David Wilson (4) is brought down by East Carolina defense.
You didn’t expect it to be pretty, did you?
When Virginia Tech walked out of Greenville with a sloppy 17-10 win over East Carolina, head coach Frank Beamer was the first to offer an apology to his players.
“I’m disappointed with myself about how we came out and played,” Beamer said.
I’m disappointed with all the penalties. We had two interceptions called back by penalties — we had eight penalties in the first half, one interception in the red zone, missed a field goal, we dropped a pass, had a punt for 30 yards — it was just over and over. I think when you play like that, you’re just mentally not quite where you need to be, and that’s my fault.”
Beamer knows an ugly win when he sees one. Saturday’s victory marked his 200th with the Hokies. He can thank many of those victories to his lunch pail defense bailing out a beleaguered offensive output.
Throw the 66-13 win over FCS (formerly Division I-AA) Appalachian State out the window in week one. Saturday marked Tech’s first test against one of its own — an FBS program, that is.
Logan Thomas completed just eight of 20 passes for 91 yards and zero touchdowns in his first career road start as the Hokies quarterback. While every pass he threw was not perfect, there were several key drops that did not help his cause.
Danny Coale and Marcus Davis both dropped would-be touchdowns, to go along with a pair of consecutive drops by D.J. Coles and Jarrett Boykin on a crucial third-quarter possession.
Meanwhile, Bud Foster’s defense absolutely smothered the explosive Pirates offense most of the evening. Dominique Davis passed for just 127 yards while being sacked five times.
The relentless pressure generated by Tech’s defensive line made it nearly impossible for the Pirates to consistently move the ball, which was crucial considering how generous East Carolina’s average field position was.
The Pirates started, on average, at their own 33-yard line (Tech’s was its own 26). They went three plays and out on three of its final four possessions of the game.
After the Hokies trailed 7-3 at halftime, they virtually abandoned the passing game in the final two quarters.
A version of this article appeared in the Sep 13 issue of the Collegiate Times.
Leave a comment 1 Comment Write a letter to the editor
All letters to the editor must include a name, e-mail, daytime phone number and affiliation to Virginia Tech. Affiliation includes: year and major for students; position and department for faculty and staff; current city for alumni and parents.
Glad to see Beamer step out and take the blame instead of throwing the players under the bus blaming it on "execution". Show's great class. If I were Beamer I'd have the team running laps, longer practices doing passing drills and whatever needs to be done to improve and whatever practice it takes. I'm sure he'll take care of business but it just looked like the team never practiced at all. Same thing with the Orange Bowl. I don't know if they take the week off or what? Also the defense has always been our offense. That's got to change if you want to be a national championship contender. The year we actually have an offense as good as our defense will be a great year. Stinespring isn't calling plays but maybe they are still using his playbook? The ref's were terrible that game but we still had too many penalties.
Reply to this Top