Jason From Arlington

Almost got rid of this thing...

2010-09-11T16:45:00.002-04:00

It's time for a change, period. This is not over-reaction. It's hitting the bottom of the barrel. Offense was supposed to be the strength. We have talent. We have weapons. But we're still missing the key ingredient...we don't have quality coaching on offense in multiple facets (planning, timing and player development, etc.). Guess some things never change.

STINESPRING MUST GO

2009-10-30T12:50:00.002-04:00

No sugar coating this one. Frank has a responsibility to the program and VT football fans to make a change. This was supposed to be the year of no more excuses. The coaches even said so. The season ticket brochure promised as much.

What did we get instead? The same old story from Frank and Stinespring. Another dissapointing season.

It's not about UNC. It's about annual inconsistencies on offense . It's about hearing excuses and how we didn't have talent, while we see VT players get drafted into the NFL. It's about hearing how "good" we're going to be on offense, yet seeing the same product on the field.

CHANGE MUST BE MADE. We are in jeopardy of a program fallout if not. Email your local athletic director and university president.

We are at a pivotal crossroads as VT fans. Where do we go from here? Pack up our tailgate tent and never come back? Why shouldn't we?

We know how this story ends, we read it every fall. There is no reason to expect different results with the same guy calling plays and the same head coach letting it happen. If we're not in this thing to win the national championship, then what's the point?

That was it...

2009-10-17T21:21:00.002-04:00

We bid everyone farewell. Today, Virginia Tech had the opportunity to take a tremendous step in accomplishing its goals as a football program. Instead, many of the haters are laughing at our inability to beat a team we should beat. Instead, we are all still wondering what the roses would smell like at the BCS championship game parade. Ahhh.

Well, we believed for about a week...then thud went the other shoe, named Stinespring. Forget the defense, no one is going to "stop" that offense. We pooped the bed, against a really, really bad defense. It's not like we shouldn't have seen it coming, we knew GT would be pumped, but got punked by a gimmicky team.

We got greedy from the first play of the game...throw deep? Remember 2005 Miami, same play. Stinesepring, we ARE watching. We aren't some jugernaut because we beat down a sorry BC team. We should've stuck with the plan and got a lead. Instead you blew the calls early and we never got the lead we wanted.

You are horrendous and there is nothing we can do about it. Do yourself a favor and step down. You are holding back the Virginia Tech football program. Stop telling these recruits you're goal is to win a national championship. You are out of your league.

We are still not there. We all thought we were, but we aren't. This sucks.

To all the JFA haters, you won't hear from us again. This was the last straw. A one loss VT was in the "lead" for the one-loss BCS teams....it doesn't get much better than that with the schedule we had looking at us. It was all there, in front of us...no way Texas (UF/Bama) is going to win out.

We aren't sure where we get the hype. We have never won a national championship. We choked again. Thud. Get used to it, until we get a new OC.

Satisfaction

2009-09-28T12:27:00.002-04:00

That was one of the most satisfying games we've been a part of. All facets of our team (offensive coordinator included) were functioning properly. We weren't afraid to read the papers or surf the net yesterday. It was a complete win that was one to be proud of! Great job!

First of all, Bryan Stinespring should be lauded for his gameplan, staying patient with the playcalling, and playing to our strengths. We don't know if it was the rain, but way to keep pounding that ball on the ground. And timely playcalling in the passing game proved that we CAN be an effective offense. What a great call sprinting Tyrod out to the right to avoid the blitz and take advantage on the man coverage on the TD to Boykin! Ryan Williams is a beast, period. We've been extremely impressed with his ability to run between the tackles.

Second of all, Bud Foster's unit comes through again. Couldn't have drawn it up much better than that, great job putting pressure on Harris and stuffing the run. It was fun to watch.

Strange (but telling tidbits) read during the week...Stinespring says the offense reviewed film as an entire unit this week....good idea. Stinespring said he should've run the ball more against Nebraska...also brilliant insight. Stinespring says he stayed up all week preparing for Miami and that he didn't sleep well....that's what should be happening...ask Bud how well he sleeps during the week!

We're back in the title hunt, but can our coaches keep our players focused and can they themselves, keep the focus and preparation at such a high level? We know that Bud can do it, he's proven it time and again. Can Stinespring though? History says his consistency is suspect. That will go a long way in determining whether or not we stay in the mix.

See yall in Durham!

GO HOKIES!!

That was AWESOME!!

