Virginia Tech football Tennessee Eye in the Sky

Virginia Tech football fans, Surgeon General’s warning… if you are a P.A.T.T. or feel you may be preggers with a P.A.T.T., this Eye in the Sky may not be the one for you.

Probably because M.Poppins and any Owens Dining Hall spoon full of sugar does not help the bad medicine otherwise known as 10 fumbles in eight quarters of play with a pitiful 10% recovery ratio go down. Nor will we here sugarcoat six asinine, and knucklehead personal-foul or dead-ball unsportsmanlike like penalties. All 16 of those needs to get the (bleeeeeeeep) out if this 2016 Virginia Tech football team and the newly struck program itself; if we are going to get out of our very own way.

I for one found this one was a good one, right up until it was not; and then it was nearly all downhill 10-45 the ‘rong way up on “Colossus” from there. Tennessee is New Years Day bowl good; and now you know why I gave Dobbs an A— Qb rating –as he can and he did make plays; big ones at that. However, we were our very own worst enemy here and that’s not Tennessee’s fault anymore than that is not the Vol’s credit either. As we’ve got bucu things to clean up mentally and more than a few dings and dents that now have less than five days left to heal up physically. Remember; here is where real men congregate and speak truth to the power and there is a whole whole lot to say after breaking tape on this one…

1Q game and tone setting, remaining:
Observe the scrumming in and around the Line-of-Scrimmage (LOS) proper on this opening Tech drive. Steven Peoples and Colt Pettit both involved in several -albeit not illegal- are both involved in some testy looking things on film at the very closing whistle of the given play(s). Or in other words, we physically surprised Tennessee to begin this contest. Then they finally kicked it up a notch physically speaking, and then our composure went kaput. (Keep reading to see what I mean, although it all began on the Hokies opening offensive drive)

1Q 7:32 remaining:
Love, love, loved the original-school Naval Academy era Roger Staubach jump-pass to Sam here! This is a retro play from a bygone era that is suddenly new all over again. And guess what? 55 years later, and it still works as it still catches the opposing defense napping.

P.A.T.T’s: ... take a DEEP breath, breathe P.A.T.T.’s… breathe…

1Q o.36 remaining:
Here is where things got outta hand as Wyatt simply MUST know better than this. As Wyatt accidentally or not, knee-dives the Tennessee right-Dt right in front of the Referee and for all to see in the backfield. This is now blocking in the direction of your endzone and theretofore completely illegal and likewise 100% uncalled for. In very particular with the kinda raw voltage #57 W.Teller industrializes. Thank Coach God #95 got back up.

2Q 10:42 remaining:
Poor Mike-Lb Andrew ‘tua, as contrary to almost participatory bigoted statements, he tacked pretty dang well by-the-bye; and on this play he merely got beat by what we in boxing call: wingspan, or reach. As Doobs longer arms *just barely*  fended the short squat arms of Andrew off like Deontay Wilder would; and yes indeed sports fans, this TRULY was a game and in this case a play… of inches.

2Q 8:52 remaining:
Down below you can see Wyatt Teller basically trying to harvest the left knee of poor #27 from Tennessee from behind. This is a sketchy play folks. Make no mistake on my call here. Football is a terminal contact sport with three instantaneous deaths reported two years ago and 12-16 deaths per year at all levels combined with 2-3 weeks of the spinal trauma on average. There is NO need for moves like this vs. a kid you outweight by 1o2 lbs.; shame on you Wyatt Teller.

“Shame shame shame!” -Private Gomer Pyle-

And oh by the way, the first knee harvesting attempt on the left was just not enough; so Wyatt did it again; about 5 yards to the east going cat woman all over again during the very same play on the screen cap’ to the right, vs. a kinda small Db he could and should have simply mauled legally upstairs.

2Q 2:04 remaining:
Here you can see the injury to Chuck Clark’s right shoulder/arm on the Dobbs stop right up the left-side A-gap gut. Clark did keep playing as this is one tough O&M flavored cookie; and one we can not afford to see crumble as the Qb of our secondary with so many more exotics, rolls, mixes and disguises back en vogue this campaign. The very next play is the right-knee tweak to N.Williams at Dt. Godspeed! (Williams did return in the 2nd-half)

INTERMISSION interview, 2nd-half remaining:
Very mental-game intriguing to me to hear coach-Fu say that we lacked confidence at halftime and the way he said it -voice inflection and all- was almost a plea!

