While Virginia Tech’s offensive performance last Thursday was uninspiring, Frank Beamer’s confidence in his quarterback Monday was unequivocal.
“Michael Brewer, without question, is our quarterback,” Beamer said at his weekly press conference.
“He’s done a good job. We’ve put him in some tough situations I think at times. I think we need to help him with how we do things a little bit,” he said. “I’ve got every confidence in Michael Brewer. He knows how to play quarterback. I’ve said that before, but I really mean it.”
After backup Mark Leal came into the game late in the fourth quarter with the Hokies trailing by 30 and led Tech’s only scoring drive of the game - which extended the program’s scoring-streak to 251 consecutive games - Beamer said everything was on the table regarding position changes.
Three days later, he announced he is sticking with Brewer, though Beamer did say Leal would see an increase in reps during practice.
“We've got to be good around (Brewer),” Beamer said. “You look at the game, the throw doesn’t look very good, but the receiver is at the wrong depth. During a game you get tied in, ‘Well that throw wasn’t very good.” But then you go back and look at video and you know. We’ve got to run the football, we did a better job of that in the second half. If we are good around Michael, we’ll be OK. We’ll be OK.”
So far this season, according to the coaches, players and statistics, the offense around Brewer hasn’t been very good. At times, such as the Ohio State game, the second half against ECU and the first half against North Carolina, the offense has been brilliant. Other times, though, it has been stymied by opposing defenses, unable to move the ball let alone the chains.
Sixth-year offensive lineman David Wang, who has played left guard and center this year, said he’s spent a lot of time trying to figure out why there is a disconnect at times between the offense’s gameplan and execution.
“I'll be honest, I've talked to all of our seniors,” Wang said. “I've talked to all of my close friends on the team. I can't put a finger on it," he said. "I don't know what's going on. It just seems like something's not there or something's not right, right now.”
That’s the focus of the team right now: figuring out what is ailing and correcting it, improving this week and beating Boston College Saturday.
“What I’m interested in right now is do we get better this week,” Beamer said. “I’m not interested in anything else. I think effort is good, kids want to, coaches want to. Let’s get better and go win a football game.”
Beamer is not interested in talking about Tech’s 21-year bowl streak, which is in jeopardy of coming to and end - at least not outwardly.
Wang, on the other hand, is vocal about how much winning two of the final four contests and ending his long Tech career in the postseason would mean to him.
“It’s extremely important,” he said. “I’ve been to the good bowls. I’ve been to the less noticeable bowls. And I want to end this year at a bowl game, regardless of where it’s at or how we’re doing, because that streak, I believe that’s important to us as a team, the coaches and all of our fans out there that are watching us.”