Monday Thoughts: Old-School Beatdown Changes the Discussion

Will Stewart

October 30, 2023 33

Virginia Tech cheerleader vs. Syracuse 2023 — The Hokies are riding high after a big Thursday night win. (Jon Fleming)

Last Thursday’s game was an old-school Virginia Tech Thursday night beatdown. The Hokies put themselves in a hole during the month of September and then spent the month of October climbing out of it, but they’ve done it and are now even at 4-4 with momentum for the stretch run.

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Monday Thoughts 2023 VT-Syracuse Football

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33 Comments

govt86 October 31, 2023 at 6:19 PM

I wasn’t a naysayer, but I had no evidence to pin my hope on after the first four games. I said in a comment to an Andy Bitter column that I just think we needed something to give us hope. When we have a black box in what goes on, there is always too much over interpretation of what we DO see. All I know is that it is nice to have hope again.
Tim Lewis October 31, 2023 at 4:32 PM

Cardinals, cards...got it. And in 2027 we get the Cardinal, Cardinals and cards.
middletennhokie October 31, 2023 at 1:07 PM

Good one Will, thanks for all the stats. Not sure if we can hang with Louisville, but hope it's close. I am not as bullish as some on VT going .500 this season since we have seen real improvement in UVa and an NC State team that barely lost to Louisville and just beat Clemson. None of theses, even BC, will be a gimmie. Fingers crossed....
VaPoly07 October 31, 2023 at 12:28 PM

Will, I dont think you can make an assumption that we "arent ready for the next step" if we lose to Louisville. they are a good team, and even if we were 6-2 at this point, it would be a 50-50 game, IMO. I am not taking anything away from this game if we lose, as long as we show up and look competitive as we have recently.
1. Will Stewart October 31, 2023 at 12:30 PM
  
  Solid point. It all depends upon what you mean by "the next step." In my case, "the next step" is beating a very, very good team on the road.
IB4TECH October 31, 2023 at 10:20 AM

I was just beginning to jump on the bad coaching bandwagon and then...BOOM. But what I never could figure out was that why anyone would think that coaches don't see the obvious problem (vanilla offense). Of course they do. There are too many things going on in the background that we fans do not see. I am sure that the coaches were just as frustrated as any fan but they got things turned around. Kudos to our coaches.
VBHokieman October 31, 2023 at 8:52 AM

Interesting to see all the doomsayers about coaching, lack of coaching, etc etc etc fade back into the background. This process was going t take time and it doesn't happen overnight just because fans want it to. I have had faith in the process and it's paying off now and I am excited to see where it takes us.
1. MammyWhammy October 31, 2023 at 10:21 AM
  
  Winning solves most problems.
2. MDHokie79 October 31, 2023 at 12:26 PM
  
  Ah but the "doomsayers" were only reflecting the reality at the time, and there was no way to know whether this (or any new) coaching staff would work out, so in a sense that doomsaying was justified, don't you think? That and being spoiled by the Beamer success years.
`lag October 31, 2023 at 8:45 AM

Yeah, I was frustrated, My mantra was something like "It won't be for lack of effort" about Pry, that is, I was thinking he was doing his best and this should work but sometimes things don't. Not that they're a top 25 team now but this makes a lot more sense. I do/did have a couple other mantras, one being you have to give a guy three years, that first year often being tearing everything down and re-imagining/building it back up which but may lead to that first year record being not so good even if you unknowingly have all the pieces in the right places, (or worse, all but one of the pieces in place) next year would have/will be my "show-me" year. Look at FSU or look at Coach Prime... and I was aware of the turn on the dime thing, remember Joe Gibbs first year with the Redskins. Lost his first eight games...then won his next eight games. if they could have gotten into the playoffs I'm convinced they would have won the superbowl like they did the following year. It's always darkest before the dawn type stuff. It's fun watching pieces fall into place, even the five FGs even though we wanted TDs is nice: we have a backup plan, we can expect to get something out of every drive, lot's of little things working right now.
nkhooch October 31, 2023 at 2:58 AM

Nice stats, thanks. How about just 1 interception for Drones!! While he doesn't give us as much opportunity for long pass plays as Wells did (long throws, not short passes with long runs) he is protecting the ball. I also saw in ACC play we have the longest time of possession in the league at 35 mins.
frankyfrankerson October 30, 2023 at 9:14 PM

interesting how rush tds didnt really go up in the last 4…
Cheesehokie October 30, 2023 at 8:52 PM

Good analysis and also a good expression of the humility that all of us need to show after our early criticisms. I don't expect us to beat Loserville, but if we do then a trap game with Fredo awaits. Regardless, I think we all feel better today than we did five weeks ago, so let's roll the dice!
HokieTC October 30, 2023 at 8:21 PM

LoserVille, NCSU, BC all won, and pUVa almost won in OT. The next 4 games will be tough - all of them. Even going 0-4 to finish, I still feel that the progress is real. We have some players and some playmakers. Several of the coaches have good likability factors. I hope and expect that we will continue to improve. Go Hokies!
jims October 30, 2023 at 8:04 PM

This is really weird, but the 2 teams I follow since I am an alum of VT and live in Arizona, are VT and Arizona State University. I can not believe each of their last 4 games - after a bad 4 game start, ASU has barely lost 3 games by a total of 14 points, and just won last week against a team that was ranked in the top 25 until this week. VT won 3 games and actually played Fla St tough for the first 2/3rds of the game, after giving it away in the first 10 minutes. The improvement each team has had has been unbelievable to me. That first 4 game matrix versus the last 4 games matrix is genius - thanks for putting that all together!
1. nkhooch October 31, 2023 at 2:48 AM
  
