Duke vs. Virginia Tech

[CameronBornAndBred]

My favorite call of the day was the Dr. and Mrs. DD cheering on their daughter as she led the cheers from the track. That is until Tilly handed them binoculars and they realized it was someone else's kid.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Several frustrating plays called today, some seriously shitty calls by the refs, but at the end of the day I had to walk away happy with what happened on the field. We put ourselves in position to win against a top ten team, and that's with a young team. We really are watching a program in the early stages of better days. While it wasn't packed, Wallace Wade had it's fair share of fans, and the Hokies did NOT drown us out. Congrats to the team on a hard played game.

[devildeac]

My favorite call of the day was the Dr. and Mrs. DD cheering on their daughter as she led the cheers from the track. That is until Tilly handed them binoculars and they realized it was someone else's kid.

That was pretty damn funny. :oops:

[CameronBornAndBred]

Oh yeah, the four field goals by walkon Will Snyderwine, even though we wish they were TDs, were pretty impressive. He hit from 25, 29, 43, and 47 yards. Those were fun to watch.
What wasn't fun to watch was when the coaching staff wouldn't let him kick a catchable kick to VT until the 4th quarter.

[devildeac]

Several frustrating plays called today, some seriously shitty calls by the refs, but at the end of the day I had to walk away happy with what happened on the field. We put ourselves in position to win against a top ten team, and that's with a young team. We really are watching a program in the early stages of better days. While it wasn't packed, Wallace Wade had it's fair share of fans, and the Hokies did NOT drown us out. Congrats to the team on a hard played game.

We ended up several bad plays away from a W today.

1. The TD "catch" after Wright intercepted the ball and the the vt player took it away as he rolled OOB.
2. The 3rd and 34 conversion by vt
3. Another (several?) 3rd and long conversions by vt
4. A Boyette run for -2 when we had 3rd and inches at their 9.
5. 2 KO OOB giving them possession on their 40
6. Another KO bounced up the middle to their 20 with a runback to near their 40.
7. Our D running out of gas in the 4th and giving up 2 TD after stopping their running game for 3Q.

When you sit down and look at the final result, it was indeed quite an effort by our guys.

[CameronBornAndBred]

The Devil's Walk...this is a fun part of game day, but Ima' post about Thad's girlfriend breaking up with him made this even more impressive.
I've noticed during the walks that about half (or more) of the players look grouchy. That's fine, they might not do well in those kinds of social situations, but every walk Thad Lewis has had the biggest smile. It looks like this --> . For NCCU he was at the front of the team, yesterday he brought up the rear. After seeing all of the grumpies walking in front of him, his smile was even more noticeable, you could tell he was honestly enjoying the moment.

[bjornolf]

I didn't get to watch the game, but the score and stats indicate to me that we played VT very tough today. I can totally be proud of this kind of performance, and a sustained effort on this level will no doubt win more games this season.

Had that one funky call been reversed after being reviewed, VT would have been short a touchdown. Duke played those Hokies close despite some verboten play by VT (chop blocks and some other stuff outside the rules). Our tackling has improved so much over three or four years ago when there was a lot of shirt tackling or ankle tackling. Now our guys are doing a lot of waist tackling and when that didn't work, upper leg tackling. Wallace Wade must be smiling!

Ladies and gentlemen, we've got us a coach!

Just out of curiosity, what do you consider a "chop block"? There are pretty specific rules about that, and just cause a guy takes you out at the knees doesn't mean it's illegal. The refs usually catch that stuff, as it's pretty blatant usually.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

I didn't get to watch the game, but the score and stats indicate to me that we played VT very tough today. I can totally be proud of this kind of performance, and a sustained effort on this level will no doubt win more games this season.

Had that one funky call been reversed after being reviewed, VT would have been short a touchdown. Duke played those Hokies close despite some verboten play by VT (chop blocks and some other stuff outside the rules). Our tackling has improved so much over three or four years ago when there was a lot of shirt tackling or ankle tackling. Now our guys are doing a lot of waist tackling and when that didn't work, upper leg tackling. Wallace Wade must be smiling!