2009-09-21T09:56:00.002-04:00

Doesn't it seem like we are usually on the other side of games like that? Unbelievably awesome! Hopefully, that sparks some sort of confidence heading into next weekend.

To win that game and look that bad on offense, wow! We'll take it, but things need to get better in a hurry if we're going to beat Miami.

Was anyone else wondering why didn't continue to run the ball on our 2nd possession and keep the momentum going? Instead we launch a deep ball on 1st down near midfield. Seriously, why do we make such knucklehead play calls...we are NOT a complex passing team, so play to your strengths...run the ball and use short routes to keep the chains moving.

We've never seen someone so consistently out-of-tune with playcalling like Stinespring.

Did anyone hear what the Ohio State fans did this past weekend? Jim Tressel called the Buckeye fans "miserable" last week. Supposedly a contingent showed up at last weekend's game with a banner hanging from a bus parked in front of the stadium, listing the results of last 6 games vs. top 5 teams...all losses. Sound familiar? Anyone want to bet that Ohio State has a new offensive coordinator next season?

So easy...

2009-09-14T21:07:00.002-04:00

...even a Stinespring can do it?

We all heard the hype and Saturday we saw it. Not like Ryan Williams' 7.2 yards per touch against Bama didn't tell us as much, but apparently we decided to actually use our weapons on Saturday.

Shame on Hite and Stinespring/Beamer (same guy right?) for not playing David Wilson against Alabama...what's the worst that could've happened...lost the game? Seriously, if they were concerned about some miss some blitz pickups or fumbles...what about some breakaway TD runs on the flipside? We can't understand how you don't put the ball in one of your best player's hands in such a huge game...wow.

Apparently Stinespring wants to put our offensive weaknesses (pass protection and Tyrod's lack of pocket presence) on display and insist on throwing on 1st downs which eventually lead to obvious passing downs on 3rd and long. Seriously, why didn't we run, run, run?....Stinespring may now have the easiest (to go along with what apparently has the most job security too) offensive coordinator position in the country...all he has to do is call run, run, and run.

This will put Tyrod in a position to succeed in the passing game. Just get the ball to the playmakers and let them do the work. Stinespring - stop trying to make this more difficult than it has to be. Take advantage of all the talented players on offense and stop trying to prove everyone right (including us) by continuing to display your uncanny ability to botch the playcalling and any rythym our offense may find.

But we digress, Wilson and RW were on the field Saturday, to the tune of 160+ yards a piece. We know who the opponent is, but you can clearly see the talent on the field although we'd argue you could see it against Bama...we just didn't play to our strengths. But, enough of that spilled milk sobbing, we're looking forward to watching our offense play again!!!!

Wow, we can't believe we just said that.

GO HOKIES!!!!

Was hoping not to have another post....

2009-09-06T00:45:00.002-04:00

but this was ridiculous. Our defense played at a superior level. It was living in the Bama backfield....until it got tired from playing 80% of the total snaps.

What happened to all the "explosiveness" the season ticket brochure promised? This is a joke. Get rid of this guy. We won't beat a program like Alabama and/or contend for the national championship until we get someone who knows what's going on with the offense. Poor, poor, poor.

Should've known better....for some reason O'Cain and Stinespring have talked about how much progress they've made, only to fall to an unequipted ECU and foil our opportunity to beat Alabama. Seriously, what do you the 2 of you do all day? A lot of smoke and nothing to show for it. The "inexperienced" offensive line and QB from Alabama sure as hell did seem to be READY to play.

How many more seasons until you fold because you feel so bad that you're bringing the ship down? This sucks. Frank, get ahold of your program and your goals. This ain't getting it done. You can talk about how much you want to win a national championship all day, but you can't seem to beat anyone in the way. 10 wins are still out there though, you can become the only other team with 10 wins (like TX and USC) for 6 straight years.....and the one withOUT a national championship too Frank. What are you going to do about that?

What was THAT?

2009-04-30T23:02:00.003-04:00

Wow. Don't look now, but we are excited. We really hope this is just the tip-of-the-iceberg. Ryan Williams...believe the hype. Marcus Davis should factor in this fall as well. Dyrell Roberts is making strides and we already have Sausage Fingers making grabs as a proven player. Tight Ends galore and Tyrod looks comfortable as the leader of the offense. OL will be key...DUH, but TBD. Woah, it's tough for us to believe, but this IS promising. All joking aside, this offense has potential. A LOT.

