The Hokie Hotline (football and basketball season)
When: Every Monday from 7:00-9:00 during football season, 7:00-8:00 during basketball season.
Where: Click here for a list of radio stations, and to find the link for listening to the show on the Internet (look to the right on the hokiesports.com page that loads when you click the link). You can see the show in person at Awful Arthur’s in Blacksburg, and you can also watch the archive on hokietv.com.
Billy Hite
- Hite believes the players and coaches got caught up in the emotion and
didn’t play as well as they were capable. - Tech knew going into the game how good East Carolina’s rush defense was
going to be. What they didn’t know is what quarterback they were going to
play, so it was difficult for Bud Foster to game plan. - Branden Ore allowed the sack that everyone was blaming Nick Marshman for.
It was supposed to be a quick pass to the left, and Ore was supposed to
slide over the chip the defensive end, but he went the wrong way. - LSU is a scary team on film. They are as good a defensive team as any that
the Hokies have ever played. Tech will have to do everything right. - Tech had a very good practice on Monday. They have accepted the challenge.
They are totally focused on LSU right now. - On the Glennon interception, Branden Ore thought Glennon was going to
scramble, so Ore turned his route up field. Unfortunately that dragged Ore’s
defender right into the passing lane to get the interception. - It’s too early in the year to panic about anything. They have a good idea
of what they want to do against LSU. Executing will be the problem. - Except for his one missed block, Branden Ore had the best blocking game of
his career. - This LSU game is what college football is all about. That’s what you live
for. - Tech might have to rotate some offensive linemen in the Louisiana heat.
True freshman Blake DeChristopher might have to play against LSU. - East Carolina is very well coached. They will win a lot of games just
because of their defense. - Tyrod Taylor is going to be a great player for Tech. They are trying to
get him ready for sometime this season possibly. He’s progressed a lot since
he got to Blacksburg. Taylor could possibly play a little bit later in the
year.
Jim Weaver
- The ROTC is working on at least two more flyovers for later in the season.
- The LSU band will play the Virginia Tech alma mater on the field before
kickoff on Saturday night. - To beat LSU, Tech has to run the ball, not make mistakes, punt, and force
the Tigers into making a mistake. It will be a low scoring, field position
game. - Playing LSU on the road basically makes one less home game, which costs
Tech a lot of money. You need to have a balanced schedule to win the
National Championship. Tech is going to play a team from a BCS conference
every year. - Michigan scheduled Appalachian State in the last four months. They were
trying to get a 1-A team, but they couldn’t find one. They so paid
Appalachian State probably $600k-750k for one home game. - Football starts up front with the offensive and defensive lines. The team
that runs the ball the best and stops the run the best will win the game on
Saturday night. - Virginia Tech has won 14 straight road openers. That’s every year of the
Beamer Bowl Era (1993-present).
Frank Beamer
- Tech found a way to get it done on Saturday, which is an important quality
of a football program. - In every area, the game was a good learning experience. The kicking game
was very good. Tech played well overall defensively. On offense, there were
too many individual breakdowns. The players just seemed to take turns
messing up. - Every single guy on offense had some good plays and bad plays. When you
put those together, it’s easy to see why Tech was inconsistent on offense.
East Carolina also has a very good defense. - The teamed talked about too much that wasn’t about East Carolina
throughout the week. Beamer takes the blame on that one. - Sean Glennon had some really good plays and some plays he’d like to have
back. He was really good on his touchdown pass when he knew he was going to
get hit. He has to get more accurate on the run. - New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady saw something he liked about
Glennon during the game, and called him afterwards to compliment his play. - Beamer is concerned that the offensive line seemed to get tired in the
fourth quarter. They might have to substitute more from now on. - Sam Wheeler did a great job of getting to the right spots. To have a good
passing game, you can’t be looking to get it to one guy. You just have to
throw it to the open area. - They’ve got to get Sean Glennon moving and throwing from different spots.
You can’t let the defense just run to one spot where they expect him to be. - LSU is extremely talented. They have great talent on the defensive line.
Glenn Dorsey is a great player, but he doesn’t look all that much better
than the rest of their linemen, and that’s scary. - The tight end position is getting stronger all the time with Wheeler, Greg
Boone, Andre Smith and Chris Drager. Those guys are all young. - Brandon Dillard made a great play on special teams, downing the punt at
the one yard line. That led to the interception by Macho Harris. - They need to start alternating Duane Brown out of some of the special
teams to make sure he doesn’t get worn down on offense. - Beamer doesn’t want to move anyone around on the offensive line. It’s
important to build unit cohesion. - College Gameday will be in Baton Rouge for the big game on Saturday
night. It will be the second week in a row that they’ve covered a Virginia
Tech game. - Matt Flynn is a big, experienced quarterback who can use his legs. He
started against Miami in the Peach Bowl in 2005 when LSU blew out the
Hurricanes 40-3. - Opening up with East Carolina and LSU makes the team prepare better over
the summer. That’s what happened to the Hokies back in 2004, when they
opened with USC. - Kam Chancellor and Cam Martin did very well in their first collegiate
starts. Chancellor hurt his knee a little, and they are hoping he can go on
Saturday. They are both very heady players. - The last time Tech played a road game at an SEC stadium was in 1987 at
Kentucky. - Saturday’s game will be the biggest crowd to ever see Virginia Tech play a
football game. - Virginia Tech will wear their maroon jerseys on Saturday night. LSU likes
to wear their white uniforms at home. - They might have to get Cory Holt some work on the scout team to simulate
Matt Flynn. Tech wasn’t very well prepared for a speed quarterback last
week, and it hurt them. - Tech has to take care of the football against LSU. They have to get a big
play in the kicking game. Of course, Tech’s defense has to play well.
Monday was Day 1,010 of Virginia Tech’s continuous possession of the Commonwealth Cup.
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