Virginia Tech Postgame

takethepoints

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6,078
Well, they're pretty good and we beat the living snot out of them. Up there. Some thoughts:

• About half way through the 1st quarter I noticed that they weren't doing what Pitt, Clemson, and Duke had done to slow down the O. They weren't shifting before the snap and they weren't blitzing the B gap to stop the dive. (They were trying to flood the outside lanes for the option, but since we ran so many QB sweeps from the WR-in formation, it wasn't doing them much good.) Their DL was also playing off the LOS, always a bad idea. Since the scheme used by P-C-D was invented by Bud Foster, I was surprised. I suppose the reason was that their D is so inexperienced due to the losses they've had this year. Bud may have thought that if he started shifting the DL/LBs, we would catch them confused and get a big play. That worked; our longest gain of the night was 16 yards. Problem = we averaged 6 ypc and had 35 first downs.

• The Two-Headed Monster was on fire last night: 158 yards and 4 TDs. This was a direct result of their D choices, imho.

• I said before that Tobias has two traits you would like in a running QB. He can find a crease almost as well as Robert Lavette and he gets to top speed (nothing to scream about, that) in one step. That's a very difficult combo to defend. Oth, he can't keep running the ball 40 times a game and expect to survive the rest of the season. Now, if he can just get this passing business down pat …

• We held the ball for 42:18; they held it for 17:42. It was great to see the Return of the Death March. On our last drive in the first half I called up YouTube on my iPhone and played "Prussian Glory" three times in a row as we went down field. Like:



• Now, to the guys who really won the game for us: the D. In the practice press conference this week, both Rivera and Branch seemed very confident. Branch said that VT had a typical ACC OL, but that he didn't think that was a problem "… because we have better athletes." I thought that was bravado, but maybe not. We sacked Willis once, hurried him twice, and had 4 TFLs. That doesn't look that impressive until you consider that they only had the ball 17:42. Even when he was setting up, he knew he didn't have a whole lot of time back there. And, despite a couple of early breakdowns, the coverage was pretty good. Result = Willis was hurrying his throws and often threw to open space where he thought his WRs would be. This must have led to some - shall we say? - pointed conversations on the VT sidelines. The run D was good also, especially after the half.

• I think the cold helped us. Their WRs had an uncommon number of drops, often when the ball was right in their hands. That can happen in your first game when it's cold. Since we didn't try to throw the ball but one time and used our WRs as blocking backs for most of the game, we didn't have the same problem.

• Some might think that Tobias has won the starting job. That's for Coach to decide, but I think TaQuon would have about as effective against the relatively passive D scheme VT was running. Also, we can't keep running QB sweeps for the rest of the season. If we can get Tobias up on the rest of the playbook, then he might very well win the job. We'll see soon enough.
 

redmule

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
664
The OL has been coming around since the Clemson game. Against the Pukes, it seemed we were getting ready to take over that game in the 3rd when it was 7-7 and we were moving. Three fumbles on three touches makes everybody look stupid. But the OL has now come to play. As long as the ball carriers will run hard and hold on to the ball, we can (maybe even should) beat everybody else on the schedule.
 

MikeJackets1967

Helluva Engineer
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Lovely Ducktown,Tennessee
Well, they're pretty good and we beat the living snot out of them. Up there. Some thoughts:

• About half way through the 1st quarter I noticed that they weren't doing what Pitt, Clemson, and Duke had done to slow down the O. They weren't shifting before the snap and they weren't blitzing the B gap to stop the dive. (They were trying to flood the outside lanes for the option, but since we ran so many QB sweeps from the WR-in formation, it wasn't doing them much good.) Their DL was also playing off the LOS, always a bad idea. Since the scheme used by P-C-D was invented by Bud Foster, I was surprised. I suppose the reason was that their D is so inexperienced due to the losses they've had this year. Bud may have thought that if he started shifting the DL/LBs, we would catch them confused and get a big play. That worked; our longest gain of the night was 16 yards. Problem = we averaged 6 ypc and had 35 first downs.

• The Two-Headed Monster was on fire last night: 158 yards and 4 TDs. This was a direct result of their D choices, imho.

