Tar Heels vs. Hokies - the hurricane game thread
- Thread starter WoadBlue
- Start date
The weather was our undoing. We are average at running the ball and way below average at stopping the run. They have a QB who is a good runner and our only power back didn't play. They run the ball better and defend the run infinitely better than we do. The weather took away our strength which is our passing game. Bud Foster is a very good defensive coordinator and he had an extra week to prepare.
And it was pretty obvious to anyone with access to a radio or a TV that it was going to be raining cats and dogs with gusting winds. So all Foster had to do was key on our running game because it was nigh impossible to throw the ball. Receivers couldn't make cuts to get open and Mitch couldn't grip the ball well enough to throw it with any degree of accuracy. We all know Mitch is one of the most accurate passers in the country and he was wildly inaccurate yesterday.
Still, I was very disappointed with the coaching, the play on both sides of the ball, and the seeming lack of effort by the players. I stated before the game that I was very worried about this game with VT having an extra week to prepare and weather which was going to make running the ball and defending the ball crucial. Literally, the perfect storm against us.
And it was pretty obvious to anyone with access to a radio or a TV that it was going to be raining cats and dogs with gusting winds. So all Foster had to do was key on our running game because it was nigh impossible to throw the ball. Receivers couldn't make cuts to get open and Mitch couldn't grip the ball well enough to throw it with any degree of accuracy. We all know Mitch is one of the most accurate passers in the country and he was wildly inaccurate yesterday.
Still, I was very disappointed with the coaching, the play on both sides of the ball, and the seeming lack of effort by the players. I stated before the game that I was very worried about this game with VT having an extra week to prepare and weather which was going to make running the ball and defending the ball crucial. Literally, the perfect storm against us.
any rb has an advantage in those conditions. logan has been playing as well or better than hood this year. logan got 5 yds/ per carry in this game, why give him only 14 carries??? va tech couldn't stop him, but larry's stubborn past-first game plan did. francis got 9 yds/carry in this game. why give him only 3 carries??? va tech couldn't stop him but larry's stubborn pass-first philosophy despite field conditions did. i'm a big fan of reality, and the reality is that fedora's a charismatic leader and recruiter but he has NEVER shown any ability to adapt a game plan to the opponent and the circumstances, including half-time adjustments. yesterday, carolina's game plan was business as usual, and the conditions were unusual. carolina practiced with a wet ball which may have given them confidence they could pass a lot against va tech. but what about the very slippery ground preventing receivers from making their cuts and getting open? and what about strong wind gusts affecting passes. sorry, the game conditions screamed running game, but larry didn't hear it.
You make a statement like that when you lose by 4 or 7 or even 10 points. When you lose by 31 at your own place? Come on man. I will repeat this. Virginia Tech has a much higher ranked passing offense than rushing offense. We have struggled to run the ball this year. It's not the old VT offense of the Beamer era. We were hurt as bad as you were in the passing game. One more thing, our defense is FAR BETTER than Florida State's defense.
We got our ass whipped physically and mentally. Va tech played in the same conditions as we did. Anybody using the weather as an excuse to say we would win in clear weather is comical. As somebody else said, maybe that's the case if you lose by a score or less but we lost by much more than that. Everybody is undefeated after the fact with all the excuses I've seen this morning for our heels.
And since somebody else addressed it, I'll pile on to a certain extent. Fedora is a good coach but not a great coach and in my opinion never will be. He continues to show a stubbornness and unwillingness to adapt game plans to put his teams in the best position to win. Look at the South Carolina game last year where he let Marquis continue to air it out in the red zone which led to pick after pick all while we ran over them like tackling dummies in the run game but stopped that once we got inside the 20. This year, look at the UGa game. Same issue. Didn't adapt. And the. Look yesterday. On our first drive after va tech went 3 and out, we had 3rd and inches and decide to throw a screen pass to Switzerland rather than give the. All to Logan again and let him reset the chains. Switz was bottled up for no gain. We then line up and get stopped on 4th down. I looked at my wife and said if this is the type of play calling we have today given the weather conditions, we lose handily. Needless to say we lost handily. We aren't NC State and for that I'm thankful. But to a certain extent this is exactly why we as a program and as fans can't get over the jump because just when you think we have turned the corner, games like yesterday remind us of our place in the college football landscape. We have a long way to go to be as good as we'd like to be and be that good consistently. Really no excuse to get your ass whipped at home against a team that is on par with our talent level at best.
And since somebody else addressed it, I'll pile on to a certain extent. Fedora is a good coach but not a great coach and in my opinion never will be. He continues to show a stubbornness and unwillingness to adapt game plans to put his teams in the best position to win. Look at the South Carolina game last year where he let Marquis continue to air it out in the red zone which led to pick after pick all while we ran over them like tackling dummies in the run game but stopped that once we got inside the 20. This year, look at the UGa game. Same issue. Didn't adapt. And the. Look yesterday. On our first drive after va tech went 3 and out, we had 3rd and inches and decide to throw a screen pass to Switzerland rather than give the. All to Logan again and let him reset the chains. Switz was bottled up for no gain. We then line up and get stopped on 4th down. I looked at my wife and said if this is the type of play calling we have today given the weather conditions, we lose handily. Needless to say we lost handily. We aren't NC State and for that I'm thankful. But to a certain extent this is exactly why we as a program and as fans can't get over the jump because just when you think we have turned the corner, games like yesterday remind us of our place in the college football landscape. We have a long way to go to be as good as we'd like to be and be that good consistently. Really no excuse to get your ass whipped at home against a team that is on par with our talent level at best.
