Virginia Tech Hokies

[innocentbystander]

They are in over their heads.

Sounds like....

[JRB]

For the second straight week, VT's defense was able to make a hot start from the offense stand up. There wasn't much pretty about this game, especially if you like watching quality running games-- VT had 38 carries for 76 yards, and that was triple what Pittsburgh managed to get on the ground, mainly because VT sacked Pittsburgh QB Tom Savage eight times. Savage had to work very hard to keep the sack number as low as eight-- it easily could have been thirteen. VT crossed up Pitt's power running game(which killed VT last year) by playing DE Dadi Nicolas as a stand-up fifth lineman/rush LB. He cut off the cutback lanes Pitt had all game last year, and sacked Savage three times.

[DooKSucks]

So, UNC might be able to get to four wins now? Woohoo

[JRB]

13-0 Duke, midway through the third in Blacksburg. This VT offense was always going to have a day where nothing worked. I thought it might be next week in Boston. It looks as though it's today-- Logan Thomas has thrown an interception in the end zone, Cody Journell missed another field goal, they couldn't convert on a 4th and one on their first possession of the second half, and the defense has given up scores on Duke's last two drives.

Duke hasn't beaten a ranked team on the road since 1971. It looks as though today might be their day.

[JRB]

The vibe around this one was bad all week. Way too much enthusiasm had cropped up about a VT team that is just terribly limited offensively, Duke is fielding the best team they've had since Spurrier was there in the late 1980s, and VT came into this one down three defensive starters-- Brandon Facyson was out with a concussion, Kyle Fuller played sparingly due to a groin injury, and J.R. Collins sat out for undisclosed reasons(i.e., suspension). This isn't a bad loss, given where these two programs are at the moment. What stings about this one was that Duke didn't have to play all that well to win. They gained 200 yards, turned the ball over four times, didn't convert a third down(0-11), and only gained 18 yards in the fourth quarter. VT gained nearly twice as many yards, but threw away chance after chance offensively. Logan Thomas played better than his statistics would suggest, but nearly every ball he threw that got tipped or mishandled by a VT receiver landed in the arms of a Blue Devil defender. VT had five possessions in Duke territory that came up empty. Duke's kicker hit from 51 and 53. VT's supposedly reliable kicker, who's been a wreck since the East Carolina game, missed from 45 and 40. It was a bad day for Virginia Tech, but it wasn't a fluke-- Duke was good enough when they had to be to deserve the win, and VT's offense and special teams couldn't keep up.

[Jungle Rat]

Im guessing you lost and feel embarrassed by it.

[KeviNole]

I am.

I really wanted VT to win the rest of their games so we could demolish another Top 10 team in the ACCCG. Fuckin' Chokies.

[JRB]

That was never going to happen. VT has been walking a very fine line all year-- they have little to no margin for error any time they take the field. They won three ACC games largely because they committed zero turnovers in those three games. They could have lost to East Carolina, and probably should have lost to Marshall. Considering all the injuries and the lack of gamebreaking talent on the offensive side of the ball, I was very surprised they made it to 6-1. I'm not disappointed in the overall record at all. I'm just disappointed they lost by playing so poorly on offense-- coming off a bye, you expect a better performance than that. If VT finishes 10-2 and wins the Coastal(unlikely, but not impossible), that would be an achievement beyond any expectation I had for this team.

[AugustWest]

I am.

I really wanted VT to win the rest of their games so we could demolish another Top 10 team in the ACCCG. Fuckin' Chokies.

Y'all will get to beat top 10 Miami for the second time in the ACCCG.

[dave_rickart]

The two quarterbacks combined for zero touchdowns and eight interceptions.

The NCAA should require all copies of the gametapes be immediately burned...

[JRB]

Along with VT's uniforms. The last time VT wore all orange like that was in 1994. That day, they got blown out by UVa.

