Tech Talk Live Notes for November 11, 2013

Jim Weaver

Tech played a heckuva game against Miami.  The Hokies really took it to Miami the entire time.

Weaver is happy for the women’s soccer program.  They are a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.  The other three #1 seeds are from the ACC as well – UNC, FSU and UVA.

It would be huge for the ACC to win the National Championship in football this year.  There is still a lot of football to be played, though.

Weaver thinks the audio in Cassell Coliseum will improve.  They are still working things out with the new video boards.

It’s still too early to determine which bowl game the Hokies will be in.  There are still a lot of games to be played.

It would be big for the ACC to get a second team in the BCS.  It would be more money for the league, not to mention more prestige.

Tech’s seniors have been great representatives of the university.  He’s looking forward to seeing them play one last time at home on Saturday.

Kevin Dresser

Tech’s wrestling team went 4-0 over the weekend.  It was a great start to the season.

Tech won the ACC with a lot of upperclassmen last year, but they have a lot of young wrestlers this year.

Tech’s new facility in the Merryman Center has been huge for recruiting.  They had the #2 ranked class in the country last year.

The Hokies are #8 in the country right now.  They host #9 Edinboro this weekend in Cassell on Saturday morning at 10pm.  It’s going to be a huge match.

Tech is hosting the ACC Championships in Cassell Coliseum this year.

Scot Loeffler

Tech executed well, took care of the ball, and they were able to run the ball.  Anytime you are able to run the ball, it makes things a lot easier.

The running game have been a work in progress.  Tech has young backs, and J.C. Coleman was hurt.  The backs and the OL clicked this week, and they need to keep that up.  It’s easier to playcall on second and five or six than second and nine.

David Wang played his best game.  Everybody played well up front.  It was really encouraging to see them have success.

Logan Thomas played very well, but he played very well against BC except for 2-3 plays.  He was excellent in his checks, reads, etc.  He played great against Miami, but this time he eliminated the turnovers.  Loeffler is very proud of him for handing the criticism so well.

The offense showed some mental toughness on Saturday night.  They were down 7-0, but they just focused on one play at a time.  You can’t control the past or the future, but you can control that nextplay.

The wide receivers were great in the running game.  They needed to have great perimeter blocking against Miami.  Aaron Moorehead has done a great job setting a standard to get those guys to block.  That group has come a long way since the spring.

What Willie Byrn did against Miami was remarkable, considering his tailbone injury.  There were a lot of great individual performances in that game.

Tech used the exact same play for D.J. Coles that got him a touchdown against Georgia Tech.  They changed up the shifts a bit, but other than that it was the exact same play.

The rain wasn’t as bad as it appeared, from what Logan Thomas told Loeffler.  The field drained well.

Maryland has a good defense.  Tech needs to keep improving.  They have to keep getting better each week.

Loeffler and his family love Blacksburg.  It’s a great community.  He wishes he could see more of it, but he spends 19-22 hours a day in the office.  He’s looking forward to the offseason so he can take more of it in.

Derrick Hopkins is a pretty incredible player, though he did pancake Kalvin Cline on one play.  His block of Cline made it look as if Cline pancaked a defender, but in reality it was Hopkins pancaking them both.

Tech does a lot of shifting before snaps for several reasons, including the fact that it helps to indentify coverages when the defense starts moving defenders around.

Maryland’s defensive film doesn’t match up with the results of their games.  They are very athletic and very strong.  They have had a lot of injuries.  At this stage of the season, Tech has to play their best each week.

Logan Thomas

Thomas had a conversation with Coach Beamer on Thursday.  Beamer told him to not press, and to just play and have fun.

The win at Miami was a great experience.  It was the first time this year he’s been able to hand the ball off and know the backs would gain five yards a pop.  The offensive line played great.  They got a lot of push up front, and they gave Thomas a lot of time to throw.

Thomas was laying on the ground when Joshua Stanford made his catch.  He was thinking that it was a nice play to get in field goal range, but when he got up he realized that Stanford was about to score.  Stanford and all the wide receivers have gotten a lot better this year.

Willie Byrn has a lot of grit.  He was bruised up pretty bad, but he still played.  That’s how the Hokies are as a team this year.

