson lots of cred, but really, we scored 17 pts today because our O-Line was way bigger than ECU's D-line. That's it. If that were UNC, Miami, or any other AQ conference line, we wouldn't have had the same result. We can't just give it to DW and expect him to get us 8 yards every carry.

i agree with everything else but this.. wilson (and oglesby really) deserve a lot of credit.. the o-line was bigger and better than ecu's d-line, but wilson and oglesby both broke a lot of tackles, never went down to one player, and almost every carry they plowed over the guy making the hit for 2-3 more yards.. both RB's had great games i thought

agree that thomas sucked, but the coaches were the worst hokies on the field, no doubt.. the play calling was horrific IMO

 

[hokiehighsuperfly]

LOL, may the whole state of Iowa die a slow and painful death starting tonight. A neighbor heard me yell when they went into the third overtime.

 

[HokieGhost]

Some general observations about this thread and how it turned into what you would see on any other Tech message board. I thought we were going to be different? What happened? There are reasons most of us are here, but the majority of this thread is not one of them.

Once upon a time, Hokie football fans would have been happy with a win, no matter how we got it. Even a hard-fought loss was acceptable if the team was seen as fighting for the win up to the last possible second. Just my opinion, but Tech football fans have become incredibly spoiled since our last losing season in 1992. They somehow expect to win every game, and win them without any errors.

LT has taken a lot of hits in this thread for not throwing the ball well. Thomas faced a faster, bigger, stronger, and much more athletic version of the Appalachian State 3-4 defense. Yes, ECU's defense threw a number of things at Thomas which confused the heck out of the young Tech QB who was starting the SECOND game of his career. Yes, he threw the INT in the end zone where the defender had walled off Boykin and managed to make an incredible catch and keep his feet inbounds. Yes, he threw another pass later in the game that should have been picked off but the defender dropped the ball. Those are legitimate complaints but I think we can all agree that they're all correctable in practice.

I've also read several comments since the game that LT was not throwing the ball into the most perfect spot for our receivers to catch the ball. Yes, LT missed a couple of receivers, but some just flat-out dropped the ball.

Sorry, but when a Tech receiver has both hands on the ball and fails to CATCH the ball, ESPECIALLY when he's in the end zone, that's a MAJOR problem that Sherman needs to address in practice. Coale and Davis should have had TD receptions yesterday but they allowed the ball to be slapped or pulled away. There were at least two other drops during the game, but for some reason, LT has become the primary focus of the criticism.

Thank goodness we won, otherwise we would be reading how certain players need to be replaced...oh, wait...

 

[amszete]

Some general observations about this thread and how it turned into what you would see on any other Tech message board. I thought we were going to be different? What happened? There are reasons most of us are here, but the majority of this thread is not one of them.

Once upon a time, Hokie football fans would have been happy with a win, no matter how we got it. Even a hard-fought loss was acceptable if the team was seen as fighting for the win up to the last possible second. Just my opinion, but Tech football fans have become incredibly spoiled since our last losing season in 1992. They somehow expect to win every game, and win them without any errors.

LT has taken a lot of hits in this thread for not throwing the ball well. Thomas faced a faster, bigger, stronger, and much more athletic version of the Appalachian State 3-4 defense. Yes, ECU's defense threw a number of things at Thomas which confused the heck out of the young Tech QB who was starting the SECOND game of his career. Yes, he threw the INT in the end zone where the defender had walled off Boykin and managed to make an incredible catch and keep his feet inbounds. Yes, he threw another pass later in the game that should have been picked off but the defender dropped the ball. Those are legitimate complaints but I think we can all agree that they're all correctable in practice.

I've also read several comments since the game that LT was not throwing the ball into the most perfect spot for our receivers to catch the ball. Yes, LT missed a couple of receivers, but some just flat-out dropped the ball.

Sorry, but when a Tech receiver has both hands on the ball and fails to CATCH the ball, ESPECIALLY when he's in the end zone, that's a MAJOR problem that Sherman needs to address in practice. Coale and Davis should have had TD receptions yesterday but they allowed the ball to be slapped or pulled away. There were at least two other drops during the game, but for some reason, LT has become the primary focus of the criticism.

