Virginia Tech falls out of both polls after loss at Pitt
For the first time since 2010, Virginia Tech isn’t ranked anywhere in the polls.
After losing 35-17 at Pittsburgh, the Hokies fell from No. 13 to unranked in both the Associated Press and USA Today coaches polls, which were released Sunday. Virginia Tech had been ranked in 28 consecutive polls prior to this week.
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The Hokies are in the “others receiving votes” category of both rankings. They had 13 points in the AP poll, which puts them 33rd, and 71 points in the coaches poll, putting them 26th.
The highest anyone had Virginia Tech in the AP poll was 23rd.
The last time the Hokies weren’t in either poll was Oct. 10, 2010. Tech dropped out in the third week that season after starting 0-2 following losses to Boise State and James Madison. But it worked its way back into the rankings after five straight wins.
Florida State and Clemson are the only two ACC teams ranked in the polls. The Seminoles are No. 4 in both polls. The Tigers are ranked No. 9 by the coaches and No. 10 by the AP. They play in Tallahassee on Saturday night.
September 16, 2012 - 1:28 PM
The only good thing about this coming Saturday match up is one thing. The cool cammo uni they are going to wear against Bowling Green. Other than that, it’s a ho-hum game. The meat grinder starts against Cincinnati and it won’t be pretty.
Interesting that “coaches” seem to rank Beamer’s team higher. Of course, these rankings truly mean nothing at all…call me in mid Oct when we are about half through the schedule, and we have enough info to really rank teams.
That said, the loss to Pitt is certainly an eyeopener–and even more so was the style of the loss. Ineptitude on both sides of the ball should have consequences.
Good for these Chokies!!! Here is a game plan for the rest of your season: MAKE SURE TO EITHER SHOW UP AND PLAY OR INSTEAD OF PRACTICING AND GETTING BETTER ON OFFENSE AND DEFENSE START PRACTICING YOUR EXCUSES WHEN YOU CONTINUE TO CHOKE. IF I HAD IT MY WAY THE ENTIRE PROGRAM AT VT GETS REPLACED AND AS FOR YOUR AD HE NEEDS TO WAKE UP TO REALITY YOU SORRY EXCUSE OF A FOOTBALL TEAM YOU MAKE ME F****** SICK!!!!!!!!!!!
Oops. I guess the National Championship talk doesn’t start again in Hokie land until January. I wish the Hokie fans would stop shooting themselves in the foot wth these constant unrealistic expections. PITT learned what GA TECH finally found out in the Second half against VT. The Hokies can be had. Welcome back to the real world. Have some fun or you’ll wind up like UT fans, perpetually disappointed. Be happy fo now with a fine program that has bigger aspirations. Afterall, VT has never come close to being the last team standing as have the VOLS, who have won it all. Remember, GA TECH has done it four times, but they have lesstrouble with reality, and thet know their time will come again. So too, I think, VT’s.
Joe is not a fan of the Hokies, lower-case letters or proper punctuation.
VT’s run-blocking is god-awful as Austin Peay proved, and it really wouldn’t have mattered all that much if David Wilson returned for his senior year.
VT has speed and athleticism in its WR core: Fuller, Davis, Knowles, and Roberts. Where has Roberts been? As Fuller and Knowles proved against GT and Davis proved against Pitt, a rapport between Thomas and his receivers is really the best hope for the VT offense at this point. I kid you not when I suggest that VT periodically operate with an empty backfield.
The one weakness of VT’s D this year was supposed to be the thin secondary. On the other hand, the D-line and linebackers were supposed to be really good. And for a good chunk of the Georgia Tech game, they were. I assumed that they ran out of gas in the GT game because they were on the field so much (yes, people get tired, ask Usain Bolt why he doesn’t run the 400 meters even though it’s only 20 secs longer than the 200 meters event that he dominates while showboating). Guess I was wrong. There’s just little self-discipline and attention to detail.
The worst I have ever seen us play. 534 yards. Embarrasing. Just embarrasing. Countless missed tackles. Embarrasing. No Kyle Fuller made a difference but not that much. Godness gracious we stunk it up.