Congratulations to all the VT fans for a stellar 40k+ turnout at the Spring Game. Well done. Big recruiting weekend and things came together well. Now, we wait....for 4 months until to we see how this all translates to the field. We think that we can beat Alabama and so should you. Alabama is casting an inexperienced QB into the pond of pirahnas that is Bud's crew. Along with a litany of other reasons, we are feeling good.

However (you knew there would be), the offense must live up to the hype for not one game or two games (let alone a couple of spring practices), rather it needs to show that it can sustain success over the course of an entire season. We're not sure the Sandman could dream up an excuse for Stiney at this point. We will gladly put a Nike in our mouth if Stinespring can produce an offense that contributes to VT football winning a national championship.

Football is Back!!

2009-04-12T09:52:00.002-04:00

We're just excited that Spring Practice is in full swing and the guys are back on the field. Early returns from the first scrimmage are surprisingly positive. Ryan Williams first scrimmage was a HUGE success...as good as scrimmages can go, but nonetheless we're excited. This would be a big time shot-in-the-arm and the "homerun" threat we haven't seen at running back since KJ was around.

Ah yes, the "hitch" in Tyrod's throwing motion is gone. Funny, Tyrod actually went home after the bowl game and basically fixed the problem himself in a little over one week. What a leader this guy is and good thing because it probably would've taken O'Cain 2 more years to "fix" it.

And of course, the offensive line. Ok, for the record this is the third year in a row that we've heard the offensive line is "gelling". We know how much "gelling" they did the past 2 years. It sounds like these fellas went home and watched tape of themselves as well (like Tyrod) and are also self-teaching themselves good fundamental techniques and footwork. We know how effective this type of developmental "coaching" has been from Newsome and Stinespring.

The hype for 2009 continues to build. Stinespring better deliver this year because the player "experience" and "talent" excuses have officially left the building.

False Advertising??

2009-04-03T14:09:00.007-04:00

Look what we found in our season ticket renewal packet...[Click on image to zoom]

Who is writing this stuff? Whoever it is, it's pretty clear that they haven't watched us play before. Get ready for "explosiveness" like last year? What? That would be a real treat to look forward to in 2009! Absolutely comical. Apparently the VT marketing department decided to punt when it was time to proofread this text.

Up next? 2009...

2009-01-03T21:58:00.003-05:00

Well, it feels good winning a BCS bowl game, regardless of the opponent. The team looked well prepared and it paid off.

Ok, so looking ahead to next season...the hype machine will be in overdrive. We will probably be ranked in the preseason top 10 and people will mention us as a national championship contender until we choke in the big games because our offense lays some eggs.

The offense will be better on experience alone..."better" like top 70 or so, but nowhere in range of where a national championship offense needs to be. As long as Stinespring is the offensive coordinator for Virginia Tech, we are not getting our hopes up. There is really no reason to believe otherwise as we've seen what he has done with some of the most talent and depth that VT has ever had. A little talent or a lot, years of experience or young talent, we all know how this story goes and after 7 years and looking towards his 8th, what good reason is there to believe the light will go on for him and the VT offense will make dramatic improvement?

With so much promise in looking towards the 2009 season along with so much talent and depth returning, it would be a shame to see it wasted on another underachieving and sinking ship offense anchored by Captain Stinespring.

GO HOKIES!!

Smell That?

2008-12-16T19:52:00.004-05:00

That's the stentch of complancy. Good old fashioned complacency. Fancy Gap Frank style complacency.

We can't say that we're surprised, but we held out hope, kind of like Frank is basing this program's future on hope instead of having a plan to reach the heights of the college football world. It is truly a shame and we were visibly upset as we read that Frank has officially announced that no changes will be made.

How can we possibly get excited for 2009? After 7 years of this stuff, why is there any reason to believe that Stinespring is going to finally get it? There isn't any reason to believe it. It's rather disheartening.

We even kept old O'Cain and Newsome too, since they've done such a good job developing Tyrod (we think he's actually regressed under O'Cain's tutelage) and well the offensive line, well that speaks for itself, stellar once again (yet probably 3 of this year's starters will play in the NFL at some point).

We can see it now after we get lambasted by Alabama in the opener next year, the Hokie Hotline phones will be ringing off the hooks, but good old Frank will give us the same song and dance he gives us every year and maybe even call someone outta whack just for old times' sake. Then he'll compare us to the Trojans and Longhorns, because just like everyone else who watches college football would agree, that Virginia Tech is clearly on the same level...yet we still have that empty trophy case.

Frank, while the rest of us VT fans who don't know a thing about football remain "outta whack", you remain "outta touch" with today's college game. It's truly a shame.

