An absolutely perfect evening in Miami for the 2011 Discover Orange Bowl was anything but for the Virginia Tech football team.
The Hokies were completely dominated on both sides of the ball against the Stanford Cardinal, managing just 289 total yards and giving up 534 total yards en route to a 40-12 defeat. Luck clearly wasn’t on the Hokies' side as standout Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck amassed 287 yards on 18-of-23 passing with four touchdowns.
“Number one you give Stanford credit it was right there and then a couple plays against our defense (hurt the chances to win),” said Frank Beamer, Tech head coach. “They’re really good, they did some good things, and I think we helped them be good.”
Hokies quarterback Tyrod Taylor agreed, and when asked how he felt following his last game in a Tech uniform only one word came to mind.
“Disappointment,” Taylor said. “It was frustrating. I think we helped some of the plays (they made). They just outplayed us in all parts of the game.”
Luck, who is considered by most experts the No. 1 overall pick in this April’s NFL draft, shredded Tech’s defense for three touchdowns in the second half. The Cardinal also outscored the Hokies 27-0 in the second stanza.
“Give them all the credit in the world,” said John Graves, senior defensive tackle. “Andrew Luck played great.”
The loss drops the Hokies to 1-27 all-time against top-5 opponents, and it is their second loss of the season against a top-5 opponent. Tech lost to then-No. 3 Boise State at FedEx Field in Landover, Mary. in the season opener.
Taylor, who has engineered comebacks this season against several opponents, was unable to pull off the same heroics. He finished the game just 10-of-21 for 159 yards, with one touchdown and one interception.
In fact, the Hokies were in an unfamiliar position as they actually led 9-7 midway through the second quarter.
Then, Luck delivered a 25-yard strike to Zach Ertz to give the Cardinal a 13-9 lead which it never relinquished. The Hokies did cut it to one point thanks to a 37-yard field goal by Chris Hazley at the end of the first half, but gave up 27 unanswered points in the second half, sealing their fate.
Fullback Owen Marecic punched it in from one-yard out and Luck completed three touchdown strikes to Coby Fleener of 41, 58 and 38 yards, respectively.
The story of the game was in the trenches, where the Cardinal dominated both sides of the ball. Stanford sacked Taylor four times and rushed for 191 yards. The Hokies, on the other hand, managed just 78 yards on the ground despite a talented quartet of runners in Taylor, Ryan Williams, Darren Evans and David Wilson.
“I think it was an execution difference,” Beamer said concerning their troubles defending Stanford’s rushing attack. “It’s good coaching and good playing.”
“It’s part them and part us,” said John Graves, Tech's senior defensive tackle. “You can’t make mistakes against good teams.”
The Hokies will now take the long trip back to Blacksburg, and look forward to spring practice this April in preparation for next season.
A version of this article appeared in the Jan 4 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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Virginia tech will NEVER beat a top 5 opponent or make it to a National Championship as long as Kurt Newsome and Bryan Stinespring keep their current jobs.
Since Beamer refuses to do anything about this, don't count on any big wins or NC appearances until he retires or Bud Foster takes over as head coach.
This is the truth, and many fans continue to deny it. I wanted to be proven wrong but I saw this coming with the Orange Bowl, we just can't compete against top 10 teams let alone top 5.
At best, VT is good enough to pull 10 wins against mediocre ACC teams and it's only by contract it gets to a BCS bowl.
As a current VT student and soon to be alum, I will not travel to anymore big games until coaching changes are made because we just can't compete against top 5 teams. I've stopped giving my money as well. Fans who are serious about wanting this program to make it to the next level should too.
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My thoughts exactly. This team is a complete joke on the national stage and when it really matters.
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...from the Roth Report/hokiesports.com
http://www.hokiesports.com/rothreport/recaps/20110107aaa.html
What a load of BS.
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Agreed that the report is BS. I love how the story basically says, "the main problem is that we keep running into teams that are stronger and/or have better players than our pretty good team." No kidding. The difference is that when we play against top teams, they have the Heisman prospects, and they end up playing for the National Championship. It's like the author doesn't understand that in order to beat top talent, you have to have your own top talent. ACC blows. Hopefully FSU, Clemson, and UNC have their awesome recruiting classes bring some respect back to the conference.