• I said before that Tobias has two traits you would like in a running QB. He can find a crease almost as well as Robert Lavette and he gets to top speed (nothing to scream about, that) in one step. That's a very difficult combo to defend. Oth, he can't keep running the ball 40 times a game and expect to survive the rest of the season. Now, if he can just get this passing business down pat …

• We held the ball for 42:18; they held it for 17:42. It was great to see the Return of the Death March. On our last drive in the first half I called up YouTube on my iPhone and played "Prussian Glory" three times in a row as we went down field. Like:



• Now, to the guys who really won the game for us: the D. In the practice press conference this week, both Rivera and Branch seemed very confident. Branch said that VT had a typical ACC OL, but that he didn't think that was a problem "… because we have better athletes." I thought that was bravado, but maybe not. We sacked Willis once, hurried him twice, and had 4 TFLs. That doesn't look that impressive until you consider that they only had the ball 17:42. Even when he was setting up, he knew he didn't have a whole lot of time back there. And, despite a couple of early breakdowns, the coverage was pretty good. Result = Willis was hurrying his throws and often threw to open space where he thought his WRs would be. This must have led to some - shall we say? - pointed conversations on the VT sidelines. The run D was good also, especially after the half.

• I think the cold helped us. Their WRs had an uncommon number of drops, often when the ball was right in their hands. That can happen in your first game when it's cold. Since we didn't try to throw the ball but one time and used our WRs as blocking backs for most of the game, we didn't have the same problem.

• Some might think that Tobias has won the starting job. That's for Coach to decide, but I think TaQuon would have about as effective against the relatively passive D scheme VT was running. Also, we can't keep running QB sweeps for the rest of the season. If we can get Tobias up on the rest of the playbook, then he might very well win the job. We'll see soon enough.

 

RamblinRed

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Didn't get to see this live but was fun to watch on tape.

GT basically ran 3 plays all night and VT's defense never stopped it. Johnson had a very good gameplan and since VT never really did anything to stop it he just kept going to the same plays over and over. Didn't run the TO once.

Won't be able to do that all year but was nice to see for one night. TO and TQM are such different runners. TO is bigger and is much quicker to turn upfield, very hard to bring down for a loss. TQM is smaller and shifty and tends to run east west looking for a seam. By far the best our OLine has played all year.

Defense didn't play particularly well except for the drive to open the 3rd quarter. Great job there and it allowed GT to get the big lead and kept VT's tired defense on field.

Only one big ST play and it went GT's way.

This doesn't change anything for me. Want to see where we are at the end of the season before making any definitive thoughts on whether the staff should return.

4-1 last 5 yrs against VT, 3-0 against Fuente. Only team we play yearly that we have a winning record against the last 4 seasons.

If you read Lauren Brownlow's GIF previews for this weekend she had some really interesting coaching records for the Coastal coaches. All of them had teams they basically have beaten almost every time and other teams they have lost 2 almost every time and they are all different. Sort of weird.
 

takethepoints

Helluva Engineer
Messages
6,078
One update to the above: it is now obvious why we were so glad to get Graham last year. The young man can make football lemonade out of football lemons quite easily. I don't envy Coach's problems with choosing a QB this spring.

And, yes, he will have that problem.
 

senoiajacket

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,126
What I have noticed with our quarterbacks over the years is that the bigger QBs like Tobias takes the game up the middle. We go on a long death march with a big qb. The smaller qbs tend to be more edge guys. Plus Tobias looks sturdy enough that he can take the hits that a smaller qb cannot. But what I really like is how he can run through traffic. He can squeak out the extra yards. Seems to have really good vision. I like Taquan but I don't see how we can go back to him after this game. I think he can play in certain situations, particularly when we need a pass,

Whaaaaaaaaa? I never thought I would hear anyone say THAT!
 

ramblinwreck1378

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@MacDaddy2
@okiemon - you’re next
IMG_3151.jpg
 
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wvGT11

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Anyone see where camera caught cpj yelling keep to the play caller? The just shows, he could give away the play and they still couldn't stop it.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
 

John

Peacekeeper
Staff member
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2,404
I enjoyed this post-game presser immensely. I generally don't have a problem with CPJ's "grumpiness" when it comes to his time with media but he's definitely more lighthearted after a W than a L.

Lots of praise for Tobias, Kenny, Parker, and Anree.

Q
: "What did you see in the defense that enabled you to run all those yards?"
CPJ: "We just executed. We've been pretty good when we hold onto the ball and we didn't have penalties. I think we had one penalty on offense. We had one cut block that was three yards from the line of scrimmage. But then the next play, we got it back on the targeting so it worked itself out."

Q: "Why are you like kryptonite to this team? Do you take advantage of their aggressiveness on defense maybe with the way they read the ball?"
CPJ: "We just played well. They got some young guys on defense. We played well. They got good Georgia Tech. This year's been good Georgia Tech and bad Georgia Tech. They got good Georgia Tech."