What now?

2008-12-09T20:31:00.002-05:00

Congratulations to the team on a job well done. Credit to Bud and his defensive staff. Credit to the players (even on offense which have been done a disservice by the coaches) for hanging around, playing tough, and somehow winning despite the sub 100 offense. It was ugly, but we'll take another ACC championship.

As for what's next, who knows? All we know is that the offense got worse (didn't think it was possible) after hearing how great the OL was going to be this year. Alas, they gave up the most sacks in the conference, but it's also likely that 3 of that starting 5 will be drafted into the NFL in the next couple of years. So, talent is the problem we hear? Not so much...but we already knew that, right? We must have the worst luck in recruiting OL of any program in the nation...and only at that particular position because for some reason at the NFL combine, these "misses" make it along with many running backs, tight ends, and receivers from VT.

We must have misread where the defense ranked this year (after losing 8 starters), 7th in the nation. That's not possible is it? With all the talent we have on both sides of the ball? There is no other explanation after years of dominant defense and poor offense. It's official, the offensive coaches are as bad as Bud and his staff are great. So much for excuses from Bud and the defense.

The bottom line is that our offense is no better than it was 1 year ago or even 2 or 3 years ago. In fact, it's the worst it has been in 7 years. Yet, the past 5 recruiting classes have been some of our most complete and talented.

Folks, we've defied the statistical odds for a second consecutive year. We'll take it. But, the rest of the conference will catch up and sub 100 won't work anymore. Are we going to have to wait for things to bottom out to change?

This is all of course not even in the realm of where we need to be to win or compete for national championships. We've been over all the stats a million times and the past 10 BCS champs prove it out. Until Frank gets that and can start seeing the big picture instead of spending his time making excuses for his offensive coaches, we aren't going to sniff a national championship.

Take the Points!!

2008-11-30T18:52:00.003-05:00

How many games do we have to lose before we learn to take the points? It's not like our offense is good and we move the ball at will and can "just get 1 yard" when we want. In fact, we all know that is quite the opposite of our "offense". Quotation marks are appropriate in the same regard we put "coach" next to our offensive coordinator, offensive line coach, and quarterbacks coach.

And if we continue to insist on going for it on 4th down, let's learn from our past failures on what play to call. We are really starting to wonder if these guys could coach a highschool team. Who in their right mind lines up a 260 pound TE (moonlighting as our QB) in the shotgun 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage on 4th and goal from the 1 yard line? That is just so mindblowing for so many reasons. How about a QB sneak from under center? Or Tyrod with a designed run/pass option?

The lack of logic and continuity never ceases to amaze us. The repetitive mistakes and not learning from the past borders on lunacy.

We are very proud of the team and Bud for winning the Coastal division. And maybe we can win the ACC championship again, but for all of those accomplishments, it does not make our offense good or any better than it was last year, according to the statistics.

We really thought Frank was a reasonable person, but the continued excuse making for the offensive coaches and pointing to the "wins are what matter" line, we really wonder if he seriously believes that. Because no matter how you slice it, our offensive coaching staff needs a major overhaul because we have just seen another year of ineptitude. At this point, Frank's "wins are what matter" answer/excuse is not an acceptable reason for NOT making changes. The fans deserve better and they should let their voice be heard.

Is Frank really waiting for the bottom to fall out and lose a bunch of games before he makes a change? No one ever said you had to get worse in order to get better or that we can't expect a decent offense to compliment our fantastic defense.

If A Tree Falls in the Woods and Nobody is Around...

2008-11-24T21:02:00.002-05:00

to write about it, does it still mean your offense is ranked 109th? Well, you get what we're saying. So, now Frank has resorted to making not only his players, but coaches unavailable to the media! Wow. It must be getting hot in the Merryman Center.

We're not really going to harp on the Duke game. It was awful and just made the "change train" gain more steam. No team is going to win many games with 5 turnovers (although BC beat us with 5 or 6 giveaways).

Anyway, this is really becoming a circus. Not only are fans continuing to throw high-n-tight fastballs on Hokie Hotline, our favorite sports bloggers and writers continue to hammer away with questions about the offense each week, and of course our new favorite player Purnell Sturdivant weighing in on the offense, but now Frank has put the muzzle on his players and coaches.

We don't know how to translate what this all means. Maybe Frank is just tired of it all himself? Maybe he thinks that winning the ACC championship will silence the critics? Bottom line is, the gig is up and everyone who wears Orange or Maroon knows it. At this point, we don't see how this can continue into the offseason as it would not be good for the health of the program if Frank let this linger into the spring and next season.