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I agree with you 100%. It has been so frustrating to follow this team year after year. We pay for tickets, air fare, hotel rooms, etc. all to watch them lose. I'm surprised more alumni are not voicing the same outrage.
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The schedule for next year has no ranked opponents on it so far for next year...
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The schedule for next year has no ranked opponents on it so far for next year...
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Frank Beamer is one of the most successfull coaches in college football. He took a small time backward football program at Virginia Tech and transformed it into a nationally recognized football team. You can't be serious about calling for his replacement!
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are the problem. It all depends on how you see "success." From a wins and losses standpoint, yes he is successful. But nobody - NOBODY will remember VT's 10-win seasons aside from alumni. Championships bring notoriety, and Frank has proven time and again that he cannot win big games.
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I've come to observe that there are two types of Hokie fans,
1. those who are happy with any wins even if they are cup cake teams and who would be completely fine with not another National Championship run in the next 100 years. These tend to be old alumni or people who were at tech before there was football.
2. Those like myself who would like the tech football program to build a lasting legacy through at least 1 National Championship win along with several big wins against top 5 teams here and there. Fans like myself want tech to become a program like Florida, Alabama, Ohio St., Oklahoma, Texas, ect. The big boys. As of now we are a top 15/top 20 team but not a top 10 team.
This is the best we can be with our current offensive coaches due to sheer talent alone. Next year we may not even be top 25. The program has hit a wall, no one ...no one can deny that.
So basically fans in group 1. are fine with things how they are and don't care if tech makes it to the next level or not and those in group 2. do.
I don't know if it is a almuni generational thing or just different philosophical views on success.
Whatever, but the bottom line is money. NOTHING will change unless people stop paying to go to games.
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I urge those of you who want change to stop paying thousands of $$ to the hokie club, stop going to big away games. Write letters to Beamer/Weaver. That's the only way change will happen before Beamer retires.
Also let me bring up, Beamer has been reluctant to change his staff before way back before he became successful (late 80's early 90's) when they were 2-8, the AD at the time forced him to make changes or leave. Beamer did, and look how he turned the program around from then on.
Beamer just rewards incompetence and mediocrity because they are his "buddies". It's just like cronyism in business.
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Bingo - you nailed it. Let me preface by stating that I would label myself as a "type 2," and I am an alum (2002) and have been a fan for about 15 years now.
I believe this IS precisely an "alumni/generational thing." Unfortunately, the majority of folks making significant donations now are "type 1," and it's going to be ~10-15 years or so before type 2's are the big donors. The question is, will Tech continually pull in the top recruits in the Commonwealth over that period of time? My fear is that will not be the case.
Like it or not, our inability to perform in big games is now officially our rep. And sooner or later, recruits will see that and start to head to other schools. Frank Beamer has made the program what it is, but he has proven that he cannot take it to the next level.
I believe Tech needs a big time coaching staff shake-up, starting with everyone's favorite OC. Keep BS on staff to continue to do an excellent job with recruiting, but find someone qualified to replace him on the field. Is Bud qualified to be a head coach? I think so, but not everyone does. Bud Foster has kept the Hokies in the national spotlight. And if he ever walks for a head coaching position, VT can kiss their 10+ win season streak goodbye and watch as our top-notch defensive recruits go elsewhere.
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Administrators, there is nothing wrong with this comment. My mouse cursor is stupid and I clicked flag by accident. Sorry for the mistake.
Anon, good post. As an '07 alum, I agree 100%.
But here's the sad truth: Stinespring will never leave as long as Beamer is there. Foster will leave before Beamer retires..he interviews with schools every year. Eventually the right offer will come along. Then it will be too late. We'll have lost one of the best defense coordinators in the country, and we'll be rebuilding a coaching staff for the entire program. I foresee mediocrity for years to come, and this alum will not donate or spend $1 on Hokie football until Stinespring is gone!
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Too bad you don't play any compatition during the year to get ready. Oh well, at least you have your brothers and sisters to have sex with.
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Looks like you buried the wrong comment. Typical CT.
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Virginia Tech has a record of one win and twenty five losses against opponents ranked in the top five.
Pathetic.
Who was the top five team that they did manage to defeat and when?
The program will never get to the next level as long as Beamer is head coach.
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That one win was against #2 Miami in Blacksburg on Nov 1st 2003 31-7. That was the one win they had and it was at home. You'd think we'd at least have a few more upsets at home just my sheer statistical chance alone.
