Stanford 40, Virginia Tech 12: Hokies Pushed Around in Orange Bowl Loss
by furrer4heisman on Jan 4, 2011 12:14 AM EST
in Virginia Tech Football
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PrintVirginia Tech took one on the chin against a Top 5 team again Monday, falling to Stanford 40-12 in the Orange Bowl. It was a tough night for the Hokies' offensive line and secondary, both of which struggled against Stanford's front seven and quarterback Andrew Luck.
Luck picked apart the Tech secondary, completing 18 of 23 passes for 287 yards, four touchdowns and an interception. Tech's safeties in particular had trouble with Stanford's crossing routes and their tight ends. Cardinal tight ends caught all four of Luck's touchdowns passes and Coby Fleener caught three.
It was a replay of the Boise State game when the safeties and middle linebackers were burned over and over by inside routes by the Broncos.
Tech didn't fare much better against the Stanford ground game, which averaged eight yards per carry. The only positive thing for the Virginia Tech defense was that for over half the game it was able to put pressure on Luck. When Luck was pressured, it forced an interception and a safety.
On offense, the Hokies' were also dominated up front. Tech's three running backs finished with 45 rushing yards on 18 carries. Meanwhile, Tyrod Taylor was sacked eight times by Stanford's defense.
In all, Stanford's dominance of both lines of scrimmage is why it won Monday's game. The Cardinal carved up Bud Foster's defense and the Hokies were defenseless against Stanford's defense, which played magnificently led by Shane Skov. Skov was Stanford's most impressive and visible player on defense as they disrupted everything the Hokies tried to do on offense.
At the end of the day, one set of players played like it was there to win a football game and the other played like it was there on vacation.
Postgame Stream of Consciousness
- Tyrod Taylor deserved better from his offensive line, which couldn't do anything against a very impressive Stanford front seven and couldn't pass protect. He did, however, deliver one of the best highlights of his career on Tech's lone touchdown of the game.
- When we couldn't run the ball against the guys it was over. They were able to pin their ears back and come after Tyrod full throttle for the final third of the game.
- We seriously couldn't cover Stanford's tight ends the whole night? REALLY?!
- It was over when the Cardinal went 97 yards in two plays. After that, it was pretty apparent what was coming.
- Hats off to Stanford. I thought we were going to be able to run the ball against the Cardinal and I couldn't have been more incorrect. Great performance by their front seven.
- Bowl games often come down to motivation and this game was no different.
- This was a great season for the Hokies. It seems to me like this game was treated as a reward for finishing the season with 11 wins and coming back to win the ACC after the two losses to start the year. Stanford's guys seemed more motivated than everyone on our roster other than Tyrod Taylor and John Graves, who both played very, very well in their final games in Tech uniforms.
- At the end of the day, the Hokies lost to a team that was ranked higher than them, was probably better than them overall and played much, much better than they did. Does it take a little bit away how good a season it was, well, maybe. We got embarrassed tonight. We got embarrassed by a Top 5 team, but it was still embarrassing for the Hokies, their staff and players and, really for the ACC, too.
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Gonna miss Tyrod
He really deserved better from the O-line, but Stanford was just straight up better than us. Great highlight from his touchdown throw, though.
The Logan Thomas for Heisman campaign starts now!
looked too much like Clemson
Played like Clemson too, all the star talent on the periphery, but no offensive line….
by Chazz Micheal Michealzz on Jan 4, 2011 12:34 PM EST up reply actions
seriously you blame the freakin helmets? no they had nothin to do with it, we looked like a championship team in the first half and the defense imploded and gave up in the second half, with the offense not being much help, Luck only looked good because the defense lost it’s grasp, other than that he looked mediocre at best early on, in the second half we just looked like the team that lost to JMU, i don’t think Stanford was that much better than us and never will, i hope Stanford enjoys the win because when the QB and coach and half the offense leave, they will be back to 1-11 soon enough, we will still be truckin 10 wins a seaon and no one will still care tho
Sure, it's easy...
…to blame the “defense” and “offense”, but clearly this is the fault of the orange helmets.
