Week 2: Western Carolina vs. Virginia Tech @ Lane Stadium 1:30 PM EST ESPN 3

[Sleepy T]

If he added a little bit of weight and learns the position, Caleb could be very good too IMO. All of the RBs looked good today, Edmunds, Mangus, JC (with limited time..by design I am sure) and Caleb.

 

[hokiecat]

If he added a little bit of weight and learns the position, Caleb could be very good too IMO. All of the RBs looked good today, Edmunds, Mangus, JC (with limited time..by design I am sure) and Caleb.

RB looks to be a strength again.

 

[hokiehi21]

RB looks to be a strength again.

Young ones too. Three are redshirt freshmen, one's a true sophomore. That position will be stacked for the foreseeable future.

 

[HoHumHokie]

45 points! That is more than we scored in any game last year and most since Appy State a couple years ago.

We should have had 45 pts at half time. WCU is a very bad team. I still haven't seen anything out of Knowles that has me thinking he can be a legit WR.....I am not sure he should even be starting. LT had tons of time to throw the ball in the first half and he still elected to throw into triple coverage and throw jump balls instead of checking down. Guys were wide open most of the day, but LT still goes with his first option 75% of the time. I like the fact that Byrne and Cline were worked into the offense. Cline could become a legit weapon.

 

[Sleepy T]

I think so too Hohum. We left alot of points out there.

LT and the offense was by no means flawless. His decision making and long ball are like Jekyll and Hyde..same as last year. There is an improvement that I saw today..but there is certainly room for plenty more. Hopefully he can work out the kinks before ACC play.

I am hoping for some separation in the receiving corps in the next couple weeks. I think DJ Coles will still be a big part of it when he is 100% and gets his stuff together. Stanford had some nice catches today, and a couple drops I think (one was a tough play for him, but one that should probably be made). Byrn really impressed. He had a couple really nice grabs (poor throws by LT). Knowles was pretty meh again. Byrn should get the start there next week. he earned it, he can be trusted..just my take. I don't want to hear any coach speak about "hurting pride or confidence"..it is a pretty simple concept..you perform when given the opportunity..you get to play.

Running game (backs) looked pretty good. O Line got better throughout the game..they were a little rusty earlier in the game I thought.

Defense (big surprise) and Kicking game was awesome . A couple punts inside the one, touchbacks on KO, 3 interceptions including a pick 6. If the D stays healthy and continues to play this well..they will keep us in every game and win a couple for us.

ECU up next...they will be better than WCU

 

[wildturkey]

Thoughts overall:

-Defense was superb. Can't really expand on that. Everyone did their jobs well. Even the 2nd string looked good in the 4th. Should have been a shut out but the refs somehow screwed up an obvious interference call on that muffed punt.

-Special teams was solid but really didn't get tested much. We didn't give up anything so that's new! Also, why the fuck is Jarrett returning punts? Does Beamer not look at our defensive depth chart and realize how thin the 2ndary is and how important of a player Jarrett is to that D? It makes me want to drive to the Burg, knock on Beamer's door, and smack him in the back of the head. Put Knowles (or maybe not with his butterfingers), Mangus, JC, anyone else out there. The risk/reward factor is vastly not in our favor with Jarrett returning kicks.

-All RBs looked solid. OL opened up some good lanes after a couple of mehish series in the 1st. I still think Edmunds should get the lion's share of the load but its nice to know we have some options for a change of pace back. OL was solid in pass protection as well. LT had plenty of time to throw

-Liked what I saw from Byrn, Stanford, and Cline today. Stanford has some drops early but rebounded nicely. I thought all ran good routes and Byrn had two or three great catches off bad throws. Coles barely played but did snag a TD and Knowles barely improved at all. If he can't turn it around with the dropsies next game, bump him down the depth chart and roll with Byrn, Stanford, and Coles.

-We're going to live and die by Logan Thomas again this year. He costs us points and drive continuations with some really poor decisions and two pretty bad INTs. His deep ball at this point is not worth throwing. Everything else is hit or miss which is just depression considering his time in the program. He should be way more polished than what he is. For us to win games, our defense will have to keep things close. Because if we go down 14 or more at any point, I have zero faith that Thomas can lead us back. He just doesn't have command of the offense that a star senior QB should.

ECU up next. They can score some points so I won't be shocked at all if its close. We SHOULD win that game. The difference between "should" and "will" rests on Logan Thomas.

