Your winning Purdue Eye in the Sky, Tech Thoughts …and Prayers.

For 31:07 this was on 1-play or a 1.5 play game, either way. Accordingly, here is what I wrote at the Intermission for the pay-side of TSL.com:

“Purdue with 3 plays >13 yards!

And yet this game is 1-play right now, nip-n-tuck.  This is an easy, simple, game men.  IF you let it be!

Work smart.
Take care of your business.

(plays-total yards)
VT: 37-33o
Purdue: 30-136

236% more rushing yards.
278% more passing yards.
You do the maths…

See what I mean???“

Finally, after a well rounded, although sloppily well rounded fist half; we finally saw V.P.I. kick it into a higher gear as Tech went a Loony Tunes Road Runner fame: “Meep-meep, zip-bang” and was off to the runaway races.

That closing 30 minutes of O&M scrumming still might yet very well backdoor the A.c.c. Coastal.  That opening 30 minutes however could still finish anywhere from 2nd to 4th.

As I said post-game on TSL.com, I’m still not sure which football team this one is or how close it is to its 2105 ceiling?

Are you???

1Q 15:00 remaining:
Do you see what I see?

Or rather should I opine: do you see what I’m not seeing either? As in I’m seeing a former Qb1 or MB12 who is now (already) un-slung! Which I find to be nearly staggering, when you consider that the normal sling-time for a snapped clavicle is said to be 2-6 weeks minimum, possibly more for a broken collarbone as surgery only happens in 5-10% of snapped clavicle cases to begin with.

1st Q 10:11 remaining:
The key to football is that football is a very simple, basic, elementary or fundamental game. Try as we who cover it might, football still ain’t rocket-surgery men.

Note where the Fuller blitz comes from (top-side) and notice where the Fuller blitz spills or funnels the play… To the bottom-side on the screen-cap’ or towards, help! As in towards 4 (potential) helpers, 2 of ’em running free in zone-coverage, or even better, towards a potential fumble scoop and returning of same help. 6 points later and suddenly Chuck Clark is having a day he will never forget. K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple, Stoopid! This is a very simple game men (when you allow it to be).

1st Q 0:02 remaining:
A little game-planning birdie told me pre-Purdue that Frank had given the O&M green-light for the offense to be: “very aggressive“, or at least as aggressive as any Frank Beamer offense can stand to be out on the road with a Qb2 now holding the starting reins.

Enter the final play of the opening quarter of scrimmaging or the b.Motley bomb to Mister Ford who is in serious danger of becoming our first credible vertical-stretch threat in at least 3-4 years; maybe a good deal… longer.

And if this guy can throw the ball just under 60 yards in the air, on the run, with a Helter Skelter mixed-up set-up just like this? How far can he chuck it from a perfect pocket while perfectly square?!?

3rd Q 5:36 remaining:
Who the hell are you and what have you done with Frank Beamer?!? A triple misdirection toss-back reverse, that morphs into a Qb-pass? And it’s not even October 31st, yet! Observe that Coach Loeffler likes himself some Red Zone trickeration far more so than he likes to make a trick-play call anywhere else on the spot of the ball. (which is odd, as I can’t quite say I’ve ever seen that particular coaching tendency before)

3Q 5:28 remaining:
At the end of the Motley Qb-pass play, observe as #3 walks right up and promptly kicks the football from the turf up and right into the facemask of Motley. How in the “Wide Wide World of Sports” is this one not a penalty? (and even more severe, how do you miss this?)

Game Duration: (…or until Tuaman gets back)
Here is what you do with the 2o7 Mike-Lb.who is still surprisingly -as in very- still very quick to be playing on 1.something good A.c.l.’s , enter one #56 Sean Huelskamp… you deal him! As in you red-dog or blitz him! Why not? Why have him stand there and simply get mugged? What good does that do anybody? As he might just be quick enough to penetrate, or at least cog and therefore disrupt either A-gap on either side of the opposing Center. And do recall the old defensive adage, if they are not that good (or that smart) blitz ’em, “ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK!” –same as Gen Patton’s standing orders.

Now, this time we see Sean lined up in a much deeper toggle or offset from the Line-of-Scrimmage (LOS) proper. This does two key things, first it makes a big bloated offensive-lineman, who prolly outweighs poor Sean by close to 100 lbs., have to cover some ground to get to Sean in the first place. Secondly, it gives Sean a change of direction or 2nd-mover advantage. Let that big ole offensive-lineman build up a 300 lb. head of steam and simply slip-move him (left or right) and send his big ass right on bye. If Sean can use his feets, hands, and quick, you might actually favor him in this 5+ yard offset match-up. Or at the very least favor his chances to survive,  because you can only favor him to get poleaxed trying to out-muscle or cowboy-up at the point of attack. Don’t believe me? Just ask the D-1aa Furman game tape.