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An absolutely horrendous 2nd half meltdown. How do you allow Stanford to gain most of their yards using basically two plays and not adjust? Were the players so out of it that they couldn't stay in position to make plays? Stanford won this game because the Hokies couldn't or wouldn't excute. They were too concerned with all of the shifting Stanford was doing instead of staying in position. Multiple big plays on offense were missed due to bad passes. The offensive line reverted back to their inability to block, be physical, and not quit. Same old story, another letdown on the big stage. 1-27 against top 5 teams is an embarassment and inexcusible. This is not only on the players, but the coaches bear the blame also. I would venture to say that UVa probably has a better record against top 5 teams than we do. This program needs to wake up and make the necessary changes to get ovet the hump.
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This is poorly written article. The first sentence doesn't even make sense.
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Don't look for this to improve any time soon. This team had the most talent since Marcus Vick got to choose between King, Royal, Morgan, Harper, and Clowney. At least we have a mediocre 2011 recruiting class to look forward to - ranked #31 on rivals.com - behind FSU, Clemson, UNC, and, yes, UVa.
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VT has to seriously consider recruiting outside of VA. Great programs field players from all over.
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That's another thing, we are starting to slide recruiting wise. If only we had won this game, you know how much that would help recruiting. Besides respect that should be one of the main reasons to win big games. I don't know what they were doing all week when they were down there...going to the beach? While Stanford was practicing every day.
The team always does this, maybe the coaches aren't serious about bowl games since we've already won our "10 games" for the season and their salaries are secured.
Well....in that case I'm done paying. That's for sure.
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Foster has alone kept this team ranked for the past several years but when he has to field an entirely new team on the defensive side of the ball, we're going to lose some games.
Lucky for Beamer-Stiney, we play in a good-to-very-good high school football conference called the ACC so they get enough wins a year to keep their jobs.
We're doomed for mediocrity for a long time my friends.
Go Beamer-Stiney and more (but likely less) ACC wins to come!! WHOOOOO!
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I agree with everything that has been said so far, so I'm not going to just repeat it. Stinespring is the reason we lost, below are some examples. We were going up against the best QB and Oline in college football, so we already knew Stanford was going to score points, we needed our Offense to come up big and they didn't......again......12 points.....everyone predicting this game said it would be a shootout, our D gave up 40, honestly, with the talent on offense, we should have scored 41.
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Examples of Stiney's incompetince: the 4th and 1, we do a halfback draw up the middle, which we do every time we go for it on 4th and 1 and it gets stuffed every time, everyone knew that was coming including people watching at home. Why we never fake the handoff and scramble TT or try an option here I will never know. Throughout the game, Stiney called halfback draws up the middle even though they were being stuffed every time, Stanford has stuggled versus the option all year, we run one option play and Evans rumbles for 30 yards, we never saw another option play. Pathetic.
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Jaws and the rest of the announcers for the game were practically begging us to roll TT out of the pocket because of the blitzing and our Oline getting manhandled, but Stiney wouldn't do that because that is when TT is at his best (his only TD pass of the game), for some reason, Stiney likes to call plays that have no chance of working. He really is pathetic, I'm sure he's a good guy, but he is a recruiter trying to be an offensive coordinator and well it just ain't happening on this level bud, sorry. Problem is, we won another 10 games and the ACC, so in Beamer Land that means there are no problems, but there is a huge problem and it is called Stiney. Until we get an offensive coordinator that knows what he is doing, we will continue to win 10 games a year and beat up on a weak ACC. That is all great and is better than most teams out there, but we want and deserve more. VT fans/alums live for football and want a national championship, Stanford's fans/alums dont' even go to their games even though they have a top 5 program. Wise up Beamer! Make the change!
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Now is the perfect time to make some changes, too. We will have a new quarterback next year and a weak schedule. Why not use it as a time to refocus the program get some new offensive blood out there.
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Stiner, for this incompetence, has received a 57K raise over the last 3 years (19%) when faculty and staff did not received a dime raise.
What is it with Beamer and the rewarding incompetence deal? Stick with your COMPETENT guys, Frank, not those best qualified to bus tables.
