Michael Holmes is brought down by two Clemson defenders during Saturday's 38-17 loss.
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Virginia Tech turned the ball over four times on Saturday, en route to a 38-17 loss at the hands of defending ACC champion Clemson.
"I thought our guys battled hard and I think we played a very good football team today," said Frank Beamer, head coach. "I think in the end it gets down to about four or five or six plays, a couple that we didn't make and a couple that they got points off of."
It was the Hokies’ third loss to the Tigers in the past two seasons. In each contest, Tech hasn’t been able to have any offensive success against a sub-par Clemson defense.
"They played well against us, and they had a couple plays that pushed us back," said quarterback Logan Thomas. "We kind of hurt ourselves by getting behind the chains and not even with the chains. We were digging ourselves out of a hole the whole third quarter."
Thomas looked good at times, despite throwing two interceptions — one returned for a touchdown. He also ran for a career-high 99 yards and a touchdown, anchoring a running game that struggled to consistently move the football.
Bud Foster’s defense impressed all day, holding an offense that averaged 525 yards per game coming in to a meager 295 yards.
"We just played with a lot of emotion," said Antone Exum. "We played with a lot of discipline. Guys were flying around making plays, tackling well, things like that. It was just a couple plays didn't go our way."
The controversy of the day came in the middle of the third quarter. The Tigers were leading 17-10 when Thomas was under heavy pressure on 3rd-and-8, but managed to get the pass off to a wide-open J.C. Coleman near the first down marker.
Thomas — who was standing straight up when he released the ball — was inexplicably ruled down by the officials, forcing the Hokies to punt.
"That's the first play (I've had like that)," Thomas said. "I think the momentum kind of changed for us right there. Instead of having a big play, we were called down for a sack."
Two plays later, Clemson wide receiver Sammy Watkins caught a pass on a hitch route, and was tackled by Detrick Bonner when the ball came loose. Antone Exum recovered, but Watkins was ruled down.
Replay showed that the ball came out of Watkins’ hands before he hit the ground, but the ruling on the field stood.
The Tigers scored six plays later and never looked back.
"That's part of the game, and that's what (the referees) called," Beamer said. "That's what we'll live with."
Early in the fourth quarter it seemed as though the Hokies might mount a comeback. Down 31-10, Thomas marched the team 61 yards in just over a minute to cut the deficit to two touchdowns.
After the defense forced a three-and-out, Tech got the ball back with 8:17 remaining in the game.
On 1st-and-10 from their own 37, the Hokies attempted a double pass, as Thomas threw a screen to Marcus Davis, who then attempted to throw across the field to Coleman — the ball was then fairly easily intercepted by Xavier Brewer.
Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd capped the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown run on the ensuing drive.
Corey Fuller led the way for Tech’s receiving corps, snagging four passes for 96 yards and a touchdown.
The Hokies are off next week, but will retake the field on Thursday, Nov. 1 at Miami. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
A version of this article appeared in the Oct 21 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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Entire offensive staff needs to go. Plain and simple.
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It's time for Beamer to either clean house or retire
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Hokies got robbed -- its tough when the announcers call a better game then the replay and field officials. But, yes, the offense needs better play calling!
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I don't want to hear about how the refs robbed them. If you wanna know why we lost the game, look to getting nothing after the interception, LT always overthrowing guys including the overthrow for the pick 6 and the over throw of the wide open receiver that would've scored. Those two passes are a 14-point swing in the game. I'd love to see someone else at QB next week. LT just isn't working out and it's not because he doesn't have any help.
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This football team is the most pathetic excuse for a college football team I have seen at VT since the early 90's. I don't even know if the Hokies can beat some of the better AAA high schools in Virginia, seriously.
LT is a horrible quarterback (he is NO Cam Newton so stop with the comparisons). The play calling is horrendous. This team is going to continue to go downhill until big changes are made.
Alumni need to stop with their big donations until changes are made. I hope we lose the coastal and not make a bowl game, that might be a wake-up call (probably not).
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...You're right, he has a great O-line, strong running game, excellent tight end and receivers that never quit on their routes or drop passes. He has all the help in the world, especially when you factor in the coaching staff that tailors the game plan to all of his strengths...
Seriously what games have you been watching that you actually think LT is the problem. He has been our offensive MVP by a wide margin this season. I would love to know who on the offense you think has been better than LT. We call slow developing running plays and sideways passing plays that create a ton of third-and-long situations. No quarterback would be successful in that scheme.
Anyone calling Thomas a horrible QB needs to start watching other games to see what a real offense looks like. If we took LT out and put in a backup, we wouldn't have put 10 points on the board against Clemson.
As for the Cam Newton comparison, that was made strictly on a physical size and dual threat capability, not a talent level. Only idiots made it about the stats. Newton played in an offense that wass specifically designed to play to his abilities. LT has an offense that takes away his abilities.
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If you think LT is the problem, then name the last QB at VT to be better than him before their third year at QB. This offense coaching staff is inept at using and developing QBs. Todd McShay recently said that VT offensive players take time to develop in the NFL because they don't learn it in college. All of the hype regarding LT is his physical size and abilities, but everyone agreed that he would need to develop to be successful, something that just won't happen at VT.
