CONGRATS to the 2011 A.c.c. football champion Clemson Tigers!
(here are my normally OFF TSL.com pre-game thoughts that C2 and I kicked around, uncensored and unfiltered as we sometimes say things behind the scenes that we can not, or at least should not say out in the open on techsideline.com)
I am really starting to like Klempson … Branch is still a brutal match-up. He will pwan Lanier much less Becton.
And Boyd is nothing better than poison to Bud Lite.
One of the things we’ve all missed all these years is that you need an epic intermediary passer with that soft lob-pass touch to drop short to medium throws into, and over the seams that open up when Bud Lite itself rolls coverage’s (i.e. the transnational seams from the Linebacker hook or zone-drops towards the island Man-to-Man coverages over on the edge of the playing-field) –which creates momentary openings or outright cracks here and there. Kinda like how Luck worked the Stanford Te’s short to medium. Ditto E.C.U. and State typically getting some yards on Bud Lite with Davis and Wilson. It’s not big time long throws, is it? It’s the little to medium stuff worked to perfection.
Tyler won’t be helping this any either. Klempson will get after Bonner as well. They will get well soon and give VT a real fit.”
Sadly, yah; pretty much.
That one was close for about 35 minutes of play. Then suddenly all hell broke loose and the next thing you know you were left wondering what the line of Clemson-27.5 would have paid out in Vegas.
In breaking tape, you can see that this really was not all that suspect of a start; though the ending left more than something to be desired. That said, there was a tacit and intrinsic point in the second quarter where some of the wind came outta the O&M sails and ever so slightly began to back the Klempson Tigers. That point was the whopping 18 play, 60 yard drive that ultimately only accounted for 3 O&M points, the final Virginia Tech points of this A.c.c. championship contest.
1st quarter 14:55 remaining:I’ve heard of 8-in-the-box, maybe even 9 with Tampa-2 behind that; however, how ‘bout 11-in-the-box to open the game? That’s a new one in my book, and that opening alignment sure said a lot to me regarding what Bud Lite was trying to take away (i.e. the Tigers ground attack) and more importantly, what Bud Lite was most concerned about. (i.e. the Tigers ground attack) (11 within 7 (yards))
1st quarter, 12:00 remaining:“Déjà vu all over again…”-Yogi Berra-
…what in the hell is L.T. doing stretching for extra inches on 1st and 10 from his very own 25 yard-line, with 57 minutes left in the game and the score knotted at zero-zero? Think about that one for a minute before you continue reading…
Third and short inside enemy territory while struggling for a first down? I get it. Any down when you are fighting to break the plane of the endzone for 6 full points? I get that too. This however is an r-sophomoric play. One of L.T.’s very few r-sophomoric moments this season.
Game Duration:Has the 2011 O’Cain scripted VT offense finally been riddled out? Run-blitz on the inside, with physically heavy and smothering tight man-to-man on the edges in an effort to jam any and all VT releases. This will allow the Cb’s to contribute to opposing run-fighting efforts rather handily as they are no less than nearby compared to medium or soft man-to-man coverage . Such takes Wilson’s edge work outta the game and forces him away from his strength(s) and back inside; such also forces a certain r-sophomore to make junior or senior level snap passing decisions if he is to attack said tight man-to-man through the air. Well, at least it would have if we would have come outta the power based inside-zone work, and gone to Slants and other quick hitting hot-routes or even some rushing counter or misdirection based work.
1st quarter, 8:04 remaining:You can hear that signature “crack” of hard plastic on hard plastic as the 171 lb. neck of Hosely finally gave out while playing out of position at Boundary-Cb. This is a nothing short of a brave play by Jayron and God Bless on his stinger as he has been physically overmatched at Boundary-Cb all year long –sources suggest that Hosely will return for the Sugar Bowl. (not to mention he is better as a floating Cb in Zone on the wide-side or Field-side where his ball hawking instincts are delivered to full effect) UPDATE: Hosley has filed his N.F.L. Draft prospect papers and as of Monday Sources hint that he is gone.
1st quarter, 1:30 remaining:Note the excellent so-called seal-block by my boy Wilson on the left-hand ILb for Klempson, then just as quick as a flash Wilson “scrapes” to the third level of the Klempson defense and in this case and picks big bad #40 or Mr. Branch up about 11 yards off the line-of-scrimmage. Making this the best blocks (plural) outta a VT Tb on a carry by another VT Rb in years. (hustle 1o1) UPDATE: Wilson has filed his N.F.L Draft prospect papers as of Monday. Sources hint that this one is much closer to 5o-5o, and could go either way.