"i don’t think Stanford was that much better than us and never will"
HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA
The David Wilson for Heisman campaign begins now
From Heather Dinich:
“Ryan Williams and Darren Evans both told me in the locker room they’ll have a joint press conference to announce their futures soon.”
“Ryan Williams said he was told first or second round, Evans said fourth round, possibly higher.”
I don't think Evans stays
Darren has a kid, a girlfriend (or is it wife now), and a mother on dialysis. He has worked 2 jobs while going to school, playing football, and taking care of his family. If he is projected to draft, how can he turn that down?
by Chazz Micheal Michealzz on Jan 4, 2011 12:30 PM EST up reply actions
I'm with you
I think they’re both gone.
A bullhorn, a bottle of whiskey and a dream. Gobbler Country | Twitter | Facebook
by furrer4heisman on Jan 4, 2011 1:32 PM EST up reply actions
that is an excellent point
that i completely forgot about
both will be gone
if they believe the rounds listed above. I hope for their sakes that’s accurate info.
Rookie minimum
is currently $325,000. However, the CBA expires in early March, so the draft will likely take place without a signed CBA unless they decide to extend it.
A bullhorn, a bottle of whiskey and a dream. Gobbler Country | Twitter | Facebook
by furrer4heisman on Jan 4, 2011 3:32 PM EST up reply actions
Ryan Williams Not a Good Year
Ryan Williams first or second round, yeah right. Ok he had one great year, but I think he has lost it. He would be lucky to get in the 6th.
Ryan Williams may go in the first round...
mostly because this is one of the weakest drafts in memory.
Any other year he is a mid to late 2nd rounder.
BOILER UP!! 2010-2011
"You can commit no mistake and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." - Jean-Luc Picard
praise to VT and gobbler country
furrer4heisman I congratulate you. Your pregame analysis/breakdown was just as spot on as your postgame analysis, and both were honest, which as a stanford fan I really appreciated. I don’t think the Hokies didn’t come to play, though. You predicted that the VT defense would be challenged by the size and balance of Stanford’s offense, and they were. But until the game unraveled suddenly in the third quarter your offense and TT played well enough to score a lot of points on a lot of very good defenses. I just think that Stanford a) was on a once-in-a-lifetime mission, and b) somehow came in with a brilliant defensive scheme from their genius DC Vic Fangio. Who would have imagined that anyone could have held VT to so few rushing yards? Luck played well but Fangio’s defensive scheme was the story of the night.
scheme
I’m not sure it was so much Stanford’s defensive scheme that stopped our offense as Stanford’s front 7 just physically overwhelming our OL. Hard to do anything when that’s the case. But what really killed us wasn’t Stanford’s defense… it was giving up huge plays to their offense. Huge, how-could-you-let-that-happen plays.
Analysis
He had good analysis. The main difference yesterday was the multiple shifts on the line of scrimmage that the Hokie DL could not cover and the multiple scheme blitzes by the defense especially Skov who had a monster game and gap pressure by Fua. Good luck to you Hokies next season.
by falconsgladiator on Jan 4, 2011 3:50 PM EST up reply actions
I hate to jump on the fire-the-coach bandwagon...
so I won’t. But, I have to ask, Coach Stinespring, you have a month to get ready for this game, and that is all you could come up with? Really?
Foster’s unit didn’t do that much better, but, they aren’t exactly loaded with senior talent on that side of the ball this year.
by Leonard Thompson on Jan 4, 2011 7:32 AM EST reply actions
the way our OL played
we could have had bill walsh calling plays and it wouldnt have mattered.
A bullhorn, a bottle of whiskey and a dream. Gobbler Country | Twitter | Facebook
by furrer4heisman on Jan 4, 2011 12:00 PM EST up reply actions
TT
I felt bad for TT – running for his life all night in his final game. Stanford running up the score. Quite the bookends for his career: beatdown against LSU… beatdown against Stanford.
One play on offense stood out: 4th and 1. As soon as we lined up I said, “rush up the middle for a 1 yard loss…” Sure enough, -1 yard rush right into the Stanford front.
One play on defense stood out: Hosley’s near pick-6. I think the score was 9-7 VT at the time. Hosley couldn’t come up with it and I think Stanford eventually scored on that drive. At the time it felt big.