This is how strangely wrong the Duke game went for VT. Mitchell Ludwig, VT's regular kickoff man, suffered an injury in warmups. His backup is the third-string placekicker, Michael Branthover. Branthover, for some reason, was in the stands with his friends watching the game. They actually had to page him over the PA system to find him and get him to suit up.

[Dr. Nostron]

heh - thats pretty funny.

[innocentbystander]

Egads...

"So here we are going into Virginia Tech week. Let's just start with the defense because it is probably the best defense in America. They are rated as the No. 3 defense in the nation right now. They are No. 5 in rushing defense, No. 2 in passing defense, they are No. 2 in sacks with 28. They are 11th in the nation in creating turnovers and they are returning nine starters on defense. We have played some pretty tough defenses this season but this defense is better than all the other teams we have faced. That is a fact. The secondary might be the best secondary in college football right now.

"On offense, Logan Thomas, their quarterback is a big, strong guy. He has 101 rushing attempts, 258 yards and four touchdowns. He's got over 1600 yards throwing. He's a veteran guy and from what I understand when you see him in person he's bigger than you think. This team is a team that plays great on defense. They play low scoring games. Their special teams have been traditionally strong and they are once again very strong. So this is a team built totally on win with defense, win with special teams, and try to control the ball the best you can on offense and I'm really impressed with them as you can tell. This will be a tremendous challenge. Thank goodness we play them here at home but we have to have a strong week at practice and put together an accurate game plan. We cannot have any turnovers, we cannot have any penalties and we have to play a clean game and maximize ourselves and we have to play lights out on defense."

....after UNC, this VPI team is going to kill us.

[JRB]

Terrific execution of a very basic gameplan today by Boston College. They played an entire game without committing a turnover, they committed one penalty(and that was intentional), and they basically played for VT's offense to make mistakes. That was very smart, because this VT offense is increasingly proficient at making mistakes. BC got one first down in the third quarter, but managed to score 10 points to stay in the game thanks to two VT turnovers inside the VT 20. BC then broke the game open with a pick-six and a long Andre Williams TD run against a tired and frustrated VT defense. VT scored late to make it look more respectable, then fumbled away a last chance to tie. 34-27 is your final. After overachieving in the first seven games, VT has faced two straight disciplined teams that waited for VT to hand them the game, and the Hokies have meekly complied with eight turnovers in two weeks.

[innocentbystander]

Terrific execution of a very basic gameplan today by Boston College. They played an entire game without committing a turnover, they committed one penalty(and that was intentional), and they basically played for VT's offense to make mistakes. That was very smart, because this VT offense is increasingly proficient at making mistakes. BC got one first down in the third quarter, but managed to score 10 points to stay in the game thanks to two VT turnovers inside the VT 20. BC then broke the game open with a pick-six and a long Andre Williams TD run against a tired and frustrated VT defense. VT scored late to make it look more respectable, then fumbled away a last chance to tie. 34-27 is your final. After overachieving in the first seven games, VT has faced two straight disciplined teams that waited for VT to hand them the game, and the Hokies have meekly complied with eight turnovers in two weeks.

Good review of the game. Agree totally. Logan Thomas arrogantly said it perfectly...

“We did everything we wanted to today,” Hokies QB Logan Thomas told reporters afterward. “They couldn’t stop us if they wanted to; we stopped ourselves”

...here is what I said over at BCI.

Bad stuff first. Lots of bad stuff.

BC (offensively) couldn’t do a da-n thing in the trenches. Nothing. Zero. It was Clemson all over again, no control of the line. Andre Williams may have had a good day getting those two huge touchdown runs, but (more often than not) it was a one yard gain.

I think there was like fifteen 1 or 2 yard gains in this game for Andre. That is ALL on the offensive line. It wasn’t on Andre.

So, Offensive Line for the day… D. The only reason why you “pass” is because of the 4th and goal blocking when there were 8 offensive linemen on the field. The only reason why you get a sold D and not a D- was because Chase wasn’t really touched (not that he would be just handing the ball off all game.)

