August 30, 2008

Hokie, Hokie, Hokie Sigh

Yes, I'm a VT guy. Class of '83. Lived and died with this team since showing up there as a freshman in the late 70's with long hair and a bad print shirt.

I'm writing this with 2 minutes to go in the first quarter of the 2008 opener against East Carolina. Why? Because already several things are clear:

1) QB Sean Glennon will never be anything more than he's been for the past two seasons--a decent, streaky college quarterback with a penchant for inexplicable, game-costing mistakes at the worst possible moments. Can be very effective when given time to throw on rhythm to his primary receiver, but a hold-your-breath, watch-between-your-fingers train-wreck the minute he has to make a read or look for secondary receiver.

2) Offensive Coordinator Bryan Stinespring is Frank Beamer's blind spot. Never has one man's unimaginative, limited, outdated playcalling cost one team so many legitimate opportunities to rise to the next level. Stinespring is to big-time Division One playcalling what Sean Glennon is to big-time Division One quarterbacking: not quite ready for prime time.

Frank Beamer is the best thing to ever happen to VT football, but what is perhaps his single greatest quality--fierce loyalty to his staff--is also the cage he's built around his own program. As long as Stinespring remains, designing and running an offense one clear step below big-time D1 level, what you see with this program is what you're going to get.

3) VT 2008 will be the same team they've been for the last several years ... good enough to qualify for a decent Jan. 1 bowl game---possibly even a BCS shot if the ACC stumbles around them as it has the past few years---but not a serious threat to beat any legitimate Top 5 team once they get there.

Sigh.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

For years I have been calling for Stiney's head. Since the end of the 2003 season to be honest

The man still has a slow tempo to his offense. When it looks like he is going to turn a corner (like the end of 2007) he has 2 awful games like the Orange Bowl and this one against ECU

Why can't VT execute a screen after all these years? Why can't we pick up a blitz? Where is the crossing routes?

This O will never work until Stiney is gone

Mark "Om" Steven said...

On the same page, SHF. Seems to me the only one who doesn't see it is Frank B. himself. Like I said, his fierce loyalty has served him well in most instances (read: Bud Foster & others), but is also keeping his team firmly mired in the offensive mud. Some day.