The Goat Pen

Virginia Tech's suffered from some tough early losses against top-notch programs recently, but this one might be the most costly. VT could afford a wipeout loss to the #1 team in the country, but they couldn't afford the injuries they suffered tonight, most notably the injury to Michael Brewer. Ohio State dominated three of the four quarters in this one, and given their ability to put up big plays when they need them(which was impressive considering their supposed questions at WR), I'd have to say the Buckeyes would have won even if Brewer had managed to stay healthy. But VT has been barely treading water for years now with sub-standard offensive line play and shaky recruiting, and tonight, VT got dragged into the deep end of the pool and drowned. With Brewer out for at least a month, every game is going to be a bumpy ride.

Sorry about Brewer Jason

Fuck Ohio State

EFZ

When Michael Brewer went down week one, I think most VT fans expected the Hokies to struggle and possibly lose at Purdue and/or East Carolina, due to the total lack of experience remaining at QB-- backup Brendan Motley had thrown one pass in college, and barely threw in high school, as his high school team ran a Wing-T offense. Motley was sort of an insurance scholarship-- he's a talented athlete who was never supposed to start at QB.

Nobody thought VT would lose to East Carolina because Motley wouldn't get any help. Motley threw for 281 yards and rushed for 85 today. He wasn't the problem. An injury-riddled defense that got shredded by ECU's third-string QB played a large role in blowing this one, as did this VT team's inability to play smart. They committed eleven penalties for the third straight game, didn't come up with a muffed punt in the end zone, missed a field goal, dropped a key fourth-down conversion late, and played some of the worst third-down defense of Bud Foster's tenure. This is not a particularly good East Carolina team, but they didn't have to be particularly good today-- they just had to be better than Virginia Tech, and they were.

Things get worse for the Hokies as their best player, Kendall Fuller, goes down for the season after knee surgery.

JRB, how hot is Beamer's seat? I know it's sort of a Bobby Bowden situation there but things are unlikely to go well the rest of the season and the fans that I've met from VT have been pretty fervent.

The three positions at which VT could not afford a serious injury were QB, MLB, and CB. There was no proven depth at any of those positions. QB Michael Brewer went down in the second half of the first game, MLB Andrew Motuapuaka went down in week two, and now Kendall Fuller is done for the year. It's possible Fuller never even should have tried to play-- that knee has clearly been bothering him since the opener.

It's going to be a tough year. The injuries may actually serve as cover, though, for Beamer. Even if the bowl streak ends this year, which looks quite possible, I don't think anybody wants to see Beamer go out due to a season which is largely not his fault. Despite what some less-than-informed angry VT fans might be saying, he is not just a figurehead leader at this point. He is clearly involved on the sidelines(especially on Saturday at East Carolina-- I thought he was going to get flagged a couple of times), and VT hasn't suffered the kinds of widespread off-field player misconduct issues that tend to arise when players no longer respect a staff.

There are some issues that need to be resolved within the staff, though. There were reports of players being offered scholarships by position coaches without clearing the offers with their coordinators or with Beamer this past offseason. That could have simply been a consequence of Beamer's convalescence from his throat surgery last year, but staff cohesion has been arguably the strongest contributor to VT's success over the last twenty years-- if that's coming apart, then this is not going to get better. The staff, though, is maybe the strongest argument for keeping Beamer. The most recent hires appear to be working out-- Stacey Searels has obviously improved the offensive line, Zohn Burden has done good work with a limited group of WRs, and while OC Scott Loeffler has taken his share of knocks over his first couple of years, he's doing excellent work right now with what he's got. The defense has struggled terribly in both of VT's losses, but that's understandable given the injuries and the opposition, and nobody thinks VT's defensive staff is incompetent. If Beamer leaves, the staff likely goes with him, unless AD Whit Babcock is comfortable handing the reins over to Bud Foster. Opinions vary on that point.

We're clearly nearing the end of Frank Beamer's tenure at VT, but I still think Beamer is going to get to decide when that end comes. Sure, there are a lot of "hot takes" being directed at VT football right now, but I tend to think many of them are coming from people who do not remember VT football before Frank Beamer, and the ones that aren't don't seem to have much to say about whom VT can realistically hire to replace him.

It seems like letting Foster take over at this point would be a mistake, just as letting Mickey Andrews take over FSU at the end would have been a mistake. Once you're is deeply ingrained in a failing culture, it's hard to overcome some of the bad habits and tendencies and re-energize to take such a position. But that's just my opinion.

VT is an attractive job. There's a lot of talent in the region and while London is a good recruiter, the program is very down right now. Maryland sucks as well. So VT could be a very good to excellent program with the right leadership, it's just hard to see how Beamer or Foster will provide that anytime soon.

Too bad Beamer isn't coaching at Alabama. Then it would be Beamer at Bammer....

Virginia Tech hasn't been able to overcome adversity this year, and Frank Beamer may have finally run out of time. There's been a lot of chatter over the last two weeks that the wheels of coaching change are already in motion. I'm of mixed feelings about this-- VT badly needs someone that can energize recruiting, and the coaching staff has struggled making game management decisions in recent years(clock management at the end of regulation in this one was appalling). On the other hand, there's no guarantee a new staff fixes any of this. The talent level has dropped considerably over the last five years, and it's tough to imagine any head coach giving more to VT or fitting in better at VT than Beamer has.

VT is still competitive, and it may be unfair that this season's disappointment could force Beamer out. VT's playing way too many kids that aren't ready now-- VT's lost the last couple of weeks largely because freshman DBs can't get coverages right. But VT's in a downward spiral right now, and there's really only one step left to take.

contract extension?

Boston College is a very bad offensive football team, and they might have had a great chance to win this game in the fourth quarter if it hadn't been for one of the worst calls I've ever seen. BC was denied a touchdown on a fumble return in the third quarter, because the officials inexplicably ruled that Travon McMillian's forward progress had been stopped(it had been, by the tackle that caused the fumble). Just an awful call.

But even that was arguably a better call than Tim Brant's play-by-play call of this game. If anybody at Raycom Sports cares a whit for quality broadcasting, Brant will have to get his own ride home from Chestnut Hill.

but you scored 26 points on the best defense in the history of college, if not pro, football!

Well, 19, actually-- VT scored a touchdown on a fumble return. As I said, BC is a very bad offensive football team. VT isn't much better, and BC's defense is pretty darn good-- at one point midway through the fourth quarter, VT had gained a total of ten yards in the second half, and the play that gave VT positive yardage for the half ended in a lost fumble. They'd be terrific if they could depend on any help at all from their offense.

I guess the mystery is over, Beamer will retire after this season. It's a really bad year to need a coach though.

Richt might be available - maybe tater tot too!

Too bad. Isn't next year the game at Bristol?

Yes, it is. I'm already dreading that game, especially since I'll probably be there for it.

I thought Beamer would wait a bit longer to announce this, but his retirement is not a surprise. I'd like to think this was entirely Frank's decision, but I suspect it wasn't. In any case, Frank Beamer is the single most important person in the history of VT athletics, and no one else is all that close. They've already named the street leading to Lane Stadium for him, and they may rename the stadium after him, too.

There's supposedly an old Chinese curse that goes, "May you be doomed to live in interesting times." The next month or so will be the most interesting time in VT athletics in a long, long time.

How to describe this ugly football game? An anecdote from it might serve best. They were honoring former GT players and coaches on the field tonight, with special focus given to GT's 1990 national championship team. At one point, they had a slideshow on the Jumbotron paying tribute to deceased members of the Georgia Tech football program. The slideshow ran under a video banner that read: "In Memorandum."

It was that kind of night.