I thought I’d like the MNF treatment of the game… but it just came across like I was listening to guys that had never seen VT footage until sometime late last week.
Thank god I don’t have to see another Lexus “December to Remember” commercial. After seeing those commercials all last week I thought I’d be safe on Jan 3rd to watch tv again. Guess I was wrong.
about the 4th and 1
if its the one i’m thinking of, it was a play tyrod checked into. i dont know what was originally called, but tyrod changed the play at the line into the run up the middle, which of course was stuffed.
A bullhorn, a bottle of whiskey and a dream. Gobbler Country | Twitter | Facebook
by furrer4heisman on Jan 4, 2011 12:02 PM EST up reply actions
Nothing suprsing about the result
Sometimes you just run in to a buzzsaw. Stanford simply had a better team this year, and even though it took them a half to get warmed up, their A game was clearly more than VT could handle. much can be done about any of it at this point. If they played this game 10 times Stanford wins 7 or maybe 8, though most would be closer than 40-12. Too bad for Tyrod and the seniors but that’s the way it goes sometimes. We can cry about it or put our big boy pants on, get behind the team, and start thinking about 2011.
where we’ll run into another buzzsaw? It seems like every year there is at least one game they lose and the other team is called a buzzsaw after the fact. At some point, Beamer and Co need to figure out how to step up and win those games. There’s a reason that the ACC is the laughing stock of college football, and VT is one of the reasons why.
by JMUHOKIE on Jan 4, 2011 10:34 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Possibly.
VT is losing a special player in Tyrod. Kinda goes without saying. While FSU has a tested QB ready to roll the oline might need some significant work. VT defense will probably be even better next year. Wont have to rely on so many turnovers.
FSU Football, making bad teams look bad since 2010.
Yeah, the buzzsaw excuse is lame. VT is great at showing up for critical conference games and great at winning very mediocre conferences, but our 2-42 record against teams ranked in the top 8 is one of the most mind-boggling stats I’ve ever seen.
2-42
That stat is an eye popper, but is so overblown. In how many of those games were we even ranked? We did not have a good program until about 15 years ago. And in those last 15 or so years we’ve had some very close losses to top 2 teams (FSU, Miami, USC, Auburn…). The luck and timing haven’t been there. Suck it up and move on. That stat does not tell you how good or bad VT is today.
Suck it up? Really?
I’m not talking about “how good VT is today”. We saw how good they are “today” against a top five team last night, and in September when they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
We were ranked in 15 of those 44 contests. 17 of those games have occurred since 1993, when VT became “good”. We’re 2-15 against top 8 teams since then. Stellar.
I’m well aware of how good we’re been for the last 18 years. If calling it “luck and timing” helps you sleep at night when looking at the losses to Stanford, BSU, Alabama, Kansas, BC, and on and on, then more power to you. Sure, winning some of those contests would have been a tall order, simply because of a talent deficit. But there were many more in which VT crumbled in the face of adversity, lacked a killer instinct, or simply didn’t show up.
2-42 is a smack-you-in-the-face stat that proves that VT has been unable to show up in big games against highly ranked opponents, whether VT was ranked or not. It is a pattern.
Moving on is never an issue for me, as the love and passion for my alma mater will always exist. But it doesn’t mean that I’ll have blinders on.
MORE BOOTS
Man, don’t know why Tyrod wasn’t rolled out more out of the pocket. Stanford stacked the box stuffing the run. With all those guys in the middle of the field giving Tyrod a roll out run/pass option would have been lethal. Don’t know why they were so hell bent on having him try to throw out of the pocket when there wasn’t even a semblance of a pocket. Ouch.
FSU Football, making bad teams look bad since 2010.
I was wondering the same
We had one very nice play on a zone read option and then I don’t remember seeing it again. Or anything else designed to have him rolling out.