Not the Pit team I saw against CIN and certainly not the Hokies Defense we have come to love.
Turnovers so bad a friend of mine said “They should not have sent Thomas to that QB Coach. It screwed him up.” Maybe. Don;t know. I could be like taking a golf lesson, I guess, and have it mess you up for days as you try to be better. Just dismal.
No bright spot but at least it wasn’t in conference.
And at least we aren’t Arkansas.
@ #5 Andy, the master of understatement. NO two ways about it, though, the Hokies stunk up the joint yesterday.
I haven’t followed every game closely, but what seems to happen to Tech in games I have noticed is that they simply do not show up ready to play at kickoff. Too often it seems they rely on getting it together in the 2nd quarter or later. This is a 60-minute game, and they need to show up for the whole thing.
Zman, that’s the exact problem with the Beamer mindset – this wasn’t a conference game, so our ultimate goal is still in front of us – winning the ACC and going to a BCS game.
That doesn’t excuse losing to teams like Pitt (an awful Pitt team), a JMU, and other teams in the past that Tech was clearly the clear favorite and most talented team. This staff, despite its glorious “contintuity” can’t prepare the players to easily win the games they should win.
Andy likes to crunch things, but I’d be willing to bet that Beamer coached teams have lost, straight up, more games than any other coached team, when they were double digit faves. I’m not a big fan of the point spread notion, but when somebody (or somebodies) think a team should win that double digits, and they lose, it is a major screw up.
Tech has had more than its fair share of major screw ups in Frank’s tenure. Temple (98), Miami-OH (97), UNC (Thurs niter a couple years back), Pitt (this game), JMU (10), Cincy (95) . . . all where Tech were “prohibitive” favorites. I’m sure there are a couple more I am missing, at least.
And, there have been plenty other games that were simply too close. I’d pitch A-Peay into that pile. That game was a ‘game’ far longer than it should have been.
Yeah, yeah, if you coach a long time you have those things happen. Compare the disasters to other coaches, though. Beamer is right at the top.
Embarrassing. I traveled to the game and there really wasn’t much that can be said. I stopped the Hokies a couple of years ago. There are really no arguments that can be made on their behalf. They are indeed the Chokies…..and I have no reason to believe that it isn’t deficiencies in our coaching staff. We can now add this game to the list of should have wins; ’06 Chic-fil-A Bowl loss to Georgia, ’07 Orange Bowl debacle against Kansas, the ’10 loss to JMU, and the ’11 loss to Michigan. The only difference is this one wasn’t close…..we were drubbed. And who can forget the Stanford and Clemson losses where we appeared to be out coached. I’ll forgive the LSU loss because we were outclassed and at least against Alabama we competed. I love Beamer, I really do, but there seems to be a common trend in these games were either our team isn’t prepared or we appeared to be outcoached.
Based on their play thus far this year, Tech shouldn’t be ranked. They still have plenty of time to earn their place in the Top 25, but they will have to earn it.
Last week, the mantra was – VT’s offense has a lot to prove against Pitt. This week? I suppose the mantra is the same, only now we can add the Hokie D in that statement. Truthfully, though, a 62-7 win against Bowling Green won’t mean much. Nor will a win over Cincinnati at FedEx. Neither team is very good this year. So, what does that leave us? The UNC game in three weeks. The first real challenge since GaTech. UNC lost to Louisville this weekend, by the way.
Tech could literally float through nearly the entire first half of its schedule without knowing if they have the mettle to challenge for an ACC title.
Untill Beamer retires Tech fans have to deal with this crap every year. What in the world does Beamer see in Newsome, Steinspring, and O’cain. O’cain is a joke he’s been fird 3 times and of course beamer hires him, and Newsome was the worst hire ever first you never hire a guy with limited coaching at a position of such importence like o-line he was at JMU c’mon man! Steinspring couldn’t coach a high school team, he nust have something on Beamer because he should of been fired years ago. You dug your own grave Beamer!
