Tech Talk Live Notes for 10/4/10

Tech Talk Live (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 Bull & Bones Brewhaus & Grill in Blacksburg.

• Weaver didn’t know if the Hokies would come back against NC State, but he
  knew they wouldn’t quit. He’d take 40 points every week.
• Central Michigan and Wake Forest didn’t sell their allotment of tickets,
  so they returned some to Virginia Tech. Weaver believes that both games will
  sell out. It is only a small number of tickets remaining.
• Weaver would prefer to play four straight non-conference games and then
  play eight straight ACC games.
• Weaver and most AD’s are against going past 12 games on the schedule, and
  that includes preseason games.
• Virginia Tech is hosting the AD’s, senior women’s administrators and other
  personnel from all the ACC schools this week. The AD’s are going to be
  focusing on issues such as nine regular season football games, 18 regular
  season basketball games, the ACC Basketball Tournament, and the ACC
  Championship Game in Charlotte.
• Weaver wants each school to be responsible for selling a minimum amount of
  tickets to the ACC Championship Game.
• Weaver is for a nine game ACC schedule because it’s more competition
  against league opponents, and it would also help with scheduling
  non-conference games. It’s happening in the Pac-10 and it’s happening in the
  Big 12. Weaver doesn’t think it will happen yet in the ACC.
• They will ultimately get to 18 men’s basketball games, but Weaver doesn’t
  see that happening at this time either.
• Weaver doesn’t plan on moving any home games to DC. Tech will play in
  FedExField again in 2012 against Cincinnati. The Redskins bought the game
  rights from Cincinnati. It was originally supposed to be a home game for the
  Bearcats.
• Weaver has been involved in situations like the one currently at UNC while
  at UNLV and Florida. Every school in the country is a phone call away from
  something like this happening. Tech works every day to try and be on top of
  the situation as best they can be.
• Tech does criminal background checks, as well as NCAA violations checks,
  before hiring coaches for any sport.
• In the "Jim Weaver Era", Virginia Tech will not travel to the
  west coast to play a regular season game. It’s just too far, and traveling
  is complicated. In Roanoke, they don’t have a runway long enough for Tech’s
  needs to travel west. They’d have to stop and refuel, or fly out of
  Greensboro. It just doesn’t make sense.
• The West Virginia discussions are not dead, but they are not very alive
  either.

• Beamer told the staff that the NC State game was going to be a four
  quarter game. He told them to get their players to the fourth quarter, and
  then find a way to win. That’s what they did.
• Boston College doesn’t change things up much defensively, so they aren’t
  difficult to prepare for, but they are tough to play against.
• Stinespring wasn’t very happy in the week leading up to the NC State game.
  He didn’t feel like they had been playing to their capabilities. It was
  disappointing to not score touchdowns in the redzone after turnovers. He was
  watching the BC film by 6am on Sunday morning.
• Tech wanted to spread the field from the get-go against NC State to open
  up the running game. They should have thrown the ball better early in the
  game, but it did what they hoped: it created some running lanes.
• The players were calm at halftime. They felt like they could move the ball
  and score. They have been in plenty of tough games this year, so it’s
  nothing new.
• Tech was much better in the redzone against NC State. They scored
  touchdowns 100% of the time in the redzone. Now they have to go back and get
  better on third down. They weren’t as good on third down in the first half
  as they needed to be.
• Stinespring has seen a couple of versions of the tackle eligible play they
  ran against NC State (the second Andre Smith touchdown). He made some notes
  on it, and thought it would best serve Tech’s interests in a situation like
  that. He’ll have to let some time pass before he runs it again though.
  Defenses will be ready for it from now on.
• Stinespring doesn’t think it’s accurate when people say that Tech doesn’t
  run passes over the middle of the field. It’s rare that Tech doesn’t have an
  intermediate route and a checkdown route.
• Sometimes Tech presses a bit at the beginning of games, and sometimes
  players try to do more than their jobs. They’ve had some near misses. They
  do need to improve there. They are ready to play, they just don’t play well.
• Tyrod Taylor was great on the game winning drive. He made all the right
  decisions. It was a complete drive. He made a great throw to Boykin on the
  final touchdown pass.
• Tech has been trying diligently to get Andre Smith more involved, and
  they’ve had some success the last two weeks (6 receptions, 58 yards, 2 TDs).
• Ryan Williams practice on Monday, and practiced well. However, Monday
  isn’t a big contact practice. The training staff will know more about his
  status on Tuesday.
• Tech studies long yardage defense, short yardage defense, redzone defense,
  regular defense, etc. when preparing for opponents. They decide what plays
  they want to run out of each formation, against each type of defense.
• Central Michigan is a good team, but they had a bad outing against Ball
  State on Saturday. They narrowly lost to Temple (4-1) and Northwestern
  (5-0). Then they got upset by Ball State for their first home loss since
  2008.
• If you have a quarterback who has mobility, he has to be accounted for. It
  makes it 11 on 11. For some teams, it’s 10 on 11 sometimes because that
  quarterback is no threat to run.
• Tech would like to get Logan Thomas in the game some more, but they have
  been involved in a lot of tough battles so far. They’ll get him in when they
  are in a position to do so.
• The offensive line improved a lot last week against NC State. Andrew
  Lanier was much better against NC State. Nick Becton got banged up a bit
  again.