Thank goodness we won, otherwise we would be reading how certain players need to be replaced...oh, wait...

^ Agree 100% with you. I couldn't have said it better. BUT - the near 100 yards in penatlies is pretty tough to digest though. Lets hope that was just a one game deal.

 

[hunzworth]

Some general observations about this thread and how it turned into what you would see on any other Tech message board. I thought we were going to be different? What happened? There are reasons most of us are here, but the majority of this thread is not one of them.

Once upon a time, Hokie football fans would have been happy with a win, no matter how we got it. Even a hard-fought loss was acceptable if the team was seen as fighting for the win up to the last possible second. Just my opinion, but Tech football fans have become incredibly spoiled since our last losing season in 1992. They somehow expect to win every game, and win them without any errors.

LT has taken a lot of hits in this thread for not throwing the ball well. Thomas faced a faster, bigger, stronger, and much more athletic version of the Appalachian State 3-4 defense. Yes, ECU's defense threw a number of things at Thomas which confused the heck out of the young Tech QB who was starting the SECOND game of his career. Yes, he threw the INT in the end zone where the defender had walled off Boykin and managed to make an incredible catch and keep his feet inbounds. Yes, he threw another pass later in the game that should have been picked off but the defender dropped the ball. Those are legitimate complaints but I think we can all agree that they're all correctable in practice.

I've also read several comments since the game that LT was not throwing the ball into the most perfect spot for our receivers to catch the ball. Yes, LT missed a couple of receivers, but some just flat-out dropped the ball.

Sorry, but when a Tech receiver has both hands on the ball and fails to CATCH the ball, ESPECIALLY when he's in the end zone, that's a MAJOR problem that Sherman needs to address in practice. Coale and Davis should have had TD receptions yesterday but they allowed the ball to be slapped or pulled away. There were at least two other drops during the game, but for some reason, LT has become the primary focus of the criticism.

Thank goodness we won, otherwise we would be reading how certain players need to be replaced...oh, wait...

 

[Ragingcroc]

First off, I am very happy we won the game. It was very sloppy and painful to watch though.

Our defense looked pretty a good. A few dropped passes here made them look better but we got pressure on the ball only rushing four. Some were coverage sacks though. The secondary looked good. We didn't give up many big plays either, only two receptions for 19 yards.

The offense looked okay but it was killed by Logan Thomas's accuracy, penalties and drop by receivers. He's got to hit receivers in stride and stop making them adjust for receptions. I actually thought the spread with the read option worked very well. Logan Thomas is a very good downhill runner and averaged 6.0 yards/carry. I actually thought the iform worked slightly worse. Everyone knew we were going to hand it off almost every play. When we started using iform more, you could see Wilson was breaking down because of all the tackles he had to break. ECU defense and every other defense we play isn't stupid and is going to key on Wilson every play. The spread read option actually gives us another running option in Thomas if the defense keys on Wilson every play. How else do you think Thomas get 6.0 yards/carry?

Special teams looked horrid. Coverage was actually decent but Journell missed a FG and the punter was horrible. ECU's punter was amazing; Hosley couldn't get any returns going and he's an awesome return man.

 

[amszete]

It would be awesome to see the option run a little in our offense as well. Correct me if I am wrong here, but wasn't there talk during Spring by our coaches about this being run at times?

 

[vtpoop]

I'm just glad we won. Very rarely do you make that many mental mistakes, turnovers in the red zone and win. I'll take it, we just need to learn from our mistakes and get better.

The one great thing about this game was our defense. Yes, ECU dropped some big passes,but to hold that offense to just over 100 yards is friggin phenomenal. VAST improvement over last year.

Now, hopefully Logan has the jitters out and will improve.

 

[hunzworth]

Some general observations about this thread and how it turned into what you would see on any other Tech message board. I thought we were going to be different? What happened? There are reasons most of us are here, but the majority of this thread is not one of them.

