Thoughts from the Cincinnati Game
Well that was embarrassing. How did Cincinnati only win by three points? They should have totally won by about 20. They must be embarrassed.
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But seriously. That game was hideous. Atrocious. Awful. We started the game, the first five offensive drives, with four three-and-outs. And a turnover. This is how our first half offense went: punt, punt, fumble, punt, punt, punt, touchdown. Are you kidding me?
So here’s how our schedule looks for the rest of the season: we can still win Frank’s precious 10 games, we can still win the Coastal and go to the ACC Championship and theoretically the Orange Bowl, but come on. Let’s call a spade a spade here and admit that we have nothing going for us this season. We are 0-2 against the Big East this season. Blame it on the stadium, we haven’t won at FedEx Field, we don’t have a good record at Pitt, Cincy had two bye weeks to prepare, but that’s making excuses for the fact that we have a tight end for a quarterback, we have barely any offensive weapons, and we are woefully outcoached game after game after game. We thought the win against GT was a good one, but as it turns out, they suck worse than we do. This is the same narrative that we hear every year from Beamer: the team is developing, we always pull it out in the end, it’s just an issue of execution. Well today that was proven wrong. Sure we can’t execute, but that’s because there is barely anything with which to execute. The offensive plays are the same predictable, non-working trash we have always used, the defense bails us out as best they can (and in this case, cost us the game, though the offense played quite a large role in losing it for us as well).
This “effort” was one of the worst that I have seen. And let’s be honest, it wasn’t the player’s fault. I mean to a certain extent it always is, because they are the ones on the field. But this falls squarely on the shoulders of the coaches. They failed to prepare the team for the game tonight. They failed to inspire the team to want to win. They failed to create a game plan that could put us in a position to win. They failed to manage the game and the players to give us the best chance of success. They have done this on a smaller scale in almost every game this season and numerous others in previous seasons. They have failed this team and its fans at almost every turn this season. And they’ve done it in past seasons as well. When the responsibility falls on the coaches, Frank Beamer is ultimately the person on whose shoulders the blame rests. Frank has said time and again that the goal is to win a National Championship. As GWay said to me tonight, blind loyalty in an offensive staff that can’t distinguish their ass from a hole in the ground is not going to make that happen.
Looking at the stats after this game, it looks like the contest was close and competitive. But it hides the fact that this was a Cincinnati-dominated game from the get-go. We finally “came alive” (if you can call it that) in the fourth quarter, and took the lead. But when we should be playing a prevent defense, something we do way too often, we don’t, and they get the late touchdown to seal it. I can go over a number of stupid mistakes our team made tonight ranging from Logan Thomas’ inability to throw the ball away (resulting in a pass for -5 yards) to Exum’s horrendous coverage that cost us somewhere in the 30 yard range in penalties, to the ubiquitous failed draw play in a crucial situation, but that is nitpicking at a larger issue. It seems like we’re in a football-centric version of “Groundhog Day” every season.
This falls on the coaches. This falls on Frank Beamer. I love Beamer. He’s done great things for our school, but he cannot get the job done. I wish he could. There is nothing that I would like to see more is the Virginia Tech Hokies win a National Championship and Frank Beamer paraded around the Drillfield on top of the football team’s shoulders. But given how the last, I don’t know, 12 seasons, have gone, that is not going to happen. There is no game plan for the future. We can’t recruit the top quality talent outside of Virginia because they know that we aren’t going to another National Championship soon, let alone win one, so why not go to the Ohio States, the LSUs, the USCs? I know I would if I were them. This coaching staff acts like we have a history of winning that they can fall back on. But guess what guys, no one gives a flying fart about winning 10 games a season. They want the crystal. They don’t want the oranges. They don’t want the sugar. They don’t want the roses. They want a national championship. Winning the ACC Championship means squat after the first three. Great, we were in exactly the same spot we were five years ago. Awesome. We don’t need to move forward or progress our football program. We have the ACC Championship on lock. I was always told growing up “don’t rest on your laurels”. Maybe someone needs to say that to Frank Beamer.
