Buzz Williams
The Alabama State loss was the worst loss of Buzz’s career as a head coach. They didn’t play hard. Alabama State was more disciplined and earned the right to win. A lot of what VT practiced didn’t come to life during the game.
Tech had more turnovers than Alabama State, their defense was poor, and they didn’t make enough free throws. The staff has to determine what the Hokies were worst at against Alabama State and work on that first.
Buzz thought the crowd was good, and obviously Tech didn’t do anything to bring those people back. Jacksonville State is better than Alabama State, so the Hokies have a lot of work to do.
It’s not necessarily the fact that Tech lost to Alabama State, but it’s how they lost. They don’t want to lose the way they lost on Saturday night. Buzz spends a lot of time telling the players what it takes to win and what it takes to lose. They did what it took to lose on Saturday.
Buzz Williams was very disappointed in Seth Allen’s effort and discipline on Saturday. Zach LeDay played very well, but it wasn’t enough. One of those guys was hungry to do right, and the other was not. However, Seth Allen wasn’t the only guilty party.
The players haven’t had much of a choice but to bounce back after the loss. Practice has been tough since then. We’ll find out if it helps on Wednesday night. He thinks the guys will respond.
Buzz didn’t think playing hard, playing tough and playing selfish would be issues for this team, but they were in the first game. In the end, it’s his fault. If you get beat, you get beat. Tech got beat in every possible way that he wants his program to be about, and that’s what’s disheartening about it.
Buzz wants Jalen Hudson and Justin Bibbs to defend better and rebound better. Neither guy did that well on Saturday. If you score 82 points at home, you should win. The Hokies have to find the guys who can defend and rebound the best. Zach LeDay played well on both ends of the floor.
Tech has to play better, tougher and with more discipline against Jacksonville State. The Hokies have to prevent them from getting second chance points.
Tech played with Kerry Blackshear and Zach LeDay against Alabama State because they give the Hokies the best chance to rebound. The problem is that they didn’t get help from the guards and wings. Those guys just stood around and watched Blackshear and LeDay.
The Hokies have a busy schedule heading into Thanksgiving. They play four games Thanksgiving week. They better get it figured out fast.
Frank Beamer
Beamer is very proud of his coaches and players for hanging in there despite getting down 14-0 to Georgia Tech. The Hokies have a good organization, and it showed on Thursday night.
Tech fans showed up strong on Thursday night. That’s the way the fans have always been at Virginia Tech. They did a great job in Atlanta.
You worry when you get turnovers and you don’t take advantage, but the Hokies were finally able to take advantage of that last fumble. It was a great team win.
Joey Slye is too good a kicker to miss an extra point. He’ll bounce back this weekend.
Travon McMillian hasn’t complained about all his touches, so they are going to keep giving him the ball. He has a knack for running, and he’s got great vision. He’s really gifted.
Tech’s defense is getting better, as you would expect. The Hokies are kicking the ball well. They are a better right now than they were a few weeks ago. They’ll find out how good they are this weekend. UNC is as close to Ohio State in talent as you can get, and they are playing at a very high level.
Beamer is very fortunate to be where he is. His two kids went to Tech, and he knows how lucky he is. Not many guys in his profession spend 29 years at their job.
Beamer is proud of the facilities Tech has built. That goes back to the support from the fans. Not a single state dollar was spent on those facilities. It was financed by the fans.
Tech will have to play great to beat North Carolina. They are the closest thing VT has seen to Ohio State. They have done a great job recruiting and coaching down there. They do everything well.
Tech recruited Marquise Williams. He’s a big guy who is playing great at quarterback for UNC. The running backs are good, and their wide receivers are big, tall guys. They spread the field and they spread the ball around. They are good up front.
The Hokies have to play well in all three phases. Ryan Switzer is a very dangerous punt returner. UNC double teams the head hunters at times, so everyone else has to play well and tackle well. When you have good talent and are well-coached, you put pressure on the opposition everywhere. That’s what UNC does.
Tech made some plays against UNC last year and got a break in the kicking game. You have to play steady and consistent to beat the Tar Heels, and the Hokies were able to do it last year.
Virginia Tech has held the Commonwealth Cup for 4006 days. #Hokies
— Commonwealth Cup (@CommonwlthCup) November 16, 2015
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In the previous TSL Pass article, Monday Thoughts, Will made a statement about the last few seasons with the Hokies teaching him to not get worked up over what happens in the beginning of Hokie football games because the outcome of our games have rarely been dictated by what happened in the 1st half. Now, this isn’t directly related to the point of my post, but it is what got me thinking about what Buzz said last night on the radio show.
Buzz said that he doesn’t talk about wins and losses with the players. He talks about the factors that contribute to a win or a loss. He wants the players to focus on the fundamentals, the things need to achieve on offense, the things they need to achieve on defense. The goal being that if they take care of those contributing factors, they will win. I really like this way of coaching because it gets the players thinking (especially after a loss like Ala. St) “what things did we not take care of or do well the other night, and how can we get better at them?” instead of simply “Man, we lost last night. Now we really have to win the next game!” The importance difference is what their mental focus is on.
This is something that I would very much like to see be applied to football coaching with whoever succeeds Frank. It’s been often written that the football program got too complacent because they could say, for such a long period of time, “We’re getting 10 wins a season…how is that bad?” There have also been too many times where a coach will say we failed to execute well in some aspect in the game, and they need to work on that. But the next couple of games, if not more, the same problem would surface.
Since the next few years are going to be iffy in terms of wins and losses as our coaches, players, and recruiting all get shuffled, I’d really like to see them apply the Buzz philosophy and really focus on all the responsibilities and goals each player has in the game. Because if they do that as a team, the wins will come. And if they don’t come, it simply means the opponent was the better team despite us playing well. We should have fewer, or none, games that we win ugly because we played down to our opponent’s level…fewer, or none, games that we lose by getting flat out trucked by a better opponent (LSU, Clemson, Miami)…more games that we win against closely matched opponents…and more games that we win soundly against inferior opponents. None of that is guaranteed…I know that…but taking care of business that way SHOULD lead to all I have just mentioned, and the coaches won’t be saying “Well, we got 8 wins last year, that’s a winning record.”. Instead, they will be saying we played well in (nearly) all of our games, that’s all I can ask of them, and we’re extremely proud of them.”
Sorry for the novel! Go Hokies and beat those Heels!