2012-2013 NCAA Football Thread (National Signing Day)

[Major Harris]

. Bud Foster would be a GREAT replacement for Frank as HC. Shane can be in charge of recruiting, because ha has the ability to get top level talent out of FL, GA, SC, TN and of course keep the Tidewater pipeline flowing. Allowing Bud Foster to be HC, permits the team to take on the personality of Bud. Which would be a good thing.

i am not so sure about that. bud foster has basically begged for a hc job and has barely gotten a sniff. there may be a reason for that.


edit:

conference power rankings. big east passes acc. HUGE gap from sec/pac12/big12 to the rest.

http://espn.go.com/blog/big12/post/_...1-rated-league

[LeesburgSkinFan]

I am routinely astonished at how bad the defenses have been largely been in college football over the past couple of seasons. In the NFL if a team leads by a touchdown or less with 2:00 to go and the trailing team has the ball, you can reasonably assume the lead is safe. In college these days it seems like an upset if the trailing team doesn't score.

[SkinsHokieFan]

[/COLOR]Honest question - is a housecleaning in order for Virginia Tech? This situation reminds me a lot of the last days of WVU under Nehlen.

I think Bud Foster will adjust his scheme after this season. This D reminds me of the disaster of 2002-2003. He has earned trust and has shown the ability to adjust. I have to be honest, I have no clue what happened to this d-line, these guys are the same guys from last year who were very productive. I ave never seen an entire unit regress so bad in one year, especially the d-line which historically at Tech shows year over year improvement with d-lineman in the program

Frank needs to re-evaluate what he wants in his program in terms of the role of the offense. The control the ball, time of possession game simply doesn't work in CFB now and leads to games like the Sugar Bowl, where rather then attacking the weak Michigan secondary we ran David Wilson into a brick wall.

College football today is score, score, score some more and hold the other team to under 30 if possible.

This program could easily end up looking like the worst of Bowden/Nahlen if adjustments aren't made, namely a new offensive coaching staff with an OC who is empowered to run his scheme, and not the Jerry Claiboirne philosophy that permeates the offense. There is no identity, its just a borg of various schemes with no ryhme or reason that relies on a great improvising QB (The Vick brothers, Randall, Tyrod Taylor) to be successful

If that happens I think Bud will be able to adjust his scheme a bit and hopefully the last '12 and '13 recruiting classes live up to billing. The '09, '10 and '11 are looking like busts due to attrition and sort of like 1999-2000 the overall talent in VA just not being that good.

Sorry, one more thing - I'm starting to wonder how much the problems with WVU's D is scheme related.

The 3-4 is a nearly impossible defense to run in college mainly because of getting the talent (unless you are Alabama)

It takes a few years to 1) understand the scheme and you 2) you need big fast players and in particular a powerful NT. There aren't many to go around. I don't think a 3-4 is a good college scheme to be honest.

[The Evil Genius]

Am I the only one that wonders why Penn State is on every week? Why wasn't a TV ban also a part of the punishment?

---------- Post added October-9th-2012 at 10:58 AM ----------

The 3-4 is a nearly impossible defense to run in college mainly because of getting the talent (unless you are Alabama)

It takes a few years to 1) understand the scheme and you 2) you need big fast players and in particular a powerful NT. There aren't many to go around. I don't think a 3-4 is a good college scheme to be honest.

Well that's not what I wanted to hear. At least WVU seems to be better against the run now. Why anyone runs against that D - I dunno (unless they are trying to eat clock).

[SkinsHokieFan]

Am I the only one that wonders why Penn State is on every week? Why wasn't a TV ban also a part of the punishment?

---------- Post added October-9th-2012 at 10:58 AM ----------



Well that's not what I wanted to hear. At least WVU seems to be better against the run now.

UVA under Groh ran the 3-4 his entire time there. It sucked except for 2004 when he had some serious talent and it sucked at GT.

I am trying to think of a team outside Alabama that has run a successful 3-4 D in college. 'Bama obviously can because those LBs are bigger then most DE's on other teams

[LeesburgSkinFan]

A TV ban damages the Big Ten, not just Penn State. One reason why a TV ban is out of the question in 2012.

[The Evil Genius]

Saw this on facebook.

[earl]

UVA under Groh ran the 3-4 his entire time there. It sucked except for 2004 when he had some serious talent and it sucked at GT.

I am trying to think of a team outside Alabama that has run a successful 3-4 D in college. 'Bama obviously can because those LBs are bigger then most DE's on other teams

a little dated but .....
Georgia, Georgia Tech, Houston, Notre Dame, Stanford, Texas A&M and Texas Tech are switching their base defense to a 3-4 this season, and Alabama, Air Force, Army, Navy, BYU, California and SMU will continue to have three down linemen and four linebackers on the field in 2010.

