Virginia Tech=2o, Notre Dame=21

Virginia Tech football almost stole one or almost got away with one here— depending upon your rooting guides point-of-view.

The Fighting Irish, however, made just enuff plays when they damn well had to make ’em and you do gotta score the final round 10-8 in the Dommer’s favor. As we/Virginia Tech had not less than two fourth-down chances to put N.Dame outta our misery. And yet in a proverbial game of inches we officially came up 252″ short on Book’s cute looking shoulder dip then shoulder-slip move to the edge. Such is the nature of being an overwhelming underdog on the legendary road. Where pulling upsets such as this is alphabetical. Or as easy as A.b.c. Always, Be; Closing… as we did have our chances, plural in the end.

Don’t forget your Easter-Egg mouse-hovers guys.

1Q 15:00 (or early-on) remaining:
“Riverdance” music to KO the game?!? I’ma part ‘mum’ and I do wanna get with this… tho’ “nyet”, I just, kan’t.

(note: Hewitt now nursing a right-wrist injury (St.Julia bless) as hommie is sure playing faster/twitcher of late. Just ask Ian as J.Hew’ read him a lap-dance book 25/8 on penetrating A-gap run-fits Saturday again, again, and again; shew! As there is more than a little bit of 1st-school raw-dawgg pure J.C. Price “want too” emerging of late in Hewitt folks)

(look: at Ashby’s fully closed patella right-knee sleeve to boot— as he has a history of knee dings/dents as well. St.Nikhon bless).

And, Eye was really surprised that Wiles/Bud did not attack the 100% replacement even or right-side Irish offensive-line way more than they did. (this has the benefit of forcing a smaller/slight looking orthodox or righty passer left or rolling him against his very own, grain).

Observe… that the totally yoked-up looking Lebron James looking Q lacks acceleration on his run-fits… he literally is our very own Riggo or J.Riggins totally diesel Qb3 gone Qb1. With all the associated ‘knocks’ and signature ‘pings’ until his 400-horsepower engine finally warms into the fight— and then he literally runs a bit cleaner smoother later on in-game. A decent amount actually.

1Q 7:26 remaining:
First the so-called: “butt-fumble” and now this… as DAX “butt-signals no.1”?!? Whiskey Tango Hellen is dis?!? (a signal to shift, inward?)

2Q 2:14 remaining:
Here’s (part) of what I’ma typing about on Hewitt— as Hewitt gets dogged by #57, then he dogs #57 of Notre Dame right back and then both right-side N.Dame blockers (#55 and #57) double-dog Hewitt at the end of the play! Or in other words, it takes a Beast Master or a Marc Singer of a Dt to attract this much attention away from the ball. Give ’em hell Hew’!!!

2Q :09 remaining:
This epic fumble return for 6-points remind anyone of anything 1977? Anything 1977 Oaktown Viking conquerors? Anything 1977 Oaktown Viking conqueror “just win baby”?

3Q 8 remaining:
And somewhere *the* Adam West is… smiling.

(with no word yet on what Alfred the Butler found in Robin’s, nest).

3Q 7:37 remaining:
There are three surefire things that let you know a given O&M injury is ungood… 1st is our Training Staff going Capt. Chris Pike’s “punch it” at warp-9 in an all-out sprint to get to the downed man. 2nd is player(s) not named the fallen player signaling for the Training Staff. And finally seeing the Training Staff immediately loosen/remove any part and/or portion of any brace or equipment or wrap. Here we (sadly) bear witness to all three. As big six-o’s right-knee suddenly gives/inflects inwardly and collapses like an accordion just as the left-De adds injury to injury and accidentally leg-kicks him to the turf. May St.Nikon double-bless Dzansi here.

4Q 12:12 remaining:
Hate this for him, as if not for bad luck poor Ty.Garbutt would have no luck at all. As he wrenches his cervical/neck inwardly at the end of this tackle and either got his proverbial “bell-rung” on the knee lift or a stinger on the neck torque upon impact itself. Dang… may St.Vladim bless.

4Q 10:52 remaining:
Best I can obscure line-of-sight dogpile see… it looks like big ole #36 Crawford -just back from an ankle turn mind yah- tries an inside swim-technique and has his left-foot simply shoot out from under him on the pass-rush attempt here. There also is an oblique chance of a Charley horse as the left-G may have kneed him on his way by (accidentally). Although post-play he has both knees tucked towards the abdomen, and this speaks of solar-plexus or groin or testis gone flip.

4Q :38 remaining:
Just what you do not wanna see… a last-minute injury; literally. As #3 -and our one surefire version of defensive hind-4 recovery speed- C.Farley comes up very lame on his right-foot/ankle at the end of this all-in gutty play (off-screen). Dreaded no-contact injury is all I can give you for the moment. (St.Phillip bless). And yet he (unsuccessfully) tried to KO return the modified muddle-huddle a few plays later which leaves me want to type: “cramp”. As there is nothing clarifying to be found upon breaking-tape.