 

[ckhokie]

I'm not exactly sure why Logan seems to get a free pass from criticism. Excuses have been made for the terrible OL play last year and now the young/poor WRs. However, what I saw from him today still looks like old Logan. Dumb throws into double and triple coverage and 2 INTs in the endzone against a bad team are unacceptable. For some reason, everyone gets totally up in arms whenever people start mentioning Leal, but throughout his career in backup time, he has at least looked like he can make a play. I would like to see him get some time with the 1s

 

[Ragingcroc]

I'm not exactly sure why Logan seems to get a free pass from criticism. Excuses have been made for the terrible OL play last year and now the young/poor WRs. However, what I saw from him today still looks like old Logan. Dumb throws into double and triple coverage and 2 INTs in the endzone against a bad team are unacceptable. For some reason, everyone gets totally up in arms whenever people start mentioning Leal, but throughout his career in backup time, he has at least looked like he can make a play. I would like to see him get some time with the 1s

I gave Logan a pass from last year because our oline was giving guys free runs straight to him. He had no support from the run game which means that opponents blitzed the crap out of him. We had brand new offensive staff this year so no one was set on depth chart on the O side of the chart. The new offensive staff chose Logan Thomas over Mark Leal. I am not saying the new offensive staff is right of anything.

Mark Leal will probably get his chance next year and we'll see how his play as a starter is.

I also gave Logan Thomas a pass versus Bama because of the dozen+ drops by the wide receivers. I think that overshadowed Logan's play. However, against WCU, wide receivers made a few drops but Logan made several bad throws.

 

[ckhokie]

The run game doesn't force him to not be able to read a defense though. It's like he's decided where he's going to go with the ball prior to the play even starting. There are throws he makes into double and triple coverage that are unnecessary. Throws you would expect from a first, maayyyybe second year guy.

I don't doubt our coaching staff, but there are times where I think his leash should probably be a little shorter than it is.

 

[hokiecheme11]

Haven't posted in a while, but given the circumstances I think LT played better against Bama than he did today. He just doesn't seem to go through his progressions. He seems to be making pretty good throws, but poor decisions like we have become accustomed to. I don't know what the deal is. Leal looked good, albeit against a bad team. Cline looked like a weapon as well.

I agree with the above, I really think LT needs to be on a shorter leash. We need a better game manager with how competent our running game has looked thus far.

 

[Ragingcroc]

If you watch the replays, you can see Logan go through his progressions by watching his head and eyes. It just seems like he makes the wrong decisions. I guess having Danny Coale, Jarrett Boykin, David Wilson and a experienced offensive line made him look pretty good in 2011.

 

[Ragingcroc]

I would also like Knowles to go after the ball more on the 2 INT but the balls should have thrown more in front or not thrown at all.

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

I need to go back and watch the game again as I was distracted for a lot of it but Kendall and Brandon are lights out lock down studs. Nigel Williams is an animal as well.

 

[hokiegrad]

VERY impressed with Kendall and Brandon so far, definitely.

 

[VT_Antzo]

My take from the game:

- RB's all looked solid...utilize Trey as the main back and feed him all game. JC is the nice change of pace back. Use Mangus and Caleb as hybrid RB/WR's and get them the ball in space and let them rack up the YAC.
- Oline played strong again, need to keep it up and continue to gel as a unit.
- WR/TE - Some pluses and minuses here...no need to go into detail as everyone as done so already.
QB - Logan played so-so, Leal played well in mop up duty. What I found interesting is that on multiple occasions Logan could have pulled the ball down and ran. Instead he either threw an incompletion or maybe a completion. Maybe he is saving his legs for later in the year, or maybe he is trying to identify himself as a pocket passer and not a runner...who knows.
ST - Looked better this week, much better.
D - Solid

 

[Sleepy T]

I found interesting is that on multiple occasions Logan could have pulled the ball down and ran. Instead he either threw an incompletion or maybe a completion. Maybe he is saving his legs for later in the year, or maybe he is trying to identify himself as a pocket passer and not a runner...who knows

I have been noticing this as well, and I don't think it is by coincidence, but more by design. It has been said on various forums that the Offensive coaches have kept it pretty "vanilla" for the first couple of games in an attempt to
A)bring in new schemes/plays in order to train the O to do the little fundamental things well before having the entire playbook thrown at them....and
B)Not show the rest of the ACC all of their cards...
...and if thats the case, I personally like that philosophy. We shouldn't need to show every thing we have got to beat some of these teams.

I think LT(Staff) is trying to be a pass first QB and let the RBs run with the rock. I don't think the coaches want to get him beat up just yet. But I would expect to see some of LT running the ball once ACC play starts. It adds a completely different element to the offense and it makes the other teams prepare for it and honor his ability to get yards with his feet during the game. This opens up the offense and softens the defense even more. I wouldn't expect him to run as much as in the past...but I am hoping that is somewhat part of the ACC gameplan.

 

[ACC_HOKIES]

I would also like Knowles to go after the ball more on the 2 INT but the balls should have thrown more in front or not thrown at all.

Agreed. They've got to improve the throw and/or fight for the ball better. LT and Knowles have yet to time that throw consistently. I recall vs Bama, the pass was too far.

 

[HoHumHokie]

Glad to see the coaches don't intend to put up with another year of WR's half-assing it around the field.