And on defense, although our scheme is much improved under Chiz, we still struggle mightily to stop the run. Our defensive line is banged up, but even when healthy, don't provide much resistance. Until we get better talent on the Defensive line, we will continue the need to simply outscore people.
to his credit, in his post game interview fedora didn't shirk his responsibility. when the interviewer tried to blame the weather fedora wouldn't have it, he pointed out both teams played in the same weather and he just didn't have our guys well- prepared (sometimes coach speak is true). hey, fedora is what he is. the kids like him and he'll have us in the top 25 more often than not. he will frequently out-recruit our rivals, and he will often be out-coached on saturday.
Yeah by turning the ball over in our own territory multiple times which led to 20 points....we just don't do those things.......
Like I wrote, 3, or 4, 7, or even a loss by 10 and you can say that. When you lose by 31 at home, then common sense tells us that the outcome was much more of a factor than simply weather. VT had 131 more total yards. UNC was absolutely dominated in all phases of the game. VT also had the same amount of turnovers which was 2 for each team. The only difference, VT had 7 fumbles of which cost major negative plays for VT. If the weather were perfect, the score would have been more lob sided. The only thing that stopped VT was 7 fumbles, of which they lost only 2, but the other 5 were huge at hurting VT's offensive drives and possessions. The UNC defense didn't do much to stop VT, but VT's own fumbles did.
Unfortunately for UNC, the game of football isn't decided or determined by all conditions and variables being perfectly controlled in UNC's favor.
Last edited:
You sir, are an idiot............Heels beat VT 9 out of 10 times. Unluckily that one time happened in a hurricane.
dry weather, wet weather isn't going to change the fact that we were flat out out coached.
Out coached is an understatement.
To the guy who keeps saying we win in clear weather and highlights our turnovers led to 20 va tech points. Sir, do me a favor and subtract 20 from Va Techs score. Do they still win or no?
To the guy who keeps saying we win in clear weather and highlights our turnovers led to 20 va tech points. Sir, do me a favor and subtract 20 from Va Techs score. Do they still win or no?
That's what I was afraid of and I don't understand why. Most of the line is stocked with returning players.
It's funny/ironic what Bud Foster has gotten out of his defense with pretty damn similar talent.
For starters, I don't think "I'm an idiot" because I have a different opinion than you. Why can you not just disagree without the name calling or personal attacks. There is no need for that stuff. As for the turnovers leading to 20 points. If I concede that as truth, then the final score is 14-3 in favor of VT. I don't necessarily agree with the 20 points and turnovers as the only factor because VT had 7 fumbles. 2 of those 7 fumbles were lost and 3 of those 7 fumbles stopped/hurt a VT offensive drive. I think the 3 fumbles that VT recovered were largely unnoticed or not talked about because VT did in fact recover those fumbles, but........they stopped 3 different offensive drives (self inflicted) that did matter.
As for talent. UNC is MORE talented. I wrote this earlier and that is.........this VT team is the least talented on paper (by recruiting standards) since 1997. Any Tech fan will tell you that. The last 4 years have been very low or far below previous VT recruiting standards since 1997ish. That was due to Frank Beamer and Stinespring staying around which absolutely crippled offensive recruiting. The crippled offensive recruiting led to overall average wins and loss records the past 4 years which spilled over to lackluster defensive recruiting. With the above written, the future (next 3-4 years) will be the highest rated recruiting classes for a 4 year period in VT history. This is the due to the offense. Tidewater and Richmond and DC area coaches lost all faith in VT's offensive system with Stinespring and Beamer and they were just not sending their kids to VT anymore. As always, there were a few exceptions, but by in large, huge recruiting losses for VT. With Fuente and the new offensive system along with Foster still in Blacksburg, that trust issue is gone. You can be a Hampton High or Northern Virginia High School QB and trust that if they go to VT, they aren't crippled by a 1970's offensive system anymore. That means, the OL and WR's follow. Future is bright for Tech and UNC in my opinion. Fedora is a good coach and great recruiter. The talent level at UNC is already pretty dang good and as long as Fedora is around, will only get better. Last year, UNC played for a conference title. In order to play for a conference title, you have to have at least decent talent.
I just prefer to concede we got our azzz kicked and forget this game like moo in 2014. Good teams capitalize when the ball is on the ground and we haven't done that in several instances this year.
58,200 attended NCSU v. ND per gopack.com
Doesn't look like 85k or even 58K maybe 30k?
Similar threads
