Tuesday, December 9, 2008

What now?

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.

2 comments:

Bowman said...

You can't argue with success. When Beamer defended the state of the program, he talked about winning the ACC last year. Well, he did it again this year with a less talented team. I think we need to take a step back and get some perspective. There are 11 other teams that would have loved to win the ACC and go to the Orange Bowl two years in a row.

The question everyone asks is, Are we satisfied with this - is winning the ACC on a regular basis good enough? I would love to compete for a national championship, but the teams that do have the top talent in the country. I think our coaches are on par with the best, but our talent is a couple steps below. For instance, put Tim Tebow or Colt McCoy on the Hokies and I bet we would be in contention.

MadJay said...

Bowman,

The Hokies had 3 players on offense in 2007 that are now starting in the NFL (and a 4th one on a practice squad - Justin Harper and a 5th that would have been drafted if he wasn't an idiot - Branden Ore) and finished 100th in offense. The talent could be better but look at the offenses that Florida and Texas run and I think you'll see the real difference.

What you also have to take into consideration is that Jim Weaver and Coach Beamer are the ones who put an empty national title trophy case in Merriman Center. If your goal is to just win ACC Championships then yes as long as you are winning them, no changes would need to be made. But if you want to win the national title, then the offense finishing 99th or worse for three straight years while the defense is top 5 is simply and completely unacceptable.

The actions of not making a change show me the true intentions of the program, empty national title case or not.

~MadJay
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