Thanks for the laugh Andy, first one I have had in days after that poor showing on Saturday. Its frustrating to watch a team not get better every week, when the teams they are playing are doing so. Pitt week 3 would hammer Pitt week 1. We would probably play ourselves to a tie if the situations were reversed. We have to get better every week. I truly believe that 150 yrs of never firing coaches, leads the coaches to always believe well, no biggie there is next week. Take your homies in Madison for example, someone’s head had to roll because it was inexcusable. Now I am not saying fire anyone now, but seriously is there no other o-line coach or o-coordinator who is better than what we have? I hear all the talk of great recruiting by Stinespring but what good does having a Marcus Davis on the team if we can’t keep the QB upright to get him the football? I have seen plenty of teams do much better with less talent. The talent is there, watching Marcus Davis leave the Pitt DBs in his vapor trail, is plenty of proof of that, watching mulitple o-lineman play in the NFL is also proof. I just want to see our potential reached and it feels as though we are banging our heads up against a wall. While I am not as creative or as an accomplished writer as Joe, feel free to critique my bad punctuation and capitalization as need be. Thanks for all the great info as usual Andy.
One thing you can say about the team, they sure have a lot of quit in them. They should be running stadium steps today and be in full pads tomorrow. I’m sure Mr. Nice Beamer wouldnt ever stand for that though. I did play Div I ball and can assure you back in the day we wouldnt be able to walk after Monday’s practice. Think it would do this team some good. Most uninspired team I’ve ever watched- very sad when so many would love to be wearing a VT helmet.
Crooked, 62-7 over BG?? Win over Cincy?? Are you crazy……BG gave the Gators all they wanted in the swamp 2 weeks ago and Cincy crushed Pitt. Hokies will be lucky if they aren’t 2-3 in 2 weeks heading to UNC.
The same story seems to play out too frequently during football season at Tech. Players come and go but the coaching staff remains the same. It is time, actually past time, for Beamer to take his annuity and cash out his contract and hit the road. IMHO if an old guy wants to keep coaching he should bring in some young blood with new ideas at some of the assistant levels so the program will not stagnate as it has. Jim Weaver and Frank Beamer have been great at VT and should have some things named for them, but it is time for them to leave so the programs can continue to grow. Weaver will never ask Beamer to leave and Beamer will have to be carried out of there. But they really should do the school a favor and bow out gracefully at season’s end.
Let’s don’t forget that PITT played a darn good game. Every team has their day and PITT took advantage of every VT miscue and weakness.
Zman, I didn’t notice you on the field. What position were you playing?
we lose every game we should easily win because of horrible coaching!!!!!!! we dont have a killer instinct put em away type attitude. Case in point Geogia 21 to 3 halftime lead the BC game we dominated for 46mins Kansas boise jmu stanford and it goes on and on its sickenining to watch and w in the f are we punting from a teams 35 yd line? weve done tht 3 or 4 times this yr alone what sense goes tht make?!!!!!! Smdh and losing 21 to zip why kick a field goal? Beamer and stinyunablecain will insure tht we will never win a NC with some of the most talented football players in our own backyard year in year out!!!! Its no wonder our top players dont wanna go to tech!!!! We have Talent butt they dont knw how to utilize it. When Eddie Rayal is one of the top ten fastest men in the NFL and only got maybe 3 passes a game thrown his way while at tech then his fist game in the NFL he catches wht 11 passes for 200 yds….whts wrg with this picture?!!!!! SMDH SMDH SMDH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Overrated, overhyped! I hear Jim Weaver called Roanoke College this weekend and tried to schedule a game with them before the season is over just so they would win one more! The Little Sisters of the Poor from Baltimore show up next weekend! Beamer is screwing over this team just like he screwed people out their money on his last two restuarants, sold them gift cards, then stuck with them when he closed the restaurants. He’s nothing but a scammer and a fraud just like this football team!
New Update,Beamer makes changes to Staff.(It will never happen)Unless Pressure comes!!
Thats Truth
There are many good comments here. All of them have valid points.
Virginia Tech is in a better place than many of us could have believed 40 – 50 years ago, but we have gone as far we can with this coach. The record and the history prove that statement. It is what it is.