Game Duration:
How did our D not audibly key the clap-snap of Dobbs after a while? He used this most of the nite and in particular late in the game clock where it would be difficult to give yourself an ovation, not mess the center up, or expire the 40 clock.

3Q 8:44 remaining:
Here we see V.Mihota getting cut down along the LOS on an accidental pile roll-up inflicted hi-lo to his left-knee. God Bless. Ditto #54 ‘Tua with some kinda of right arm/shoulder ding for which he took himself outta the game | i.e. contrary to message board belief; he was not benched for poor play.

4Q 14:55 remaining:
Very first ever trifecta steal I’ve seen on film; and yet at least 33% of them were illegal; there was a dead-ball on Stro’ himself for taunting the loquacious third-string Qb3 from Tennessee on the Vol’s sideline. As Vinny, Tua and Ken all lit suckers up just like A.E.P. And yet these three hits were somewhere between unnecessary; head-hunting and cheap. If there was a play that reflects the microcosm of some disturbing performance behavioral trends; that pre-date the new Staffs arrival quantitatively (see: below); …this totally out of whack punt return was it.

4Q 10:30 remaining:
Here is the Cb version of an Edmunds’ brother getting proverbially shaken up on the crackback hit by the Tennessee Se at the top of your screen. Not as bad in replay as it looked in real time, though Terrell Edmunds got stolen good and hard and can I get a: “LOOK OUT” cadence from anyone who likes Terrell Edmunds ribs? (Thank you QCP for finding this)

4Q 6:19 remaining:
Observe star Tb1, Travon McMillian asking out with a right-arm/shoulder ding while attempting to lead block for Sam on this Iso’-Wham play on the right-side A-gap here.

Time To Throw (TTT)©:

Virginia Tech:
Qb pressured=8
Qb hurried=nil
Qb hits=22
Sacked=3

Qb pressured=9
Qb hurried=0
Qb hits=16
Sacked=1

Saturday night over in Bristol; Virginia Tech tailed the following advantages… +3 minutes in TOP (time of possession), +4 in first-downs, +70 in total yards, out-passed UTenn by 123 yards, held UTenn to 3 of 13 third-down conversions, got McMillian back on track with a nifty buck-twenty-seven (127) rushing individually and ran for 186 yards collectively vs. what most of the pre-season prognosticinti deigned the second best stop-unit in the South Eastern Conference.

And yet got S&M spanked by 45 to 24 shades of stay –as in STAY freakin’ composed when you are on pace for 84o yards of total O after the first quarter of play. Ten fumbles in two games with a backbreaking torture rack tally of nine lost; …or in other words, sans the involuntary turnovers? How were we not on pace for at least 500 yards of total O? As the only way we were not on pace for that is if we were on pace for five-fifty (55o). Now mix in the VERY pleasant surprise of my former boy Shai running north south like a human dart and you can see what someone meant when someone said to R.A.T.T. step away from the O&M Kool-Aid and give this O until October, possibly even November. This O is gonna be good, possibly even great in a season or three; and that is a matter of when, not if. However, it has to get out of its own damn way; first.

And yes sports-fans that could be a problem as the Fu’Fense in Memphis averaged being ranked a pitiful 96tth nationally in pigskin integrity or fumbling! Ditto the fact that the whispers say Evans injured his hand on one of his very high contact count 20 hits taken out on the Bristol Motor Speedway last Saturday night. As you’d have to doubt that that helps any Qb hold onto the ball.