• The team knew that NC State had big receivers and they liked to throw the
  ball around. He had never had a three interception game before, not even in
  high school.
• Owen Spencer of NC State is probably the best receiver Hosley has faced.
  His first interception was over Spencer.
• On the second interception, no one was in Hosley’s zone so he dropped back
  some more and Wilson threw it right to him.
• On the third pick, Wilson just threw it up for grabs into Hozley’s zone
  for the easy interception.
• The Tech corners had to be physical with the NC State receivers. They are
  big, fast guys and you can’t let them get by you.
• Antone Exum is doing a great job. He has to play a lot for a young player,
  and he’s doing great.
• David Clowney and Brandon Flowers both went to Hosley’s high school. He
  last spoke with Clowney at the spring game, and every now and then Flowers
  will call or text him.
• Tech has great defensive coaching. The cornerbacks are taught great
  technique. Watching a lot of film will take you from good to great, and
  that’s why Tech is able to put out great cornerbacks.
• The more reps Hosley has gotten, the slower the game has gotten for him.
  Quarterbacks get the ball out a lot quicker than they do in high school.
• When it was 17-0, the coaches just kept the players calm.
• In south Florida, there are a lot of guys who grew up playing football.
  Many times they grow up playing tackle football in the streets with older
  guys. It’s part of the culture.
• Hosley has a big family, so he’ll need around 25 tickets to the Miami game
  since his family is from Delray Beach.
• Hosley almost went to South Florida. Clemson, Florida, Michigan, Ohio
  State and some others also offered Hosley. Watching the Tech defense play
  with Bud Foster coaching was a big part of Hosley’s decision.
• When you are playing a big receiver, you have to get your hands on him.
  You also have to have the "want to". You have to have the right
  mindset. It’s just as much mental as it is technique.
• The Tech defense didn’t really agree with all the pass interference calls
  against NC state. The Tech defenders were in great position and made great
  plays.
• NC State has a very good team, probably one of the best Tech will play
  this year.

• It was tough going early on. Most teams wouldn’t come back from a 17-0
  deficit. You have to play four quarters.
• Taylor took a big hit early in the game, and it hurt a lot. It locked his
  back up and he had to take a muscle relaxer. You can’t show any weakness
  back there.
• Every time Taylor steps on the field, he treats the game like it’s 0-0.
  You have to stay calm and put points on the board.
• It was great to see David Wilson return the kickoff for a touchdown. It
  was major motivation for the rest of the team.
• Tech saw Tulsa run the tackle eligible last week, and they put it in their
  game plan for the NC State game. It was a great call in that situation.
• When NC State scored their last field goal, Taylor thought that the
  Wolfpack gave them too much time.
• NC State didn’t have a spy for Taylor. Sometimes they did drop their
  defensive ends. On his first down scramble on the game winning drive, NC
  State didn’t have a defender to account for him.
• Virginia Tech has been through a lot of tough battles so far, so they’ll
  be well prepared for other tough games later in the season.
• There is a lot of talent in the Tidewater area, and those guys are very
  competitive. That competitiveness makes everyone better.
• When Tech was 0-2, Taylor told the team that losing is not something they
  should get used to. That’s not what they do at Virginia Tech.
• It will be good to finally get back at home after two straight road games.

• Saturday’s game was one of the great all-time games at Virginia Tech. With
  the deficit they faced, and how they stayed together and played great in the
  second half, it was special.
• Tyrod Taylor started heating up late in the game, and he was really good
  down the stretch.
• It was a great team win. They ran the ball, the defense made plays, etc.
  They need to get better though.
• Central Michigan probably shouldn’t have lost to Ball State. They took
  Temple to overtime, and Temple is good. Northwestern beat them by five, and
  Northwestern is undefeated. Central Michigan is 19th nationally in passing
  yards per game, so they can throw it. They only allow 17 points per game.
  They are a good team.
• NC State was a hot, confident football team. They had the momentum early.
  You have to give them credit.
• Tech plans to dress out Randall Dunn this week, and Billy Hite wants to
  get him back on the kickoff return team. He can be a very good receiving
  tight end. He’ll have his chance to move into the rotation next season.
• Tech sent the three pass interference calls into the ACC officiating
  office. Beamer thought they were tough calls.
• Shane Beamer is a really good coach. He’s the recruiting coordinator at
  South Carolina. He does things very well, and Frank is very high on him. The
  situation has to be right for him to come to the Tech staff.
• Tech had to keep running plays and score a touchdown after Hosley’s last
  interception. NC State could have had a chance to score again with three
  timeouts left.
• What’s supposed to happen isn’t what always happens. That’s why you have
  to play the game. When Beamer was at Murray State, his 1-AA team beat
  Louisville and tied Memphis State. There is a difference in talent level,
  but it’s sometimes not a huge difference.
• The staff is still evaluating Ryan Williams. They will make an
  announcement about his status on Thursday.
• Andre Smith is really playing well. He is really banged up, but he’s
  playing at a high level.
• D.J. Coles brings a lot to the table. He’s getting better all the time.
• Beamer isn’t worried about how long he coaches. He’s just worried about
  the next football game. He hopes he has a few more years in him. He enjoys
  the players a lot. The business does get tougher and tougher each year.

Monday was Day 2,137 of Virginia Tech’s continuous possession of the Commonwealth Cup.