Until there are changes in philosophy and maybe assistant coaches what Tech is will remain to be what Tech is in the future.
Talk of a national championship for Tech is ridiculous with the present situation at Tech.
Let’s go Hokies !!!
until the alumni, the hokie club members, the “boo”sters, and the season ticket holders stop funding the football program, changes within the coaching staff simply will never take place. put the lid on the money funnel. weaver and beamer will then be forced to take this program in a different direction. forget the white out and the orange/maroon effect. it’s all about the color green!
Another disappointment was how the acc competed this weekend. If I am right they were 0-3 against the Big east and 0-4 against OC games. Now this is something to talk about.
IT NEVER FAILS, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE ’99 TEAM THAT LOST THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME WITH MICHAEL VICK, THE “CHOKIES” ARE CONTINUALLY OVERRATED EVERY YEAR AND THEY NEVER LIVE UP TO THE “EXPECTATIONS”……….SAME OLE’ CHOKIES!!!……..VA TECH IS THE ONLY SCHOOL IN THE COUNTRY THAT ACTUALLY BUILT A CASE SPECIALLY MADE FOR THE WATERFORD CRYSTAL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY!!?????………..OF COURSE, IT IS STILL EMPTY!……..THE “BEAMER” YEARS ARE SLOWLY COMING TO AN END!!
In the end, this has the potential to be a very good thing for VT albeit painful. Beamer has always had the “But we won 10 games this season” excuse to not make truly needed coaching changes. What we have now is stagnancy, at a fairy low level.
Newsome: basically brought on board for recruiting, particularly in the 757 area. He used to teach down there. But the truth is, VT has not owned the 757 area since Al Groh departed UVA and that is only getting worse. Newsome’s complex zone blocking schemes do not work and defenses do not find them as challenging as the VT offensive linemen do. This OL is not a shadow of the Ol’s that featured guys like Jim Pyne and Billy Conaty.
O’Cain: Compared to Kevin Rogers, O’Cain was a step backwards. He has failed everywhere he has been, which includes VT. Wasted the talent of Tyrod Taylor and so far has wasted the talent of Logan Thomas. He should have never been brought to VT,
Stinespring: A proven OC where? A proven position coahc where? He has displayed rare flashes of offense at the right time to save his job bit overall, the ranking of the VT offense has been dismal under him and the VT offense gets credit for points put up by the ST and defense. Sean McDonough summed it best in the VT/Nebraska (16-15) game when he said “How does VT win 10 games a year with an offense like this?”
Summary: Yes, the defense got shredded Saturday. But Foster has proved he can coach defense and has had VT’s defense ranked high. Can he still do it? Can he turn it around? I don’t know, but he has earned his mulligan for this season on that. The 3 above have NEVER shown they can do anything consistently at VT other that provide an anemic offense ranked in the lower 25 of the country. They should be gone. It is a huge mistake to design plays that blow up if just one person misses their assignment when you are talking young men 18-22 years old. But, that is precisely what we have heard from the 3 above, and Beamer, for years.
Frank Beamer runs this program. It is HE who chooses the conservative play calling. The last time wholesale changes were made to the VT program was when the AD (Braine) insisted they occur. We went from the wide tackle 6 defense and Beamer came within an inch of getting fired. The AD told him, they go. With or without you, they are going.
Unfortunately, Frank Beamer is light years better than anything Jim Weaver is capable of hiring.
Embarrassing is all I can say.
#15 Jim, the only thing I’ll say about that is you are casting the blame for this debacle on the players and not the coaches. Maybe the coaches should be running with them?
ALL I CAN SAY IS THEY WERE PITIFUL. NEVER SEEN A VT TEAM LAY DOWN THE WAY THEY DID. BEAMER AND HIS WHOLE STAFF NEEDS TO TAKE THE BLAME FOR THIS ONE.
I must say, I felt like I was watching the WVU game of 2003, when we thought we would just show up and win! Not so fast my friends! Here is what I saw and think;
- We have NO running game!! The RBs don’t hit the hole, but rather dance in the backfield, giving the LBs time to zero in and stop them. Shane has got his hands full to say the least.
