Who you choose to assign blame to for yesterday's loss to East Carolina depends on what kind of fan you are. Some choose to blame the officials, and they were horrendous. Some will go after Bud Foster and Torrian Gray for playing Greg Stroman at boundary corner. And of course, many will point to the numerous opportunities that the Hokies missed throughout the course of the game.
Or, you could take the easy way out and blame this idiot on Twitter for tweeting this after the Mook Reynolds fumble recovery.
ECU is about to get their butts handed to them
— Chris Coleman (@ChrisColemanTSL) September 26, 2015
At that point, the Hokies were rolling. They were physically whipping ECU in all phases, and the Pirates didn't have an answer. That tweet was probably the ultimate jinx.
In all seriousness, the real answer is, of course, that the loss was caused by a combination of all those things mentioned in the first paragraph.
Let's quickly address the officiating first. The phantom pass interference on Chuck Clark was one of the worst I've ever seen. The targeting call on Sean Huelskamp was terrible, especially after this play was not called targeting in the Cincinnati-Memphis game on Thursday night.
The PI on Clark was on a third and 13 play. The Pirates were stopped at the Tech 26, and then they went on to score a touchdown on the very next play. The penalty on Huelskamp did not result in a Pirate touchdown, but it did give them a free first down near midfield, and their ensuing punt pinned the Hokies at their own four yard line. So yes, I think it's fair to say that a couple of awful call in ECU's favor had a direct effect on the outcome of the game.
Still, those two calls could have easily been overcome had the Hokies taken care of their own business. Get your own house in order first, and then complain about the officiating. Yesterday, the Hokies didn't have their own house in order, and that's especially true when it comes to Bud Foster and Torrian Gray.
Poor Use of Greg Stroman
I rarely, if ever, disagree with anything Bud Foster and Torrian Gray do. Their results over the years are a testament to their greatness as coaches. Still, the use of Greg Stroman at boundary corner yesterday made absolutely no sense.
I've seen all of Tech's scrimmages since the beginning of the spring, so I've seen Stroman a lot. He was repeatedly beaten in the spring, especially in man coverage, and he struggled in August somewhat as well. It was obvious to me and just about everybody else in my usual scrimmage watching party that Stroman was not on the same level as guys like Chuck Clark, Kendall Fuller, Brandon Facyson, or even Donovan Riley or Mook Reynolds. That makes the decision to play him in man coverage at boundary corner even more odd.
The situation was complicated by the fact that Stroman spent all week practicing at his usual nickel position. Only on gameday when the coaches found out that they wouldn't have Kendall Fuller was Stroman inserted as a boundary corner. So not only was he not physically cut out for the position, but he had to play it without practicing it. That doesn't make any sense at all.
The better option would have been to play senior Donovan Riley rather than Stroman. Riley finally did replace him halfway through the third quarter, and ECU's passing attack slowed down considerably. But by then they had already scored 28 points, and most of the damage was done.
Greg Stroman did not have a good day, but don't be mad at him. Instead, be mad at the fact that two very good and experienced coaches put him in a position where he would have the least chance of success. There are much better options at boundary corner on this team.
What's even more surprising is that apparently Bud Foster was surprised about Stroman playing the boundary. Here's a quote from Andy Bitter's excellent as usual "Five Thoughts"...
"Even Foster expressed some surprise that defensive secondary coach Torrian Gray decided to go with Stroman at cornerback instead of someone else, considering the sophomore's lack of practice time at the outside position."
Foster obviously trusts his assistants to make the right decisions. That's usually good, because they usually make the right ones. Unfortunately in this case, Torrian Gray did not. I don't know if it was Gray's decision to eventually yank Stroman or if it was Bud who stepped in. Either way, it took too long. Personally I think that cost Tech the game more than any other factor.
If Stroman has to play, it doesn't need to be at boundary corner. That's obvious. I really don't want him at nickel either. He needs to be a field corner, where he can play more zone. Not to mention that throws to the field side are longer and more difficult for quarterbacks to make. That would make the best use of Stroman's abilities.
Honestly, I'm still in shock that they played him at boundary corner. I don't know what Gray saw in practices or scrimmages that made him believe Stroman was his best option, but it was the direct opposite of everything I saw. It's really surprising and rare when Tech makes a poor personnel decision on the defensive side of the ball. It's going to take some time for me to get over that one.
Missed Opportunities Killed the Hokies
There were so many missed opportunities in yesterday's game that I probably won't remember to list them all here. I'll list a few though.
Brenden Motley's overthrow of a wide open Sam Rogers was a big one. ECU busted the coverage, and both Rogers and Cam Phillips were wide open. Motley sailed it over their heads. At worst it would have been a huge gain, but it probably would have been a touchdown because, you know, it's Sam Rogers. He would have gotten in the open field and done Sam Rogers things.
The illegal formation on Motley's touchdown pass to Bucky Hodges was huge. It's listed as a false start in the official box score, but I'm pretty certain it was called as an illegal formation on the field. The replay showed three Tech receivers to the right of the formation, and none of them appeared to be lined up on the line of scrimmage.
Early in the fourth quarter, Tech was going for it on 4th and 1 from their own 49. Judging from the success Brenden Motley was having running right up the gut, chances are the Hokies would have picked up the first down and continued their drive. Instead, Jonathan McLaughlin had a false start, and they had to punt.