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Exactly, but Beamer or Weaver won't and that is the problem. Nothing will be done as long as Beamer is in charge and the fans are happy. Since we won 10 games, everything is fine. That's why I was hoping we either loose 6 games or beat Stanford in the orange bowl, this is the worst scenario because program doesn't change. If we lost 6 games, stinespring would be gone. If we'd beat Stanford, we would have better recruits and respect as a program. But alas, we will continue to be the "chokies" on the big stage and looked as just an ACC team.
Most fans esp the money boosters are happy with "10 wins" in a weak ACC conference. As soon as fans stop paying money, only then will changes be made. I've stopped paying but many continue to pay these coaches salaries and this is what you get, and will continue to get until you either stop paying or they retire which will be in 5 more years.
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100% agreed that significant changes need to be made.
And I agree that changes will be made if fans stop paying, but that's a slippery slope. If donors/fans stop giving and attendance goes down, what happens? Facilities get old and are not replaced, our reputation slides as a respectable football school, and less quality recruits want to play at Tech.
Big donors need to be on board with the concept of bringing a title to Blacksburg. Right now, they are not. Those who feel strongly about that need to become big donors. If people stop giving altogether, putting a championship-caliber program together will never be an option.
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Oh, come on, everyone. Harbaugh is a phenomenal recruiter, and it's not a cut on VT to say that Stanford had the better players. It does, and VT was just one of the many good teams Stanford beat this year, handily. It's just that the stage was bigger.
No way VT can out-recruit talent over Stanford with a guy like Harbaugh... that's just the truth.
Congrats to VT and Stanford for making it that far. Even as a Stanford guy, I would have preferred that Stanford have won by 1 point in a thriller rather than the big margin of yesterday.
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As a hokie, I like the Stanford team and was really looking forward to the game. I think Stanford, TCU, Alabama, Boise State are good role models Beamer ought to follow. How is it they come out of no where in a few seasons and beat top ranked teams? Look at TCU!
Anyway, sorry Stanford fans. I know we had the right talent but I wish we had a better offensive coaches and a better defense in the 2nd half to put together a close nail biter game yesterday, unfortunately that wasn't the case.
We're now 1-27...congrats hokies
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Next year we have a cup cake schedule, let's see if Stinespring will still f*** that up losing 3 or 4 games since we don't have Tyrod Taylor covering his behind anymore.
If anyone...get rid of Curt Newsome, the offensive line has been terrible the past 5 years. There is no way we can ever have a pocket QB like Andrew Luck with it. Look what happened with Glennon.
The solution to beamer is a simple one.
1. Make Stinespring a recruiting coordinator
2. Hire the Ralph or Mike Leech as Offensive Coordinator
3. Can newsome and any other coaches who have had no verifiable results the past 5/6 years.
4. Start being serious about big games or retire and give the head coach job to Bud Foster.
I know Bud Foster has what it takes to win a National Championship.
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Beamer out and Friedgen in. Thats what I heard is going to happen from a close source. We strut around all tough like we are bad asses. Sure we can beat MD and GT but when it comes to real football, we play like a bunch of sissys.
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That would be a terrible step backward. We need to keep Beamer, get rid of Stinespring, and get Friedgen as OC.
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While Coach Beamer keeps loyalty to Stinespring and Newsome we will not see the N.C. game again. The reason we won 11 games is not because of BS's playcalling but the athleticism of our players. Half of those games were comebacks made by excellent players on busted plays. Additionally, Mike London is outrecruiting us in our own state for the premiere VA players, they'll go to UVA or to an SEC team with legitimate N.C. chances. We recruit kids that fit our system but some 5 stars with good attitudes (i.e. Tyrod Taylor) wouldn't hurt. At any other school and at any other conference Stiney would be out! Period! It's shameful that we haven't done more with the amazing athletes that we've had on offense. We keep recruiting tight ends and converting them to OT's and OG's and that just won't work against top tiered teams. We must have elite o-line players if we want to get another Tyrod or protect Logan. The boosters and much of the Hokie faithful have settled for ACC Championships and 10 win seasons. I for one, and I am sure those players want more...National Prominence. Frank is a landmark but if he is going to "Paterno" us he needs to redesign our offensive staff..period. We lost Kevin Rogers (who got Michael Vick for us btw) and was co-OC but left us for the Vikings when Stiney refused to bench Marcus in the second half for stomping on Dumerville's leg.
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