Your Old Dominion Eye in the Sky!

Virginia Tech=17 Old Dominion=2o

Virginia Tech football is in a hole. (see: the assonance, literally?) Let us just hope they did not bring a refu’ge… shovel.

The Hokies got upset, again; @O.d.u. And just in case you live under a rock, or have recently been hit in the head by the same? This is the very last, final, Omega thing that poor Pry-bar and company needed on their (attempted) cultural reboot. As the last ~3 years and a now teetering on being a full ½ season underwater accrued record ever since the hooVa streak went ‘snap’. As they had better BeeCee and/or hateful w.V.u. @home buckle-up! We HAVE to have one of these two on the split or we are seriously looking at a 1-7 start to begin 2o22 and the debut Brenton James Pry era. (BeeCee after getting upset by Rutgers would agree, as they have to have the next one, too!) Nonetheless, as I am away from home… here is what little I could cobble together for yah. Sorry that it is not so mo’…

1Q 14:58 remaining:
Te1a Drake De Iuliis with his first of two KO-return steals for VeeTee. A neat way to start an era… (physically) enuff. (Although the flag on the second steal was letter-of-the-law stickler type of stuff; not umpossible, tho’ a tix for cruise control set to an accidental 56 in a 55-mph zone).

Oh well… at least Drake is still likes to fight guy…
…we may need that b4 ’22 is all said-n-done.

Game of Life Duration:
Did anyone else notice just how YOUNG g.Wells looks facially?
He gonna get carded for brewskis very deep into his 30’s.

Which is not the worst problem to have.

1Q 10:07 remaining:
Our Wr1 with a quality catch along the sideline route on the go-pattern here.

See: him (seemingly) get up a-okay enuff, right?

Hommie landed right on the back of Smitty’s left calf. (St.Nikon bless!)

That said… we do not believe this is where the (bigger) injury occurred.

(Partially, because Eye witness reports say he also went to the locker room after the 4th series holding his right ribs/stomach. St.Adam bless!)

Additionally, we believe (contrary to published belief) it occurred 2Q :20 remaining.

Yikes! : (

As it sure looked like he gimped his left hammie on the dreaded no-contact (overthrown attempt) here too us. (He has a history of these, too). A dang cruel mistress the oblong spheroid on any synthetic surface indeed.

1Q :48 remaining:
This was a helluva an (blitz) pick-up steal by k.King. Who has typically been known more so for other thangs. As he really put his left shoulder into the ILb-twin from O.d.u. (who outweighed him by just over 40 lbs.) and pancaked and de-cleated the S outta him for it to boot.

Girlfriends rejoice, …this is a very quality lick here.
Again, at least we tried to bow our backs and put the same into O.d.u. early on… and Eye was so
hoping this was a harder, tougher calling card, too.

Game Duration:
King and Black (who my peeps August camped ghosted, recall) … got a lotta yards. Notice how Eye struck the Rb1 and Rb3 ownership of the same… (they were not ‘given’, they went out and “got“). (And frankly, they have to get the carries in entirety until Rb1, Thomas gets, back).

His earhole is just barely out in front to me… dang

4Q 2:58 remaining:
O.d.u. likes to go New Guinea and headhunt opposing Qb1’s… hmmmmmm… Eye wonder where I read that pre-game?!?

As yah; this was an inexpensive shot.
A Gorilla Monson ‘ international object’ from the tights when (likely) digging for crabs, shot.

Tho’ this is also playing tackle, not tuba.

SPARKED the Foxtrot up 1o1!
(Don’t believe me? Just ask this O.d.u. fan who OD’ed on Blumrick’s Ray Nitschke -esque forearm shiver❗️)
And yes, Eye knows… you can play tuba for longer and be safer to boot.

Game Duration:
Te1 and Te1a… decent blocking (Drake mo’ so) married to 2-steals, on 9 targets, and 9 snags.
None too passing-fancy shabby for two Te’s who are not known for being All-State or ‘good hands people’. (Their couple of blocking gaffs will only be better as well).

Time To Throw (TTT)©:

Virginia Tech:
Qb pressured=8
Qb hurried=1
Qb hits=9 (1 fumble)
Sacked=zip

Old Dominion:
Qb pressured=11
Qb hurried=4! (Don’t see this many too often).
Qb hits=9
Sacked=1

Honestly, neither team really lived in the other team’s backfield as pass-rush goes.

So, I suppose you could say our protection was not the worst of the worst. Tho’ our dLine is un-kinetic, it is un-athletic. Not a lotta snap-n-their-pop(s).