Time To Throw (TTT)©:

Virginia Tech:
Qb pressured=6
Qb hurried=3
Qb hits=25*
Sacked=1

Notre Dame:
Qb pressured=20
Qb hurried=1
Qb hits=20
Sacked=1

As Eye does not always give TTT and Lo.FM their proppers or explanation(s) that they deserve… here goes…

Notice that V.Tech’s Qb pressure metrics suffered (got close with no sack; or we moved the pocket forcibly); have dropped. More than a little bit since an actually mobile/lateral Qb1(s) took over. Tho’ do note that V.Tech Qb hurries have spiked as well. Nearly a 300% increase in throwing too soon or throwing under severe pressure. That’s a sign of youth or of a youngling Qb3 making his very first Qb1 start. And as much as QVT can bring to and augment cultural on-field toughness with his 155mm field-howitzer approach to carrying the mail? His passing acumen is actually closer to D+++ to lowest possible C— at the moment. As he had a lotta single reads that resulted in a true blizzard of misses. Even the same-side passing triangle (3 points = 3 check-down (or 3 check-up) reads); seems a few more summer school tutorial credit hours under Coach Euclidean removed from his in-game geometry at the moment. Because if you like your Owens Dining Hall steak with a lotta “moo” still in it? QVT is the Qb1 for you. If you prefer a more seasoned approach? Patience is your virtue ask this back come say… 2021.

On the other side we “plum go after” the surprisingly slick/intrinsic gamer or one Ian Book. We just did not read him Tech Student turned Chris Coleman’s O&M physical “riot” act often enough. As we had plenty of contacts on him, just not enough spectacle type hits.

*(the Q ramrod O is really gonna skew this… tho’ still yet, a bazillion Qb1 hits has
half-past-never ever been a good dang thang)

***

DAX with a very good second-half laterally… as #4 sure fought the good fight, and physically gave of himself to string plays out East-West and funnel them into the hidden 12th Fostering defender we all colloquially call the sideline. Tho’ Dax took more than a few beatings here for ‘dear ole V.P.I.’ in doing so. As this kid is a purer giver in a social-media era world that is more parts on the take.

Yah; I know we got beat at the buzzer, tho’ a tip of the hat to Bud Bock for their improved tackling in the last ~month of play. And oh yes… for their record-breaking nearly clean tackling day! As this is as much as I’ve seen a stop-unit improve on stops themselves in-season in going on nearly a decade give/take. Further, Bud Bock sure did a sharp job of fighting NO timeout remaining Notre Dame defenders to the soggy/slippy turf on the final drive of the game or keeping them INbounds at all cost(s). Very 2005 @w.v.u. reminiscent of keeping the clock running no matter what.

Longfield Management (Lo.FM)©:

Virginia Tech:
positive: |||| ||| (1 VT TD, 1 ND flag)
Swiss (neutral): ||||
negative: |||| |||| |||| (2 harsh VT drops here, with 1 VT fumble and 1 last-sec’ VT Fail Mary INT)

Notre Dame:
positive: |||| |||| || (1 ND TD, Book hit 4 here on the final Sr, year drive home, we had our shot’s)
Swiss (neutral): |||| |
negative: |||| |||| |||| |||| (1 VT INT, with 1 ND flag)

(p.s. sideline spies say Book is bookish on hand-size, i.e. smaller mits wear poorly in bad weather)

As Lo.FM vectoring goes… nearly no rookie year Qb1 chases any chain-gang well at 18 (0r 19) years young. At least not this side of MV1. As it takes a minute, or a season or three of learning to navigate the always dorsal fin treacherous play-forcing Lo.FM’s when you find yourself behind the sticks. The first step is to learn to hold your water and not wet the play-forcing bed. Then, by the time you get to your upperclassmen seasons -superior talent allowing- the game will start to slow down for you as you riddle out how to hit bigger plays up.

As a passing sophistican’t, this r-Freshman Qb3 turned Qb1 just, ain’t. At least not as we enter get ready to do November work.

Corny and Fu’ have some medium-lifting out in front of them here. Nevertheless, Q did showcase you one Lo.FM thing… his H.S. all-Chicago Engineering Award-winning brain. As at least he thought twice -even if he did double-cutch and squeeze a few plays- and therefore he did not muck the game up or throw the game away for VeeTee. Not many younglings can say this at this typically undercooked stage. As the super-good Lo.FM plays will be spotty. The first positive one for Q was 27-entry-minutes into this one— or they will just have to 2021, wait. And there will be more positive spots to the good at home than there will be out on the road; all other things being equal… file this one Black Friday, away…

Still yet, I did feel a little better about our new Qb1’s modest-looking R.A.T.T. Q-score after I ran the Lo.FM numbers; here.

