Just prior to the start of this game, I had a brief conversation with a VT athletic department employee (not a coach) in the press box.
"The coaches are really nervous about this one," he told me. "Last week, they were confident about Ohio State, but this week, they're nervous."
Now that the dust has settled, I think it's really simple why the Tech coaches were nervous. Last week, they probably had a lot of confidence that they could execute a successful man-to-man blitzing defense against young Ohio State QB J.T. Barrett. They probably also knew that Ohio State wouldn't be sharp and would probably underestimate Virginia Tech.
But this week, they knew that senior ECU quarterback Shane Carden and his receivers, when it came to executing the passing game, could be better than Ohio State. And they also had to know, on some level, that ECU would be gunning for the Hokies, and that the Hokie players might still be basking in the OSU afterglow.
And that's how it unfolded. In a lot of ways, Virginia Tech had a good game Saturday and outplayed East Carolina. But for the first 12 minutes and 16 seconds, they weren't on ECU's level, and they dug themselves too big a hole to get out of.
I got a creepy feeling when ECU completed their first "jump ball," a 35-yard pass to Jimmy Williams, and that feeling got even creepier when the Pirates just got flat-out lucky, catching a batted pass on third and two and turning it into a first down.
That batted pass was caught by Bryce Williams. "Is that his first catch of the season?" the ECU scribes in front of me in the press box started asking one another. Yes, came the answer.
Two plays later, Bryce Williams caught his second pass of the game, a four-yard TD strike from Carden that was well-thrown. Those two catches are all Bryce Williams did all day, and yes, all he has done all season.
Ugh. ECU was officially (a) executing well; (b) getting lucky; and (c) getting contributions from guys who had been invisible on the year up to that point (paging Terry Williams, paging Terry Williams...). That's an it's-going-to-be-a-long-day combination.
On Virginia Tech's third offensive play of the game, the Pirates blitzed linebacker Brandon Williams, a 6-1, 230-pound specimen, and he drilled Michael Brewer, who is generously listed at 6-0, 200, untouched on a dead run. Brewer's long ball to Bucky Hodges fell incomplete.
And it was on like Donkey Kong. For most of the first two quarters, the Hokies just hung on for dear life.
21-0, and it could have been worse
Occasionally, something happens that just blows your mind. We all remember the 2006 Georgia Tech game, when the Jackets jumped on the Hokies 21-0 just 10:38 into the game, and the Hokies spent the rest of the day trying to come back. (VT eventually lost 38-27.)
Then there's the time Rutgers beat Tech 85-52 in basketball, on Feb 15, 2004. The Hokies took a 3-2 lead ... and then Rutgers scored the next 30 points. Thirty. Over a ten-minute stretch of basketball, the Scarlet Knights hit 6 of 8 three-pointers, while the Hokies went 1-of-12 from the field and turned it over eight times. When it was over, Rutgers led 32-3. I've never heard of anything like it from two teams that were supposed to be evenly matched. [Editor's note: Tech beat Rutgers twice later that season.]
I remember thinking, "Is this ever going to end?"
I got that déjà vu feeling Saturday. When ECU was up 21-0, the stats read:
- First downs: ECU 11, VT 0
- Yards: ECU 205, VT 6
- Yds/play: ECU 8.2, VT 0.7
And it just kept getting worse. The defense got its legs under it after that, but Michael Brewer struggled for most of the second quarter, including a couple bad overthrows, and a couple interceptions.
From the ten minute point in the second quarter until halftime, it's incredible that the Pirates didn't score again:
- Breon Allen scored on a 19-yard run, but it was called back for holding.
- ECU hit a receiver in the hands on 4th and 2 from the Hokie 11, but he couldn't reel it in.
- Brewer threw a bad interception on the Hokie 24. Shane Carden ran it inside the ten on the next play ... but Dwayne Alford force a fumble that VT recovered on the one.
- Brewer threw another bad interception that Josh Hawkins returned to the Hokie four yard line ... but a penalty brought the ball back to the 21-yard line. ECU missed a 37-yard field goal after the Hokie defense held.
That's an underappreciated series of events. ECU was either inside the Hokie ten-yard line, or trying to make a play inside the ten-yard line, four times ... and they got nothing out of it.
At that point, Brewer was 4-of-12 for 19 yards and two interceptions, and ECU had outgained Virginia Tech 313 yards to 30. The Hokies were lucky they weren't losing 28-0 or 35-0.
Two plays after the ECU field goal miss, Brewer hit Bucky Hodges for a 40-yard gain down the middle ... and finally, good things started happening for the Hokies.
Mining the positives
Here's what I choose to concentrate on: the resiliency of this bunch, and their quarterback. Tech was getting absolutely steamrolled, but they fought off the death blows and then clawed their way back into it.
Take a look at this simple breakdown:
- First 23:54 of the game: ECU 21, VT 0. ECU 313 yards, VT 30.
- Next 34:46 of the game: VT 21, ECU 0. VT 331 yards, ECU 129 yards.
