Been a rought 6 weeks to this season so far, and the bye weeks haven't seemed to do anything but exacerbate fan frustration an extra week due to the uninspiring, inconsistent, and offensivelypoor performances the last 3 games.
We have discussed, ad nauseum, the issues about Enos. I'll refrain from belaboring it in this thread. What I want to see: (1) signficantly reduce the 12/22 personnel packages which feature slow developing playaction pass and deep run plays; (2) go 66%-75% shotgun quick-hitting passing attack with 0/1/3 step drops; and (3) uptempo more, especially to start hte game. Virginia Tech has given up 35 to BC and 45 v. Duke; you'll be hard-pressed to find a more opportunistic year to move the ball against a weak ass VT Defense which is otherwise almost always top-20 under Bud Foster.
The issues go well beyond Enos. Jarren has 0 INTs. Sure, on one hand it's nice that he protects the ball and is risk adverse. On the other hand, I'd like to see some calculated shots down the field in 1-vs-1 situations to get those momentum changing chunk plays. Also, 3rd Down has been a disaster- DEAD LAST, 103th (.233). Special Teams- been about as bad as Offense this year- muffed punts, Baxa's bad misses, zero blocked punts/field goals, and no long Punt/Kickoff returns. Fail.
Defense has looked good all-around when you check the key stats. 12th in TFL, 35th in Turnovers Gained, 30th in Sacks, and 4th in 3rd Down % Defense, but a lot of these stats are overinflated having played 3 horrendous offensive teams. 4 out of 5 next games will test our Defense more than the first 4 games. Defense needs to SET THE TONE tomorrow. Virginia Tech has scored 30 or more points ONLY ONCE this year (Old Dominion), and I presume their QB change to Hooker was based a lot on that. I know nothing about Hooker- his recruiting profile says 4-star Dual Threat, with offers from Oregon, Clemson, Tennessee, Notre Dame, Virginia, and West Virginia. So he is a good athlete, and will be an X-Factor since nobody knows what to expect out of him. Have a spy, and contain the edges.
Overall, I see an UGLY ass game. Nothing leads me to believe that all of a sudden the offense is going to "click" and have a break out performance. If I'm wrong, then so be it., but I think that Danmark Penosofrio is an incompetent OC. I do think we score early in the First Quarter, but Hooker's running/improvisation catches our Defense completely off guard and VT engineers two good drives which result in FGs. The U 7-6 after the First Quarter. Second Quarter, I think our offense struggles, and we have a turnover. VT gets a touchdown on a big play, and we come back before the Halftime with a FG. VT leads 13-10 at Halftime. 3rd Quarter there is better improvement and we score a touchdown with either DeeJay or Cam, to retake the lead, and VT gets a FG. The U 17-16 after 3rd Quarter. Fourth Quarter I think is a sloppy defensive struggle, but we get another FG to make it 20-16. Our defense figures it out against Hooker late, forces a turnover, and then holds VT to a turnover on downs last 3 or so minutes in the game needing but failing to get a touchdown. Ugly as shit, mostly boring as shit, and still with a lot of questions on offense heading into UVA.
Miami 20 - VT 16.
We have discussed, ad nauseum, the issues about Enos. I'll refrain from belaboring it in this thread. What I want to see: (1) signficantly reduce the 12/22 personnel packages which feature slow developing playaction pass and deep run plays; (2) go 66%-75% shotgun quick-hitting passing attack with 0/1/3 step drops; and (3) uptempo more, especially to start hte game. Virginia Tech has given up 35 to BC and 45 v. Duke; you'll be hard-pressed to find a more opportunistic year to move the ball against a weak ass VT Defense which is otherwise almost always top-20 under Bud Foster.
The issues go well beyond Enos. Jarren has 0 INTs. Sure, on one hand it's nice that he protects the ball and is risk adverse. On the other hand, I'd like to see some calculated shots down the field in 1-vs-1 situations to get those momentum changing chunk plays. Also, 3rd Down has been a disaster- DEAD LAST, 103th (.233). Special Teams- been about as bad as Offense this year- muffed punts, Baxa's bad misses, zero blocked punts/field goals, and no long Punt/Kickoff returns. Fail.
Defense has looked good all-around when you check the key stats. 12th in TFL, 35th in Turnovers Gained, 30th in Sacks, and 4th in 3rd Down % Defense, but a lot of these stats are overinflated having played 3 horrendous offensive teams. 4 out of 5 next games will test our Defense more than the first 4 games. Defense needs to SET THE TONE tomorrow. Virginia Tech has scored 30 or more points ONLY ONCE this year (Old Dominion), and I presume their QB change to Hooker was based a lot on that. I know nothing about Hooker- his recruiting profile says 4-star Dual Threat, with offers from Oregon, Clemson, Tennessee, Notre Dame, Virginia, and West Virginia. So he is a good athlete, and will be an X-Factor since nobody knows what to expect out of him. Have a spy, and contain the edges.
Overall, I see an UGLY ass game. Nothing leads me to believe that all of a sudden the offense is going to "click" and have a break out performance. If I'm wrong, then so be it., but I think that Danmark Penosofrio is an incompetent OC. I do think we score early in the First Quarter, but Hooker's running/improvisation catches our Defense completely off guard and VT engineers two good drives which result in FGs. The U 7-6 after the First Quarter. Second Quarter, I think our offense struggles, and we have a turnover. VT gets a touchdown on a big play, and we come back before the Halftime with a FG. VT leads 13-10 at Halftime. 3rd Quarter there is better improvement and we score a touchdown with either DeeJay or Cam, to retake the lead, and VT gets a FG. The U 17-16 after 3rd Quarter. Fourth Quarter I think is a sloppy defensive struggle, but we get another FG to make it 20-16. Our defense figures it out against Hooker late, forces a turnover, and then holds VT to a turnover on downs last 3 or so minutes in the game needing but failing to get a touchdown. Ugly as shit, mostly boring as shit, and still with a lot of questions on offense heading into UVA.
Miami 20 - VT 16.
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