Once upon a time, Hokie football fans would have been happy with a win, no matter how we got it. Even a hard-fought loss was acceptable if the team was seen as fighting for the win up to the last possible second. Just my opinion, but Tech football fans have become incredibly spoiled since our last losing season in 1992. They somehow expect to win every game, and win them without any errors.

LT has taken a lot of hits in this thread for not throwing the ball well. Thomas faced a faster, bigger, stronger, and much more athletic version of the Appalachian State 3-4 defense. Yes, ECU's defense threw a number of things at Thomas which confused the heck out of the young Tech QB who was starting the SECOND game of his career. Yes, he threw the INT in the end zone where the defender had walled off Boykin and managed to make an incredible catch and keep his feet inbounds. Yes, he threw another pass later in the game that should have been picked off but the defender dropped the ball. Those are legitimate complaints but I think we can all agree that they're all correctable in practice.

I've also read several comments since the game that LT was not throwing the ball into the most perfect spot for our receivers to catch the ball. Yes, LT missed a couple of receivers, but some just flat-out dropped the ball.

Sorry, but when a Tech receiver has both hands on the ball and fails to CATCH the ball, ESPECIALLY when he's in the end zone, that's a MAJOR problem that Sherman needs to address in practice. Coale and Davis should have had TD receptions yesterday but they allowed the ball to be slapped or pulled away. There were at least two other drops during the game, but for some reason, LT has become the primary focus of the criticism.

Thank goodness we won, otherwise we would be reading how certain players need to be replaced...oh, wait...

First off, I am very happy we won the game. It was very sloppy and painful to watch though.

Our defense looked pretty a good. A few dropped passes here made them look better but we got pressure on the ball only rushing four. Some were coverage sacks though. The secondary looked good. We didn't give up many big plays either, only two receptions for 19 yards.

The offense looked okay but it was killed by Logan Thomas's accuracy, penalties and drop by receivers. He's got to hit receivers in stride and stop making them adjust for receptions. I actually thought the spread with the read option worked very well. Logan Thomas is a very good downhill runner and averaged 6.0 yards/carry. I actually thought the iform worked slightly worse. Everyone knew we were going to hand it off almost every play. When we started using iform more, you could see Wilson was breaking down because of all the tackles he had to break. ECU defense and every other defense we play isn't stupid and is going to key on Wilson every play. The spread read option actually gives us another running option in Thomas if the defense keys on Wilson every play. How else do you think Thomas get 6.0 yards/carry?

Special teams looked horrid. Coverage was actually decent but Journell missed a FG and the punter was horrible. ECU's punter was amazing; Hosley couldn't get any returns going and he's an awesome return man.

I wrote a very long and drawn out reponse to both of these post but for some reason it didnt post, so here are the cliff notes.

LT: He had a rough outing yesterday but all young QB's have games like that. Brian Randall, Tyrod, and even MV1 (7-17 3ints '99 clemson game)all had their struggles. Logan is far from being a polished QB but things will get better with reps, i think we all knew and realized this coming into the season.

Penalties: This was a problem in the spring and summer but hopefully we get it cleaned up before ACC play. FWIW dont underestimate the enviroment @ ECU, their fans are loud and crazy (kinda reminds me of WVU) and the fact that their DL was emulating the snap count doesnt help either.

Defense: nasty! back to the days of old IMO.

David Wilson: Didnt really see him as much as i would have liked early on but later in the game it seemed he had about as many carries(26) as he could handle (he looked gassed on some of those long late drives). I do wish that we would involve him more in the passing games (screens and wheel routes) DW should kill on the inside screen imo.

Play calling: I had absolutely no problem with it. The spread formations are going to be a big part of our offense this year (especially as thomas "grows" as a QB) and you cant perfect them if you dont run them. I realize that we were pretty productive in I form but you have to stay multiple to keep the defense honest. I do wish that we would mix in a little more play action especially when defenses start to focus on the run. Another positive was seeing the option (the actual option with a designed pitch not the read option that we have used last couple years). Having a QB with inside running ability of LT and a RB with the speed and quickness of DW, the option could be a dangerous weapon to have in our arsenal if we can run it efficiently.