Longfield Management (Lo.FM)©:

Virginia Tech:
positive: |||| |||| ||| (1 UT penalty, 2 VT penalties)
negative: ||||  || (1 VT penalty)
Swiss (neutral): |

Tennessee:
positive: || (2 VT penalties)
negative: |||| |||| |||| (3 VT penalties)
Swiss (neutral): |||

On the defensive side, and as you can see in the missed tackles graph; we played pretty dang well. No seriously, we did; as we gift-wrapped Tennessee drives of four, five and nine yards good or should I say bad for 17 freebie 100% five-finger discounted points against. We had basically perfect coverage on no better than 50-50 jump balls by Stroman and got beat 100% of the time for 14 more points. As last time my 36 McBryde hours of calc’ and stats checked, 14+17 then subtract that user-friendly stupidity out and suddenly you have a 24-14 Hokie VicTory on your hands. Not to mention the addition ground gained and potential points tallied if we could hold onto those totally terminal five fumbles. And yah-yah; I know… if my Aunt Kim had nuts and a bolt she’d be my Uncle Tim. True that, and true enough that this Foster defense is still ranked 18th best in the land with a totally bleeped up 116th worst Turnover Margin. Or to put it another way; this D played its ass off -all things considered- and it will only get better as the rookie starters mature. Possibly a Top-3 or even a Top-2 A.c.c. stop-unit by the time November is all said and done.

Nevertheless, look at our positive play count above; Evans showed a lot more poise chasing the chain-gang than Dobbs did. And the Lo.FM itself basically predicts an even game here. However, then we must look at the penalty count above as well. Because when we had Tennessee’s back to the volunteering wall; WE/Virginia Tech wet our very own O&M bed again and again and again, and this segues me neatly into the following…

the takeaway…

Today’s word of the day (courtesy of coach-Fu post-game) is … discipline

Well, actually, it would be our word of the day had I found any upon breaking tape. You see, I have to see it on tape before we can congregate to dissect or at least discuss it; here in this forum. And quite frankly; although I did not see choir boys from Tennessee; what I saw upon breaking tape would have instantly be labeled thuggy if it had been The U’s D playing in Bristol or P.J.’s flexbone chopping Volunteers in half everywhere you look.

Six freakin’ personal fouls are clinically thugy in pure sportsmanship terms. Now before any of you wiseguys recriminate me for stirring any pots… might wanna incriminate OXVT and Will, and then the concept of objectified and quantified head coach Justin Fuente personal conduct history itself. As you can see above; coach-Fu teams play right on the knife-edge and typically ignore the civics of the proverbial edge just the same in doing so. Ergo, to wit, therefore… pot stirring this ain’t, a trend this is, and it is a rather disappointing and highly disconcerting one indeed. If you doubt that listen to coach Foster’s beleaguered words of defensive ethics disbelief post-game, and more importantly; listen to the inflection of disappointment in his voice.

---

And whether you are with what I just science-fact objectively wrote; or not; here is the entire key to discipline men… the time to fix it is, right, flippin’, now, as in immediately if not sooner. This must be remedied this week.

Not after Boston College, not during the first open week; not in the off-season once the new ways and means have gelled, congealed, and set. The time to cauterize this ugly runny sportsmanship wound is right now coach-Fu. Before we witness Virginia Tech catching a personal conduct tiger by the tail; and before you quickly gain an Atlantic Coast officiating crew reputation for mischief. Your very own personal future of O&M A.c.c. sportsmanship is now, and hopefully not… foul.

***

the forecast…
the forecast here is; unknown? As I said above, the time to put a stop and if need be a full fledged stomp to all this personal-fouling and fumbleitits is right about now! Do not let this fester and become our new Atlantic Coast repute.

In this upcoming A.c.c. home date we will be facing the #3 total D, the #6 run D -B.C. just held UMass to –23 rushing- and the Eagles are a lofty 1o6th in Loeffler’s total O. Thereby setting up a baseball score kinda game or a race to 15, maybe even a race to 10. First one there, wins. As we will see all of that, plus a Tennessee hangover or let-down-trap game; and Boston College historically has a way of playing Virginia Tech as a very hard Chestnut (Hill) nut to crack.

That much I do know; what I don’t know is if/when these mental errors and butterfingers misQ’s will cease and desist?

Virginia Tech=24, Tennessee=45

“LETS GO!”

“Hokies!”

bourbonstreet**

V.A.D.A. approved