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Podcast Quick Hit (Video): Virginia Loss Thoughts

Adam and Matt talk about what went wrong in the disappointing loss to Virginia. What are your thoughts? Put your thoughts in the comment box.

 

3 Comments

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  2. Ben (RFS_detmer14) Burt

    September 3, 2013 at 12:44 pm

    I wasn’t going into that game with great expectations, but I still ended up feeling quite disappointed. I thought we would win by ~14pts. We should have. Our defense wasn’t quite as good as it was in 2012. They had more difficulty with the passing game. But the defense still gave the offense plenty of opportunities to win the game. It felt like 2012 all over again.

    I expected more variety of plays from Robert Anae. I don’t remember the TEs ever being thrown to. I didn’t see curl or comeback routes. This of course could have been due to Taysom Hill never having time to make reads and check down to other receivers. The only times he ever had time to throw were on roll out plays, which Virginia caught on to.

    The entire game, I wondered why we would keep running the ball up the middle ineffectively and then never run a play action. In the 4th quarter, I finally saw some play action with worked! Imagine that! But without a deep threat WR, play action is only so effective.

    The O-line play was absolutely abysmal. I watched the TCU/LSU game later that night and saw some amazing blocking by the LSU line allowing their RBs some fun runs. I think we would have gotten more out of the RBs not named Willis if the O line could have blocked even semi decently. I think a LOT of this stems from the need to play 11 guys on the line due to the hurry up offense. When you are swapping in and out players, it means that the less-talented linemen play more downs and have more opportunities to make mistakes, which seemed to be on most plays during the Virginia game. Sure, as the season progresses, they’ll get better. But maybe it was wrong to come out of the gate running fast ALL OF THE TIME.

    Also, the purpose of the hurry up offense was void after the lightning delay. The virginia defense had over 2hrs of rest. And then a 10min halftime. They did not wear down as much as they may have if there had been no delay. I wonder if Anae should make adjustments throughout the game as conditions arise that may render the hurry up offense less effective. Such as keeping the starting linemen in a bit more, allowing a little more time for observation on some plays. Again, just my thoughts.

    If things aren’t turned around quickly, I see us easily going 6-6 for the season. I see it being extremely difficult to beat the likes of Texas, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Boise State, USU, and Utah. Even Georgia Tech could hand us a loss. If we lose all of those, that’s a 4-8 season. *shudders*. So 6-6 is a definite possibility. If things get turned around, maybe we do as well as 7-5, but 8-4 (my original hope) seems to be slipping out of grasp. Yes, I know it’s only one game, but this one game showed such huge inadequacies, that it’s hard to hope for much more.

    • Adam Mangum

      September 3, 2013 at 7:05 pm

      Agree with almost everything you wrote. I still think 8-4 is possible, but each loss makes that less likely. I think a victory against Texas would heal most wounds. But an 0-2 start? 5-7 begins to look more likely.