1st quarter, 0:44 remaining:Tell me this is not a thing of beauty by D.J. Coles – who is reminding me more and more of John Stallworth of Pittsburgh Stiller fame with each and every game. As both have the effortless looking and downright smooooooth ability to their games. And D.J. ain’t a cat either; just ask hooVa how his crackback blocks taste. This kid has a very high ceiling on him folks, and he is looking more and more like a natural Wideout each and every day. (perfect textbook thumbs up spiderweb grab)
2nd quarter, 14:57 remaining:Klempson is the new Pitt.
They have figured out how to throw over top of the second layer of zone drops, and right in front of VT’s Man coverage on the edge. (see: above eMail to C2 and accompanying pic)
Game Duration:2010 all over again; as the VT hind-4 and parts of the second layer (i.e. the Linebackers) were ready to enlist there was so much army tackling going on downfield. I’ve not see this version of lenient and fundamentally unsound tacking on the balance for this year; or in other words, that means that it is indeed exceptionally odd to see such a elementary technicality emerge at such a late stage of the seasonal game. Note as well, that this forfeiture (by and large) occurred post Hosely being knocked outta the game and at least partially due to the eight major reshuffling of the Bud Lite deck this season. In Vegas they call that trying to make your point the hard-way, and after basically 12 straight games of juggling O&M defensive chainsaws Bud Lite finally crapped out.
2nd quarter, 5:04 remaining:“It’s a game of inches”; unless you are all thumbs. You tell me … as the game tape replay never quite slows down precisely enough to be 100% sure; although the flight of the ball surely looked liked a deflection had occurred as subjective as that statement may be.
2nd quarter, 1:05 remaining:VT has had its given Qb sacked 14 times this season in 13 games. 13 of those sacks were due to the given VT opponent and, with four coming from #40, (Mr. Branch) of Klempson alone and one coming from Logan Thomas on this very play. Observe as L.T. inexplicably side-steps to his left side (or towards Mr. Branch) and right into the range of the right-hand Klempson Dt (#94, Mr. Moore) who had effectively been kicked-out by Nosal, as Nosal was in ideal position to pick #94 back up had L.T. maintained the expected normal Cup or centralized Pocket integrity. Or in other words, there is something rather r-sophomoric or undercooked about L.T.’s ability to sense oncoming or backside pocket pressure at this stage of his Adonis in cleats career. 2o-2o eyes in the back of his head are 2012 away at this point for L.T. –which is too be expected for a Qb who is still about 5-10 parts per 100 Te.
Ditto being 2012 away from having the game-clock in-front of his eyes as the 0:20 – 0:06 = 14 wasted seconds or at least one throw into the endzone for a shot at six momentum changing points to close the opening 30 minute stanza of play suggests. (Editors note: L.T. graded out to an 81 by the VT football Staff; his lowest game-day grade ever)
2nd quarter 0:01 remaining:Observe one Cody Journell, he of the 10 for 10 and yet somewhat quiet looking 100% close to the 2011 FG-kicking season. Now notice that Cody nails a career long 42 yarder with a good 10-15 yards to spare on what looks like nothing more than a Tiger Woods medium loft-wedge from about ~90 yards out. Now give a listen and notice the lack of the early-season “oomph” at impact from Mr. Giles County as the air rushes outta the football’s bladder upon contact. Gone is the 1996 over swinging, maxed out torque, maxed out “Boom, Boom, Pow” just like the rookie year Tiger Woods moon-shot golf swing motion. It tis’ odd just how insightfully well the Eye works when our baller’s tune-in, log-on and suddenly the mechanical foibles drop-out.
Good for Mr. Journell, this kid has all-A.c.c. written all over him before 2013 expires … possibly sooner.
Loading …
Longfield Management (Lo.FM):©Virginia Tech:positive= |||| |||| (1 Tiger penalty)negative= |||| |||| |||| |||| | (1 VT INT, 3 VT penalties)neutral= ||||
Klempson:positive= |||| |||| | (1 TD, 2 VT penalties)negative= |||| |||| |||| (1 Tiger penalty, 2 clock killers)neutral=zero
Lo.FM Analysis:It’s going to be an interesting week of film-study for my two homegrown pet metrics, as the Time To Throw is actually painting a favorable O&M picture at the midway mark –believe it or not.The Lo.FM however is another matter entirely.