It's sad that some people are so ignorant when it comes to football, yet feel the need to comment out of frustration.
The only change that needs to happen is Stinespring, O'Cain, Newsome, and Sherman need to go. They have failed repeatedly at their jobs.
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Hey Adam:
List of quarterbacks better than LT before their third year:
#1: Michael Vick
#2: Tyrod Taylor
These are two examples.
Game over.
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I'm glad you answered with those two names. That's specifically what I was looking for.
Tyrod Taylor second year: 99/173 for 1036 yards 2TD 7INT
Michael Vick never played in Stinespring's offense.
So you're right, "game over"
Thank you for making my point.
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I don't give a s*** about stats. We were 10-4 that year and #15 in the country (including an Orange Bowl win). Tyrod was a leader on the team. The QB job is to lead the team and LT is a horrible leader.
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I also forgot to mention Bryan Randall.
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Bryan Randall was not better before his third year.
Both Tyrod and Randall had immensely better TEAMS than LT does right now. They both had excellent running games and good wide receivers.
Explain how LT is not a leader and Tyrod was before his third year.
We are not losing because of LT. You have nothing to back that up. We are losing because of our entire offensive game plan.
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Adam:
I am not saying that LT is the only problem. My only argument is that he is/was way overrated. I agree with you 100% that the main problem is Stinespring/Offense of staff, o-line, and game plan.
I just don't think LT is as good of a quarterback that he gets credit for. Yes, his receivers have dropped a lot of balls but he has also over thrown and been off target multiple times.
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I'm not saying LT is a great QB, but he is by far our best option and has been most of the reason we are even competitive in games.
I think he is overrated just in the fact that he overachieved last year and people thought he would continue the same progression despite the loss of a great running back, and two of VTs best receivers. My main point is that I don't think he is getting a fair shake in the offense. They're expecting him to clean up the messes instead of moving the ball in a rhythm.
If we get in a rhythm early, we might see a different QB. We're having too many run/screen-induced 3rd-and-longs early in games to see what he can actually do.
I've been going back to the play-by-play charts from the games and it's scary just repetitively bad our playcalling has been. It's like our offensive staff doesn't study situational playcalling at all.
Also, we need to bring back the go-to tight end/fullback plays in short yardage.
On most of our plays, it takes entirely too long to get the ball past the line of scrimmage. Reverses, screens, read-options, etc. are okay in some instances, but we don't have the O-line to handle a full playbook of slow-developing plays.
Lastly, we need to roll LT out more with some crossing routes. If he's going to run 10-15 times a game, half of those should be on pass plays, not designed runs.
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My post from Oct 1:
"My prediction is coming true. Including the last one, five losses. The remaining three are; Carolina; Clemson; Florida State. Florida State will beat us by 40 points. If we lose to Miami, I've vowed a year off of watching or following any game. Call me when Stinespring is fired."
I'm sure I'll be repeating it a few times until the Miami game or until Stinespring is fired, whichever comes first.
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I agree with Adam in that it's too late in the season to pull LT, and there are no viable replacements. He's not the worst we've had, but he's certainly not going to be remembered as one of our best.
At the end of the day - it is the same problem we have had for years. The offensive coaching staff is terrible. The play calling has gone from bad to baffling. Fire Stinespring, fire O'Kain, and if Beamer won't pull the plug - fire him too.
Frank Beamer knows it's a problem. Read the transcripts of his post-game pressers. He immediately comes to the defense of the Offense & their coaches. They take no responsibility for the poor performances. When we've had bad defensive games, Bud is the first to say "Yah, my boys weren't out there today and we're going to fix that." We deserve the same from the Offensive coaching staff.
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As unpopular as it may be to say this, Stinespring isn't even the #1 culprit here. Yes, I agree he needs to be relieved of offense coordinator duties. However, the blocking by the oline and receivers is P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C. Even factoring in the youth and inexperience, this is a bad line. And VT has not had a good oline in a long time. The first thing that needs to happen is a change at the oline coach position, then a better ocoordinator. I don't think I even need to mention special teams either, everyone knows what a joke that has turned into.
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I say the biggest culprit here is Beamer. I still have a lot of love for coach Beamer but frankly he is now just getting in the way of progress (and if this season is any indication of future seasons) he's also getting in the way of our glorified mediocrity (10 win seasons with an occasional ACC Championship win and maybe a non-BCS bowl win). I define this as mediocrity... but perhaps the Hokie nation should just adjust our expectations and hope they kept the receipt for that National Championship trophy case. It is clear that Beamer's alliances to the offensive coaching staff have cost us dearly in the past and yet he continues to stick with Stinespring and O'cain so I doubt any changes will occur after this season. With him refusing to make the needed changes, Beamer has become the root cause of this problem. Hoping Jim Weaver will put pressure on Beamer to take out the trash is just a pipe dream.
Our playbook is outdated with stale and predictable plays. We need fresh blood in the offensive coaching department. Unfortunately, it will not happen this year, hopefully those big donors wake up and make their checkbooks demand change. Short of that, expect more of the same.
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Thank you for the accurate analysis.
LT is not the problem. Stiner and the rest of the incompetent idiots are the problem. If Beamer won't clean house, the house should be cleaned including him.
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