From http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/previe...ark&id=5453033

Interesting to see how Notre Dame, Stanford and UGA's defenses have really improved since the change. and the theory that the 3-4 only works for schools like Bama with talent rich big men doesn't really hold weight seeing Notre Dame and Stanford typically aren't successful and getting the super elite recruits along the D line. In fact i'd argue its easier to build a 3-4 because LB's are easier to find then DE's. in a 4-3 you have to have elite DLinemen that can rush the passer.... in a 3-4 all you need are space eaters.

[Spartacus87]

That is so absurdly false.

Somehow I thought you might take some issue with that

However:
Against WVU, Clemson put up 443 yards of offense, at a pace of 5.99 yards per play. Clemson gave up 595 yards to WVU, at a pace of 6.61 yards per play.

Against FSU, Clemson put up 426 yards of offense, at 5.23 yards per play, while giving up 667 yards of offense to FSU, at a pace of 8.89 yards per play.

That's a pretty sizable difference in efficiency between what FSU did to Clemson, and what WVU did to Clemson.

WVU's score-a-thon was also aided by the 3 turnovers from Clemson in the 2nd quarter, two of which came within Clemson's own side of the field, and one of which went back 99 yards for a defensive TD.

FSU also gave up a garbage time TD with 2 minutes left and EJ Manuel slid at the Clemson 9 yard line after a 30 yard run to kneel out the clock for the last minute of the game. If we're just going to compare final score differences, which would be kind of silly, but for kicks anyway, it could have very easily been FSU 56 to Clemson 37 or even Clemson 30.

So yes...what I said earlier was actually true. It just doesn't seem that way in hindsight between the two games because WVU blew the doors open in the 2nd quarter and didn't look back, and FSU didn't really turn it on until halfway through the 3rd quarter (doing so at a rate of something like 11 yards per play on offense while only allowing about 2.5 or 3 yards per play on defense through the end of the game, an efficiency ratio which just blows away any single period of the WVU/Clemson bowl game).

[Major Harris]

Stats don't lie....but liars use stats.

[Spartacus87]

I think Bud Foster will adjust his scheme after this season. This D reminds me of the disaster of 2002-2003. He has earned trust and has shown the ability to adjust. I have to be honest, I have no clue what happened to this d-line, these guys are the same guys from last year who were very productive. I ave never seen an entire unit regress so bad in one year, especially the d-line which historically at Tech shows year over year improvement with d-lineman in the program

You know a big part of the reason why VT's defense has regressed.

You even touched on it while discussing the difficulties in running a 3-4 in college.

Bud Foster's defenses have gotten smaller and smaller in recent years. VT right now is starting two 250 pound DEs, has a small DT rotation, and VT's only linebacker with any decent size for his position is Bruce Taylor.

Foster's become so obsessed with getting players who he can coach to play multiple positions for his variety of blitz packages, that he's now collected a group of guys who are each essentially a jack of all trades, but master of none.

---------- Post added October-9th-2012 at 08:28 PM ----------

Stats don't lie....but liars use stats.

If it counts for anything, I never really root for the rest of the ACC, especially during bowl season, so that Orange Bowl provided me with some great laughs.

Holgorsen calling for Geno Smith to throw a TD on Clemson while already up 63-26 with 6 minutes left in the game was some nice entertainment.

Jimbo Fisher could learn a thing or two from Holgorsen about being relentless with play calling.

[pjfootballer]

I actually root for all of our ACC bretheren in bowl games. I think it helps the conference as a whole to win bowl games. More money, more exposure and it helps to strengthen the league from a national standpoint.

[The Evil Genius]

I'm not sure that WVU couldn't have put close to 90+ up had they not called off the dogs early in the 2nd half...and that last TD pass was because Clemson was still throwing the ball, despite being down by 6TDs late in the 3rd quarter.

Had Clemson simply started subbing in players and running more, I suspect Dana wouldn't have had Geno throw the ball.

Make no mistake about it - Clemson was down 49-20 at halftime. Remind us again..what was that FSU/Clemson score at halftime?

[chess]

Holgs has said it in press conferences..... he doesnt care who he is playing... his goal is to score.... the defense is there to stop him......

He doesnt care of its Towson, ECU, Texas, Alabama.... He will score and the job is for the opponent to stop him I like that....

[Major Harris]

i can't tell if sparty really believes what he said or if he's just reaching to have fun.