Comments on: Virginia Tech-James Madison in-game blog

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 03:29:33 +0000

Fair enough, I was unaware of the light practice. I don’t follow every piece of news to come out of VT. Regardless of the short week, you are very right you practice like you play. I guess it was the coaches taking JMU too lightly. That being said, I don’t know how you suddenly forget to tackle or execute. I can understand some lack of sharpness but it still takes a certain amount of character and will to win to overcome. The only other possibility is VT has been horribly overrated. We shall see what happens next, if they can still salvage this season.

By: dave

dave — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 03:25:13 +0000

Jason, what makes you assume that the posters on this blog are VT fans. The ones who are usually make it pretty clear. But there are plenty of others who don’t profess to be VT fans. Personally, I’m a college
football fan. I try to look objectively at whoever is playing. Being from
Va., I pull for Tech when they play most out of state schools. WWhen they
play in state schools, all of whom they should always beat except for
UVA, i pull for the underdogs. I find it refreshing when a school that is
not a football factory and has inferior talent can come up with a game plan and outcoach and outplay one of the big boys. Especially when they
can do it while maintaining academic excellence and without selling
their souls to the big time football business. Be a fan. Be loyal
to your school. But don’t be so dogmatic that you can never recognize
their shortcomings and be objective about it.

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 23:49:09 +0000

I think we’ll find out who the real Tech fans are this season. I suspect most on this blog probably jumped on the bandwagon in 1999.

By: Original Greg

Original Greg — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 17:38:10 +0000

Found another site you guys might like.

http://www.drafthistory.com/colleges.html

This site shows you a schools draft history by year. Keep in mind this is just players who got drafted and a lot of them are not playing in the NFL now. Also some players (kickers) that don’t get drafted still make it in the NFL.

I did some looking around and found these numbers pretty interesting. Just looking at the first 6 rounds there is a huge dispairity in first round pick caliber players at Tech vs. other schools.

Players Drafted by Round:
VT: 1)1 2)5 3)4 4)3 5)7 6)3
UVA: 1)5 2)2 3)2 4)3 5)2 6)6
FLA: 1)7 2)4 3)4 4)5 5)2 6)2
CAL: 1)5 2)2 3)4 4)3 5)1 6)3
USC: 1)9 2)15 3)5 4)5 5)5 6)4

By: Other John

Other John — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 17:22:11 +0000

Regarding players vs coaching…think about this: if one player or a couple players aren’t playing up to their ability…I think you can safely say the individual player is at fault for not getting prepared. When the WHOLE TEAM shows a lack of discipline, execution, and a general laziness on the field…that’s on the coaches for not leading the team in a manner that would result in a victory. The players are 18-22 year old kids who have less than 4 years of experience playing college football, and most likely less than 10 years playing any level of organized football. The coaches have decades of experience to their credit at this level and should be able to get their players fully prepared and ready to beat a team from a lower division of football.

VT got outplayed, out-coached, and out-classed in just about every respect on Saturday, and that’s inexcusable. And sadly, it’s not the only time this has happened at VT lately. They’ve dropped major bombs in bowl games, against top-tier teams, and every so often they drop a steamer like the JMU game to a team that has no business having a chance to win, let alone actually winning a game in Lane Stadium.

The ECU game all of a sudden got very interesting.

By: hokie24

hokie24 — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 17:04:29 +0000

Exactly, I don’t think the players were prepared on Saturday, and it was very easy to see.

I saw a lack of tackling and blocking and too many fumbles and those things cost us the game. Yes, that’s a lack of execution. But it’s also a huge lack of preparation. How do you best practice and prepare for the contact that you’ll experience in a game? It was made very public that VT didn’t do a lot of full-contact practice last week. Even the players were quoted by the media as saying that they were hoping for more full contact tackling practice after Boise State, and they didn’t get it. As a coach yourself… I’m sure you tell your players that “you play the way you practice…”

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 16:17:23 +0000

You don’t think Coach Beamer prepared them? He cannot get inside every players head and control what they do. Do you think the coaches simply set up lawn chairs and let the players play hopscotch during practice? The players figured they shoulda beat the #3 team in Boise State so it must be a given that they can roll a FCS team like JMU. No matter how hard a coach tries to get that notion out of their heads, it is up to the players to get their heads on straight. Now I will say that sometimes things may get stale and a coach needs to find a different approach but ultimately it’s the players that need to listen and play. I put this last game solely on the players. No excuses, the ones that play the game need to take responsibility. Now I will blame Beamer for recruiting guys who lack character and the will to win. I do think Beamer had more success as the underdog, his players can’t handle being expected to win.

By: hokie24

hokie24 — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 15:16:42 +0000

@152 – I disagree Jeff. Looking to the coaches to fix a team’s problems is in no way the result of being a fair-weather fan. It’s the coaches’ responsibility to lead the team, right?

If you watched the game on Saturday, did VT look like a prepared team to you? Who’s job is it to get the team prepared to play?

While it may be the players who “fail to make big plays…” it’s also the coaches who need to give the players the opportunities with their play calling to make those big plays.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 15:08:40 +0000

Fair weather Tech fans always start blaming the coaches when things go bad. Maybe it’s time to realize the players play the game. The players fail to make big plays. The players lose discipline and make stupid penalties and mistakes at crucial times. Maybe the players think they know it all and don’t listen to the coaches like they should. Maybe the players lack some character. Maybe the players just aren’t good enough.

By: John H.

John H. — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 14:59:02 +0000

Thaaaank you GREG! I am not anti-Hokie or (anti) any team, but you have to be real with it all. It doesn’t start at VT, it starts in the High Schools. Since VA is so full of super talent, how many national championships can the state of VA lay claim to? If the commonwealth is in the top 5 states in regards to talent where are the NCAA championships? on a football level, or even Basketball. Arguably the top two sports in the country on any level. You could throw in baseball for the sake of dialogue. I will begin my recruiting venture for the state of VA and you know, I am not going into any home and selling wolf tickets. The athlete and their family will get the truth, straight forward. I will keep you guys posted on how things are progressing. If I find some diamonds in the rough I will shoot you their names Gary Z.