Virginia Tech Establishes A Schematic Identity; Now It Must Keep It

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30 Comments

1. 

   DaytonaHokie October 2, 2023 at 1:44 PM

   Chris... "beat like a rented mule", I have not heard that phrase in many, many years, my grandfather was a farmer in Tennessee. Anyway, I almost fell out of my chair laughing. BTW, great article and right on the money. Hope the coaches get the point.
2. 

   HokieKirb October 2, 2023 at 1:40 PM

   Myself, as well as several of the folks that sit around me couldn't believe the VT offense we were watching on Saturday. It really looked like to us that coach Bowen had a lot of help from coach Brent Davis.... lots of similarity to the scheme he used at Army. Good pre-snap motion on many plays and utilizing the known aggressiveness of the Pitt defense against them many times. The pass play to Lane was perfect example of this..... Agree completely that we need to stay this new course and develop it....
   1. 

      Chris Coleman October 2, 2023 at 1:58 PM

      After the first drive I texted Will and said something like "Brent Davis has his hands all over this offense."
3. 

   RVance October 2, 2023 at 10:36 AM

   Thanks Chris, great article! Couple of comments: 1. I have been saying to myself every game that we are not talented enough to rotate players. With exceptions to DT & WR, our starters or best players should be on the field until games get out of hand or there is an injury. 2. Pheldarius deserves to start! 3. Do you think there will come a time when Pry or Marve or Bowen go to Gunner Givens and tell him that he needs to switch to OL, so we can boost the talent there? That is what happened w/ Teller and look at the result!
   1. 

      Chris Coleman October 2, 2023 at 12:51 PM

      Regarding Givens, Tech could possibly lose their top four DTs after this season, and they didn't sign any DTs in the 2023 class. So I don't think they can move any DTs right now even if they wanted to. They gotta hit the portal hard there after this season.
      1. 

         RVance October 4, 2023 at 1:29 PM

         ??
4. 

   VTaimhigh October 2, 2023 at 9:58 AM

   Nice to have something positive to watch, write about; and read in the following days. Long season ahead, but we are undefeated in ACC play. I'm with Chris: let's wait until we play a team with a pulse before we celebrate our turnaround, but it sure was nice to get and savor this victory. Hard to like Pitt.
5. 

   VTexas October 2, 2023 at 8:17 AM

   Maybe we're seeing some growth in the skill of our maligned OC, Coach Bowen. Hopefully he's realizing how to take the offensive reins and take his offensive where it has the chance to be the best it can be with the players he's got. Smart people in a new job learn from experience and he's got a year of experience as a P5 OC, so now maybe he's getting it figured out. Congratulations to Coach for this good result and rooting for you to have more of the same this week and in the future.
6. 

   A79Hokie October 2, 2023 at 8:12 AM

   Reserving judgment until after the season. Until then I’m holding my breath/waiting for the other show to drop or whatever idiomatic expression you like….
7. 

   Atlee Hokie October 1, 2023 at 10:33 PM

   You are quite correct about the investment located in the airport's RV lot. Another thought about the game. Much has been made about improving the "game day experience". Guess what? Sending the fans home with a victory trumps any other item that's supposed to help the "game day experience".
   1. 

      VTexas October 2, 2023 at 8:07 AM

      Agree about the game day experience. JUST WIN, BABY!
8. 

   SmithfieldHokie October 1, 2023 at 9:29 PM

   Good breakdown and I agree totally. Would love to know what led to the change in offensive identity- looked different from Marshall game for sure as you said. Happy to see the change was made, anyway. Hope to see a competitive effort next week, and yes, would be nice to see us grow and gain more confidence to beat Wake/State/BC/UVA.
9. 

   OhioHokie74 October 1, 2023 at 8:29 PM

   Coaches have their biases and too often they will stick with their preferred scheme when it fails repeatedly. Then a team has some success doing something differnt, but the coach will revert to his (failed) preferred scheme the first time the new scheme struggles. We can hope that Fry and Bowen don't go right back to what has failed repeatedly if the Hokies struggle against FSU. Are they as committed to making the Drones experiment work as they appear to have been to the Wells experience?
   1. 

      jbaughbrown October 2, 2023 at 7:48 AM

      Who is this "Fry" you keep referring to?
10. 

    cdogvt October 1, 2023 at 7:54 PM

    Great write up - must feel good to have something good to write about !
11. 

    GO_HOKIES_GO October 1, 2023 at 7:38 PM

    The only real negative from the game Saturday: “ Poor Phil Jurkovec. He gets beat like a rented mule in Lane Stadium. Unfortunately, this is his final year of eligibility”. Are we sure we can’t petition the NCAA for one more year?
    1. 

       hokiepro October 2, 2023 at 5:32 AM

       Listened to Bill Roth & he asked same question if we could get him to transfer again & come to Lane 1 more year ?
12. 

    syee74vt96 October 1, 2023 at 6:58 PM

    Fingers crossed that the coaching staff can use this game as a springboard and continue to improve. As you mentioned in the article, this staff has a propensity to revert back to old habits. If the Hokies look like the Washington Generals of college football more often than not … staff changes are needed at the end of the season.
13. 

    Hanover Hokie October 1, 2023 at 6:29 PM

    A couple things I think you missed. In defense players executed far better than previous games. Gap integrity was morale sound. Also, i feel the effort extended by the players was at another level. Probably have to go back to the unc game you mentioned to find comparable effort. We surely out effortes Pitt on top of the schematically as you mentioned
14. 

    lazarus1 October 1, 2023 at 6:17 PM

    Give Coach Crook credit for improving the offensive line, probably should have been the line coach in the first place.
15. 

    MDHokie79 October 1, 2023 at 5:27 PM

    CC, my sentiments exactly, and thank you Tyler Bowen (what took so long?)
    1. 

       LXNTN_HOKIE October 1, 2023 at 9:00 PM

       He' a young coach who has been learning on the job to get better just the same as the young players.
16. 

    st_andrew October 1, 2023 at 5:22 PM

    You didn’t mention Syracuse who we obviously are going to beat since Gio has invited so many of his crew here to watch.
    1. 

       LXNTN_HOKIE October 1, 2023 at 9:01 PM

       I wonder who Gio is rooting for: his alma mater or his hometown team?
       1. 

          Mercury October 2, 2023 at 8:28 AM

          Sometimes, I wonder if he just goes to VT for communications and sticks with the Cuse and just thank you VT for degree see ya
    2. 

       Billyburg Hokie October 2, 2023 at 2:24 PM

       Who is Gio?
17. 

    No_Limit_Hokie October 1, 2023 at 5:17 PM

    Great article to be able to write!
18. 

    meglow000 October 1, 2023 at 5:08 PM

    I think in paragraph 2, you meant energy instead of injury. However you could have been talking about Uncle Phil for Pitt. I still remember him during Enter Sandman last year being all jacked and then getting scraped off the field.
    1. 

       Will Stewart October 1, 2023 at 5:49 PM

       LOL, I corrected it to "energy." I read it and thought .... "injury?"
    2. 

       Billyburg Hokie October 2, 2023 at 2:27 PM

       Who is Uncle Phil?