Bait and Switch

2008-11-14T17:30:00.000-05:00

We all got our hopes up last week after a breakout performance against the Terps. But, a closer look would have told us not to get so excited. Afterall, the Maryland defense ranked 70th at the time and 11th in the ACC. Everyone had been pointing to the Terp defensive line as its weakness. That certainly proved to be the case. Kudos for exposing the other team's weakness, something that is not always attacked on a regular basis as it should be by any decent coordinator.

However, if that hadn't dawned on us, what should have is that after 9 games into a season, with a coordinator who hadn't shown us anything for the better part of the past 3-7 years (however you would like to view the situation), that something was fishy about our offense being hastily labelled as dominant after the Maryland game.

Never to let us down, Frank and his offensive coaching flunkies only needed 7 days for reality to set back in. And it set in real quick and real hard.

What's most troubling as we continue to stumble through season after season of the same old song, is that Frank/Stinespring don't seem to learn from past mistakes. You can look back to the '99 and '04 Sugar Bowls, any number of regular season games, etc. and you can find that not only have we failed on 4th down attempts in lieu of taking the points, we continue to run the same inept and unsuccessful play that has withstood the test of time!

It's truly becoming disheartening and we wonder if anything will change. With Bud's departure on the horizon (good luck and only the best for Bud!!), we wonder if this will add even more incentive for Frank to make a change or make him dig his heels in even harder. If the latter, then get ready for some rough years ahead for VT football.

The "what ifs" are already creeping in and it's too bad that Frank hasn't aligned his vision to win national championships with a solid plan instead of depending on Bud and HOPING that Bryan Stinespring could be something that he isn't. It could be a shame considering how far VT football has come and what we have built, but will we rise past this plateau? We have the talent and fans to do such great things at Virginia Tech football. How will Frank answer the challenge?

Take a knee

2008-10-26T17:40:00.002-04:00

We had a great time in Tallhassee. Not the prettiest of college towns, but we had a good time. Good fans and treated the Hokie fans well. Pretty cool to experience that Florida State atmosphere and tradition.

Anyway, on to the game. Our guys played so hard and we take off our hat to Cory Holt for his inspired performance. Obviously, the roughing the kicker penalty was huge and for all intents and purposes handed the win to Florida State. Not sure it was the best decision to be trying to block a punt when you have the lead and you're about to get the ball back in good field position...especially with our offense. It felt like the 2005 ACC championship game with the repeatedly deep jump balls that FSU pulled down (seemingly) every time. And the punt with a couple minutes left was embarrassing. What was that?

The coaches will blame the injuries, but it is what it is and we come in at 113th in total offense after yesterday's 240 yard performance. Somehow we still control our own destiny to win the Coastal, thanks to the overall suckiness of our conference. We still think the Coastal winner will have 3 losses. Anyway, different week, same problem...Bryan Stinespring is still our offensive coordinator. Keep the heat up and the phones ringing. We hate losing, but maybe, just maybe that means we're 1 loss closer to a new offensive coordinator in 2009.

The Florida State boosters we were tailgating with were commiserating about their similar situation with Jeff Bowden. If Bobby can fire his own son after 7 years of crappy offense, then maybe one of his good friends, Frank will get some advice on how to go about helping Stinespring find another position. The Noles fans said it took about 2 or 3 years of complaining to get a new offensive coordinator. VT fans have been grumbling since 2006, so at least this concept isn't totally foreign and as we all know this thing got much stronger legs in 2008. The players and fans deserve better.

We are starting to think that Frank's personal loyalties may be intefering with his job duties. That is, putting this stubborness AHEAD of what is best (big picture) for the Virginia Tech football PROGRAM. We shall see what happens, but as it stands with Stinespring as our offensive coordinator, Frank doesn't have VT football heading in the proper direction. He's gotta come up with a plan soon because when Bud leaves he's gonna need that offense more than he's ever needed it.

Last Straw meet Camel's Back

2008-10-19T22:40:00.004-04:00

Utterly disgusting.

240 yards? Are you kidding me? Plus 4 turnover margin? What's the excuse now Frank? Things got "outta whack" huh? Just like your boy Jason from Arlington. No Frank, Bryan Stinespring has been unqualified ever since the day he was promoted to offensive coordinator.

