Immediate Impressions: Miami Game, and Locks of the Week

Posted by hokieg

November 14, 2008

Every year there is one loss that really gets under my skin. For 2008, its going to be last night’s loss to Miami. That game had lots of annoying aspects to it, some of which were just bad breaks, others that were just failures on the part of the Hokies to get things done. That’s a game I’d like to forget, because its eating at me right now and probably will for a while.

Here are my thoughts.

When Orion Martin got called for roughing the passer (on a very questionable call) to extend Miami’s drive, followed by the fumble by Miami’s QB Robert Marve that bounced back into the arms of waiting Miam WR, you could just tell it wasn’t going to be the Hokies night. It was a sign of more bad breaks to come.

Speaking of Marve, his slipperness was really annoying. Give him credit for being elusive, but his ability to break tackles from Hokie DEs, DTs, and LBs really set back the Hokie game plan of putting pressure on the young QBs. It was very frustrating to watch him break tackles.

Much will be made of the rotating quarterbacks, but I think the results speak for themself. It simply doesn’t work and that’s why teams don’t do it.

What disappoints me just as much is that the Hokies DID NOT rotate RBs, which has been one of their keys to success in the past. Darren Evans played the whole game. Would Josh Ogelsby have done better? Who knows, but I always like how the Hokies rotate RBs to keep them fresh and see who is hot. Its not like Evans was tearing up the Canes defense last night.

As soon as Glennon got sacked on 3rd down right before halftime, I knew it was a big play (again, just didn’t seem like our night). That sack put us out of FG range and sure enough we lost by 2. Glennon will always be plagued by taking too many (and bad) sacks.

Finally, it simply gets frustrating having an inept offense. I watch lots of college football. In most games, when a team needs a 30-40 yard drive with 3 minutes to go to kick a game winning field goal, they generally get it done or come darn close. With Hokie fans, there was very little confidence that ours would. Everything else related to the end of that game lined up perfectly for the Hokies to steal a win. The kick-off coverage was good. The defense got a 3 and out, including an incomplete pass to stop the clock. There were a few timeouts remaining and plenty of time to drive down the field. And we have a solid field goal kicker. But getting a clutch 30-40 yard drive is futile. Frustrating.

Oh well, being a Virginia Tech Fan means dealing with the ups and downs.

Now for my Locks of the Week:

Colorado St pick over New Mexico

East Carolina +3 over Southern Miss

Tulsa -4.5 over Houston

UL Monroe +21 over Ole Miss

USC -23 over Stanford

UTEP -12.5 over SMU

Last Week: 5 - 4 Overall: 22 - 31 -1

***