(o) (o)
V

They were mucho mo’ solid however on their gap integrity and their run-fits. More so than I had expected to be self-corrective. Dt’s (Pollard & Kendricks) and maybe C.J. McCray were the only ones to even flirt with getting close to Wolff. And yet Shrek’s boyz gummed up the run-fit works.

In fact, Eye wrote “gap integrity” several times in my in-game notes… they really gummed up O.d.u.’s inside works. Did Eye mention the ‘gap integrity’ by the Dt’s and sorta by the B/C-gap De’s, yet?

As they are sure a stiff-looking bunch upon breaking tape. Not a lotta bendy or penetrating threats to be found here. (Although ‘stiffness’ itself might just improve our pretty sorry-looking 91st-ranked Rushing Defense. Or, so we had all better hope. As they really smartly maintained (i.e., read: mostly clogged) their Gap-integrity for most of the inside the Ot-box nite. Stiff guys who lack bend can at least remain in the way. (Remember the old-school Dt root-hog helmet plant so-called: Submarine Technique to create a pile-up?) More parts spoilers and less part broilers if you will. It may not look like style points; granted, although it substantially limited O.d.u. rushing inside… and that’s the point indeed.

VT.2o22

Although yes, Eye saw it too… our 1Q halts were parade rest at most or at best.
Too wired-up to start? Too much shine for the new coach?
Then tackling improved… until the very last whiff.
Dangnation… : (

Either way… Eye do wanna shout out @DAX.
Who really came on in the 2nd-half.

As our top-4 stoppers @intermission were all secondary guys.
And that tends to be no better than tertiary good in terms of stopping the run.

Time To Throw Analysis:
Well, although not perfect, it was not so much the enemy of passing as our run-fits were the enemy of dominating/physical run-shapes rushing.

Eye’ll put it that way… tho’ do recall O.d.u. is not a Hoss from Bonanza set of pass-rush specialists. They dropped 7, then 8, and even dabbled in 9. Though all crowding/congesting the box itself. So, we really did not catch a super-all-out pass rush right in the face. We did okay, as they did not (try) to do too much to us.

Or in mo’ direct words… early on… we do not look quick enuff footwork-wise for gap scheme version of so-called ‘rule blocking’. (A Lombardi @NY.Giants era term to dazzle your H20-cooler O&M friends). So, something has gotta (somehow) change here. As who would you rate as a fleet of footwork maven on this weeble-wobble-looking oLine? (Me… neither).

Longfield Management (Lo.FM)©:

Virginia Tech:
positive: |||| |||
Swiss (neutral): |||| |
negative: |||| |||| |||| |||| |||| (6 VT penalties, 3 INT’s, 1 Fumble)

Old Dominion:
positive: |||| |||| ||| (6 VT penalties (1 on 4th down!!!)
Swiss (neutral): ||||
negative: |||| ||||

61 yards in reverse… with zero, that’s (o) (Eye scored one myself) Wells’ Qb1 sacks tallied against?

From above: yes indeedie… King and Black held (pardon the pun) footwork court. As King crowned the Monarchs for ~5 YAC on average (Yards After Contact) and broke 8 different ankles on missed tackles forced (by the rusher). WOW! That’s kra-kra krazy gents.

As O.d.u. (per see) only tallied 5 TFL (tackles for a loss) inflicted against Rudolph and Co. Marginalized for a mere 39′ in reverse.

(o) (o)
V

Yes, the sage among you… already riddled out that the absurd-looking 54-yard (point of obtaining possession actual Hokie F.G.A., botch; sucks just like… that. (They do not score the final 25-yards of the scoop-in-score in a squirrely way just like… dat.

Though do recall… we had labeled this oLine as another c.News’ era juxtaposition special. 3-of-a-kind kinda better on run-shapes, and 2-of-a-kind kinda better in Pass Pro’.

In all self-incriminating candor— did we just get that full-house bassackwards? 3’s over 2’s to the upside ‘rong?

Now, the really sage among you are already piping that we had a lotta quick(er) hitter-type West Coast throws. Tru dat; no argument here. So, it remains to be seen what this oLine is better at vis-à-vis. If it is better at anything? (Or, is it rather just average all over, or C—, or even less than, that?)

(Bonus: …as only our other ghosting August Camp call of: Bobby Schick and the other Holyfield took any bullpen or relief type of blocking reps. (This tells you where they are, where ’23 could be,
and just how much we trust the 2’s with the Hokiemobile, keys!))

Lo.FM Analysis:
Well, for as much as other parts funk-stunk? The opening script was snappy enuff. Clearly, they favor unleashing rather than saving ‘best’ plays. With a lotta tempo and not a single jet-sweep to be seen.

That P.A.T.T.y-cake attempt firmly in place, we?
Well, after that reasonable start we/VeeTee went coach Beethoven and started… decomposing.