Greg Stroman had an easy interception bounce right into his hands with nobody around him. He dropped it. I feel bad for him. I think ECU ended up scoring a touchdown on that drive, but I don't remember for sure.
Brenden Motley's interception when Tech had the ball on the ECU 21 in the early fourth quarter was huge. It was a third and six, and he had Ryan Malleck open for a first down. However, Motley was very late recognizing that Malleck was open, which gave the ECU linebacker time to recover and get in position to make the pick. Remember how I said after the Furman game that more athletic defenses would make Motley pay for being late making his reads? This play was the perfect example.
Bucky Hodges dropped a wide open 4th and 2 pass on ECU's side of the field late in the game. The pass was slightly tipped, but there were no defenders in the area, and he should have caught it. If you have a tattoo that reads "God's Gift" on the back of your arms, you have to make that catch.
So yes, the officiating was costly. However, these missed opportunities along with Torrian Gray's bad decision to play Stroman at boundary corner were more costly. Once again, the Hokies were their own worst enemy in a loss.
A Tailback, a Tailback! My Kingdown for a Tailback!
Brenden Motley carried the ball 19 times on Saturday. Most of them came on designed quarterback runs up the middle. JC Coleman, Trey Edmunds and Travon McMillian combined for 17 carries. I don't think Scot Loeffler has much confidence in his tailbacks. The reason why is fairly obvious, I think: they aren't very good.
Coleman: 7 carries, 13 yards, 1.9 ypc
Edmunds: 5 carries, 8 yards, 1.6 ypc
J.C. Coleman is J.C. Coleman. Except for a four game stretch to end last season, we know who he is as a running back. He lacks explosiveness, tackle breaking ability, and even vision at times. Trey Edmunds looks slower and less powerful than he did two years ago, and if anything his herky-jerky running style is even more pronounced. Rather than progressing as he's gotten older, he actually doesn't look as good as he did in 2013.
I'm in agreement with Scot Loeffler that Brenden Motley is a better running threat than Coleman and Edmunds. Motley obviously wasn't perfect as a passer against ECU, but the problem with Tech's offense isn't at quarterback. It's the fact that the running backs are below average.
Tech needs to play Travon McMillian more. In fact, he needs to get the majority of reps in the backfield, along with Sam Rogers. At some point you just have to look at the numbers...
McMillian: 26 carries, 209 yards, 8.0 ypc
Edmunds: 34 carries, 144 yards, 4.2 ypc
Coleman: 32 carries, 117 yards, 3.7 ypc
Four games is not a huge sample size, but it's not a small one either. I love J.C. and Trey personally. They are great leaders and great people. But most of their carries need to go to McMillian, or even Sam Rogers (5.8 ypc this season). Those guys are more productive players.
I think you can forget about Shai McKenzie contributing this year. He didn't dress for the game yesterday. This is just a guess on my part, but it wouldn't surprise if if they talked him into applying for a medical hardship waiver, which would allow him to redshirt this year. I heard he didn't want to redshirt at first, but perhaps he's realized that he's not going to be 100% this season.
Go back in time and remember our top two running backs for every single team from 1993 through 2011. Would either J.C. Coleman or Trey Edmunds be in the two-deep for any of those teams? Maybe in 2006, 2007 or 2008, displacing Kenny Lewis. Other than that? Probably not. I believe we're playing third string caliber tailbacks right now. Despite that, the offense has put up 430+ yards for three straight games. That's the first time that has happened since 2011.
If this team had a steady, productive running back, I think this offense could do some really nice things. I don't think Coleman and Edmunds can fill that role. Since almost all of Travon's carries have come on jet sweeps, we really don't know whether he can fill that role either. But at this point I believe he's the best option.
Frank's "Exhibition" Comment
By now you've probably heard about Frank Beamer's comments after the game. According to Andy Bitter, they went like this...
"I told them, you’ve got to treat these games [like] they’re exhibition games, they’re preseason games," Beamer said after the game. "Now it’s on to conference games. Now it’s down to being really important.”
I completely understand what he's saying. ACC games count more than non-conference games. Taken in that meaning, he is 100% correct.
But at the same time, he's 100% wrong. The several thousand Tech fans who made the trek to Greenville did not spend all that money to view an exhibition game. They went down there expecting to have a good time and expecting to win. Instead they got rained on and watched their team lose in frustrating style to a team that signs primarily two-star and lower level three-star recruits. I feel bad for those who made the trip.
So yeah, that game didn't count as much as ACC game, but it still very much counted. It counts in terms of player morale. It counts in terms of fan morale, which of course impacts donations, ticket sales, and the overall finances of the program. We all know what Frank meant when he said what he said, but I don't blame anyone who is a little upset by it, especially if you sat through that game in person yesterday.
Up Next: Pitt
Ugh. Pitt. At least it's not at Heinz Field. We know the Panthers like to run the football, and Tech will probably have to start Carson Lydon at mike. If a player is ejected for targeting, that means he is suspended for the first half of the next game. That means we'll be starting a true freshman at middle linebacker against a team that runs, and runs, and runs. Let me say it again. Ugh...Pitt.
I really don't know how to pick this game. I thought we could take something out of the Purdue win, but maybe not. Likewise, I don't know if yesterday's loss to East Carolina means anything for the rest of the season. As fans, it's like riding a rollercoaster with our eyes closed. You never really know what twist or turn is coming next. Buckle up.