Consistency vs. Excellence
A lot of Hokies have made comments (here and everywhere you might find them) regarding the coaching, implying that Stinespring didn’t do this, Foster didn’t do that, Beamer didn’t make the necessary half-time adjustments. In the heat of the reaction to this game, all of this is not only understandable but not without merit. I guess there are two long term trends that as Hokies we ought to reconcile: 1) Seven straight 10+ win seasons (no one else in FBS has this) and 2) 1-19 vs BCS Top 5. How do we make sense of this? Clearly, Top 5 programs do have Top 5 coaching, but Top 5 coaches rarely stay with their team long enough to establish the kind of consistency Va. Tech has instituted in Blacksburg. We have been extraordinarily blessed to have a Top 5 DC in Bud Foster, and I think the long term security of the other coaches (who are certainly capable but probably not Top 5) has bred comfort, which in games like these reveals a kind of complacency (possibly, not totally sold on this).
That said, I would much rather have the Hokies lose to Stanford (albeit not this convincingly) in the Orange Bowl, than whoop-up on South Carolina in the Chick-Fila Bowl.
Year after year we are either playing in a BCS Bowl or a really, really good late December game, and we have been in the conference championship picture every year well into November, and for some of you that is not enough (maybe even for me.). But can we have that kind of nearly decade long consistency and the excellence to win an Orange Bowl (or even more) against Top 5 competition. Let’s look at the Gators, arguably the Team of the Aughts (maybe Texas/USC/Ohio State can make a claim as well). Though they have had two national championships and three 13-1 seasons they have also had, during the last seven years, two 7-5 seasons, two 9 win seasons and an 8 win campaign.
Would you trade those 7 years for the Hokies’? (Maybe more realistically, since such a trade isn’t feasible as Florida has the best recruiting base, i.e. the state of Florida, and they are also willing to pull recruits nationally something Va. Tech has shied away from, but that aside let’s say we had one national championship and a couple of 10+ win seasons but also had some just over .500 seasons as well) I don’t think I would.
At the end of the day, while Stanford will have their moment in the light in College Football (admittedly they are juggernauts in Tennis, Volleyball and Golf and a pretty good W. basketball team if UConn has anything to say about it) not to mention their academic pedigree (we are talking about universities after all, that stuff counts for something), and their cavalcade of illustrious alumni (Condi Rice just hangin’ out on the sidelines to which one guy watching the game at the Village Pourhouse (home of the Manhattan Hokies) said “they really are the bad guys!”), after Harbaugh and Luck leave you won’t hear of Stanford in this context for the next decade or so, but the Hokies and their lunch pail consistency will still be relevant (or so I hope, ten wins next year looks dodgy).
Hokie Pride.
by USF_Hokie2009 on Jan 4, 2011 10:13 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
Let's make a deal...
“Would you trade those 7 years for the Hokies’?…I don’t think I would.”
You wouldn’t trade two national titles for a handful of 10 win seasons? Are you nuts?
by Walk The Line on Jan 4, 2011 1:02 PM EST up reply actions
That's the part of the deal everyone focuses on...
I guess maybe I am nuts (Hokie fandom can drive one to such conditions) but I always focus on the other half of the deal, in that I would be less than super excited to trade a significant number of 10+ win seasons for a couple of 6-6. 7-5 seasons. Even in the post-coital haze that a National Championship would bring: 4, 5, 6 losses for a few years would irk me lots.
But I wasn’t asking rhetorically; it is a totally fair, more than fair perhaps, position to assert. But with that desire comes some tough decisions for the VT AD in all of us. I don’t believe the staff (as completely consituted), the recruiting strategy/budget, and the program mentality/philosophy will give you what you want. Maybe, this is bloody obvious for you…so sorry for that, but whatever, it’s a blog comment. Or maybe you think I am wrong and this operation can produce a BCS Championship with some minor tweaks.
by USF_Hokie2009 on Jan 4, 2011 2:23 PM EST up reply actions
Nice effort fellas
Obviously the season didn’t end they way you wanted but I think it needs to be recognized how you guys ripped off 11 straight wins just to make it to the Orange Bowl. Not gonna lie, I’m jealous, but it is what it is.
I had to watch so much Hokie football this year (I’m a Boise State fan) you guys have grown on me. With that said, good luck in 2011.
"It takes no talent to give great effort" -Chris Petersen
"It's hard to imagine a more complete football team than Boise State" - Kirk Herbstreit
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