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There aren't really a lot of surprises here. We pretty much know what we have, or not have, more accurately. I do not have a lot of respect for the G-C-G combo that VT is putting on the field. IMHO they are the weakest unit we have seen on the interior yet, and yes, that does include Wofford. Their OTs are pretty good. Not great, mind you, but pretty good. Considering all this, I would have hoped to dominate the interior more than we did. The problem is that they often used their OTs to double down on both Gotsis and Green leaving a single back to pick up our DEs. You heard me right. They had so much respect for our DEs that they isolated a running back on them and expected plenty of protection. Unfortunately, we were unable to take advantage. There were only a couple plays I can remember getting pressure without bringing extra. Green beat his man and got in Brewer's face on the pick 6 by Davis. The good news is we tried a lot of new faces, so it made this film study interesting for me.
Travis got his first significant playing action of the season. I like his energy. I like his gaining of leverage and use of hands. He plays aggressively, hopefully enough so to gain the attention of some of the guys he is competing against. The problem is that he just isn't enough of an athlete to really take advantage. I like him as much as anybody else we have thrown out there, but he wasn't really an upgrade, other than keeping other guys fresh.
Kallon got a lot of time as well. He and Gamble usually worked together on odd series when the ball was in the VT end of the field. As soon as the ball crossed mid-field, they were out and #96 and #97 were back in. I was happy for Kallon to get a chance. My response to his play is rather lukewarm. He must have been jacked, but I would only really rate his play as a 3 or 4 out of 10. IMHO he and Gamble are about the same. Both play too high and never really whip anybody. They just take up space and don't really affect the plays that much. Kallon looks plenty big and athletic enough to be a beast, but he just doesn't get IT. For all his physical gifts, his technique is bad and his instincts even worse. He appears to give effort though and that I appreciate. He still needs more work and I am not giving up on him.
I felt like the LBs played OK. Nealy is way better on the blitz than either of our DEs are exploiting the edge. Tackling could have been better, but it wasn't ugly necessarily. They really never blew us up in the run game and that was because of the G-C-G combo I was talking about. Our LBs didn't have a face full of OGs Saturday. They could move free most of the time.
Because of the lack of a pounding run game, VT was determined to beat us through the air, and why not. They could pretty much count on having a lot of time to throw. We were obviously OVER CAUTIOUS with some of the cushions we gave in this game. I understand why, given the last few games and the big plays given up. We can't really blame the DBs for not being able to cover. When you are told to give that kind of cushion there is NOTHING you can do if they decide to take the broken off route, and they did, over and over and over. I guess when the field shortened, we didn't have to worry about getting beat deep and we pressed some. We made some good plays / picks. We also missed several pass break ups inexplicably whiffing with our arms and hands. I have no idea what that was all about. Milton swung and missed at a deep completion and looked like a blind folded kid taking a pass at a Piñata. He has 5 blocked kicks for crying out loud, those have to be harder to do. White played well. He defended some passes and got the only pick that was earned through superior play. He sagged off his flat route and baited Brewer nicely. It was a pretty athletic twisting, well timed leap fwiw. He can play. He'll get his shot at the league after college.
In any case, the strategy worked, given some help with 2 dozen illegal substitution penalties, an illegal chop block, and a couple loose throws. Besides that fumble rooskie TD that happens once a decade, they really don't score much.
I don't think VT is a good offensive team at all. They have issues. They have some athletes in skill positions, other than QB, but you have to be able to block up front and make good decisions with the ball. They will be counting on defense this year. I am still worried about our guys. I applaud them for doing enough to win. I like all the 3rd and longs forced, but some of those conversions were like layups for the offense. There isn't a future in that. We can fix some things and there are some things we can't fix (this year). We are just going to have to execute a little better and hope to do just enough on offense.
Travis got his first significant playing action of the season. I like his energy. I like his gaining of leverage and use of hands. He plays aggressively, hopefully enough so to gain the attention of some of the guys he is competing against. The problem is that he just isn't enough of an athlete to really take advantage. I like him as much as anybody else we have thrown out there, but he wasn't really an upgrade, other than keeping other guys fresh.
Kallon got a lot of time as well. He and Gamble usually worked together on odd series when the ball was in the VT end of the field. As soon as the ball crossed mid-field, they were out and #96 and #97 were back in. I was happy for Kallon to get a chance. My response to his play is rather lukewarm. He must have been jacked, but I would only really rate his play as a 3 or 4 out of 10. IMHO he and Gamble are about the same. Both play too high and never really whip anybody. They just take up space and don't really affect the plays that much. Kallon looks plenty big and athletic enough to be a beast, but he just doesn't get IT. For all his physical gifts, his technique is bad and his instincts even worse. He appears to give effort though and that I appreciate. He still needs more work and I am not giving up on him.
I felt like the LBs played OK. Nealy is way better on the blitz than either of our DEs are exploiting the edge. Tackling could have been better, but it wasn't ugly necessarily. They really never blew us up in the run game and that was because of the G-C-G combo I was talking about. Our LBs didn't have a face full of OGs Saturday. They could move free most of the time.
Because of the lack of a pounding run game, VT was determined to beat us through the air, and why not. They could pretty much count on having a lot of time to throw. We were obviously OVER CAUTIOUS with some of the cushions we gave in this game. I understand why, given the last few games and the big plays given up. We can't really blame the DBs for not being able to cover. When you are told to give that kind of cushion there is NOTHING you can do if they decide to take the broken off route, and they did, over and over and over. I guess when the field shortened, we didn't have to worry about getting beat deep and we pressed some. We made some good plays / picks. We also missed several pass break ups inexplicably whiffing with our arms and hands. I have no idea what that was all about. Milton swung and missed at a deep completion and looked like a blind folded kid taking a pass at a Piñata. He has 5 blocked kicks for crying out loud, those have to be harder to do. White played well. He defended some passes and got the only pick that was earned through superior play. He sagged off his flat route and baited Brewer nicely. It was a pretty athletic twisting, well timed leap fwiw. He can play. He'll get his shot at the league after college.
In any case, the strategy worked, given some help with 2 dozen illegal substitution penalties, an illegal chop block, and a couple loose throws. Besides that fumble rooskie TD that happens once a decade, they really don't score much.
I don't think VT is a good offensive team at all. They have issues. They have some athletes in skill positions, other than QB, but you have to be able to block up front and make good decisions with the ball. They will be counting on defense this year. I am still worried about our guys. I applaud them for doing enough to win. I like all the 3rd and longs forced, but some of those conversions were like layups for the offense. There isn't a future in that. We can fix some things and there are some things we can't fix (this year). We are just going to have to execute a little better and hope to do just enough on offense.