Ladies and gentlemen, we've got us a coach!

Just out of curiosity, what do you consider a "chop block"? There are pretty specific rules about that, and just cause a guy takes you out at the knees doesn't mean it's illegal. The refs usually catch that stuff, as it's pretty blatant usually.

The referees did call chop blocks on VT..... at least that's what the announcer said!

[devildeac]

Had that one funky call been reversed after being reviewed, VT would have been short a touchdown. Duke played those Hokies close despite some verboten play by VT (chop blocks and some other stuff outside the rules). Our tackling has improved so much over three or four years ago when there was a lot of shirt tackling or ankle tackling. Now our guys are doing a lot of waist tackling and when that didn't work, upper leg tackling. Wallace Wade must be smiling!

Ladies and gentlemen, we've got us a coach!

Just out of curiosity, what do you consider a "chop block"? There are pretty specific rules about that, and just cause a guy takes you out at the knees doesn't mean it's illegal. The refs usually catch that stuff, as it's pretty blatant usually.
I%%-

The referees did call chop blocks on VT..... at least that's what the announcer said!

I don't remember any of those being called. They were called for several illegal blocks but they were on punt returns and were announced as "blocks in the back." And it took the damn refs several seconds before they threw their hankies on each of them.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

I don't remember any of those being called. They were called for several illegal blocks but they were on punt returns and were announced as "blocks in the back." And it took the damn refs several seconds before they threw their hankies on each of them.

The official announced a penalty for a chop block in the first half.

[devildeac]

A few more game thoughts:

1. I still disagree with the 2 KO going OOB and one being bounced up the middle to about the 20 with nearly a 20 yard return but I can understand it a bit more now after learning that a vt guy was 1st or 2nd in the nation in KO returns with about a 48 yard average!
2. vt had only given up 1 passing TD so far this year before Thad threw for 3 (IIRC) on Saturday.
3. We "held" them to about 160 yards rushing and a fair amount of that was probably in the 4th Q when they ground us down. They were averaging about 230 with their freshman picking up about 125 per game.
4. We ended up with more possession time than they did. (big whoop here)
5. We had zero TO to a team that has thrived over the years on beating you with your own mistakes.

They moved up to #5 in the nation in today's polls. That makes our showing on Saturday all the more impressive. But, as Cut and the players keep saying, they are tired of being competitive and moral victories. It's time to start winning games. Hope the injuries heal and they are ready for the wuffies on Saturday.

[CameronBornAndBred]

A few more game thoughts:

1. I still disagree with the 2 KO going OOB and one being bounced up the middle to about the 20 with nearly a 20 yard return but I can understand it a bit more now after learning that a vt guy was 1st or 2nd in the nation in KO returns with about a 48 yard average!
2. vt had only given up 1 passing TD so far this year before Thad threw for 3 (IIRC) on Saturday.
3. We "held" them to about 160 yards rushing and a fair amount of that was probably in the 4th Q when they ground us down. They were averaging about 230 with their freshman picking up about 125 per game.
4. We ended up with more possession time than they did. (big whoop here)
5. We had zero TO to a team that has thrived over the years on beating you with your own mistakes.

They moved up to #5 in the nation in today's polls. That makes our showing on Saturday all the more impressive. But, as Cut and the players keep saying, they are tired of being competitive and moral victories. It's time to start winning games. Hope the injuries heal and they are ready for the wuffies on Saturday.

All good points.
#5, we actually did have a fumble that we recovered. We have done better with protecting the ball this year, and better still as the season has progressed. Last year against VT, I think we had 6 TO's total. Luckily, they had 5 themselves.