1K worth of 20-17, words!

Learning Curve? Experience Curve? (Pressing too much?) Circuitously curiously indeed.

As O.d.u. -although clearly ungreat- was not O.d.u.’s own worst enemy, were they?

As they overcame 2-self-inflicted penalties on their game-winning drive. That’s GRIT. Moxie. Mettle.

‘Cause they really did avoid BIG-bad plays, and they saved their BIG-great plays for the final 3-minutes of scrumming.
Or in other words, we were automatic; whereas these Monarchs rode… clutch!

the takeaway...

LOL …take me (far) Away at that!

…Calgon… Take me Away!!!

🏈 👁️.Q. Award Winner: …R.R. big-whistle of O.d.u.

His kids sure hung in there culturally.
You gotta give him that round 10-8.

As they were behind in nearly all metrics -including the scoreboard- for a good part of the way.

And yet summoned a blood-n-guts triumphant 9-play 74-yard drive to nick this one right at the buzzer. Eye don’t like it, no siree, not 1ι (one-iota), tho’ proppers on that crowning achievement good Sir.

As the Monarchs were up in this game for a whopping 7-minutes and 16-seconds and yet they still, won!
Think about having to chase for close to 88% of the time!

R.A.T.T.: ...Pry and company are now in a blinking contest with what opening rec'?

View Results

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***

xxx’s & ooo‘s:

Don’t have a lot to report here— as the whispers say they stuck to the game plan and did not (much) halftime adjust much of anything at all.

(in-game grade): “I” (or, incomplete).

Although R2-O.d.u., did a sharp job of crowding the box… remember we called this the Syracuse under-flood-zone look that got the former debuting coach in the preview. Meaning: …we are uncarbonated. Sin-gas in Español. As there is not much to be phobic of in terms of VeeTee courting someone who can go make a play and take the vertical top off of a crowding defense and make ’em pay downfield.

formulae football

You had better sure as (bleep) hope our imported (from: O.D.U. no more no less) S&C or pulmonary cardio work really is on the legit.

As the 1’s went most of the 4Q’s way in this one here.

Eye did not see them looking too plum tuckered out too close… to be fair. Tho’ where will they catch a breather after hosting and hopefully roasting lowly Wofford? (Or, so we all sure post-BeeCee, hopes, right???)

The Rest of the Story...

Where’s the Tau Sigma Lambda I used to know?

The sportlight...

Here in the sportlight… least the P.A.T.T.’s try to gaslight yah and …lest we forget, O.d.u. plays you know, hoo; in the 3-hole this year. This should give you a pretty quality September look at Thanksgiving itself in rarefied out-of-conference (tho’: in-state), Fourm Guide terms.

Remember… this may or may not have been an authentic launching pad… as much as it was a learning… pad. (And ‘aye’, I know… we may not like what we G.Roberts “…lowest Talent level in 30-years” learnt).

(Tho’ 12 Lo.FM negative yellow-laundry incidents against (ourselves)? This really has us wondering if they have unlearnt the previous culture; or not???)

oOo

Most accurate Passer I’ve ever coached.”
—Brad Glenn (O.d.u. game week)

Hmmmm, well; how many passers have you, coached; (LOL)?

And that attempt at dower or dowsing for satire aside…

As we never saw this. Certainly not upon breaking Marshall’s tape. As the misses looked the same to us under Friday Night lights… (out-in-front, or leading too far); or just plum high. Overthrown typea passing either way. And that could be courtesy of a high-octane jump-start to begin a way too wound-up contest.

Tho’ that kinda jumpiness needs to bleed itself off after a series or two or after you get the butterflies knocked outta yah.

what we see is: that Maroon was streaky; Blue was inconsistent. What Glenn was Beamer Barn seeing remains to be… game-time, seen.

Maybe this is only 1-game or an opening 12o-minutes of scrumming after all?


Time=tell… tho’ ’22 g.Wells resembled ’21 g.Wells mo’ than a Fargo truck little minute; let me tell you.

And yet his Qb-rating vs. O.d.u. did (actually) rise from 31.2 last year all the way up to 31.7 this year. No joke.

As g.Wells has courted six, that’s (6) real stinker or skunky games in his career (of: 25 games) so far. Or about a 1 in 5 (or, 24%) chance that the Hokie Bird lays an egg with g.Wells at Qb1 for any given contest.

***

Guys were trying to (individually) do too much the week before @O.d.u. while still in the New River Valley for practice…
—Coach Pry (post-game)

…this is one of the stranger things I’ve post-game heard this side of “they’ve done boundary jet-sweep studies” 60% of the time it (does not) work(s) every time; or half past the post-game up at w.V.u. last year.