As you can see above, VT had two enemies in this contest, one had white paw prints on orange helmets on their heads. And the other one had the old-school Tv looking logo on a white lid and they did not play a very heady game. Not surprisingly such a lack of football acumen or gridiron composure, at times, resulted in a self-inflicted O&M wound as VT was VT’s very own worst enemy regardless of how much fifth-column collaboration they had outta the Zebra’s down in Charlotte.
- VT is o-2 this season vs. the Klempson Tigers.
- Is VT really 20 and 28 points respectively worse than the Tigers?
- Prolly not, and no way are the appropriate respective responses.
Nonetheless -and this part is the kicker- honest to God, how many times would this current v.2011 incarnation of Beamerball with a nearly physically shattered stop-unit, and an offense that got out-gained by 192 summative yards actually beat Klempson outta 100 times? Well, we objectively know for sure that VT could not possibly fare any better than 2-98. That said, and that attempt at humor aside, Klempson only out-gained VT by 192 yards in 120 minutes of play.
Did it somehow feel like more than that to you?
Yah; me too, so much so I actually ran the maths twice. 192 yards is basically code for 10 points per game. As that’s a mid-range 35 yard field-goal and solid enough 65 yard drive for a TD, taken twice to account for just short of 200 total Tiger yards. So pragmatically speaking that’s two wins by 10 points on paper in favor or the Klempson Tigers. That’s a far cry from a 20 point homesteading butt-whoopin’ and a virtual 28 point championship game rout.
Ergo, to wit, and therefore, ^that^ attempt at outcome quantification firmly in place, such analysis begs the question … how did Clemson take VT out behind the woodshed like that, not just once … twice? As one can make a objective argument that “yes” Klempson is the better football team, just not ^that^ much better.
Virginia Tech scored precisely 13 points in 2 games vs. the Tigers. Or 1.625 points per quarter or 0.1083 points per minute –and yet that had nothing to do with Virginia Tech … right?
Klempson on the other hand rang Tech’s bell for 61 points in 2 games. Or basically a touchdown (7.625 points) per quarter, or .5083 points per minute –and yet that had nothing to do with Clemson –correct?
See what I mean?Not yet?Ok, so in other words, these were not just two proverbial ships passing in the nite, these were two fully tuned up motor-torpedo-boats passing each other in the nite at full throttle downhill both ways.
On the other hand, had this been a thirty minute game VT might have actually won, or at least this would have been very close to a fifty-fifty game in and of itself. Or to put it another way, VT actually improved as they were tied at halftime 10-10 in this one, whereas they were chasing down 3 hyphen 10 the last time out at the intermission back on October first. Or in other words, VT did not score a single point in the final 65 minutes and change of these two Atlantic Coast football games. That folks may not be via design from a homer O&M point-of-view, even if this is not exactly code for random atom bumping chance either. The better team won, and they won twice and they won rather handily each time. In fact, when was the last time Frank Beamer was handed his hall of fame in waiting hat twice in the same season by the very same opposing team?
This one brings me to a bitter-sweet ending to the Eye part I. VT was not playing all that bad at this point in time. VT had a chance to win this one heading to the lockeroom for a made for TV halftime show.
Why? Because VT’s emotional needed was not quite yet on “E”, thought it was way down and to the left. That and “styles make fights” as someone said pre-game. Klempson overall style and Tajh’s style in particular is all ‘rong for Bud Lite and Virginia Tech.
Because those things you saw rolling down Tyron Street down in Charlotte were the O&M wheels that pulled a Goose and Maverick and went “Eject! Eject! Eject!” from the O&M wagon and were last seen rolling off the nearest Queen City cliff and into non-B.C.S. oblivion, or so it would seem. As there is just not enough lipstick in the world for this upcoming second-half pig, and here in the 3o4 we know a thing or two about pigs…
a saying about teaching pigs to sing…
- it will never happen
- it will only annoy the pig
However, VT finally did backdoor a good post-season thing.Repeat after me … the Big-12 has NO A.c.c. bowl game tie-ins!… The Big-12 has NO A.c.c. bowl game tie-ins!The Big-12 has NO A.c.c. bowl game tie-ins!The Black Diamond Trophy is now officially VT’s forever.Period.Game over.Full stop.
How sweet is that?</hint below>
“LETS GO!”
“HOKIES!”
bourbonstreet**
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