Apparently, even the most opportunistic defense cannot overcome your joke of a coach Bryan Stinespring's inept and baffling game plan. What's funny is, this offense is no different than the one that beat GT and UNC, it just happened to get exposed this week with a pitiful loss to Boston College. What more do you want or possibly ask for from a defense that allowed less than 300 yards, forced 5 turnovers, allowed 0 points in the 2nd half, and scored 17 points on its own?!!!!!!

It pains us to say this, but if Frank doesn't make a change after this season, then we have lost faith in Frank Beamer as head coach of Virginia Tech. This train is headed nowhere fast and we are in danger of seeing Frank putting his loyalties to Bryan Stinespring AHEAD of what is best for our beloved football program. It's sad and none of us want to see that happen.

This needs to stop and stop real soon. Don't look for a change before the end of the season, but we challenge all Hokie fans out there to call into Hokie Hotline, write in to Jim Weaver and Frank Beamer and Steger. Make your voice heard, it counts!! We know first hand that it does, it can make a difference, so don't leave it up to the next Hokie fan, make your opinion heard. It's not just about big donors, it's about volume. The little guy counts too, especially when a bunch get together to do so.

This is absolutely unacceptable and this is also nothing new to what has been said all along. This is embarrassing and fans can make a difference. We must look at the big picture and from that perspective VT football is not moving forward. And we all know how that saying goes. It pains us to say it, but VT football may have hit the ceiling. It's up to the fans to let Frank know that this is not acceptable and we won't stand for it and that we and the players deserve better.

GO HOKIES!!

Numbers Crunch

2008-10-14T20:54:00.006-04:00

Below is a display of statistics that compare the past 9 BCS champions to Virginia Tech's past 9 seasons. We took total offense (yards), scoring offense (points), total defense (yards allowed), and scoring defense (points allowed).

[If you're wondering...we used the past 9 seasons because that was the data readily available by way of some quick internet searches. Also, the 2 VT averages are for 9 years and 7 years (under our current offensive coordinator's tenure).]

As you could have imagined, the 1999 Virginia Tech team stats are very much in line with the BCS champion averages. Which should only support the discussion and numbers below.

Also, you can see that our total defense and scoring defense average for the past 9 and 7 years are very much in line with BCS champion averages. See "Difference" row, below.

Total scoring offense is "somewhat" in the same ballpark (average 17 spots or about 14% deficient) as BCS champion averages and it should be noted that this is an important statistic that deserves a lot of attention. As you can see, every BCS champion's scoring offense was ranked higher than its total offense (Florida was exception in 2006).

However, all of the past 9 BCS champions have averaged around 22nd in total offense. Clearly Ohio State was a statistical outlier in 2002, but most are in top 20. Even with Ohio State's 70th ranking in 2002, you can see that it took a total offense that ranked in the top 25 (approximately) for 8 of the past 9 BCS champions.

What does this tell us? That our defense is what we thought, consistently good enough to compete and win BCS championships.

Our offense? Also tells us what we thought, that it is a WORLD away...as in that over 50% of other Division 1A teams have averaged better total offense stats for the past 7 years.

It is clear that total offense does matter (coupled with scoring offense of course) in winning BCS championships. We are 50 spots away (on 7 year average) from that championship average.

We hear our offensive coaches say that "statistics don't mean much around here". As you can see by the stats, that statement has been pretty accurate for the past 7 years.

But, if we want to win BCS championships then these statistics cannot be ignored.

False Alarm

2008-10-05T21:45:00.002-04:00

Awful, awful, awful. Just when we thought the offense was "improving", here come the Hilltoppers to put an end to that rumor. What? This is getting ridiculous. 287 yards against a team that is one year removed from Division 1-AA? This game was supposed to be a scrimmage for all intents and purposes. A chance to improve on offense and get some things "straightened out". Instead we got treated to another helping of Bryan Stinespring's brilliance. And then we got to hear (in Stinespring's post-game interview) about how much the offense has "greatly improved" since the first game. We've all heard the "coachspeak" before, but now we're starting to worry Stinespring and Beamer actually believe the nonsense that is coming out of their mouths, with regard to our offense.

108th folks. No more Western Kentuckys on the schedule (by the way, their mascot is awesome), so don't look for our offense to finish any higher than 100th in total offense. Wow.

Is Frank waiting to lose a handful of games before he gets pissed and heads roll? Don't let the wins fool you, our offensive coaches are still not good.

On a related note, our hero Nick Saban got a nice shout out in an article (on another VT website) this week. If you haven't read it, please do yourself a favor and read it. Talk about on the mark, it hits the bullseye with regard to Frank's reactionary attitude and perceived complacency.