Lack of: Trust? Lack of: discipline or the always nebulous concept of: leadership itself? Maybe a scosche of… hero-ball or guys who just got too high to play straight and were just outright trying too hard?

dang

As I did see DAX himself really chew his OLb’ing cohorts and a S out a couple of times in the 1Q for not maintaining whatever assignment it was that Pry had called.

…or in other words… this is my 7th decade in football -‘thx’ @Coach God- and that explanation or at least statement was new(s) to me. Never ever heard anyone say they saw signs of this cropping up in practice right before the annual and careerist debut game. Never!

I emphasize the ‘never’ part for your perusal… I’ve never heard tale of this, have… you?!?

p.s. and if you were indeed keen enuff to sniff this out before it in-game happened…
why did you not practice-field fix it?huh?

Eye WideShut

So, Eye thought I had prepared a semi-decent enough, science-fact; and statistically objective entreaty to help put some shine to this (seemingly) underwhelming-looking VicTory dance over in Norfolk, Va.

Then a not-so-funny thing happened along the way to the O&M candy store… as we were actually up 1-full-play and then up more than half-a-play and O.d.u. was not exactly whopping our azz with a 7-5-7, 2-by-4, now, were they?

  • At halftime: we/VeeTee were up 7-3 in an admittedly not easy on-the-eyes football game sans the whacko not-so-special Special Teams’ misQ. We were also up… a staggering ➕196% in Total Yards at intermission! (And yes, I know, yet down 3 points where it mattered most). And yet it sure as bleep did not feel like it {sic: being up} much of anything at that very 2Q:3Q boundary moment, did it?
  • At virtually the end of the 3Q you ask? Well, we were up nearly ≅30% in Qb-ratings. Think about that… even with 2-INT’s that shoulda been 3, and we were still up!
  • Then, with about 10 left in the 4Q, and with mighty D-1 P5 VeeTee up one full play (17-1o) you ask? We had thus far held little old in-state D-1 Johnny Come Lately O.d.u. to: a measly 37-yards passing and to a nearly as thrifty 6o-yards rushing!
1-7 here we, come?

Or in other words… less two drives?

We really went 50-shades of V.T.C.C. Semper Fine grey and handcuffed the 3-star-power skill sets guys for O.d.u. to the bedpost. Right up until they went safe·word skeletal key and we did, not.

What with a backbreaking 20 self-inflicted negative plays (15 flags plus 5 turnovers) and suddenly “the best-laid plans of mice and men” all went to hell in a handbasket and the 7-5-7 nite went Robby (3rd-degree) burns.

This all while being up a mind-bending ➕8 minutes in TOP (time of possession) and holding O.d.u. to a paltry looking ≈7′ per carry or going Iron Born over in the Tidewater mind yah!

▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄

Meaning: all that above to say…

...this is the very last thing this cultural CRTL+ALT+DEL needed.

Truly… this one is a clinical k.King-sized kick to the Applied Sports Psych, junk.

As in… O.d.u. is 2-14 all-time vs. P5 D-1 programs.
(Twice, plucking the Hokie Bird good-n-hard).

“Aye”. Eye do know… Rome put in work on 25-hour days… tru dat… and hopefully g.Wells is better than dat. And we are 27th in Total D! And if we have even shaved those 20 heinous plays down to a more manageable 10 stubbly plays, we prolly sneak outta Norfolk with a 1-play win (17-1o).

So, maybe the sky is not (technically) falling (just yet)…
Maaaaaabe???

As Lydia Grant taught… “water seeks its own level” and maybe ’22 will level out.

Nevertheless, one look at the O&M radar scope and it is plain to see…
…early on? Chicken Little’s head is mostly cloudy indeed.

🌥 🐤 🌥

#wimps!

Virginia Tech=17, Old Dominion=2o

LETS GO!

Hokies!

bourbonstreet**

 

 

 

 

 

3 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. Wait…what? You are over 70 years old? I hope i look as good as you when i hit my 60’s – which is just around the corner.

    I have nothing to base this on except hope: first game jitters is the reason for the poor execution against ODU. I expect us to start 1 – 7 but considering the lack of talented depth it doesn’t look to get better until … 2024. And that is assuming this coaching staff is competent and so I’m going to just ignore the clock management fubar.

    CJF really left this program in a sorry state.

    1. Not quite– tho’ was ballin’ late in the very latest 60’s.
      Hence 7th…

      …tho’ ‘aye’, this is a deep slow VT football hole. Truly.
      : (

      b.street

  2. p.s. I will be down south on the road semi-soon; won’t be any writing for a fortnight or three coming up.
    : (

    sorry,
    b.street

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