[devildeac]

A few more game thoughts:

1. I still disagree with the 2 KO going OOB and one being bounced up the middle to about the 20 with nearly a 20 yard return but I can understand it a bit more now after learning that a vt guy was 1st or 2nd in the nation in KO returns with about a 48 yard average!
2. vt had only given up 1 passing TD so far this year before Thad threw for 3 (IIRC) on Saturday.
3. We "held" them to about 160 yards rushing and a fair amount of that was probably in the 4th Q when they ground us down. They were averaging about 230 with their freshman picking up about 125 per game.
4. We ended up with more possession time than they did. (big whoop here)
5. We had zero TO to a team that has thrived over the years on beating you with your own mistakes.

They moved up to #5 in the nation in today's polls. That makes our showing on Saturday all the more impressive. But, as Cut and the players keep saying, they are tired of being competitive and moral victories. It's time to start winning games. Hope the injuries heal and they are ready for the wuffies on Saturday.

All good points.
#5, we actually did have a fumble that we recovered. We have done better with protecting the ball this year, and better still as the season has progressed. Last year against VT, I think we had 6 TO's total. Luckily, they had 5 themselves.

We did indeed have 1 fumble but did not lose possession. They had 2 fumbles and we recovered 1 of them which was a huge play. We also had an INT but the &*^%$@# refs missed the call. Even the n&o yesterday or today had a short piece about it. Cut's prolonged "discussion" with the officials he said was to try to get them to review it again and he continued to argue for the sake of arguing.

Of our TO last year against vt, 4 of 'em were Asack INT, remembering that when he wasn't running the ball, he was tossing more passes to them than he was to our receivers, even though he is taller. :roll:

[CameronBornAndBred]

Of our TO last year against vt, 4 of 'em were Asack INT, remembering that when he wasn't running the ball, he was tossing more passes to them than he was to our receivers, even though he is taller. :roll:

I read an article recently that made me laugh, it said Asack had 5 completions, 4 to the wrong guys.

[devildeac]

Of our TO last year against vt, 4 of 'em were Asack INT, remembering that when he wasn't running the ball, he was tossing more passes to them than he was to our receivers, even though he is taller. :roll:

I read an article recently that made me laugh, it said Asack had 5 completions, 4 to the wrong guys.

IIRC, he was 6/9 passing that game with 2, yes TWO, completions to our receivers and 4 to vt players. Truly a sad performance. I don't know how QB efficiency is calculated but I would imagine he had one well into the negative numbers after that showing, despite his height and stellar (cough) rushing performance that evening.

[bjornolf]

I don't remember any of those being called. They were called for several illegal blocks but they were on punt returns and were announced as "blocks in the back." And it took the damn refs several seconds before they threw their hankies on each of them.

The official announced a penalty for a chop block in the first half.

Well if they called them for it, then what's the big deal? As a former player I can say, and to quote one of my favorite NFL players of all time, "If you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin'." ;) Playing offensive line is, in its simplest form, the art of holding and tripping people without getting penalized.

[Very Duke Blue]

Is anyone wataching Va. Tech & BC game? My gosh, its a slaughter. I am so proud of our boys last week. GO DUKE!!

[CameronBornAndBred]

Is anyone wataching Va. Tech & BC game? My gosh, its a slaughter. I am so proud of our boys last week. GO DUKE!!

We are looking much better...we looked good live, but in hindsight we look great!

[DukePA]

30-zip, VT after an interception for touch down.

[bjornolf]

VT is REALLY coming together as a team. Tyrod IS the real deal, it's just taking some time for him to put it together. Our 12 point loss to them is only gonna look more and more impressive as the season goes on. I think they said that before the Duke game, VT's opponents were a combined 11-0 in games outside their VT game, and most of those teams only loss had come at the hands of the Hokies. And VT's only loss was to one of the better teams in the SEC. I think they're gonna be scary by the end of the season. Something clicked during that Nebraska game, folks. I hope, for their sake, it stays clicked. Things seem to be starting to click for our Devils too. Hopefully yesterday's game was just a sign of things to come. I think the VT game showed them they can hang with anybody, and they're starting to believe.