We Have a Pulse!!

2008-09-28T19:17:00.003-04:00

Wow! What a HUGE win for VT football. We could've won by 30+

The offense showed some flashes and we were impressed that our offense not only scored points in the first quarter (for the first time this season), but that we were able to consistently move the ball between the 20s. As for the redzone production, that is another story. However, almost 400 yards of total offense is a real nice step in the right direction. We moved to #108 in total offense.

The offensive line gave TT all kinds of time and did a great job run blocking. TT missed on a couple throws that would've resulted in sure TDs. Whatever, we'll take the win in Lincoln and move on. BIG WIN!!

Stinespring had some very nice calls, but most of the redzone calls were putrid. Who calls a reverse on 3rd and goal from the 9 yard line? Wow, that was just crazy. Also, when are we going to learn that we can't run the ball 3 straight times inside the 10 and think we're going to put it in the endzone on a consistent basis? Plenty of heads were scratched last night. It could've been a blowout!! Instead, it was another squeaker. Good thing for Dustin Keys, he is money.

We need to be in the 450 total yard (average) range to get where we need to be as an offense. Right now, we're about 150 (average) away from that, so there is still A LOT of improvement to be made on offense.

GO HOKIES!!

Nebraska agrees

2008-09-24T15:22:00.002-04:00

We were emailing one of the Husker beatwriters and let him in on some data.

He then shared his view of the Virginia Tech football program AND seems to agree on what is holding VT back.

JFA BLOG: Interesting piece on VT special teams. Our ST aren’t really as good as they used to be. Now, we actually win games because our talent and depth level have increased. We do actually "reload" vs. rebuild as evidenced with 5 top 10 finishes in the past 9 seasons and our steady climb up the football program hierarchy (at least perception wise) the past 15 years.

Anyway, did you know that VT has had 47 players drafted into the NFL since 2000? I'm guessing that's probably ranks in the top 5-10 of all college football programs.

Our offense has been the main reason holding VT from national championships. The VT fan base has been voicing its displeasure with our offensive coordinator, Bryan Stinespring and a change needs to be made as our offense has held back our program as far as winning national championships. We were ranked 100th and 102nd in total offense for '06 and '07. Under Stinespring our offense has averaged in the high-70s in total offense, clearly not where a top 15-type program should be.

Husker writer: I agree that with a better offense, VT could be a major power. Seems like since the Vicks, the Hokies have been rather ordinary. I didn't realize the last two years were as bad as you pointed out, though.

"You really don't have to be sick to get better"

2008-09-23T22:12:00.003-04:00

This, from one of the best college football coaches in the land. Nick Saban after Alabama's blowout of Arkansas last Saturday.

We guess that Frank didn't get that memo. Not only are we sick, Frank hasn't even taken us to the doctor yet.

Bryan Stinespring's thoughts on our offense after last week's performance...he thinks "we got better". Cites some completion percentages and 3rd down conversion percentages. How about we went from 108th to 112th in total offense? How's that for a measuring stick?

This guy is like VT's version ofTommy Bowden. That is, our offense can stink, but as long as Bud bails him out Frank will keep up the cover on this guy. Stop the insanity Frank!! We all want to win, but let's not kid ourselves about the offense or offensive coordinating.

Frank must love pigs because he keeps dressing them up and making them drink that Kool-Aid. Then a good team comes along and slaughters that fat over-hyped pig. And what do we hear? That's right, some of the same words that are so dear to all of us..."things got outta whack". No Frank, the offense was always out of whack and the truth is our offense gets exposed in every big game we lose.

Also, watch out because Frank has already started making excuses before we even play the next 2 games...saying it'll be nice to play out-of-conference games to "try some things out" on offense.

Anyone else notice that Frank went out of his way to "commend" Stinespring on his "play calling" for the 2nd half of the UNC game? Don't think we've ever heard him say such things about Foster. Oh that's right, there's no need, we all know he's great. But, then again, us fans "don't know anything about football" and we should leave it to the experts.

GO HOKIES!!

Weekly Offensive Roundup

2008-09-21T21:12:00.003-04:00

Another stellar performance by the VT offense. We moved from 108 to 112 this week in the total offense team stat rankings.

Total Yards this season- 1087 (Average of all teams- 1350)
Average Yards per game- 271.75 (Average- 382.8)
Touchdowns- 10 (Average 12.9)
Yards per play- 4.45 (Average 5.61)

Nothing new here, another smoke and mirrors win, but we'll take it. Just don't accept it as a legitimate excuse. Our offensive coaches continue to drive this program in a poor direction. We need a change and let your voice be heard!!