- Receivers are no help whatsoever! Too many dropped balls, bad routes, etc….
- QB?? I have no idea! Logan made bad decisions (only one interception not his fault). His accuracy is WAY off (see Davis on a missed TD)!
- Defense or lack there of. Serious issues with stopping the run. LBs running to wrong side of the counter and not staying home to stop the RB. POOR tackling! Too many arm tackles and attempts to chop down runners. Bonner needs to find his jock strap as he got smoked three times on one drive. One word for Bud, FUNDAMENTALS! Run through and wrap!
- Finally, coaching! I watched the post game comments from FB, not enough blame laid at the feet of this egg laying! Told the team they played hard. Where did that happen, cause it sure wasn’t on the field!
Ok, one game doth not a season make. See 1995, 2004 and 2010. However, if the team splinters (2003), we are in for a long season and a trip to the Nobody Cares Bowl in Loserville, USA!
I agree with Jim, also played Div I ball and this week should be hell on these slackers. Completely physically dominated on both sides of the ball, put the pads back on and get after it Monday-Wednesday. There is absolutely no toughness on this team and the coaches have no idea how to motivate a team that is facing a wounded animal backed into a corner. Kudos to Paul Chryst, his 3rd game as a head coach and schooled Beamer on how to be a physical football team and dominate the lines of scrimmage. Run another zone read or bubble screen! Gameplans continue to suck as usual….
The significant obstacle to becomming great is the acceptance of being Good. The Hokies are stuck in being really good, yet never getting better each week, exceeding weekly goals nor becomming great.
OL develop’s poorly over their career and with a year like this with so many new, they just don’t come together, they were manhandled, both sides of the line, and in strategy. This was a total loss by players and coaches.
Wow, one bad loss and the haters come running to the message boards! VT is our team, through the good and bad. I agree the offense is not firing on all cylinders but let us not forget all the players we lost on offense. The defensive performance is a head scratcher. almost looked like we didn’t game plan for anything Pitt ran at us. We were man-handled by a team that was backed into a corner and came out fighting and VT thought would be a push over. Hopefully we can turn this around and finish out the year strong.
The better we recruit, the worse we get. We need to go back to recruiting the 2 and 3 star players that really want to come to VT. They are hungrier, have an attitude, & work harder because they feel they have more to prove. Our “legend” (if you can call it that) is the old lunch pail attitude, blue collar kids, tough kids, willing to fight tooth and nail to the last minute. Never had anything given to them. Had to work hard every day to get to where they want to be and never give up!!
#33 Bill Most of the posts are written by VT fans NOT haters as you say. As for me I think several decades of being a fan through thick and thin gives me license to critique the team and the coaches. Many of the posts above justifiably indicate frustration with the coaching and the lack of preparation for the game. Those posts are accurate. When a team comes out flat the blame falls squarely on the coaches for not preparing the players mentally, emotionally and with the X’s and O’s. You said in your post that the players thought Pitt would be a pushover. That in itself is a condemnation of the coaches.
roudyred, where are all of these Hokies that are talking about national titles? If you actually pay attention, most Hokie fans are reasonable and know that until the offensive coaching changes, national championships are not in VT’s future.
Usually, it’s only the VT haters going on and on and on and on about national titles. Look around, pay attention. It’s the haters that are so loud.
“…When a team comes out flat the blame falls squarely on the coaches for not preparing the players mentally, emotionally…”
Let me start by saying that as far as long-term issues go, I do blame the offensive coaching. VT is lacking in that department, no question.
But I disagree with the quote above about solely blaming coaches for players being flat. The players have plenty of responsibility in that department too. You don’t have a bunch of players who are ready to play, but not playing well just because a coach isn’t pumping them up. The players have to take some responsibility as well, and take some initiative to play hard every single snap and to not let down the guy next to them. If the players aren’t taking that responsibility, I’m not sure that a coach can control that.
I wonder if joe and JAY are brothers…