A mere week after having one of the worst performances on offense in a long, long time, the Hokies were almost unstoppable with the ball in their hands. We also witnessed what is hopefully the beginning of a new era for The Lieutenant. Now it will be hard for him to top this past week's performance statistically (92% completion rate is ridiculous), but it is no longer a question of "can he do it?".
Everyone is going to talk about how poised and in control LT was during the final game winning drive. What I haven't seen talked about anywhere is the fact it wasn't even the first time that game that he did this. To end the first half, the exact same type of drive was asked of the offense, and it was executed just as beautifully.
Earlier this season I wrote that one of the biggest problems I had with Logan at this stage in his development was he stared down his primary receiver without looking at his options. On that final drive of the first half, I saw at least 3 or 4 times where he went through his progressions and ended up dumping the ball off to either the running back or short yard receiver. It was smart, it was effective, and it was what needed to be done to eventually get the touchdown.
There were some obvious flaws defensively in the second half, but I chalked those up to other intangibles that weren't really in the Hokies control. We were injury plagued on the D-line, going up against the best O-line in the conference, and one of the top running backs in the country. Hopefully we can get Gayle back soon, but reports for JGW suggest it may be more serious than just a few days of light contact. If that is the case, I feel that Tweedy has the capability to step up and help the linebackers. He has always had the speed, and his work mainly on special teams the past few years has helped improve his tackling.
Wake Forest is clearly better than anyone was expecting coming into the season, so this will be another test on Saturday. Having said that, it should be a drop off in individual skills over the next three games. As long as we don't keep getting plagued by the injury bug, hopefully we keep this momentum going through the rest of the month.
Across the ACC
Once again this past weekend I was in Blacksburg to watch the Hokies live, so I was unable to watch any other ACC games. Clearly the most surprising outcome was the Demon Deacons knocking the Noles to a sub .500 record. The fact that Wake didn't get more top-25 votes shows a lack of respect for what they've done this season. They're one injured QB in the 4th quarter away from being undefeated right now.
As the WF/FSU game is the only one I predicted the winner wrong, there isn't much to say about the other games. The UNC game was surprisingly low scoring. At first I thought the updates on my phone were messed up since no one was scoring. GT also didn't really blow out Maryland as much as I expected. Clemson kept their stock up high, but we'll find out how serious the injury to Boyd ends up being.
Final Parting Shot
This week, instead of picking on a player or team that did poorly, I'm going to rant instead. Although if you haven't seen the ECU receiver getting hit on the head on a deep pass, it's good for a laugh.
There are many things that differentiate college football from pro football when it comes to rules. Some are good. For example, I believe that college athletes shouldn't be paid. I'm not saying they don't deserve it, because they certainly deserve something for the revenue they help generate, but there is no way I can think of that would keep the playing field even between big and small market programs. It's the same reason I think there should be a salary cap in all pro sports. This however isn't what irked me this weekend, just a random tangent.
What really annoys me about college football is how much they're taking the manliest sport, and turning it into a joke with how it penalizes anything that is considered celebrating. I agree that there shouldn't ever be any vulgarity when it comes to how a team celebrates, or any direct taunting of an opponent or opposing fan base. But this new rule regarding an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that erases touchdowns is ridiculous.
Obviously at this point I'm referring specifically to the LSU punter who was penalize for sticking out his arms, for a fraction of a second mind you, a few yards before crossing the goal line. I want someone on the rules committee to explain to me how it has gotten to the point where an action such as that is so bad, that it is essentially the same punishment as hitting a defenseless player late on a play.
Another problem with this rule is the fact that it is completely up to the ref working that particular game to whether or not it should be penalized. During the Arkansas game, at the end of a long TD run, the Arkansas player slowed down during the last 10 yards. Technically according to the wording of the rule, that is "breaking stride", and should/could be penalized. Yet in that game, the ref didn't throw a flag.
I'm all for rules that make sense, or that protects the players from getting hurt. Like I said, this is a game of gladiators, and some measures should be taken to keep people from being seriously injured. But if we are wasting time making up rules that should only even be considered for 8-year-old's YMCA leagues, then the only thing that is going to happen is the reputation of one of the best sports in the world going down.
H-O-K-I-E-S HOKIES!!!
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