Monday, October 27, 2008

About that punt

A 15-hour drive home gives you a lot of time to stew, lament and ponder the previous day's game. Especially when it's a loss. I'm over the loss already, which either means I'm maturing or I have tempered my expectations for this team severely.

Anyway, we decided to punt with under two minutes left and down by 10. Beamer told the media after the game the goal was to force a fumble on the ensuing punt return.

What this tells me is Beamer had absolutely no confidence in the offense's ability to compete a long pass on 4th and 10.

I thought the offense was doing fine with Cory Holt under center in the fourth quarter. There were three incomplete passes leading up to the fourth down play, but why not give them another shot. To me, there is a better chance of completing a pass than forcing a fumble on a punt return.

That and there was no chance Florida State was even going to try to field that punt. Why would it? The Noles were either going to call a fair catch or let Virginia Tech down it, which they did.

No letting the offense attempt a play on fourth down sends the wrong message. But to think FSU was even going to let you have the chance to force a fumble on a punt is just ridiculous.

Sure, we probably don't win even if we convert on 4th and 10, but at least give the guys a chance.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm of 100% agreement with you.

Sounds to me like Frank was trying to be too smart by half. Either that, or he was trying to make sure FSU didn't score on us again (what was the spread on the game?).

Either way, I thought we played the best we've played all season, especially considering we lost our starting 2 QBs. I was happy to see Glennon come in and take out a lot of his frustration at getting benched with quality pases, and was happy to see Cory Holt step up.

I had already lowered my expectations for this season based on our miserable offensive performance to date. This just reminds me of what it was like to root for the Hokies back in the day when we were sucking it up and any win was reason to celebrate. So we're not going to a major bowl, so what?

When we first went to the Poulan Weedeater Independence Bowl in Shreeveport in 1993 people couldn't have been happier.

I miss those days.

Anonymous said...

The punt was a horrible call. Sure there was only about a 1% chance that we could come back and tie the game, but that is the chance that you must take. Cory Holt made a good long throw that was knocked away at the last second a few plays before. Also we have a ok kicker that that just might boot one in at 50 yards. It tells the team that it is OK to quit.