Two football games, one dominated by the first team, the other dominated by the second team. The problem, of course, is that they played another 1-minute, 20-second "football game" after that, which VT lost 7-0.
You guys know I'm always careful not to blow sunshine up your behinds, or to whistle past the graveyard, but I've watched the film, and I've thought about this. For me, it boils down to this: on this day, ECU was better. They were better in the beginning, and they were clutch in the end.
They had a great game plan, and the personnel to pull it off.
1.) They threw a lot of jump balls, and their receivers went up and got them, over good (not great) coverage. They have a senior QB who has now started 27 games and has over 8,000 passing yards, and they have tall, talented receivers.
Sidenote: Whether intentional or not, ECU targeted Brandon Facyson early and had a lot of success against him. Facyson sat out the spring with a "stress reaction" in his leg, then sat out preseason practice with a hip flexor, and he is clearly not healthy. It didn't really manifest itself against W&M or Ohio State, but you could see him struggling to turn and run with guys in this game.
2.) Defensively, ECU went after Michael Brewer and rattled him early, hitting him hard multiple times. This threw Brewer off his game early, and it took him a while to recover.
Sidenote: ECU linebacker Zeek Bigger is the real deal, and the Hokie offensive line struggled greatly in this game, especially early, to keep the Pirates off Brewer. 353-pound Terry Williams had his way with Tech center Caleb Farris, beating Farris in the pass rush and pushing him back into the backfield on running plays. That was the single biggest mismatch of the game Saturday, and it was costly.
The TSL party line going into this one was that VT was a bad matchup for ECU, but it turned out to be the opposite: the Pirates were a bad matchup for the Hokies. ECU played to their strengths, and for the most part, minimized their weaknesses.
Take a look at this video ... you can't blame all of this on Virginia Tech. The Pirates made some plays (video posted by VTPhreak4evr):
Like it or not, you have to give ECU credit for having a good game plan and carrying it out. They did things offensively that Ohio State couldn't do, and defensively, they abused Brewer and the VT offensive line.
Michael Brewer: still tough
Brewer was human in this one, letting a couple early hits throw him off his game, but like the Hokies as a team, he rebounded nicely.
- First 26:37 of the game: 5-of-16, 59 yards, 0 TDs, 2 INTs
- Last 33:23 of the game: 25-of-40 for 239 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs
The 25-of-40 stat included seven drops. Add those in as catches, and Brewer hit 80%, once he got settled.
This kid is tough. We started hearing after the game Saturday that he threw up on the sidelines, then VTChip posted this on the subscriber board (click to enlarge):
We've seen some toughness and some playmaking ability from Brewer, but remember, he hasn't played very much college football. Everything new is a learning opportunity, and getting whacked early and recovering has given him the confidence that he can shake it off and make a comeback in future games.
After Brewer's second INT, Twitter and the message boards started lighting up with comments like "take him out and put in Leal." No way. I can sort of understand the comment in the moment, but after witnessing his bounceback in this game, and finding out about the sideline cookie toss, I don't ever want to hear it again.
He doesn't strike me as the kind of guy to lose confidence long term, but he does strike me as a tough guy that you're going to have to drag off the field before he'll quit.
My overall conclusions about this game
I was at peace with this game the moment it was over. I'm disappointed, but I get it. ECU played extremely well, and though it looked at one point as if a 52-10 blowout was coming, the Hokies bounced back, and the talent, toughness and resiliency they showed at Ohio State was on display.
When Ricky Walker entered the game, he was the eleventh true freshman to play this year, matching last year's total. There are 22 guys running around on Tech's field, many playing major roles, half of whom were strangers to Virginia Tech football in 2012, the other half in 2013.
They're young, and young means inconsistent. It means that Isaiah Ford will make two amazing catches, but he'll also drop a sure touchdown. It means that they'll come out sky high and blast Ohio State with everything they've got, but then be surprised the next week when ECU does it to them. And so on.
Frank Beamer is the coach-speak king, but I thought he hit the nail on the head afterwards when he said, "I really do believe we can learn from it and be better. Last week I thought our potential was good, and this week I felt our potential was good."
What he means is, the team has long-term potential to be really good, and this game doesn't change that. Watching Marshawn Williams break off some runs, watching Sam Rogers show great athleticism yet again, watching Isaiah Ford and Cam Phillips toast defenders with double moves, watching Michael Brewer get better, and watching Joey Slye barely miss another long one (he'll start hitting those) has me believing the same.
ECU deserved this one, but only a little bit more than VT did. I'm moving on from it.
Why don't the defensive backs look for the ball?
Ah, the most-asked question since Saturday. Answer: because defensive backs are coached to play the receiver in man coverage, not the ball.
I'm no expert, but a simple Google search on "basics of man to man coverage in football" turns up links with the following quotes:
"The most important rule of man-to-man coverage (which is also known as man coverage) is that the defensive back must keep his eyes on the player that he’s guarding or is responsible for watching."
"Total concentration must be on the man you are covering."