Virginia Tech Game Grades, Frowny Faces
by Akula Wolf on Oct 4, 2010 2:33 PM EDT
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Offense
Without any context it would be tough to criticize a unit that scored 30 points and averaged over six yards per snap. It was a pretty good day by those standards, although I can't give the offense full credit for the short TD it scored off an interception. Let's call it 25 points scored by the offense. (Pulled that right out of thin air. Hooray for blogging!)
But in light of the offensive line's inability to pass protect, and the inefficient performance by Russell Wilson for which said pass protection was partially responsible, I don't think anyone believes this was the A-level performance that the total offense figures suggest. Consistency was a huge problem as Wilson struggled to string completions together. If he hadn't managed to complete 9 passes of 20 yards or more, the offense would have been in a lot more trouble.
Five penalties were called on the offense (a sixth was declined), and three of those were infractions by the offensive line. The most critical of those: with the ball 1st-and-10 at Tech's 23, down 28-27, we were called for holding. We were fortunate enough to get back into Czajkowski's range, and he nailed the kick, but that penalty killed a shot at a touchdown. The declined penalty for illegal formation came on a third down pass play; since it the throw was incomplete, it didn't matter, but it was a sloppy penalty that could have canceled a rare third down conversion. The line was called for two false starts during the drive that put State ahead 24-13; Wilson bailed us out of 3rd-and-17 with a 24-yard completion to Jarvis Williams.
Grade: C+
Defense
For me, the enduring image from Saturday's game was C.J. Wilson's sad lunge at Darren Evans, which Evans dodged easily en route to the end zone. Needed a slightly better effort out of the guy who ended up our last line of defense on that play--especially since all he had to do was push Evans out of bounds. It must suck to have to watch that sort of failure on film the next day.
Grade: F
Special Teams
Oh, you. Virginia Tech should have blocked a punt but somehow managed only to rough the kicker. The punt return team got called an illegal block in the back twice, adding a personal foul on top of one of them. That particular double shot of delight moved the ball from our 26 to our 8. But hey, no big deal, guys. That Hokie won't give you a cross-eyed look ever again. You've earned so many reprieves with your efforts this season.
Josh Czajkowski's kickoffs traveled an average of 66.6 yards; Tech eventually returned one for a touchdown. Coincidence? Obviously not. That's just fundamentals, son. But he did make all of his field goal attempts.
Andy Leffler averaged 43 yards per punt. First time we've cracked a 40-yard average since the season-opener.
Grade: C-
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Unduly harsh, dude
I didn’t get to see the game live but watched the recording today. Watching a game for the first time after you already know the outcome does wonders for your perspective – I already knew the outcome and had processed whatever feelings of disappointment or anger at the result and so I could watch the tape pretty much dispassionately.
I saw two teams that were fairly evenly matched. We lost for three reasons, in order of importance:
(1) Awful run defense. VT kept us in the game with stupid play calling. In the first half, they called 23 passes and 10 runs. In the second half, 14 a piece. The secondary covered VT’s receivers very well on the whole. The DL, on the other hand, got completely mauled in the run game. If VT had ground it out all night this game would not have been as close.
(2) The KO return for a TD. In a tight game we could not afford to give up a TD on special teams.
(3) Russ’s 2nd and 3rd interceptions. Two awful decisions where he was not under much pressure.
I have seen a lot of bitching on the interwebs about our playcalling. What the hell are these people thinking? 500 plus yards (and 3 more 15 yard PI penalties) and 30 points on VT’s defense is not good enough? I will answer my own rhetorical question – yes, yes it is good enough. Granted, we could have done better in converting drives into TDs.
I am still largely positive, but a little concerned that (1) we’ve know seen two off-the-mark performances by RW in 4 games against real teams and (2) the DL was whipped so badly up front (a big surprise to me).
We were fortunate to beat the Pack
If Russell Wilson had to pick a day to throw interceptions then this was a blessing to the Hokies. Take away that first interception in the end zone and we would have been out of this game, that was the turning point because then Tyrod ran the ball down the field for about 75 yards and the momentum changed quickly. I think that overall, NC State is the better team but made too many mistakes. There is a good chance we will meet them again, in the ACC Championship game. The Hokies have a long way to go but have a real chance in this thing. We have got to be consistently good or we may get whipped by Central Michigan. The Pack should coast through the remainder of the season.
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