North Carolina 20, Virginia Tech 17: Postgame Stream of Consciousness

by furrer4heisman on Oct 31, 2009 11:16 PM EDT Comment 12 comments

Real quick thoughts from a hotel in Nashville.

I really need to watch the game on DVR before I comment on the playcalling on North Carolina's side of the field in Thursday's game. However, I will say this: Hokie fans were critical of Bryan Stinespring because he tried to establish the run against Georgia Tech. Now, Hokie fans are being critical of Stinespring for trying to throw the ball against a team that had the second-best rush defense in the league and 23rd-best rush defense in the country.
It's one thing to be critical of a guy when it's warranted. It's another to be critical for the sake of being critical. As for the play selection on Thursday, I'll wait until later this week when I've watched it and can make a more educated statement on it.
I do know Tyrod Taylor missed a lot of open receivers throughout the game. And North Carolina was giving him that man coverage he loves to throw against most of the game.
What I don't need to look at again is North Carolina's success on third down against our defense. Our guys just could not get a stop against the Tar Heels, a team that was one of the worst offenses in the country coming into the game.
The Tar Heels converted 10 of 19 third downs against us. That makes it tough to win games.
Another thing that makes it tough to win is when you cough up the ball on your own 30 late in a tied game. Tough for Williams, who has done so much to make this team as successful as it's been. I hope the experience will make him stronger.
G'night. Nine more hours of driving tomorrow.

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Comments

Results speak for themselves...

And we aren’t getting it done on offense. It’s been the same story in Blacksburg for the past 5 years. This is the year we needed a better offense, as our defense is clearly not on the same level as it has been in the recent past. In this particular game, we get three running plays on the same drive from inside the 5 yard line. I’m no rocket scientist, but when the announcers say “The Hokies are one of the most conservative teams inside the Red Zone, calling only 11 passes out of 60 plays this year from inside the 20,” maybe other teams recognize this and know we aren’t going to pass. A bootleg in that situation might have been the perfect call against a team expecting the run.

The results are in: In our best years under Stinespring, we have a mediocre offense.

How are we going to win a naitonal title with a mediocre offense?

by Walk The Line on Nov 1, 2009 7:38 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Ohio State won a National Championship with a conservative offense and Craig Krenzel at quarterback.

Alcohol is my anti-drug. CollegeGameBalls.com

by collegegameballs on Nov 1, 2009 12:45 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

And that's the one deviation in the BCS era

It’s not going to happen with an offense like this.

by VT89 on Nov 1, 2009 1:33 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

LSU with Matt Mauck.

Tennessee with Tee Martin and FulmerBall.

That’s three of the first six champions in the BCS era. Tennessee was run-run-run the year they won and LSU’s first championship team didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard against quality opponents in 2003, but had the best D in the country.

A bullhorn, a bottle of whiskey and a dream. GobblerCountry.com

by furrer4heisman on Nov 2, 2009 1:25 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Last year’s game featured two of the best offenses ever and they played to a defensive struggle. Regardless of the system you have to execute and make plays. We haven’t done that the last two weeks.

Alcohol is my anti-drug. CollegeGameBalls.com

by collegegameballs on Nov 2, 2009 1:28 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Walk the Line

Was that the same drive where they scored on a run on 4th down? The last thing I am is a defender of Stinespring, but I think running the football was the right thing to do on Thursday. It was successful in the red zone and it would have been successful had the Hokies done it more in the first half.

by MadJay on Nov 1, 2009 11:09 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Results...

Perhaps had we run it more outside the red zone we would have been more successful, but it would be nice to try throwing the ball once in a while down there to keep opponents guessing. Although we could look at the micro issues in this game, I prefer to focus on the macro picture. That is, we’ve had many years of an average offense (putting it nicely), and have no shot of winning a national title until that changes.

We should face it, with Stinespring as our coordinator, our program has reached its maximum potential.

by Walk The Line on Nov 1, 2009 12:22 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Tech loss to UNC

Not to defend Stiney, but, in all fairness, we need to level some criticism at Foster. The D performed great against Miami, poorly against Duke, great against BC, poorly against GT, then really poorly against UNC; after all, UNC came into the game with one of the worst offenses in the country.
UNC converted 10 of 19 3rd downs, many of which were 5 yards or more. The Hokies D normally feasts on 3rd and long, but I was amazed to see Tech rush 4, and sometimes 3, on 3rd and long, giving the UNC QB enough time to find an open receiver.

by karrlink on Nov 2, 2009 2:28 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

finally, a little bit of sensibility

Alcohol is my anti-drug. CollegeGameBalls.com

by collegegameballs on Nov 2, 2009 5:05 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Sense and sensibility?

So Bud Foster’s D, which has been ranked very highly in the past 4-5 years, has an off year. Compare this to our Bryan Stinespring’s O, which continually has off years. The results show that Bud Foster’s problems are probably temporary in nature, whereas Stinespring’s are long term. Who knows, maybe Bud will put together a monster D and Stiney can put together an average offense (I know, I’m reaching here) and we can stumble our way to the national title. Not likely I know, but we almost made it in 2007 (just imagine what one more touchdown would have done against BC).

by Walk The Line on Nov 2, 2009 10:17 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I am going to regret saying this

but I don’t think we know how much of that was Bud and how much of that was Hall/Adibi/Flowers just being amazing players. The defense sucked out loud in 2003, then game those three guys and everything was good. Then they left and were replaced by seniors in 2008 (Warren/Sturdy/Macho). Now, those three are gone, too and…

This should have probably been a post or something.

A bullhorn, a bottle of whiskey and a dream. GobblerCountry.com

by furrer4heisman on Nov 2, 2009 10:21 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Foster has proven that this year he isn’t fixing anything. After eight games you are what you are. And we’re an inconsistent team on both sides of the ball. And just so I’m understanding everything correctly are you saying that because we have had great defenses the last 4-5 years Foster is excused for this year’s squad? I love Bud and my guess is he’d be the first to disagree with you if that’s the case.

Alcohol is my anti-drug. CollegeGameBalls.com

by collegegameballs on Nov 2, 2009 10:28 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs