Kyle Tucker

Need a daily Hokie football fix? Virginian-Pilot writer Kyle Tucker, in his fourth season on the Virginia Tech beat, is your man in Blacksburg. Read stories from Kyle on the college football channel.

Category: Va. Tech football

Sure bets at Tech in December: snow, top defense ...

Dec 08

9:51 PM

There’s snow on the ground here in Blacksburg and I say … well, good. If it’s going to be this freaking cold – I HATE COLD WEATHER – then it might as well look nice. If the forecast for a few inches of snow tonight holds up, there’s a good chance you could catch a hilarious snowball fight tomorrow afternoon if you cruise down Progress Street.

Look for the big, old house with a trio of idiots in the front yard: a redhead, a mop-top and a spikey-haired fellow all slipping and sliding and pummeling each other with (potentially) rock-filled snow balls.

Speaking of rock fights … how ‘bout that ACC title game? It’ll be a battle of two top-10 defenses AND two offenses ranked 94^th or worse. So, yeah, defense will win at least one championship this year.

On Tech’s side, the defensive effort has been pretty remarkable. The Hokies have given up less than 250 yards in six of the last seven games. Just amazing. They’ve climbed from 58^th in total defense after Week 3 to their current spot – No. 6 nationally.

To guarantee a top-five finish, Tech needs to give up an average of 197.5 yards over these last two games. OR … have Penn State’s fifth-rated defense wilt against USC in the Rose Bowl – which is entirely possible.

So if the Hokies end up top-five again, they’ll be the only program in a America to have a top-five defense in each of the last five seasons. LSU was right there with the Hokies – oddly, ranking No. 3 in each of the last four years – but this year ranks 32^nd.

Tech has already all but locked up the distinction of being the only program in America with even a top-10 defense every year since 2004. Other than LSU, the next-closest programs are USC, Florida and Alabama, each with three top-10 finishes in the last five seasons.

Here’s a look at the last five years’ defensive rankings:

2008 2007 2006 2005 2004

1. USC 1. Ohio St. 1. Va Tech 1. Va. Tech 1. NCST

2. TCU 2. USC 2. TCU 2. Bama 2. Bama

3. Bama 3. LSU 3. LSU 3. LSU 3. LSU

4. Tenn. 4. Va. Tech 4. Rutgers 4. Miami 4. Va. Tech

5. PSU 5. Pitt 5. Wisc. 5. Ohio St. 5. Auburn

6. Va. Tech 6. Auburn 6. Florida 6. UConn 6. USC

7. Florida 7. WVU 7. Miami 7. Tenn. 7. FSU

8. BC 8. Oreg. St. 8. Georgia 8. NCST 8. Georgia

9. Ohio St 9. Clemson 9. Wyoming 9. Florida 9. Wisc.

10. UConn 10. BYU 10. Mich. 10. Texas 10. PSU

Those numbers speak for themselves. They are the reason I’m sure you Hokies are rejoicing tonight that Clemson and Tennessee filled their head-coaching jobs and (for now) it looks like defensive coordinator Bud Foster will be back in Blacksburg for at least one more season – with tons of talent returning.

Is it even debatable at this point that Foster is the best D-coordinator in the country, hands down? I don’t think so.

But what do I know? On to the interviews. We’re limited again this week (we got three players on a conference call today and will get four other guys – all hand-selected by the staff, not requested by the hacks – at tomorrow’s press conference). Even so, I’ll keep filling this space, so keep tuning in …

COACH FRANK BEAMER

OPENING REMARKS: “We’re just extremely pleased to be playing in the championship game. We really feel good about this football team. We haven’t always played well … but we’ve always played hard. We’re just very, very proud to be playing in this game again.”

ON WHERE THE TEAM WAS AT BC AND WHERE IT IS NOW: “Seems like a long time ago. I’m not sure. We’re certainly more experienced. For our receivers that are playing for the first time this year, I think every game experience is very important, as for our tailback. … A few more games under our belt is the biggest thing.”

ON BOSTON COLLEGE’S BACK-UP QB, NOW THE STARTER: “The defense is working on that. I’ve been looking at their kicking here today. … Him being successful, I’m sure that’s a confidence-builder for him.”

ON BC’S DEFENSE IN THE FIRST MEETING: “I remember that crowd … we didn’t have a lot of success against them up there. I remember that. They’re a hard crowd to beat.”

ON PLAYING FOR THE ACC TITLE BECOMING THE EXPECTATION AT VT: “Well, we want to recruit kids that come here with the idea of winning championships. And I think most of our kids do. But we also know how fortunate we are to be in this ballgame with the schedule we’ve had and the young kids that we’re playing … and then a couple key injuries.”

ON BUILDING A TRADITION OF WINNING WITH DEFENSE AND SPECIAL TEAMS: “It takes all elements of the team to win. We’ve got a good idea of team football and trying to figure out a way to win a football game. The whole team is involved with that.”

ON BC SCORING A DEFENSIVE OR SPECIAL TEAMS TD IN SEVEN STRAIGHT GAMES: “They’re extremely well-coached, there’s no question about it. They understand it takes all three elements to win, too, and they coach it up.”

ON LINEBACKERS BRETT WARREN AND PURNELL STURDIVANT AS SORT OF UNSUNG HEROES, GUYS WHO WAITED THEIR TURNS: “We were talking about that as we watched the film this morning, how well Brett Warren played and how well Purnell Sturdivant played. They’ll attack you, now. … They’ve been around the program … then when it was their turn, they had knowledge. … That helped a lot. Those two guys, they’ll attack you and get right after you.”

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SPECIAL TEAMS IN THIS GAME: “There’s no question when you get in championship games, you’d think it would be two teams that are fairly close to each other as far as abilities. When you get a game like that, special teams usually decide it, or certainly affect it. That’s just a known fact.”

ON SAYING AFTER THE MIAMI GAME THAT THEY STILL HAD A CHANCE, BUT MAYBE THE PLAYERS NOT BELIEVING IT AT THE TIME AND IF HE SAID SOMETHING TO REMIND THEM: “The fact was, Miami had to lose and (UNC) had to lose. And of course, they did. So going into last weekend, we knew we were back in control. After the Miami game, a lot of people were hurt by the fact we lost that football game. I think at the time I said, ‘It’s still possible, but I’m not even going to get into it.’ But it turned out OK.”

ON WHAT IT SAYS THAT TECH IS IN THE GAME THREE OUT OF FOUR YEARS: “I hope we’ve added something to the ACC. The ACC has certainly been good for us. I was proud yesterday … (Clemson and GT winning). I think we’ve had some big wins against other conferences. I’m proud to be a part of the ACC.”

ON THE BC RIVALRY: “We’ve played a bunch of times, but when you’re playing for the championship, that’s when it takes on new meaning. They’re a hard team to beat.”

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SCORING MORE OFTEN IN THE RED ZONE: “I think getting points when you’re down there is always critical, and it’ll be critical again this week. Every play counts in this ballgame. That certainly is a point of emphasis.”

ON THE ACC’S SUCCESS AGAISNT THE SEC ON THE FINAL WEEKEND, AND THE NARROW SEPARATION BETWEEN ACC TEAMS: “I said before yesterday, there’s a bunch of teams that are just very, very close. That if you play that team, it could go either way. Just as it did against Virginia. I think it’s a lot of good teams that are bunched in there, all about the same.”

ON THE RESILIENCE OF THE OFFENSE IN THE FACE OF CRITICISM: “I think we have as a football team. People have written, have talked, have said … I give our seniors credit for keeping our football team together … backing each other. The offensive guys … we may not have always played well, but I think we’ve played hard. Just trying to continue to get better was our goal throughout.”

ON TAYLOR’S BIG RUN AGAINST VIRGINIA: “I think Tyrod gives you that. He’s got that ability. Plus, he’s very accurate throwing. He’s a good passer. And the receivers are starting to make some catches. I think we’re kind of getting used to each other. I think it’s just a growing situation with our football team. I do feel like we’re getting a little bit better all the time.”

ON HAVING STARS IN THE PAST BUT NOT SO MUCH THIS YEAR: “I really like this football team. They practice hard, they do everything we ask … and you just see it out there on the field. You’re right, we don’t have a lot of name guys. But I think we’ve got a lot of hard-working guys.”

ON FRESHMEN RECEIVERS JARRETT BOYKIN AND DANNY COALE EMERGING LATELY: “Experience. I think experience is a wonderful thing and when you’ve got it, it’s good. When you don’t have it, it’s a learning process. I think they’re much better receivers now than they were against East Carolina. I throw Dyrell Roberts in there as well. I think that’s three freshmen receivers that’s going to be real, real good. It’s rare you have that much youth at one position. I wouldn’t want a secondary full of freshmen. … I like playing young players. I like playing freshmen. But I like a couple seniors around them.”

ON COMPARISON’S TO LAST YEAR’S SENIOR RECEIVERS: “Oh, I’m not sure. Those are some talented kids. But I think these guys got a chance, too. The way they work at it … I think we’re going to be proud they’re Hokies before they graduate.”

ON TIGHT END GREG BOONE TRYING A DEEP PASS OUT OF THE WILD TURKEY FORMATION AGAINST VIRGINIA: “We’ve got a couple throws in there for him. He can zip it pretty good. I wish he’d read coverage a little better (on that throw). But I think the more he does it, the better he’ll get. We get him enough (work in practice) to keep his arm loose. It doesn’t take much for him to get loose.”

ON THE O-LINE AGAINST VIRGINIA: “It still gets back to executing. That’s what it took yesterday, and that’s what it’s going to take against Boston College. They’re very good up front. You’ve still got to be able to run the football and we didn’t do that very well (last time against BC). They are hard to move out of there (the DTs for BC). You just better plan to work all day against those guys, because it’s not easy.”

ON A BENEFIT TO PLAYING A REMATCH WITH ATEAM THAT BEAT YOU: “I think what we know is they’re a hard team to beat … you’ve got to play great. I think that’s what you know when you play a team like Boston College.”

ON THE PUNT RETURN TD FOR THE EAGLES IN THEIR LAST MEETING: “I think the coverage is better (now, for the Hokies). I remember it fairly well. Our head-hunters were one-on-one and they’ve got to win that battle. Then they got it to the middle of the field … and a couple of us didn’t keep good leverage on the football. You let a guy like that get started … it didn’t take him long to get to the end zone. He’s a talented guy.”

ON WHETHER THIS HAS BEEN HIS AND HIS STAFF’S TOUGHEST COACHING JOB IN A WHILE WITH ALL THE YOUTH: “As far as the team, I’ve enjoyed the football team. Now, we’ve had to do some coaching here. But I’ve enjoyed the players, and their attitude and how they’ve worked. This is just a very gratifying, very thankful time, that we’re able to get back to the championship game with all the things this football team has been through. I think it does mean more to you when it’s hard like that.”

ON WHETHER THE MEETINGS AND PLANNING SESSIONS WENT LONGER AND LATER THIS SEASON: “I think the staff … has been in place. We’ve got a way of doing things. We kind of keep on a schedule and know what we’re going to do and how we’re going to do it and why. You kind of know what needs to get done. When you’ve got a young team, it’s a learning process for the kids, but they’ve done a good job continuing to get better.”

ON BEING IMPRESSED THAT SUCH A YOUNG TEAM HAS HAD SO FEW PENALTIES (SECOND-FEWEST IN THE ACC): “It’s essential to winning. The kind of kids these are, it kinds of leads you to they play smart football. They understand how valuable every yard is, particularly with us. Every yard is a valuable thing. And for the season, we’ve really been pretty good not turning the ball over and getting penalties. That puts you on the road to winning, I believe.”

ON D-COORDINATOR BUD FOSTER RUNNING DOWN THE SIDELINE AFTER THE VIRGINIA GAME, CELEBRATING: “With my bum knee, I know I won’t be racing him any time soon. The only thing I do after the game is dance. I’m not sure what (kind of dance) it was yesterday. It was a happy one, though.”

DE ORION MARTIN

HIS MEMORIES OF THE EARLIER MEETING WITH BOSTON COLLEGE AND HOW THE DEFENSE HAS IMPROVED SINCE THEN: “I think we had a lot of mental errors up there … we had a lot of missed assignments on our part, but also they made some big plays on offense. Since then, we’ve improved a whole lot. Our tackling, our communication on the field, overall as a defense, we’ve really come together and grown into our roles.”

ON BC’S BACK-UP QUARTERBACK STARTING THIS GAME AND WHETHER HE LICKS HIS CHOPS AT THAT: “He’s a solid quarterback. He’s only started a couple games, but we’re just going to go out there and play our game and try to play the best we can and hopefully cause some turnovers to help our team out.”

ON THE DEFENSE CLOSING IN ON ANOTHER TOP-FIVE DEFENSIVE RANKING AND HOW D-COORDINATOR BUD FOSTER KEEPS DOING IT, REGARDLESS OF THE PARTS: “I think he demands the best out of all of us, whether it’s the first-string guy down to the third-string guy. He demands us to play at our best and highest level at all times, in practice or in the games. It helps you out as a defensive unit.”

ON SEEING BOSTON COLLEGE SO MUCH LATELY: “We’ve played them for a while now. I guess you can say from the Big East it’s turned into a rivalry in the ACC. Every time we get together, it’s a good game. We’re looking forward to it. When we face Boston College, we know we’re going against one of the top teams in the ACC.”

ON THE EAGLES’ MASSIVE O-LINE: “That’s the strength of their offense. They’re big, strong and physical. They make that offense go. They make them better.”

ON WHETHER HE THOUGHT AFTER THE MIAMI LOSS THAT THE HOKIES STILL HAD A CHANCE TO WIN THE LEAGUE: “I thought so. I thought if we just kept playing … we were playing great ball, but things just weren’t working out for us. I knew if we just kept playing hard and kept practicing … things would work out in our favor. And it did. We’re happy to be here and we’re just going to take advantage of it.”

ON HAVING BEEN PART OF THREE COASTAL DIVISION CHAMPIONS IN HIS CAREER AND COMPARING THE OTHER TWO TO THIS ONE: “I think this one is more exciting because this year was a little different. We had a young team and so many injuries and so many set-backs during the year. Just to finally fight through all that and have a chance to play for a championship, I think it makes it that much better.”

ON WHETHER SEASONS LIKE THIS MAYBE BUILD A PROGRAM’S REPUTATION MORE THAN THE YEARS A TEAM IS LOADED … THAT IT SAYS SOMETHING WHEN A TEAM WINS A TITLE IN A ‘DOWN YEAR’: “Yeah, definitely. I think it shows how hard our coaches work and how good of coaches they really are when you take a young team that we’ve had, and we really weren’t expected to be here. Just to come out and put together a great season and a chance to play for the ACC (title), I think it makes the program look a whole lot better.”

ON WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS FOR A TEAM THAT WILL RETURN ALMOST EVERYONE NEXT SEASON: “It’s just going to keep getting better. We have a great combination of youth and experience here. We’ve got some very athletic players that are going to take this program to probably new heights.”

ON DABO SWINNEY GETTING THE CLEMSON JOB AND WHAT IT WILL MEAN TO THE HOKIES TO KEEP BUD FOSTER: “That’s the first I’ve heard of that. But if he does come back, I think it’s going to be great for us. We just keep this thing going and won’t miss a beat.”

BOSTON COLLEGE WR BRANDON ROBINSON

ON LAST YEAR’S SMALL CROWD AT LEAST YEAR’S ACC TITLE GAME AND IF IT SEEMED SMALLER: “Yes it did. The stadium was huge, but as a player, we don’t really look to see if the stadium’s full or not. We’re just there to play a game.”

ON WHETHER THERE’S BUZZ IN BOSTON OVER THIS TEAM, COMPARED TO LAST YEAR WHEN THE MADE THE TITLE GAME: “It’s a little different. I think last year, with the players we had, we were expected to be there. And this year, in August, we were expected to be last. We’re just more of a team this year … and we’re just happy to be here again.”

ON TECH’S DEFENSE: “They’re defense is very good. We know what to expect. They’re going to play a lot of man, a lot of switch. And their defense thrives on turnovers, so that’s one thing we’ve got to keep to a minimum.”

ON WINNING THE LAST MEETING, THOUGH, EVEN WITH FIVE TURNOVERS: “That’s tough. If you turn the ball over more than the other team, you’re more than likely going to lose. But we give it up to the defense. They really helped us out in that game.”

ON TECH CORNER MACHO HARRIS: “He’s a great defender. We can’t wait to go back and play him again. I give it up to him. He covers very well and it’s going to be a great game when we see him again on Saturday.”

ON HOW THE EAGLES WON THEIR LAST GAME WITH A ROOKIE AT QB: “He handled it very well. Dominique is a great quarterback and he doesn’t get rattled. Once he knows the game plan, knows what his reads are, he goes out and executes that.”

ON THE FACT THAT HE PLAYED SIGNIFICANT MINUTES THE GAME BEFORE THAT WHEN CRANE GOT HURT: “Our coaches always preach that you’re one play away. So he goes to practice and he has the mindset of a starter, because you never know when that opportunity’s going to come.”

ON WHAT KIND OF GUY DOMINIQUE DAVIS IS IN THE HUDDLE: “He doesn’t get rattled. He’s very calm. He’s confident and just takes control.”

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Unpredictable Hokies finish predictably -- with another title ...

Nov 08

7:15 PM

I give up. I cannot figure this Tech team out. Just don’t get ‘em. Don’t know what they’ll look like from week to week, don’t know how they win some of these games, can’t call who might star for the Hokies on a given Saturday.

After stinkin’ up the joint against Duke last week, Tech’s offense looked amazing today – outside the opponent’s 20-yard line – and really did contribute in a major way to the win. That’s maybe the second time this year that the ‘O’ can truly say it had as much a hand in the win as the ‘D.’

While they did have four red-zone trips that resulted in just three points, the Hokies controlled the clock on offense and allowed the defense to catch its breath and to figure out how to handle Virginia’s surprise Wild Wahoo formation (or whatever they might call it) with cornerback Vic Hall at quarterback.

Hall gashed the defense for TD runs of 40 and 16 yards in the first half. But it could’ve been worse. Three of Tech’s first four drives covered at least 13 plays. That let the defense talk things over … and kept Hall off the field.

For the game, the Hokies ran 34 more plays than Virginia and held the ball 13 more minutes than did the Cavaliers. That was huge. The 392 yards of offense were second-most all year. The 9 of 16 third-down conversions (56 percent) were a drastic improvement over the season-long average of 26 percent.

Oh, and Tyrod Taylor … wow. He made a lot of folks (me included and, yes, I can admit it) eat their words. After a four-turnover first half against Duke last week, the sophomore had maybe his best game yet. He hit 12 of 18 passes (a few of them lasers) for 137 yards and a TD. He ran 16 times for 137 more yards, including that ENORMOUS 73-yarder to set up the tying TD on the opening drive of the third quarter.

Who saw that coming? Well, maybe you did. But these days, everything surprises me about the Hokies. And at the same time, nothing surprises me about them.

Improbably, Tech will play in a second straight ACC title game, third in four years. My head hurts. Have some post-game quotes …

COACH FRANK BEAMER

OPENING REMARKS, AS HE WAS SLIDING AN ACC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME LANYARD AROUND HIS NECK: “Some years, putting this on means more than others. This one, I think is about as special as it gets. I think to be in this position, I think the coaches deserve a lot of credit. I think our players deserve a lot of credit. We hung in there and battled, found a way, never gave up. And I’m just as proud as I can be of this football team. And I give Virginia credit. Peerman’s breaking tackles out there and Hall’s running around. I give them credit. They battled all game long. But I’m really, really proud of this football team here. Really proud.”

ON HOW SURPRISED THE HOKIES WERE TO SEE VIRGINIA CORNERBACK VIC HALL COME OUT AS A QUARTERBACK: “Well, we’d heard all week that there was a possibility of them doing that. And I could understand. Quite an athlete. Got a couple plays on us. I thought our defensive staff … they hit us on a couple plays, but I thought our defensive staff adjusted pretty good.”

ON QB TYROD TAYLOR BOUNCING BACK FROM FOUR FIRST-HALF TURNOVERS LAST WEEK TO HAVE A HUGE DAY: “Well, I believe in Tyrod. He’s an accurate thrower. You guys talk about him. Now, sometimes it’s figuring out where to go with the ball, but I think he’s going to be a fantastic quarterback before he leaves here. I think he’s really good now and he’s going to be real, real good. He made the big play there with his athletic ability, but he can throw the ball, too. There’s no question in my mind about that.”

ON WHY THIS ONE MEANS MORE THAN OTHER TITLES: “We’ve had the roughest, toughest schedule we’ve had in a number of years, just who we’ve played an where we’ve played and the sequence we’ve played them. Whatever days it was, not a home game in 54 days, that’s not normal. So we battled that. Then, when we started out the season, the youth on this football team … they’re all young at one position (RB and WR). You can absorb youth. I like youth. But I like to have some veteran guys right beside them. But when they’re all at one position, it’s just tough. And then we’ve had a couple key losses. I think Davon Morgan, he was kind of the guy there on defense that kind of kept things going. And Kenny Lewis was the guy on offense that kind of kept things going. And we lost both those guys. When you put all those things with it, and to be able to come out here and play for the ACC championship – now that we’re here, we’ve talked about playing for it, now we need to start talk about going down there and winning it. But I think it’s a heckuva accomplishment. And being right in the middle of it, I know it’s a heckuva accomplishment.”

ON THE DEFENSIVE ADJUSTMENTS: “I think our defense kind of got the hang of what they were trying to do. And they were limited, really, with what they were going to do with Hall. But you put him and Peerman in the same backfield, now you’ve got two playmakers back there. I was really impressed with Peerman today … he’s a heckuva back. But I thought our defense responded well.”

ON THE RED ZONE STRUGGLES: “We missed the field goal, we throw an interception, we go for it on the 1 – I would do that again. I think you do all those again. You just hope that you make the field goal and you don’t throw the interception and you get the touchdown.”

ON THE FRESHMEN RECEIVERS GROWING UP: “They’re talented. It’s just when they’re running around and you don’t know where you’re going, it’s hard for the quarterback and receiver to be on the same page. But now they kind of know where they’re going and the quarterback knows where they’re going. We’re redshirting a couple kids that I think’s going to be terrific receivers. I said this was the year we were going to have to coach a little bit. I like what’s coming along. I like the guys who are redshirting and where the program is from a youth standpoint. So hopefully we can win an ACC championship this year and be good for a few years to come.”

ON WHETHER THERE WAS A POINT THIS SEASON WHERE HE DOUBTED WHETHER THIS TEAM HAD WHAT IT TOOK TO WIN THE DIVISION: “You know, our coaching staff and players, I think, have done a good job of just “straight ahead,” no matter what’s been said, what’s been written … straight ahead and keep working. I like these players. They work hard. … We had disappointment, but we didn’t read a lot. We just kind of hung in there together … kept playing hard, and good things came out of it. … I like this football team.”

ON COMPARING THIS DIVISION TITLE TO LAST YEAR’S: “I think you kind of go back and look at the kids on last year’s team and all the kids that went to the NFL and what we started out with this year, and I think this team right here is pretty special. Last year was special, too. Going and playing for the ACC championship never gets old. But to go with this football team, I think, just says a lot about these kids.”

QB TYROD TAYLOR

ON HOW UNLIKELY THE COASTAL TITLE WAS THIS YEAR: “It’s been a rough season, but we never gave up. Even the ones that we loss were close games, tough games. I think we deserve to be in this situation because we kept fighting.”

ON HOW BAD HE WANTED TO COME BACK AND PLAY AFTER FOUR FIRST-HALF TURNOVERS AGAINST DUKE AND GETTING PULLED LAST WEEK: “I wish we’d have played this game last Sunday. That’s how bad I wanted to play. But we had a great week of practice and went out and played good today.”

ON WHETHER THIS ONE RANKS AS THE BEST GAME OF HIS CAREER: “Yes, because it meant a lot to the team. I had a couple of games last year, but this one meant a lot. To get the seniors, for them to go out with a win on their last home game and to go to the ACC championship was a great deal.”

ON HIS 73-YARD RUN: “Actually, I can’t remember the play right now. I know what was called. I just knew all the sudden I was on the sideline with free space and just tried to cut back at the end.”

ON HOW ROUGH LAST WEEK WAS: “You’ve got to forget about it. After the game, I talked to my parents and talked through it and it was behind me then. I had to go out there and look forward to practice … and just come out here and play well.”

ON WHAT IT DOES FOR THIS TEAM, WITH SO MUCH YOUTH AND SO MUCH COMING BACK NEXT YEAR, TO WIN THE DIVISION THIS YEAR, THROUGH ALL THE ADVERSITY: “It gives a lot of the young guys and guys that are going to be back great confidence for next year. They played well this year and for them to keep on fighting just gives them an extra edge going into the spring.”

ON HOW FAR THE FRESHMEN RECEIVERS HAVE COME: “They’ve come a long ways. They’re very confident when they’re out there playing. They know where to go. It’s our job to get the football to them.”

ON HIS GOOD PASSING DAY: “I was very satisfied. There were some things I could’ve done better. I just have to go back and watch film and see where I made mistakes.”

ON WHETHER THE CRITICISM OF HIS PASSING ABILITY IS ON HIS MIND MUCH: “Yes, I always keep that on my mind. It’s a lot of talk that I’m not a very good passer, but every time I go out there, I play with something to prove.”

ON THIS GAME BEING THE EPITOME OF THE SEASON: “The team always believed. And we’re here now.”

O-COORDINATOR BRYAN STINESPRING

ON HOW SPECIAL IT WAS TO PUT UP ALMOST 400 YARDS IN A GAME THAT CLINCHED THE DIVISION TITLE: “What’s truly special is the fact that this football team was able to come out here today and win a football game. Regardless of everything else, that’s what’s special. To win the Coastal Division, I think it says a lot about the perseverance of this football team. This football team, I thought, portrayed the concept of perseverance better than any I’ve ever been around. To hang in there, to keep battling, to have the ability to bounce back … whatever the words you want to use … it’s special because of that. These players, somehow, some way, in the end, found a way to win ballgames. They’re a fantastic bunch. They showed their heart. They showed their mettle today.”

ON THE RECEIVERS GROWING UP: “To see a group of individuals, if you put it in perspective, where they started at the beginning of the year … go trace it back. Go all the way back to North Carolina. You’ve got to call a timeout because we’re not aligned right. You’ve got to call another timeout because we’re still not aligned right. When you go back, and you see where this group started and you see where this group is at this point in time, it is gratifying to know that you can go out and week in and week out … practice and get better and perform when it counts. You saw it during the year, you saw it moving in a direction. Then, here toward the end of the year, to go out and really, truly make a difference in the ballgame, it’s gratifying as a coach. It’s a privilege to have been witness to it.”

ON HOW MUCH THEY’VE IMPROVED FROM DAY 1: “Night and day is a bad analogy, probably. Because we thought the were going to be a talented bunch. The only factor in that whole equation is time. It was going to be an ongoing process, and it has been. … When you get down there first and goal on one of our drives and we check a play that’s going to go straight to them, you’re putting it in their hands … the execution was outstanding, the play was outstanding. That probably says a lot. The confidence factor.”

WR JARRETT BOYKIN

ON HOW FAR HE’S COME SINCE THE START OF THE SEASON: “Not only me, but the whole receiving corps, we’ve all come far. We know we were sort of iffy in the beginning, but now we’re playing fast, we’re doing everything right to contribute to the team.”

ON HOW DIFFERENT HE FEELS NOW: “It feels a whole lot easier. We’re learning to convert routes and playing faster and beat man-to-man coverage and letting the game come to us.”

ON GOING FROM A LIABILITY TO A STRENGTH: “It’s great that the receiving corps can contribute to the team’s success. That’s what we want to do. That’s what we’re going to do.”

ON TWO TOUCHDOWNS IN TWO GAMES AFTER NONE THROUGH 10 GAMES: “I’m glad that it came, but I’m not satisfied.”

ON HOW MUCH THIS MEANS TO THE FUTURE OF THE TEAM: “It shows that we have a great future ahead of us. All the young players are growing up and maturing. We’re just going to take care of business this year and worry about next year when it comes.”

ON THE EARLY STRUGGLES: “We just knew we had to keep working, just kept practicing, and we came a long way. It opens (the offense) up a lot.”

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR BUD FOSTER

ON GETTING HELP FROM THE OFFENSE EARLY, WHEN VIC HALL WAS GASHING THE DEFENSE: “Our offense did a great job moving the ball, especially in the first half when we were trying to dial in on what they were doing. Our offense kept us in the game. I told you guys all week: We win as a team and we lose as a team. And this was a good team win all the way around today.”

ON ADJUSTING TO HALL: “We made the adjustments in the first half a little bit, but we made a couple other little wrinkles on some of their personnel groupings (at halftime), how they were blocking it and what we needed to do with our front, just to make sure we were gapped out right … so they couldn’t pop a run.”

ON THE OFFENSE GIVING THE DEFENSE TIME TO TALK AND ADJUST BY PUTTING TOGETHER LONG FIRST-HALF DRIVES: “That was super. It just gave us time to talk and to zero in on what we needed to do and what they were doing. But I think it also made a statement to Virginia: Hey, we’re going to go toe to toe with you, we’re going to move the football this week. It’s not the same group (as against Duke). I’m really proud of this team. … We’re Coastal Division champs.”

ON FRANK SAYING SOMETIMES THEY MEAN A LITTLE MORE, AND WHAT IT MEANS TO HIM THAT WITH SEVEN NEW STARTERS, THIS IS A TOP-10 DEFENSE AGAIN: “Really, the final stat for me is wins and losses. Our kids take great pride in being a top defense, and obviously expect that. But I tell you what, we’ve done a great coaching job this year. I’ve got a great staff around me. (D-line coach) Charley Wiles has done a great job with really a new front up there. … we’re playing two new linebackers, two guys in the secondary that were new guys. Cav did a great job. Torrian did a great job. Just really proud of our staff. I think we did a very good coaching job this year with those kids.”

WR DANNY COALE

ON THE RECEIVERS STARTING AS A LIABILITY AND FINISHING THE YEAR AS A WEAPON: “It’s satisfying, but we’re not satisfied. As good as this game was: one more. That’s been our goal from the beginning of the season.”

ON HOW MUCH MORE COMFORTABLE AND CONFIDENT HE IS: “We’re in a position where I hope the offense can count on the receivers. You get better every practice, but there’s nothing like coming out and playing in that game situation. That’s been great for us.”

TO BE SO KEY IN A BIG GAME: “Anything we can do to help this offense move, it’s a great feeling.”

ON THIS GROUP GROWING UP: “I’d say moreso than the beginning and I think we have a lot more to go. It’s exciting for us. A lot of people, they wondered when we were going to be there. And the exciting thing is, I don’t think you’ll ever be there. You always can be better … and that’s exciting for us.”

ON THE IMPROBABILITY OF THE COASTAL TITLE: “We believe in each other. Sometimes we had to make 70,000-plus believe, but we always believed in each other.”

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How 'bout some Turkey Day leftovers ...

Nov 08

5:13 PM

Good day, Hokies. I’m sure most of you are either passed out on a couch somewhere, still in a food coma … or have been dragged to some horrid outlet mall where you’ve been digging through bargain bins since 5 a.m. Here’s hoping most of you went the way of unconsciousness.

But, I’d urge you to wake up for a mere five minutes or so and read at least one of the two interviews below. The second one, with OC Bryan Stinespring, is sort of the standard fare … a little tough to wade through … but the first one, I think, provides a good bit of insight into Sean Glennon’s career.

I spoke with Glennon's father last night for a story that will appear in tomorrow’s paper. He was very gracious and I appreciate him taking the time to talk to me. The Glennons don’t do a lot of talking these days, because life has been rough for that family during Sean’s career. I think they'd prefer to lay low.

But what I learned was that, even with the way Glennon has been, to some extent, yanked around by the coaches … and, to a shameful extent, hammered by Hokie fans … he still loves his school and his team and his time at Virginia Tech, at least according to his father. That’s to the young man’s credit. I wouldn’t have been so graceful under that kind of fire and in the midst of such frustration.

Anyway, I have to hit the road back to Blacksburg. So I’ll just get to the interviews – or mindless typing by me, depending on who you ask. But first, a few numbers as the Hokies head into senior day.

* Senior CB Victor “Macho” Harris has 119 career tackles, 15 career interceptions (third-most in school history), has scored five non-offensive touchdowns, has carried the ball four times for 42 yards, caught eight passes for 63 yards, returned eight kickoffs for 239 yards (29.9 avg) including a touchdown, and has returned 25 punts for 244 yards (9.8 avg). Pretty valuable guy. Imagine, for a moment, this year’s team if he’d left his name in the NFL draft last year. Wow.

* Senior DE Orion Martin, who began his college career at I-AA Norfolk State, then came to Tech as a walk-on because the Hokies signed his younger brother Cam … then blew up in his first spring game (3.5 tackles for loss, two sacks), earned a scholarship … and now has started 25 consecutive games, has 154 career tackles, 26.5 for loss, including 15.5 sacks. A very, very unlikely success story that may well continue in the NFL.

* Senior LBs Brett Warren and Purnell Sturdivant had to wait a long, long time for their shot. Both talented players who could’ve played major minutes for several teams around the country, they had the misfortune of being behind Vince Hall and Xavier Adibi, two of Tech’s all-time great linebackers, until this year. But the two redshirt seniors finally got their turn, and they’ve made the most of it. They are first and second on the team in tackles, Sturdivant with 79 stops and Warren with 72. P-Stump also has 2.5 sacks and 7 tackles for loss. Warren has 4.5 tackles for loss, a interception that went for a TD and a forced fumble. Where would the Hokies be without those two stepping in at LB?

* And finally, QB Sean Glennon, a human yo-yo for the past two seasons. Everyone has an opinion on the guy, so we’ll just go with numbers here. He has played in 38 games, started 26 (winning 18). He has been a major contributor to a pair of 10-win seasons, won ACC title game MVP honors last year, has completed 59.2 percent of his career passes for 4,828 yards – fifth all-time at Tech. Oh, and he is 25 of 37 (68 percent) for 406 yards, 2 TD and 1 INT the last two seasons against rival Virginia.

Glennon, of course, remains off-limits to us hacks. But here’s his pops …

JOHN GLENNON, FATHER OF QB SEAN GLENNON

ON HOW HIS SON’S CAREER HAS GONE AND WHETHER THERE ARE REGRETS: “The nice thing about Sean is that we’ve talked about that a lot, and he still feels like he wouldn’t have done it differently. He enjoys his teammates. He’s had great friends, had a lot of great moments going to big-time bowl games. They’ve had a lot of success. Certainly, there’s been a lot of frustrations, and you hear a lot of negative comments, but … he also receives a lot of positive. As a character-builder, he’s been through more than most people in a lifetime. As far as preparing him for life, to be successful, to take the ups and downs and get back up and keep fighting, those lessons are just invaluable. It’s bittersweet, but for the most part it’s been a good thing.”

ON WONDERING WHAT HIS SON’S CAREER WOULD’VE LOOKED LIKE IF HE’D PLAYED BEHIND A STEADIER OFFENSIVE LINE: “I think he could’ve been very successful. He’s intelligent. He has the guts. He has the strong arm. He has the poise. And he’s actually pretty athletic. Not the same athleticism they look for at VT, but compared to your typical pro-style quarterback. I think in a different style, he could’ve been more successful. In a style that fit him. But I’m just impressed, given the fact that he’s in an offense that doesn’t particularly play to his strengths that he keeps emerging as a guy that can lead the team to victory. His never-quit attitude, to me, is very remarkable. That’s what sticks out most to me. Regardless of all the hurdles that have been put in front of him, he keeps finding a way to get back on his feet.”

ON WHETHER GETTING BENCHED THIS YEAR WAS HARDER FOR SEANS THAN LAST YEAR: “Last year prepared him for this year. I think LSU was a bigger shock. Because, quite frankly, the team took a beating at every position. And then the only thing they do is change one player – which was obviously not the only problem in that game – that really blindsided him. It was more of a shock last year. He was pretty devastated. Then to get back in it and have some success in the end, he felt pretty good. He felt pretty good going into spring ball and playing at least as well as Tyrod. We were a little surprised when they made the decision to go just with Sean this season, but that was a huge confidence booster for him, to be ‘the guy’ finally. And then to get the rug pulled out from under him again after one game … that was very hard. Then sitting on the sideline, thinking you’re not going to get an opportunity for a while … Sean has a burning desire to play football, so he thinks to the future. So he just goes out every day and tries to get ready and get better, throws after practice with Danny Coale. He is passionate about football. His (ankle) injury was still pretty severe against Maryland. He said his ankle was killing him, even on the sideline throwing just prior to the game. The medicine kicked in during the game and kind of dulled it, but he got tackled from behind one time and I could see the pain on his face. But he wanted to be out there. He had to be out there.”

ON HIS WIFE NANCY, SEAN’S MOM, NOT GOING TO A GAME IN LANE STADIUM SINCE EARLY LAST SEASON: “She doesn’t do well. With that position, you get too much credit and too much blame. It’s too hard for her to be around that. But she is going tomorrow. They put him in late (one game) and people started booing and she left. She went out and sat by the memorial, and she’s never been back. Any parent whose kid plays sports are subject to it. The reality is there’s so many more positive people. But the negative people tend to be louder. They overwhelm the others. But for the most part, he’s had a lot of support. He gets a lot of positive e-mails. It’s not easy. I can handle it a little bit more than Nancy.”

ON WHETHER HE’S EVER HAD TO HOLD HIMSELF BACK BECAUSE A FAN GOT IN HIS FACE: “No, but it happened to Nancy at LSU, which is just unforgivable. During the LSU game, we were there and we got a call from our daughter (Katie, a year behind Sean) who is also at Tech. She was watching the game with a bunch of people. They were giving her a hard time, so she called and Nancy went onto the concourse at the stadium to talk to her. Some inebriated fan got in her face and a whole bunch of people gathered around, and it was ugly. Good thing I wasn’t out there. They would’ve had to bail me out in Louisiana.”

ON BOTH PARENTS, THOUGH, COMING TO LANE FOR SENIOR DAY: “Yeah, we’ll be on the field there with Sean. I’ll just be looking forward to seeing him come out (of the tunnel). I actually think the fans will be very supportive of him, and I’ll relish that, because it has been an up-and-down career for him, but he’s on the upswing right now. I think people are looking at his whole career objectively now and realizing he’s contributed a lot. We’ll just be very proud for him to come out. Through all the ups and downs, he just keeps plugging along. So we’ll just be proud to greet him. With all the disappointments, he’s amazing. I tell Nancy: I’ve learned more from him than he has learned from me. His ability to just keep grinding, never lose focus, it’s remarkable.”

OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR BRYAN STINESPRING

ON THE FRUSTRATION OF ACTUALLY MOVING THE BALL WELL IN THE FIRST HALF AGAINST DUKE BUT EVERY DRIVE BUT ONE ENDING IN A TURNOVER: “I thought we were moving the ball. In fact, we were better on one of our goals, about getting a first down to start a drive at least 80 percent of the time. And we did that. So we came out, it wasn’t like there were three and outs. We were moving the ball, and when we got to about midfield or the red zone or scoring territory, we had turnovers. Some of them were unfortunate. When the ball gets tipped in the middle of the field, there’s a good chance something bad’s going to happen. We had a bad pitch, a deep throw that was slightly behind. We had a ball-security deal. So we had five turnovers. The defense did a great job. What an outstanding performance. When we got the turnovers, they were able to keep them out of the end zone. Great credit to them. … The key was whether we got frustrated or we hung in there and kept battling. For us to come out in that two-minute toward the end of the half and make plays … I think four or five different guys actually touched the ball, did a good job of distributing the ball and making some plays. Jarrett and Sean capped it off. That was a heckuva deal because … we were looking to try to make a play. I thought they did a great job.”

ON HOW THE OFFENSIVE LINE COULD BE BETTER AT PASS PROTECTION AT THIS POINT: “I think we all want to be better in protection. There’s a lot of issues that get involved in protection. Sometimes it’s not always the offensive line that has the problems in protection. The tight end sometimes get involved, backs get involved in protection. Sometimes we’ve got to do a better job getting rid of it. We caught an empty protection. Bad situation. They blitzed us up the pipe. If there was a worse situation to be in … we got it twice and it caused us to get rid of it in a hurry. When you empty out the protection … sometimes you get caught in a bad deal if they time it up with the right blitz. I think we all want to be a little further along. I think (the line) has handled the burden that’s been placed upon them. They’ve gotten better as the season’s gone on. Sometimes it doesn’t show up as well we’d like. But they’ve responded every time.”

MORE ON THE PASS PROTECTION ISSUES, TO ANSWER THE QUESTION: “We’ve struggled a little bit in pass-pro. We’ve said from the beginning: We needed to be even with the chains. Third-and-12 is never going to be beneficial for us. You still need to move the chains. You can’t just on third-and-12 call timeout and let’s negotiate a third-and-2. We can’t do that. You’d like to try. But third-and-12 gets a little more difficult. Because now the line may have to protect longer because the route’s got to be deeper, and now the receivers have to read different coverages quicker, faster. There may be delayed. The timing throws are out the window. … So if we can stay even with the chains, our protection’s going to be pretty good. But when we’re behind, and we’re faced with other obstacles, other than just the one-on-one block … it manifests itself a little bit.”

ON THAT FACT, THEY STRUGGLE ON PASS PROTECTION MAKE SEAN GLENNON’S TOUCHDOWN DRIVE AGAINST DUKE EVEN MORE IMPRESSIVE, THEN, BECAUSE TWO OF HIS BEST THROWS CAME ON THIRD-AND-LONG WITH A DEFENDER IN HIS FACE: “That’s what you hope for. Sometimes throwing the ball, when you’re facing zone coverages … and people that are well-equipped to defend you, there has to be accuracy in your throws. There has to be precision in your route … there has to be the timing concept. The slant that he threw to Dyrell, it was where one guy could catch it. … It’s important to be able to make some of those throws, because it’s a fine line between completion and incompletion. The wide-opens, they’re kind of hard to come by sometimes.”

ON THE DELICATE BALANCE AT QB, KNOWING GLENNON IS CLEARLY THE SHARPER PASSER RIGHT NOW BUT THAT TYROD TAYLOR IS OBVIOUSLY THE BEST HOPE WHEN THE PROTECTION BREAKS DOWN: “It’s been difficult throughout the year for a lot of different reasons. But finding a balance … being able to hang your hat (on something). You always feel like you’ve got to be able to hang your hat, in terms of what you’re doing offensively, what you’re doing defensively. For us, it’s always been run the ball and play-action off of it. That’s the base idea: to make the run look like the pass and the pass look like the run, keep defenses honest that way. But if we’re having a hard time establishing the run, for whatever reason, the play-action pass becomes a little more difficult. When you play-action pass, you’ve got to get some separation, to get down the field and throw some deeper balls, and that’s been an issue sometimes. So really, just trying to find a balance across the board has been difficult. You’ve just got to make some gut decisions sometimes.”

ON WHETHER HE’D HAVE BEEN SHOCKED IF SOMEONE TOLD HIM BEFORE THE SEASON THAT TECH COULD WIN THE ACC WITH A 109^TH RANKED OFFENSE: “I think there’s a lot of ways to win ballgames. Where you’re ranked statistically may be one of them, could be one of them … but I think there’s a lot of things that go into winning ballgames, other than where you’re ranked statistically. Can you make enough plays to keep the chains moving? Can you score enough points? Can you complete enough third-down situations. Over a period of time, we’ve found ways to win ballgames here in a lot of different ways. So I’m not surprised that we’ve been able to find a way to win, regardless of what statistically you may or may not be happy with. But I know this: We’ve found a way to win ballgames. That’s what we’re proud of. However it’s shaped up, however it’s worked out, in the final analysis, there’s perseverance within this football team. You can’t measure that, and it’s not in the program, but perseverance is a big deal. And we’ve been able to do that. We’ve got one game with a chance to win the Coastal Division. One game with a chance to get to the ACC championship.”

ON WHETHER, LOOKING BACK, HE FEELS BAD FOR SEAN GLENNON, THAT HE COULD’VE THRIVED WITH BETTER PROTECTION OR IN A DIFFERENT SITUATION: “I like to think back and look at the positive aspects of things. I don’t think anything is a perfect world. We all want it to be, and it’s not. But every time I think of Sean Glennon, I think of his competitiveness, how he stepped into the starting lineup and helped lead us to the Chick-fil-A Bowl. And the way that he’s handled some adversity. I like to think of the way Sean Glennon has gone out and performed. I think of the way he’s handled things in his career here. I like to think of those things positively. Certainly, you think back on how it’s gone for him. I know the rollercoaster he’s had to undergo here. We all feel for that. But I think back to his career, I think of the lasting things he’s brought to this football team. That’s what I like to reflect upon.”

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Gobble, gobble. Still hungry?

Nov 08

7:16 PM

Happy Turkey Day to you all, dear readers. I’m thankful for a strong (and vocal) readership, which keeps me gainfully employed – not as easy a task as it once was in this volatile industry and economic downturn.

So thanks, guys and gals, for continuing to click here day after day for three full football seasons now. I try to ask the questions you’re wondering and get the answers you seek as often as is possible.

I hope everyone had safe travels if they were traveling and I hope you’ve all eaten your fill (and beyond, as is our great national pastime). I also hope you’ve all told someone you’re thankful for them and, if you’re in a position to, helped someone who didn’t have a lot to be thankful for.

That concludes tonight’s sermon. I’m in the middle of a roughly 36-hour trip to my hometown of Clarksville, Tenn. I’ll be trekking back to the Burg tomorrow. For now, though, I have a 7-year old sister (yeah, crazy, I know) who is patiently waiting for “Bubba” to come play Junior Monopoly.

Because of that, and the fact we’re all bloated already, I give you just a little snack of Qs and As. I’ll have much more for you tomorrow, and I’m working on a longer story on what Sean Glennon’s career has been and might’ve been as the Hokies head into Senior Day (where he’ll start the game on the bench).

Until then …

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR BUD FOSTER

ON WHETHER HE’S HEARD ANYTHING FROM CLEMSON: “Nope. I swear it. I’d tell you if I did. I have not.”

ON WHETHER HE EXPECTED TO HEAR SOMETHING BY NOW: “Not really. He told me they were going to be interviewing some people, and I’m sure there were some head coaches they were interested in, and he’s not going to do anything with them until after the season. So, we’ll see. Their timetable, I think they said, was Dec. 10. So we’ll see. I’m not losing sleep over it.”

ON WHETHER HE HAS SINCE THROWN HIS NAME IN FOR ANY OTHER JOBS: “Nah. Not right now. I’m just focusing on winning a championship, hopefully. That’ll take care of a lot of things.”

ON THE POSSIBILITY THAT CINCINNATI COACH BRIAN KELLY COULD GET THE TENNESEE JOB, OR ANOTHER ONE, AND WHETHER THE BEARCATS’ JOB WOULD INTEREST HIM: “It would be intriguing. They’ve done a great job there recruiting. I wasn’t (interested in that job a couple of years ago), but they’ve done a great job. The big thing for me is, yeah, I’ve got goals for myself, but it’s me and my wife’s decision, too. I’ve got a great job. There’s certain jobs that are great jobs as being a head coach, and there are certain jobs that are not. At one time, (Cincinnati) probably wasn’t a good job, but Mark Dantonio and then Kelly has made it a good job. So that’s something to look into if there was an interest in me. But we’re just speculating. There’s nothing really to talk about.”

ON TECH’S DEFENSE ALLOWING JUST 104 RUSHING YARDS PER GAME AGAINST UVA THE LAST NINE YEARS, DURING WICH THE HOKIES HAVE WON EIGHT GAMES AGAINST THEIR RIVALS: “I don’t know if it’s just UVA, but generally I bet our overall record if we out-rush our opponent is probably pretty good. But obviously, that’s the success of any defense. If you can make an offense one-dimensional, it’s going to improve your chances to be successful. Virginia, we’ve got great respect for their program. They’ve always had good offensive linemen and still do. They’ve got a good group now. So we’ve put an emphasis on that, stopping the run. Our offense, when we can run the ball, it sets up so many other things. … So it can open up the doors. That’s just one of our goals each week, to stop the run. Like last week, they came out running the ball and they had a good plan where they did some unique things. But they averaged less than three yards per carry. It’s not so much how many yards they get but how many yards per carry.”

ON WHETHER HE REALIZED VIRGINIA HADN’T WON AT TECH IN A DECADE: “I really hadn’t thought about that, to be honest with you. You don’t have time … you just move on to the next game. And this game right here, the last couple years … that’s one thing that’s great about us joining the ACC … now it has a lot more significance to it. The last couple years, the team that’s won is going to a championship. This year, they’re playing for a bowl game and we’re playing to go to the championship. It’s been a great rivalry over the years, but it’s a little more serious now because of what’s at hand. And that’s been exciting.”

ON WHETHER HE EVER FEELS THE NEED TO, OR ENCOURAGES THE DEFENSE TO PICK THE OFFENSE UP WITH A BIG DEFENSIVE PLAY OR STOP WHEN THE ‘O’ IS STRUGGLING: “I know there’s been a lot of talk about offense-defense. I think this: We’ve had a lot of success here as a football team. We’ve stepped up at times when we’ve needed to, but offensively they’ve stepped up (in the past). Right now, they’re just going through a tough period, with some young players or whatever, just haven’t on all cylinders. But they have at times. And there’s been times this year when we’ve had our opportunities to finish a game and get the ball back to them and we haven’t done that. You win as a team, you lose as a team. But obviously, there’s times if they’ve turned the ball over or are not moving the ball, maybe we can get a spark. But at the same time, they’ve done the same thing. That’s why we’ve been successful, because we’ve done it as a team. We’ve done it in all phases of the game. Because we’ve been so young, maybe they haven’t hit the way we’re used to or wanted them to do. But we’ve stepped up when we needed to as a football team. I think that’s the thing that’s important. I don’t know where it’s going, offense-defense, and I don’t know how that whole deal with Purnell got started, but it’s not about that. It’s about us doing things together as a team and winning as a team. When we’ve lost, we lost as a team.”

ON ‘ONE THAT GOT AWAY’ … VIRGINIA LINEBACKER CLINT SINTIM, WHO CHOSE BETWEEN TECH AND THE CAVALIERS IN RECRUITING: “I remember Clint. I recruited him. He had a knee or broke his leg or something (as a senior in h.s.), and I just know he wasn’t real enthusiastic as I remember. Maybe that’s just how his personality is. I don’t know. But I liked him a lot. He’s a good football player, very versatile guy. He’s done a great job playing as a stand-up guy, which is a credit to him. I didn’t know if he could do those things. I know he’s getting all his success rushing the passer, and that’s kind of where I thought he’d be a great defensive end in our scheme. But he’s had a great career over there, and I’m happy for him. I hope he goes on and has a great NFL career. Clint was a heckuva football player and he’s really developed and grown each and every year. Obviously, he’s one of their playmakers and one of their leaders. He’s a guy that we’d like to have on this team, without a doubt.”

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By the numbers ...

Nov 08

9:09 PM

As promised, tonight’s blog will be heavy on numbers. I’ve got a couple of interviews for you, too, but pickin's were (as scheduled) pretty slim at today’s press conference.

I can give you The Boss and one of his two trusted foot soldiers … but that’s all in the way of Qs and As tonite. There will be a few others in the next couple of days, but I’ve gotta spread ‘em out.

Can’t be running out of material. It’s Thanksgiving week, after all, so everyone’s hungry. Below, you’ll find the results of my efforts to feed you … a day-long research project that yielded some crazy stats.

The general conclusion to be reached from what you’ll read: The defense has absolutely carried the offense for three straight seasons. Not exactly a revelation, is it? Yeah, I know. BUT … at least now no one can argue with that assertion.

It’s in black and white. The numbers say that no team in America has done more with less offense since 2006. And no team in the country has had a great disparity in production between the offense and defense.

It’s all right here. So, without further delay … the cold, hard facts …

* Virginia Tech has a chance to become just the second BCS-conference team in the last three years to win its league championship with an offense ranked 100^th or worse. The only other team to do that? Last season's Hokies. Among the other five BCS conferences, their champs averaged an offensive ranking of 26^th in 2006 and 2007.

* Tech has averaged an offensive ranking of 103^rd and a defensive ranking of fourth since 2006. In that span, teams ranking 100^th or worse in total offense also had an average defensive rank of 62^nd. Those 60 teams averaged four wins and only nine of those teams had winning records (three of them are 6-5 teams this year, with a game to go). Only four teams since 2006 have had a top 10 defense to go with a bottom-20 offense.

* The Hokies' offense gets worse as it gets closer to scoring territory, while the defense routinely hunkers down as opponents threaten to score. Tech averages 4.6 yards per carry on plays from its own 1-yard line to the opponent's 40. But that number dips to 2.6 yards per carry inside the opposing 40. Meanwhile, the defense allows 58 percent completions and 7.9 yards per passing attempt outside the Hokies' 40-yard line, but only 49 percent and 5.8 per attempt from inside Tech's 40.

* Since 2006, despite the offense's low production, the defense has allowed 10.1 fewer points per game than the offense has scored. In that span, seven of Tech's victories have come by a margin of 10 or less, including four this season. Also, over the last three seasons, the Hokies have had nine games in which the defense allowed 21 or fewer points but the offense put up less than 21. Amazingly, though, Tech is 7-2 in those games.

* The defense and special teams have directly contributed (or taken away from the opponent) 156 points over the last three seasons – thanks to 18 return touchdowns, four safeties, five blocked field goals and three blocked extra points. That's an average non-offensive contribution of 4.1 points per game over three seasons.

* Beamer often explains the offense's struggles with the unit's youth and experience. But the offense replaced just four starters from last season's team, while defense had to replace seven and didn’t miss a beat.

* If Tech aspires to win a national title – and I assume it does, what with the empty glass case reserved for the trophy and all – the Hokies will have to improve drastically on offense. While each of the last five national champions had top-10 defense’s like Tech’s … LSU’s 2003 team had the lowest offensive rankings among the champs – at No. 31. The average offensive ranking for the last five national titlists has been 18.2. That’s a long climb from where Tech sits, down at 109^th (or 100^th last year, or 99^th the year before).

COACH FRANK BEAMER

OPENING REMARKS: “Big game against an in-state opponent that’s certainly had some quality wins: against Maryland, against Georgia Tech. Some close games: Miami in overtime. We’re all kind of bunched in there together, and certainly Virginia’s part of that bunch. We’ve got to make sure we get ready to play.”

ON NAMING HIS STARTING QB LAST NIGHT ON THE RADIO, AFTER SAYING HE WASN’T GOING TO NAME ONE EARLIER IN THE DAY: “Tyrod is our starter. The last thing I’ll say about our quarterbacks.”

ON WHAT HE REMEMBERS ABOUT THE 1998 VIRGINIA GAME, WHEN THE CAVS CAME BACK TO WIN: “Came back and beat us at the end? Brooks at quarterback? Yeah, the thing I remember about that year is every time we lost – and that was a bitter game – we came back and won. We lost to Syracuse on the last play … came back the next week and won. We had about three or four lousy losses, but every time, the team came back. I think this team right here is kind of like that. Had some tough losses, had a chance to win every game we’ve lost. But they come back and they play hard. Don’t always play well, but we play hard. I think this team’s a little bit like that.”

ON HOW THE PLAYERS HAVE RESPONDED TO THE CHALLENGE: “I think they understand. I told them … I don’t know how many seasons I’ve been doing this, but you don’t get a chance to play for a conference championship every year. I think it’s kind of special. … You better take advantage of those. Those are great memories and things you want to tell your kids about.”

ON WHETHER HE THINKS IT WOULD BE HIS STAFF’S BEST COACHING JOB, OR ONE OF THE BEST, IF THIS YOUNG TEAM CAN WIN IT: “I think so. We’ve got to go do it, but I think we’ve hung in there and battled. It hasn’t always been pretty. You guys are into stats, and I understand that, but the bottom line is winning. I think you’ve got to take your football team and who you have. It’s not like the NFL, if you don’t have something you go try to draft it or trade for it or whatever. Who do you have, what’s their maturity level, how much are they ready to win at this level? Then try to win as a football team. I think we’ve done a pretty good job of that myself.”

ON VIRGINIA’S DEFENSE: “They’re stout. They’re 6-7 up front. Sintim is a heckuva player. I mean, they’re stout. They’re strong. Big, strong, tough. People haven’t been just taking it and just driving it down their throat, that’s for sure. They’re stout.”

ON HOW THANKFUL HE IS WHEN THE OFFENSE STRUGGLES AS IT HAS TO HAVE A DEFENSE THAT PLAYS SO WELL: “Well, we win as a team. And exactly what I just said: You look at what you’ve got and how you’re going to play as a football team and try to win football games. That’s what I think we’ve done a pretty good job of.”

ON MANY PEOPLE EXPECTING ANOTHER 10-WIN SEASON AND ACC TITLE FROM THIS TEAM IN THE PRESEASON: “I think that was a compliment to our staff, that people would’ve picked us that way. I told you guys early: When you’ve got all new running backs and all new wide receivers and where we were, I felt like we had work to do. When people picked us No. 1 on our side, I think that’s a compliment to our staff. Because when you look at it, if you look at personnel, I don’t think you probably would’ve done that.”

ON ALL THE ROAD GAMES THIS YEAR: “You get as old as I am and you get back home at about 5:30 in the morning … the kids are OK, probably, but the coaches, that’s hard. I think it’s hard on the kids, too, to be quite honest. I think your rest pattern gets off. You play a night game in Miami, then you’re coming back in, or Boston College … I think it affects you until about Tuesday or Wednesday.”

ON THE SENIORS ON THIS TEAM: “Good kids. A lot of good kids, and good players. I credit them for really doing a good job of leadership of this football team. That’s who the younger guys always look to: Mach Harris, Orion Martin, Sean Glennon. I think they’ve done a great job.”

ON WHAT GLENNON’S CAREER MIGHT’VE LOOKED LIKE HAD HE HAD MORE PROTECTION OVER THE YEARS: “There’s no question that Sean Glennon is a competitor, tough. I mean, he’s tough. He likes to compete. He’s a fighter. Got some very, very good talent. I appreciate what he’s all about, because it’s been a tough situation for him – a couple times. I appreciate Sean Glennon. I appreciate him a lot.”

ON WHETHER THERE WERE EVER ANY PROMISES MADE TO TYROD TAYLOR AND HIS FAMILY THAT IF HE DIDN’T REDSHIRT THIS SEASON, HE’D PLAY THE MAJORITY OF THE SNAPS: “Do what?! (incredulous reaction). All my decisions, and what we’ve done this week, all of my decisions are what’s best for Virginia Tech football. And totally what’s best for Virginia Tech football. That’s it.”

WR DANNY COALE

ON HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH QB SEAN GLENNON (THEY THROW TOGETHER AFTER EVERY PRACTICE, WHEN EVERY OTHER PLAYER IS GONE): “I have a great deal of respect for him. He’s one of those senior guys that as a freshman, you look up to. He’s always willing to help me out, to make me a better player, and I appreciate that greatly. He’s a hard worker and someone you’d like to model your work ethic after.”

ON WHAT GLENNON HAS HELPED HIM WITH: “Tips on where to be, when to be there, how to come out of a route. He studies a great deal of film. He’s always watching the opponent, figuring out what he can do to be his best. That’s why you’ll see him after practice throwing, because he wants to be sharp. He wants to be sure he’s always on top of his game.”

ON GLENNON’S CAREER ROLLERCOASTER AND HOW IT AFFECTS HIM: “Sean won’t really show it. He does a good job … just prepares himself for that opportunity. That’s the biggest thing I can pick up on. He tries to put himself in position to be the best quarterback he can be and the best teammate he can be.”

ON TYROD TAYLOR BEING NAMED THE STARTER AND WHETHER HE’D LIKE TO SEE GLENNON AT LEAST GET SOME SNAPS ON SENIOR DAY: “Yeah. If that opportunity arises, then yeah, that would be nice for him, and I think he’d do well in that situation.”

ON WHETHER HE EVER IMAGINED AFTER LOSING TO ECU, BC, FSU, HE EVER THOUGHT TECH WOULD PLAY FOR THE ACC TITLE: “Well, the way the ACC’s been this year, kind of up and down a really anybody’s game … you always prepare yourself to be in the hunt this late, and we are. We’ve taken a few lumps, but that’s all kind of behind us now and all we can control is this game.”

ON WHETHER ANYTHING IS DIFFERENT IN PRACTICE OR MEETINGS THIS WEEK: “We approach it as the next game. We’ve been talking about a four-game season, three-game season. Well, now it’s a one-game season. Obviously, you all know the implications of it: win and you’re on your way to play for a championship.”

ON HOW THIS YOUNG TEAM HAS BEEN SO RESILIENT: “We are young. I just think we battle for each other, really. There’s no quit. We might lose a game, but there’s really no quit in us. We’ve been through a lot, and it’s sort of made us stronger. I don’t know how to say that any other way, really.”

ON WHETHER THE OFFENSIVE CRITICISM AFFECTS THE OFFENSIVE PLAYERS: “It’s always around. It’s always a hot topic. We try not to focus on it.”

ON HEARING CRITCISM ON CAMPUS: “Yeah, you’ll hear it walking down the halls. Their wishes, what they would do if they were a coach. But, at the end of the day, we’re really the only ones who truly know what’s going on.”

ON WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON: “We don’t plan on coming out and running for few yards or passing for few yards. We come out to try and win each game and do our best.”

ON HOW THANKFUL HE IS, WHEN THE OFFENSE IS STRUGGLING, THAT THE DEFENSE CAN PICK THEM UP: “I mean, yeah, especially after Duke. You turn the ball over five times and they come out and stop them. Hats off to them. They’re playing defense all year long and bringing their best. It just makes us that much more urgent to get this thing over, to help them out.”

ON THE DEFENSE BEING A SAFETY NET: “We don’t want to have to rely on that. At no point is it, ‘Oh, it’s OK we had a turnover. Our defense is out there.’ We need to take care of the ball and we focus on what we can do. We want to make sure they’re on the field as little as possible. It’s not, ‘Oh, it’s good they’re on the field. Thankfully they’ve got us.’ ”

ON HOW GLENNON WILL BE REMEMBERED AT TECH: “I’m not really sure. I’d hope as a winner, someone who’s come in and won some big ballgames for us, and a hard worker, a person that puts the team first. He makes sure he and his teammates are in position to win.”

ON WHETHER GLENNON AND TAYLOR HAVE DIFFERENT DEMEANORS IN THE HUDDLE: “Well, you know, Sean’s that fifth-year guy. He’s been there, been in big games. There really isn’t too much time to do much more than just call the play, but they’re both good quarterbacks and both good leaders.”

ON WHETHER THE REST OF THE OFFENSE EVER GETS COMPLACENT WHEN TAYLOR’S AT QB, JUST EXPECTING HIM TO MAKE A PLAY: “Oh, no. We can’t. No. I think everybody expects themselves to make a play. We don’t rely on someone else to do it. We can’t rely on Tyrod to make a play if we don’t.”

ON WHAT A RELIEF IT WAS LAST WEEK FOR JARRETT BOYKIN TO FINALLY GET A RECEIVER IN THE END ZONE: “I was very excited for him. We’ve been hearing so much about it. Trying to put it in the back of our minds now … keep it rolling.”

ON WHAT HE SAID TO BOYKIN AFTER THE TD: “Good effort to get in there, because I think he brought that guy with him for about five yards. Great effort, and we got our first, and hopefully we’ll get a few more here. We’re all looking up at him now (as the leader with one TD catch).”

ON HIS FAVORITE TEAM GROWING UP: “I grew up a U.Va. fan. I did. My brother went there. And I just ended up here. Tech offered first. I think it was more that I didn’t really know that much about Tech. It was just kind of foreign to me. Recruiting, I went to a camp, it was my first trip down here, and I fell in love with it.”

ON HOW BIG A CAVS FAN HE WAS: “Pretty big, but it was mostly because my friends were and I really didn’t know about Tech. Once I did finally find out about it and see what it’s all about …”

ON WHETHER HIS WHOLE FAMILY WAS CAV FANS BEFORE: “Actually, the little brother has always been a Tech football fan, before any of us were. So, yeah, we fly one of those split flags and all that.”

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It's my blog, and I'll whine if I want to ...

Nov 08

9:20 PM

First, I want to clarify something. Some of you see my blog from last nite as whining, and you've ripped me for it. I get that. I understand why you’d say that. If it came off as petty or "entitled," so be it. But the real point of what I wrote was to be proactive, to let you the readers know why I wouldn’t be delivering the volume you’re used to.

And in explaining the WHY of it all … my blood did begin to boil a bit about it, because I think it’s strange and silly and unnecessary and unfair to the working media who spend thousands of dollars to live in Blacksburg and cover this team.

But it’s Frank Beamer’s team, his rules, and I have to play by them. This will be my final mention of the media lock-out. So …

Without much from the players this week, I’ll have to get creative to keep filling this space. And I’m working on that. I have a couple of stat-based items I’m researching and will be posting soon enough.

Until then, though, we’ll go with the next best thing. Assistant coaches are still available to us hack-types, and a couple of us caught up with QB guru Mike O’Cain tonight after practice.

He’s always good at giving thoughtful answers that are typically very honest, very fair and very easy to understand. He didn’t disappoint this evening. His evaluations of both Sean Glennon and Tyrod Taylor, I think, are right on the money.

No coachspeak from him. Just, “Here’s the deal.” He did not, of course, tell us who the starting QB will be for the Virginia game. But we all have our suspicions. I’ll eat my shoe if Tyrod Taylor doesn’t start.

That said, it’s hardly inconceivable that Glennon will play some, whether planned or unplanned. It’d be a shame if he doesn’t get a meaningful snap on Senior Day. Then again, this career of his hasn’t been too fair to Glennon so far, has it?

We shall see.

Until then, I give you O’Cain. But first, Frank Beamer – otherwise known as King of Non-Answerland – talked to the scribes this morning and offered his explanations for the media restrictions, with a smattering of other thoughts. His last remark, I think is most notable.

Duke, apparently, beat the tar out of Tech. Think about that statement for a minute … OK, carry on …

HEAD COACH FRANK BEAMER

OPENING REMARKS: “I’m very pleased to have a win against very-much-improved Duke football team, a team that played hard throughout. Of course, this is a gigantic week here for us, the biggest week of the year. We’re going to make two players available for Tuesday’s press conference. We’re going to make our offensive coaches available today after practice, our defensive coaches tomorrow. And then after that, we need to concentrate on Virginia. We need to put all our efforts toward Virginia and getting ready for them, and I hope you people understand. This is just a big, big week and that’s the way it needs to be. Both quarterbacks came out healthy. They’ll both work this week, and that’s the last I’ll say about that until after the game Saturday.”

ON WHETHER HE’D HAVE CALLED SOMEONE CRAZY IF THEY SAID BEFORE THE SEASON HE’D HAVE A TOP-10 DEFENSE AND A BOTTOM-10 OFFENSE AND THEY COULD WIN THE ACC: “Well, we’re sure pleased to have a chance to win the conference with one game left, or at least get to the championship game and have that opportunity. I think the other side of (the stats) is it’s been a tough schedule, probably the toughest schedule we’ve had, and probably played with the youngest football team we’ve had. So, yeah, we’re really pleased about having a chance to win the conference championship. Regardless of how we’ve done it, there’s been a lot of hard work by this staff and by these players, and we’re in a position right now if we win one game, we get to the championship game. That’s what pleases me.”

ON WHETHER TYROD TAYLOR HAS PLAYED DIFFERENT AT ALL SINCE HIS ANKLE INJURY AT FSU: “No, I think the other night it was just some unfortunate things. He kind of just got on a bad roll. Some of those plays wasn’t his fault. … Tyrod, most of the time he’s on a good roll. We’ve got quite a lot of confidence in him and feel very good if he’s our quarterback.”

ON WHAT HE HOPES TO ACCOMPLISH BY PUTTING ALL BUT TWO PLAYERS OFF-LIMITS TO THE MEDIA: “Well, I think we’ve just got to really concentrate on Virginia. I feel like that’s a gigantic game, and we need to put all our efforts and thoughts towards them.”

ON WHETHER THE DECISION HAD SOMETHING TO DO, ALSO, WITH PURNELL STURDIVANT’S NEGATIVE COMMENTS ABOUT THE OFFENSE LAST WEEK, NOT WANTING TO DIVIDE THE TEAM: “I think we have a team that’s very much together. And I know all our thoughts and all our efforts need to go into beating this Virginia team. I tell you, you watch them on video and to me, a good football team … (then he compliments every player in the Cavaliers’ starting lineup) … we better keep our mind on Virginia.”

ON CAVS TAILBACK CEDRIC PEERMAN NOT HAVING CARRIED THE BALL AGAINST TECH PREVIOUSLY: “Yeah, he’s been hurt a couple times. I think it’d be an advantage for us if he was over there on the sideline. He’s in the game, he’s a heckuva back. He’s, I think, a great back. Got a lot of respect for him.”

ON HOW HE’S BEATEN AL GROH SIX OF SEVEN TIMES: “I don’t think that has anything to do with this year. We’ve had a good run, but trust me, this game you can forget about what happened in the past.”

ON WHETHER HE HAD CONSIDERED LIMITING PLAYER INTERVIEWS PREVIOUS TO THIS WEEK: “Well, it’s just for this particular game, this particular week, Virginia week, I feel like we really need to concentrate on Virginia. All our efforts, all our thoughts, everything we’ve got, needs to go in that direction. That’s why we’re doing it.”

ON HOW HE DECIDED ON THE SPECIFIC TWO PLAYERS WHO CAN TALK, DANNY COALE AND ORION MARTIN: “Well we picked two players, and I’m not even sure who they are. Who’d we pick? (Coale and Martin) Two good players.”

ON WHETHER THEY’RE MORE CAPABLE OF HANDLING INTERVIEWS THAN THE REST OF THE TEAM: “I think they’re two good players.”

ON THE PERCEPTION OF A DIVIDED LOCKER ROOM, OFFENSE AND DEFENSE: “I think we’re a together football team. I think our senior leadership has worked very hard to do that. The reason we’ve got two players this week is we want to concentrate on Virginia.”

ON HAVING PLAYED LOTS OF OTHER BIG GAMES, HAD OTHER BIG WEEKS, WHERE PLAYERS WEREN’T OFF-LIMITS AND IT WASN’T AN ISSUE, SO WHY NOW: “Well, I think this is a very important football game. If we can somehow win this football game against Virginia, we go to the ACC championship game. And to me … it would be a fantastic thing. So we’re going to concentrate on that.”

ON WHAT FACTORS WILL GO INTO WHO PLAYS AT QB OR IF BOTH WILL PLAY: “I’ve said my last about our quarterbacks for the week. That’s all I’m going to say.”

ON THE ACC BEING NOTED AROUND THE COUNTRY THIS YEAR FOR WHAT SOME WOULD CALL MEDIOCRITY AND OTHERS WOULD SAY IS PARITY AND WHAT HE MAKES OF IT: “I think it’s probably pretty good. I know going into last week, I think it was every team still had a shot to go to a bowl. And when you get down to a couple games left and that’s the case, I think it’s probably great for the league.”

ON THE PHYSICAL GAME DUKE PLAYED: “We got a little beat up. I’ll be honest with you. I go back to Duke and how hard they play. I think we had more in the training room Sunday morning than we’ve had all season long. A lot of guys bruised up. I think everybody’s going to make it to the game, but we’re going to have to hold back some of those guys from practice this week.”

QB COACH MIKE O’CAIN

ON WHO THE STARTING QB WILL BE: “(laughing, shrugging shoulders)”

ON WHAT WENT INTO THE DECISION TO PULL TYROD TAYLOR IN THE FIRST HALF AGAINST DUKE AND PLAY SENIOR SEAN GLENNON: “Well, you just get in a situation where – you look back and Tyrod was off about this far (a foot) on one, high, and about this far (a foot) behind on another one, the two intercepts – but at that point in time, you may see a little bit of frustration setting in. When we made the change, it wasn’t necessarily a change we thought would go the whole time. It was just a change. We didn’t say, ‘Well, we’re going to play Sean the rest of the way.’ Just kind of get Tyrod over there, settle him down, maybe get his frustrations over, then get him ready to go. But things happened that way. We hit that little spurt at the end of the half, and then some things in the passing game clicked, and we just never got back to him. But it wasn’t done to say, ‘We’re going to go with Sean the rest of the way.’ ”

ON WHETHER THAT TOUCHDOWN DRIVE BEFORE THE HALF WAS THE BEST DRIVE OF THE YEAR BY EITHER QUARTERBACK: “Oh, yeah, no question. We converted two or three third downs in that thing. Sean’s thrown the ball well, he’s been very accurate since he’s played the last three or four games. He’s been very accurate. Yeah, no question it was (the best drive). We handled pressure in those situations, threw the ball away when he needed to throw it away. Just a lot of good things happened in that drive. It was one we very, very badly needed.”

ON WHETHER GLENNON HAS DONE EVERYTHING THE COACHES COULD ASK OF HIM IN HIS SITUATION: “(Yes) and that’s that hard thing that we’ve had with him. He and I have talked. He does, he says, ‘What more can I do?’ Nothing. It’s nothing that he can physically do. I said it’s just a situation where you just don’t move your feet quite quick enough. In the Miami game, we didn’t play him much in the second half, because we felt like we needed a guy in there that can move around, could make something happen. That’s unfortunate, but that’s the reality of it. There’s nothing more he can do except what he’s done.”

ON HOW DIFFICULT A BALANCE IT IS FOR THE COACHES, KNOWING HE’S CLEARLY THE SUPERIOR PASSER RIGHT NOW WHEN HE HAS PROTECTION, BUT THAT TAYLOR IS THE ONE THEY NEED IF THE PROTECTION FAILS, AS IT OFTEN DOES: “It’s been a balance all year long. We understand what we have. We understood that when we decided to go the direction that we went and we had to live with it. But I always felt that, if needed, you’ve got a young man that can perform like (Glennon) has done, every time we’ve called on him, whatever it was, whether it was to make one throw or to make 10 throws or to make 20 throws. Saturday, he probably threw the ball as well as any time he’s been here. He was 12 of 20, but there were three or four throw-aways.”

ON WHETHER TAYLOR IS MAYBE MORE RECKLESS AT THIS POINT THAN HE WOULD LIKE: “No. He’s more cautious than I’d like him to be, to be honest with you. He hasn’t made any reckless throws. None of those Saturday were reckless throws. They were just right there (a foot off) and right there (a foot off).”

ON THE SECOND INTERCEPTION, INTO DOUBLE COVERAGE: “That wasn’t double coverage. The guy was running right on his hip. He throws it in front of him, it’s a completion. If you can’t make that throw at this level, you can’t play at this level. So I’m not disappointed with his decision-making. (It) was very good.”

Hampton Roads, VA - 12.02.2008
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