Analysis of an upset
Before I start laboring on this Labor Day, I thought I would break down the reasons VT lost a close game to ECU.
In no particular order:
1) Offensive line played well until guys went out of the game due to injury. After that there were Pirates in the backfield, the running game was less effective, and Glennon had seven carries (meaning dudes were chasing him a lot more than the 2 sacks would indicate)
2) Glennon threw 2 picks - one was juggled around, the other he flat out didn't see the defender coming over the middle.
3) Lost Macho. That one is self-explanatory as he's a "Pre-season All-american." Their starting QB went 19-23 passing and we lost our ace returner and leader in the secondary, and possibly our best deep threat at WR also.
4) Didn't convert on a 4th and 1 in the 1st quarter. A lot of people criticized Beamer for doing the opposite in the Orange Bowl. The situations were totally different. With a 0-0 score, put a FG on the board! It's not the time to make a statement with their defense fresh and with no score.
5) Blocked punt, missed FG, missed PAT. Like most of the teams that beat us (the exception being BC), ECU won the special teams battle. I'm discounting that squibbed kickoff fumble recovery since it appeared to be a fluke and unintentional
6) Two or three perfectly good passes were flat out dropped by our inexperienced WRs. Most notably the deep pass to Ike.
7) We gave ECU a ton of time to work at the end of the first half. If we could have run off some time it would have been nice. Instead we run the clock and call timeout with the clock stopped, then come back throwing on second & third down, leading to #2 above . . . It should have been 14-0 at the half.
8) Arm tackles. I haven't seen the Hokies make such half-ass, piss poor attempts at tackling since 2003. Way too many yards after contact given up.
9) No presure on the QB, and Zero sacks. Their guy had all day. Again, 19-23 with no INTs.
Bottom line, the stat was repeated a lot - VT traveled with 41% of its team having never taken the field in a college game. The youth was too much, all over the field.
In no particular order:
1) Offensive line played well until guys went out of the game due to injury. After that there were Pirates in the backfield, the running game was less effective, and Glennon had seven carries (meaning dudes were chasing him a lot more than the 2 sacks would indicate)
2) Glennon threw 2 picks - one was juggled around, the other he flat out didn't see the defender coming over the middle.
3) Lost Macho. That one is self-explanatory as he's a "Pre-season All-american." Their starting QB went 19-23 passing and we lost our ace returner and leader in the secondary, and possibly our best deep threat at WR also.
4) Didn't convert on a 4th and 1 in the 1st quarter. A lot of people criticized Beamer for doing the opposite in the Orange Bowl. The situations were totally different. With a 0-0 score, put a FG on the board! It's not the time to make a statement with their defense fresh and with no score.
5) Blocked punt, missed FG, missed PAT. Like most of the teams that beat us (the exception being BC), ECU won the special teams battle. I'm discounting that squibbed kickoff fumble recovery since it appeared to be a fluke and unintentional
6) Two or three perfectly good passes were flat out dropped by our inexperienced WRs. Most notably the deep pass to Ike.
7) We gave ECU a ton of time to work at the end of the first half. If we could have run off some time it would have been nice. Instead we run the clock and call timeout with the clock stopped, then come back throwing on second & third down, leading to #2 above . . . It should have been 14-0 at the half.
8) Arm tackles. I haven't seen the Hokies make such half-ass, piss poor attempts at tackling since 2003. Way too many yards after contact given up.
9) No presure on the QB, and Zero sacks. Their guy had all day. Again, 19-23 with no INTs.
Bottom line, the stat was repeated a lot - VT traveled with 41% of its team having never taken the field in a college game. The youth was too much, all over the field.