–oOo–

As game particulars go… gonna be a minute or three before my partial boy Q gets his targeting software installed and tested and up to date. As he’s on not more than his (Δ) or delta shareware version of aerial G.P.S. or real estate passing acumen. “Location, location, location” are not the three most important things to his pitch-n-catch. As Q literally missed everywhere you can miss. Short, long, out in front and behind. A quadratic of spraying or a Wagner Power Painter of a thrower. As said, until Hooker gets his left-knee hooked-up, you guys need to be seriously patient here. And “aye” already know… the oddball sideline to sideline wind patterns @So.Bend did not help, tho’ Q throws a very bendy ball in 0 MPH and on entirely sunny days as is. And to put too fine of a point on all of this… unlike other miss-diagram patterned Qb’s… there is no way to overplay Q for the potential intercepting miss; as there is no pattern to his missing itself— well, at least not yet. Accordingly, do keep an eye on this and how his Wr’s respond to being missed by multi uncatchable feet plural as this Qb3 wears on.

Finally, do recall, as much as me and my people have been the (only) champions’ of A.Cannon… he’s a scout-team right-G4 at Notre Dame. And yet he is our starting right-G1 at Vah.Tech. And they only nicked us at the buzzer by one single solitary point! Think about that…

That’s coaching the verb men.
Try cutting this Staff some slack… as this is no longer a Pocket-Pool Qb1 set.

And Frankly (pardon the pun), taking this long to make that Qb1 swap is the one thing that you can neg’ them on… and after seeing what we are all now seeing on breaking-tape?

Mea culpa; on that anti-Staffing point Eye will yield.

the takeaway…

I’ve read some criticisms of our seemingly “bland” or “vanilla” themed game-plan for our new chocolate-milk Qb who’s Born On date is way way more nubile than yours or Mine. I only proffer… just how much can you afford to do/risk, out on the downright historic well-fabled road; on this talent tilt of an imbalance in most spots head-to-head?

Our *** and a few **** vs. their **** and ***** guys (backed-up) by even more constellation class stars and yes… you gotta go Dean Smith 4-corners and “shrink” this game. LOL! Get the Foxtrot outta here… as what else could coach Corny and the Fu’fense even vaguely sensibly do?

Wet the bed with a basically rookie or nugget year Qb3 and give N.Dame even more shots at our game, gritty, gutty though ultimately outgunned Bud Bock halt-unit?

---

So, they did basically what the Frank-n-Stiney O did to @w.v.u. back in 2005. They let the air outta the ball and try to steal a pretty dang flat game; late. They had numerous 3rd and 4th down shots to do so.

Sadly though, we never got hands-free and landed our best TKO voltage A-game finishing punch.

mid-script: N.Dame outgained us by over 220-yards on a very O&M G.O.P. Day. Trump that armchair Qb’s.

“The Rest of the Story…”‘

Do you recall the closer to the preview… where someone dared to opine that they did (still) not yet have the best feel (not Pro and not Con) for where all Tech things really were/are?

As Eye knew something was up, my Eye just lacked the dexterity to put me in-print finger on it…

Well, not until Eye (finally) did find this little nugget… in our last four D-1 football games you ask? Guess who is in the hole via a negative yardage total of –599 yards to the virtually entirely ‘rong?

Don’t (quite) feel like it either; does it?

And all although you could indeed review this tape as being an increasing version of: hard, or tough on-field, and likewise go good for a pretty shinier version of smart as Gestalt Tech type of coaching goes. You could also dare say that anyone that is that far in the 16-quarter scrumming hole is due to bottom-out and go belly-up. In extreme particular via the airwaves where we have been outgained every single week since nicking dippy D-1aa Furman by a single play to the tune of a negative –692 aerial yards.

Because even if our head game or O&M maroon culture is indeed just now truly entering Fu’s very first Bronze Age— things sure do feel more parts pyrite and less parts 24-qt. in the box score itself.

…Or in other words… it’s not the economy (of culture), stoopid!

As we are thankfully back to busting our butt’s and trying/efforting pretty dang hard. Close to V.Topaz on Mohs’ Hardness scale; with a fair to middlin’ shot to get to corundum before a true coach C.Dicken’s of a Commonwealth Cup life-n-sudden-death diamond match-up occurs in just a few more weeks.

The issue is no longer the Qb1 culture club or the R.P.O. juxtaposed schematic misfit that TSL’s very on Tizzle dreamt about before being granted his very on O&M custom orthotic glass-slipper.

That only leaves one, possibly two… things folks:

1. Either, it is the inexperienced talent that just needs another year of seasoning to percolate and matriculate.
2. Or, it is the talent.

You go’on and think long and hard before you respond on that one down below for FREE, as the pensive explanation herd has been culled through the premature tho’ disciplined patience of not wanting to fire anybody post-Duke and now the press box Fu’fensive Decision Tree has been fully Qb1, pruned. Meaning the rest of this season is gonna be a near thing; possibly, very!

“…the answers are coming.”
-Coach Morpheus-

In point of fact, they are almost; here…

…and if you doubt me yet again?
Ask the O&M Scoring O & Scoring D Totals above.

“Do you believe me now Trinity?”
💯

#wimps!

Virginia Tech=2o, Notre Dame=21

“LETS GO!”

“Hokies!”

bourbonstreet**