Defensive backfield, you fail. F.

F-.

Bad. Bad day. Awful day. Forget that you might have FCS talent. You all played like division-two football players. All those passing yards, all those HUGE passing plays you gave up, all those big third down completions. They had a walk-on VPI player who earned his scholly this summer, he burned you guys even! F

Now the “okay” stuff.

Chase Rettig. 11-14. 93 silly yards. 1 TD pass. But most importantly, the 20 yard run and NO Ints. B-. I would have said C+ but given that you did exactly what we needed you to do (that is, NOT LOSE THE GAME) plus a couple other things gets you up to a B-. Getting that pass to Amidon off your back foot was actually, quite good. You were way out of position to throw because you O-Line stunk up the joint all day and you got something.

The good? Andre Williams, almost NO penalties, and the kicking game. We really have to give it up to Freeze, he has it. He always hits the Field Goals and we needed them. We depend on him being good and he is, lots of kick offs into the endzone which is also good. Andre? What can we say, all he does is score points and get first downs. If the BC offensive line had HAD an even “average day” Andre’s numbers would have been ridiculous. Sadly, far too many off his carries were for next to nothing, but (as I said earlier and we all know) that wasn’t on Andre. B+ here, no As.

Now the great? Well the “great” is the only reason why BC won the game, turnovers.

BC had none. VPI had 4.

That’s it. That is the ONLY REASON why BC won this game. BC had half the yardage VPI had at one point in the 3rd quarter and was STILL IN IT simply because of turnovers. So A+ to KPL, Ediballi, and the defensive line for getting all those sacks (which created the fumbles and all the INTs) and everyone and anyone that touched the ball on offense for NOT turning it over.

This was an excellent win. Overall (even with the F for BC’s defensive backfield) the team played well. 4 huge plays on defense and BC needed every single one of them to beat what I believe to be the #20 team in the country. This was the best win of Chase Rettig’s career and the best win in Addazio’s Head Coaching career. Been 5 years since BC has beaten VPI. Its about time.

Best of luck to the Hokies for the rest of the season. I think you guys smoke Miami next week.

[DooKSucks]

How the hell did that happen? BC was complete dogshit against UNC last week.

[billy bob bocephus]

I think you guys smoke Miami next week.

might be possible - I understand Duke Johnson's ankle is broken and he is out for the year - it's too bad for him and makes Miami much more one dimensional

[innocentbystander]

How the hell did that happen? BC was complete dogshit against UNC last week.

Against UNC turnovers worked against BC.

Against VPI, they worked in BC's favor.

That's it.

[JRB]

VT was coming off two bad losses. Logan Thomas had been inconsistent, the offense couldn't stop turning the ball over, VT couldn't run the ball against anybody, and the Hokies were going on the road unranked to play a top fifteen team, a situation in which VT hadn't won since beating #9 West Virginia in 1989. VT also lost both starting corners during the game, and was down to its third-string nickelback.

VT 42, Miami 24. Logan Thomas played his best game at Virginia Tech(25-31 for 366 and 2 TDs in a driving rainstorm). The Hokies committed no turnovers(though that was largely blind luck-- VT recovered one of its own fumbles in the endzone for a TD and got another fumble wiped off the board when Miami fumbled it back). VT gained 549 yards of total offense, including 183 yards on the ground. Basically, VT ran Miami out of their building. Maybe this was a case of Florida State beating Miami twice, but I don't think so-- Miami hit VT with a big play early, and their effort didn't seem poor until late in the fourth quarter when it was already over. After the last two weeks, when so much went wrong, VT was just due for a game where nearly everything went right.

I think you guys smoke Miami next week.

I don't say this often, but when it's appropriate, I must: InnocentBystander called this exactly right.

[billy bob bocephus]

Thank you VT, the Lord's work has been attended to today.