Q: "Can you talk about Tobias?"
CPJ: "Played his tail off. He'd practiced all week. Taquon was cleared to play but he'd only got a couple days of practice and I'm not sure if he was 100% even though he was cleared. I got a lot of confidence in Tobias. We can play that way with Tobias. He's quick and fast and hard-nosed. He can run all those follow plays and all those keeps and he'd played his tail off."

Q: "When did you make the decision to start Tobias?"
CPJ: "... I don't know." (smile)

Q: "There were some good runs by the b-backs."
CPJ: "Yea they did. Tobias got them on a zone keep play enough where they started slanting hard to try to get out there and that opened a lot of room for the b-backs inside."

Q: "You got James and Christian a little bit of work today."
CPJ: "Yea they looked really good! Didn't they? Christian is explosive. I've threatened to play him earlier in the year. We're to the point now where they can play four games. Tobias had played enough and I didn't want to put Taquon in at the end. We got James in there, he's still got two games he can play. That was Christian's first game."

Q: "The offensive line gave a really good surge."
CPJ: "They did. Without looking at the film, I think Kenny Cooper played really well. I think Parker Braun played really well. You know it's hard to tell until you look at the film."

Q: "Third straight win against the Hokies, is it just a good match up for you guys?"
CPJ: "Just trying to paying them back, they got us a bunch early."

And the zinger.

Q: "Tobias had a ton of carries. Physically is he..."
CPJ: "How many carries?"
Q: "He had a ton of carries, you know 40 carries. Can he physically..."
CPJ: (shrug, smile, shakes head) "The ball's not heavy."
 

Yaller Jacket

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Messages
979
I'm still shaking my head. I can't believe a VT defense couldn't figure out a way to stop a QB sweep. I agree that the line was a big part of it, but I think you have to give Oliver a whole lot of credit too. I don't think I've ever seen a GT quarterback better at making something out of nothing, and that includes Joe and Justin. The combination of quickness and power that Oliver has is a weapon. With most quarterbacks it would bother me to see them keep it nearly every play, but with Oliver, he looks on the verge of breaking it for a TD every time he carries the ball.

I don't know if the Oliver limited playbook would work against others, but I would love to see. The first time the "regular" offense sputters, I'd like to see Oliver and his handful of plays given a shot.

Tech Wreck said about three pages back that the D was good after the first few VT drives. I think that is a trend. That is, I think Nate Woody is a good in-game DC. Am I right in thinking in many games we seem to start defending better as the game goes along?
 
Messages
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I'm still shaking my head. I can't believe a VT defense couldn't figure out a way to stop a QB sweep. I agree that the line was a big part of it, but I think you have to give Oliver a whole lot of credit too. I don't think I've ever seen a GT quarterback better at making something out of nothing, and that includes Joe and Justin. The combination of quickness and power that Oliver has is a weapon. With most quarterbacks it would bother me to see them keep it nearly every play, but with Oliver, he looks on the verge of breaking it for a TD every time he carries the ball.

I don't know if the Oliver limited playbook would work against others, but I would love to see. The first time the "regular" offense sputters, I'd like to see Oliver and his handful of plays given a shot.

Tech Wreck said about three pages back that the D was good after the first few VT drives. I think that is a trend. That is, I think Nate Woody is a good in-game DC. Am I right in thinking in many games we seem to start defending better as the game goes along?
Happened to us vs Woody Dantzler he ran left or right almost every offensive 2nd half snap. We had no answer.
 

Deleted member 2897

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I know my post here might come off like a real jerk, and honestly I don't mean it to...but what's up to all my 2-10 predictors? So here's the thing about that and why I'm posting it. Its just basic human nature - when things are going badly, you always expect thats the way its going to continue. Just like if we would have started 4-0, we probably would have all been going "CFP here we come!" despite the fact most assuredly we'd not there. So everyone keep the faith!

despairdemotivator.jpeg
 

RamblinCharger

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If TM starts next week I will lose whatever **** I have left to lose. I do not care if TO knows the playbook. The dude picks up positive yards and scores TDs. The argument is the team we are playing? BS we never run on VT like we did last night. If we beat them it is through the air or via ST/Defense. He scored against USF when Marshall struggled at times, he came in against Duke, sure it was late, but he still scored, and about scored again. You have to ride him. He may not be as successful against better defenses, but he's our best shot and it is painfully obvious, and has been for weeks. For reference against VT our rushing has been : 2017 - 261 yards, 2016: 309 yards (physical game by MJ, similar to TO), 2015- 161 yards, 2014 - 250 yards
 
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