It doesn't take Einstein...

2008-09-19T09:50:00.003-04:00

U-G-L-Y

2008-09-17T21:04:00.004-04:00

...But we'll take it! This season is going to be rough to watch...offensive speaking, but what else is new?

243 yards against Georgia Tech, wow. How did we win that game? Thank you Tyrod for not running the actual play our offensive "experts" called on that touchdown before halftime! And thank you Darren Evans for running hard against what looked to be an improvement on the offensive line! You guys only run the plays that are called. Alas, we emerge with another win with more smoke and mirrors!

Where does that put us in total offense through 3 games of the season? 107. That's right, only 13 teams in the nation are worse than us in total offense. Can you imagine what our program could do with a "decent" offense? Don't let anyone tell you that we don't have the talent, we all know the story here, it's been discussed at length. So, Hokies Fans, buckle up because no changes will be made during the season, as they shouldn't, but this is getting rough to watch...even for Hokie fans.

UNC is gonna be another struggle on offense, but then again why wouldn't it be? Every year we seem to hear about all these "plans" the offensive coaches have up their collective sleeve, but that crazy option screen and WR reverse just doesn't seem to fool anyone...weird. How about this week, we at least try not to totally give away the play simply by looking at the personnel on the field. It has been documented on other websites how many times we threw the ball when our RB was KLJ and how many times we ran when Darren Evans was in the game. That's right, you don't have to be a football coach (contrary to what our "expert" offensive guru coaches say)to see how bad and predictable we are on offense...for years and years now!

Keep it up with the support and voicing your opinion. The fans pour in hours and hours of time and emotion and a lot of cash supporting VT football, so don't think that your voice shouldn't be heard...it should...and it counts!!

GO HOKIES!!

BLOG interviews BLOG?

2008-09-12T21:03:00.003-04:00

Well, we just arrived in Blacksburg and things are already off to an unusual start. Got a text from Kyle Tucker and we discussed some Hokie football....

We've hit the big time now. ESPN? Nope. Washington Post? Nope. Kyle Tucker? Now your cookin'. So we won't steal Kyle's story, but Kyle seems to be a pretty cool guy.

Thank you to all the thousands of emails, blog posts, techsideline.com posts, etc. that we've received in support of OUR (Hokie Nation's) position. Let us say, first and foremost we know that many of you have been screaming about this for years and we are glad that at least someone could be heard. By the way, for all of you out there who don't agree, that is fine too. You are welcome to your opinion. So you know, we all only want the best for this Virginia Tech Hokies football program!

GO HOKIES!!

College Athletics = Corporate America

2008-09-10T16:46:00.021-04:00

(Contributed by Tod)

With the amount of money surrounding college athletics these days college programs are getting compared to big business in corporate America. Companies that strive to be in the top percentile of their industry make difficult decision each year on what leadership should stay and what leadership needs to be let go. Lets take a look at the numbers. Since Bryan Stinespring took over as offensive coordinator in 2003:

Nation Offensive Rankings

National Defense Rankings

I can put together a nice graph for everyone as well, since some people seem to be a little slow and might not get the picture. Remember we want to be closer to 1 then 100!

If you ran a multimillion dollar company where do you think change needs to occur?

"You're out of whack"

2008-09-09T18:06:00.001-04:00

Hello fellow Hokies!!

I cannot believe my phone call from last night has gotten so much play in the media today (the replay definitely sounded like I had just come straight from the tailgate, but let me assure you that was not the case...last night). But, I'm glad it has! I know many of you share the same love and passion for Virginia Tech football as I do and want only the best for VT!! I know many of you also share the same opinion. 7 years of offensive ineptitude is way too much for a program like VT (or what we aspire to be). A change is needed and the fans should not be afraid to voice their opinion.

Some of my friends have encouraged me to start a blog myself. I'm not sure if I have the time to keep up with this thing, but I'll give it a shot depending on how much feedback (positive or negative) it gets.

And let me tell you something else, I encourage everyone to send or fax a resume of your local or favorite offensive coordinator candidate to Frank Beamer personally (or show up on Friday in person to his office), as apparently he thinks this is a joke. What's a joke, is that he may actually believe Bryan Stinespring is actually a good coach. Well, I've got some stats that Frank must have left off his notecards today at the press conference. And apparently, he's never seen USC play football before, because they don't look anything like our Hokies when it comes to running an offense.