  I think our oft-ranked softball team is coming to play ASU for a 3-game weekend series sometime in February. There will be some parents/fans there. Come and join us! I lived in Mesa for 3 years as a kid (when Mesa population was 50,000), long ago and often thought I would end up going to ASU. I still root for them.
GO_HOKIES_GO October 30, 2023 at 7:55 PM

The first four games against mediocre opponents the Hokies looked bad, the next four game against three mediocre teams and one good team VT looked much better - the last four against mediocre teams will define the season. 3-1 will be a strong indicator that the Hokies have “turned the corner”, 2-2 will be meh (as long as one of the losses is not in Charlottesville), anything worse than that and we are back to WTF is going on out there (again). As CC said, winning on the road and beating decent teams will be the litmus test for this season. I am really looking forward to Saturday afternoon in Louisville.
1. nkhooch October 31, 2023 at 2:52 AM
  
  Louisville is ranked 15. So, not really mediocre. We are 9.5 pt. underdogs. A good showing even with a loss will be encouraging although it will end our ACC Championship game hopes.
4Hokies4U October 30, 2023 at 7:36 PM

Jawhar Jordan is a beast, rush lane integrity will be key. Stop the run, limit penalties and turnovers, we have a chance. All could be said any week, but Louisville stops the run, and runs it well, as well as anyone not named FSU on the schedule. Agree, this is a litmus test of where the program is right now. Having said that, doesn’t stop the turnaround within the entire program, great Monday thoughts. Public service message: I live in Louisville, the Boy Scouts run a lot on Central and 3rd Avenue, 20$ for cars, not sure about RV’s, but they are allowed. Just west of stadium and between Churchill Downs and Cardinal Stadium. Go Hokies.
proudhokie2001 October 30, 2023 at 7:06 PM

Something to watch, negative yards come with sacks. Some sacks result when the Hokies are up big and the D can tee off. Those types of sacks and negative rush yards vanish in tight games. Part of that 70 yards per game delta is from negative plays, and the other is from limiting explosive plays. Can the D limit Jordan from the big run play? And lastly, the spreadsheet did not include the return game for us which is hidden yardage.
No_Limit_Hokie October 30, 2023 at 6:54 PM

Good work, Will! Having the numbers side by side like that really highlights the trend. Louisville will be tough on the road, of course. I hope we can get out to a fast start and both take the crowd out of the game, and improve our confidence.
khakiblue October 30, 2023 at 6:46 PM

Loss to Louisville no big deal. How they respond after is the real test of improvement.
TomTurkey October 30, 2023 at 6:34 PM

A "Numbers" article worthy of CC. Will be interesting to see the final 4 version. See what I did there?
1. No_Limit_Hokie October 30, 2023 at 6:56 PM
  
  Good one!
RTFC October 30, 2023 at 5:34 PM

Exactly what I was thinking earlier today. Syracuse was the make or break game. Any chance of winning at Lville is a plus I wasn't expecting - but with recent improvements can now at least hope. Now if we play well - not great - and lose at Lville, then wining 2 of 3 of the remaining is still very doable - and about what I expected/wanted at the beginning of season. If we had lost the Syracuse game - wining 3 of the last 4 with Lville in the mix would have been doubtful. Hopefully they (coaches and players) can approach it with the recent confidence AND still not be under make or break pressure.
aint2Hokie4me October 30, 2023 at 5:13 PM

I liked the razzle dazzle plays that were WELL EXECUTED. Our offense has come alive. Louisville will be a tough out, especially on the road. Let's go HOKIES! Deal with the Cards!
Walkin` Willie October 30, 2023 at 4:38 PM

Always enjoy Monday Thoughts and this one was no exception - Thanks Will!
Born a Hokie October 30, 2023 at 4:15 PM

Good Stuff Will! When I am looking for free agent fantasy players, the last three games they've played gives me the most valuable data. It's all about how those players are trending. The Hokies are trending upwards in a major way over the past four games, and I think it continues this week. Hokies 34, Louisville 21. Tucker Holloway gets a TD this week.
VTBall October 30, 2023 at 4:10 PM

With all those stats, the “hidden “ yardage seems to be better too. Long punt returns and even a KO return for TD over last 4 games.
1. DW Hokie October 30, 2023 at 4:29 PM
  
  Agreed. Unlike last year, I have high confidence in special teams as of this writing. Punter and kicker performing well; sure-handed yet explosive punt returner; good judgment on when to return a kickoff and when not to (plus the highlight KO return by Tuten); consistent long snaps; solid punt coverage; very few penalties on special teams plays. Hope I didn't just jinx any of them for the trip to Louisville!
  1. MOvatechgrad October 30, 2023 at 5:02 PM
    
    All good points, but we have given up a TD and some decent returns.
    1. Arch72Hokie October 31, 2023 at 10:09 AM
      
      UH, thi sisnot a complete team yet although we played a complete game vs. the 'cuse.
2. Will Stewart October 31, 2023 at 8:50 AM
  
  Agreed, but I had to figure out where to cut things off with compiling stats. The sacks are a huge change as well, and I thought about putting those in but instead kept it to yardage-related stats.

Monday Thoughts: Old-School Beatdown Changes the Discussion

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