Notice as well the toggle into the Twenty or 20-set with only 2 down defensive linemen and one 2-point stance stand-up De from Bud Foster. This is obviously a speed-max Fs-high or centerfielder set and it almost passes the eye test for being a 33 or 3-3-nickle grouping upon breaking-tape. The other fun thing here is, boy-o-boy are there a lotta angles for stunts, loops, twists, scissors, or dealing combinations and delays inside the Ot-box on this one. Shew! Bud Foster is a lotta things men and one of ’em still ain’t dull! (somewhere the Greek mathematician Euclid of Alexandria himself must be, smiling)

Carson Lydon’s ML2 play:
His first move sure is run-heavy (or forward); as least for now. Someone will I.D. this upon breaking take soon enough (and come in behind it with the pass). Seems to have pretty good hands, as I saw him slip-move several would be Purdue blockers deftly enough. Had a simple enough hook-zone drop assignment in pass coverage; tough to get a great read on his pass-protect like that. Did seem a little nervy on film, at least early-on until he knocked a few butterflies out –this is to be expected of any rookie year voter in his third collegiate game, ever. He will can and will hit you, sure enough; just ask #8 of Purdue their 2nd-string Tb who Lydon totally blew up and reverse pancaked when #8 tried to pick up Lydon in pass protect and promptly got sat down -and hard- on his wallet for his troubles (see: pic). Carson did fill his run-fit too wide on the late Purdue TD gallop; so there are some geometric subtleties that need some oblique sorting out here. Lydon was deployed as a Will-ILb or wide-side the entire time. Which I presume is a necessity driven simplification from Bud Stout, at least for the time being. Did seem to be a physically willing Mike-Lb when he did get there; and additionally -and I enjoyed this one- seems to tackle a bit with his forearm’s which is a 1970’s Jack Lambert style stopping point.

Back-up Mike-Lb’s in summary: I won’t (exactly) be saying Sean played inadequately, I will be saying that Carson played better the longer this one went; and I will further predict that Carson is gonna crowd Sean for playing-time before this campaign is done. As the simple yet unavoidable physicality metric driven and impactful difference alone is pretty awesome, indeed.

***

The team has certainly gotten better with each game. And this just in, rain is rumored to be wet. “A blind man can see it with a cane.” As my late father used to quip.

Q. How close is this to its ceiling however???

This is another matter as the amount of O&M headroom is highly subjective indeed.

A. I, really, don’t, know?

As this is one strange bunch on film.
And it is objectively a less than 100% healthy lot, as well.
(in two critical critical spots; no less, (Qb1 and MLb1)

To expand… this team has baffled me with critical breakdowns or just total mental lapses on film. Now mix in some just plain stupid or juvenile penalties or both… and you have some real-live Hokie points left out on the field and even a few Bud Stout points that have been gift-wrapped and given away. All of that against some extremely O&M favorable match-ups | and some very noteworthy improvements over on O. a.k.a. Qb’s in general, the oLine in extreme particular along with Phillips, Fb(s), and Te blocking as well.

And yet I feel we are closer to our coach God given talent, or physically allowable performance ceiling; than we are our “execution” or mentally allowable performance ceiling. This is the one thing I can gleam.

Or in other words, we need to go on and get outta our own dang way while the out-of-conference moderate level of opposition is manageable enough. Look at the red-flag or should I type yellow-handkerchief box down below to verify what I mean.

That many penalties? A back kicking day from Style? The likely impending Turnover day from a therefore chasing and therefore pressing to make plays Motley? That’s won’t cut it in the heart of Atlantic Coast country men. As this is a talented and sleek although occasionally leaky Duck Pond O&M ship that really does need to get shipshape prior to conference play. That’s the bad news, the good news is we have two more beatable teams on tap and that does give us 12o more minutes to plug the leaks and get the penalty-water pumps started until we hit our first true OPEN weekend with plenty of time to tinker-n-putter right after halloween. i.e. there are little to moderate sized things here we really should fix right now, not later or someday, as someday is still not a day of the week.

For the record, I do like our chances to get most of this messing around cleaned up; every bit as much as I do likewise expect that this amount of messing around might just cost, or should I say Coastal us 1 game before 2015 is all said and done. As this team has a chance to win 10 or 11 ballgames every bit as much as it has a chance to self-inflict and muddle it’s way out to 8 or 9 wins. Again: I, don’t, know.

a humble Hokie PRAYER request:
Some of you knew my Uncle without ever knowing he was my Uncle; well at least not until now. As those of you who knew him knew him as Dr. then Dean Frederick of the Engineering Science and Mechanics Department at dear ole V.P.I.

Uncle Dan reposed at the age of 90 this past Sunday in Blacksburg Va. After 45 years of teaching E.S.M. or deaning the department for V.P.I. –this after an V.T.C.C. and all-Southern Conference career in men’s hoops where he still holds an A.c.c. FT-record of all things; …and suddenly the world is a poorer place for it. As very very few can say they did this much for V.P.I. for this long. Nepotism or not, so ends a tri-brother Frederick Family Greatest Generation V.P.I. era, so epic that it is hardly possible to describe, and even harder to believe.

Please say a Prayer for a legitimate prodigy person inside the classroom and in terms of personal conduct. The sweetness of soul vacuum that this man vacates in Blacksburg and over in Norris Hall will take many men many many years, to fill.

thank you,
Eustace Frederick III

 

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Virginia Tech=51, Purdue=24

“LETS GO!”

“Hokies!”

bourbonstreet**