Overall: i was pleased with a win, but realize we are a long way from where we want/need to be. The good part about it is that our staff has been here many times before and expect we will clean a lot of this up before ACC play.

edit on special teams: Just let Danny punt!

 

[ACC_HOKIES]

My thoughts on the game:

This was a vintage Virginia Tech win. Power running game and dominating defense were the story here. It certainly wasn't pretty Saturday, but this is the way we win and the way we have won for decades now. No matter how much we as fans want something different, the Frank-n-Stine offense is our comfort zone. Welcome back to 2006!

-The penalties committed in this game were unacceptable. I was encouraged by Beamer's post game comment that he was going to apologize to the players for that and other preparation issues. We should expect improvement for Arky State.

-Logan Thomas had a tough day: there is no denying this. He was indecisive, inaccurate, and incorrect in some of his decisions. We fans just need to be patient, and stand behind him. I support him 100%! He's the best we have (as determined by the coaching staff), and I'm sure he's giving the team his best effort. He will improve as the season progresses.

-The running game was solid. David Wilson showed more flashes of his extreme potential, on the way to another 100 yard game. His one fumble was discouraging, but I'd rather have that fumble happen now than later. It will be an even bigger focus for him now. JO continues to be a great change up, and there will come a game when he is asked to and does carry us to a victory. LT made some good reads in the running game today.

-The receivers have got to make more plays to help out Thomas. Congrats to Boykin on his record!

-Although we have all witnessed some excellent defensive performances over the years, I cannot recall a time when the defense was this prepared for an opponent. Almost every single play ECU would line against one defensive set, Davis would change their play, followed by a counter by Whitley. It was as if our guys knew exactly what was coming. A HUGE credit to the staff for this preparation, and every defensive player for supreme execution. The were a few mistakes that fortunately didn't hurt us, but overall, this was an amazing performance from film room to victory formation.

-Special teams needs work across the board. Field position was an issue all day, and missing that field goal is not normal for us. I will say that Demler did have a somewhat better game.

Again, the team had a bad day, but they still got the win. So while our team works hard to improve, we better bring some sound!

 

[awaz]

Some general observations about this thread and how it turned into what you would see on any other Tech message board. I thought we were going to be different? What happened? There are reasons most of us are here, but the majority of this thread is not one of them.

Once upon a time, Hokie football fans would have been happy with a win, no matter how we got it. Even a hard-fought loss was acceptable if the team was seen as fighting for the win up to the last possible second. Just my opinion, but Tech football fans have become incredibly spoiled since our last losing season in 1992. They somehow expect to win every game, and win them without any errors.

LT has taken a lot of hits in this thread for not throwing the ball well. Thomas faced a faster, bigger, stronger, and much more athletic version of the Appalachian State 3-4 defense. Yes, ECU's defense threw a number of things at Thomas which confused the heck out of the young Tech QB who was starting the SECOND game of his career. Yes, he threw the INT in the end zone where the defender had walled off Boykin and managed to make an incredible catch and keep his feet inbounds. Yes, he threw another pass later in the game that should have been picked off but the defender dropped the ball. Those are legitimate complaints but I think we can all agree that they're all correctable in practice.

I've also read several comments since the game that LT was not throwing the ball into the most perfect spot for our receivers to catch the ball. Yes, LT missed a couple of receivers, but some just flat-out dropped the ball.

Sorry, but when a Tech receiver has both hands on the ball and fails to CATCH the ball, ESPECIALLY when he's in the end zone, that's a MAJOR problem that Sherman needs to address in practice. Coale and Davis should have had TD receptions yesterday but they allowed the ball to be slapped or pulled away. There were at least two other drops during the game, but for some reason, LT has become the primary focus of the criticism.

Thank goodness we won, otherwise we would be reading how certain players need to be replaced...oh, wait...

logan thomas played poorly (as he did last week), and the play calling wasn't good.. i see no reason to call people out for stating those facts

ya there were drops, but getting mad at coale for dropping a pass that was 2 feet behind him and 2 feet high on a slant route in the end zone is expecting too much from your WR's

he's young (LT) and he's going to go through growing pains.. doesn't mean we cant say he played poorly..