Logan Thomas is the only player in Virginia Tech history to throw 50 touchdown passes in his career.  Thomas is thankful to have the opportunity to start at Tech for three years.

Logan’s most memorable experience at Tech was beating Miami this weekend.  The way the team bounced back was very special.  It was a great team win.  They never stopped working, and they are all determined to be the best they can be.

Tech can’t worry about what Duke does.  They have to take care of business and beat Maryland.  The team is excited about the opportunities they have.

The rain wasn’t too bad on Saturday night.  It wasn’t as bad as the Marshall game.  He was able to grip the football just fine.

Maryland will come out and give Tech their best shot.  They want to go bowling.  They have a lot of athletes.  The Hokies have to take care of the football.

Thomas is 15-0 as a quarterback when he doesn’t turn it over.  His job is to not turn it over, and things will be ok.  He had 2-3 throwaways against Miami out of six incomplete passes.  It was a nice night because of the incompletions, and because he didn’t have to run the ball so much.

It’s going to be a little emotional playing his last game in Lane Stadium.  It’s something that he’ll remember for the rest of his life.

Thomas noted that the Scot Loeffler the fans saw at Tech Talk Live is not the Scot Loeffler that he sees every day.  He has a little more energy and fire when he’s at work!  Loeffler has been great for Thomas.  He talks to him like a peer, which is refreshing.  Loeffler always tells Thomas that if he had had him for 3-4 years, he would have been in the NFL by now.

Loeffler is a perfectionist.  He’s not laying when he says he’s in the office for 19 or 20 hours a day.  That’s who he is.  He wants to be the best at what he does.  Thomas really appreciates that kind of work from him.

James Johnson

Tuesday’s gametime against West Virginia was set by ESPN as part of their 24 hours of college basketball.

Saturday was a tough loss.  Going into the game, they knew it would be difficult.  USC Upstate has three All-Atlantic Sun players, and they returned all five starters from last season.

Tech had multiple opportunities to win on Saturday, but they didn’t make the plays.  They didn’t do what they needed to do on the offensive end and at the free throw line.  The Hokies got stops in the last eight minutes, but they didn’t get it done on the other end.

Devin Wilson had a very good floor game on Saturday.  He didn’t have bad turnovers, and he played a lot of minutes.  He ran the team well and got them into their sets.  Ben Emelogu came in and got some quick points, but he got in foul trouble and that hurt Tech down the stretch.

Trevor Thompson didn’t play on Saturday, but Johnson expects him to see the floor in the next few games.

Adam Smith showed a little rust after sitting out for a year.  He’s going to continue to improve as he gets playing time under his bet.  Johnson is asking him to do a lot because he can put the ball in the hole.

Marquis Rankin is dealing with “personal issues”, and he hasn’t given a timetable for his return.

Maurice Kirby will most likely redshirt this season.  Tech has a lot of post depth this year.

Johnson didn’t notice the new officiating rules very much in the game on Saturday.  He noticed it more in the scrimmages.  He thinks they’ll see more of it against WVU because they have attacking guards.

WVU is a tough, physical team.  They will guard the Hokies closely.  They play an aggressive style on defense.  They have a number of young players.  Their strength is in the backcourt, while Tech’s strength is in the frontcourt.

Frank Beamer

It was so wet on Saturday night that Beamer went through two hats, but it was worth it.  Beamer is really proud of the team and the coaches.  They got back to how they won six in a row earlier in the year.

It was great seeing the offense come together.  He gave the coaches and players a lot of credit.  He’s proud of the way they came back.

Scot Loeffler had a great gameplan.  They did a lot of things before the snap with their motions that helped the offense a lot.  They slowed Miami down.  The offensive line played a great game, and Joshua Stanford played a great game.  It all came together.

A.J. Hughes is very competitive and he doesn’t mind the pressure.  He’s got some toughness.  Beamer is disappointed that he had to make the tackle, but he made a great play.

Logan Thomas responded to the criticism very well.  He played a great game against BC, except for a couple of plays.  It says a lot about him.  He played terrific against Miami.

Willie Byrn really toughed it out against Miami.  He was really hurting, but he played great.  He’s been a very valuable guy.

Joshua Stanford has been amazing the last two games.  He’s blocking and he’s breaking tackles.

Tech’s defensive tackles played great against Miami.  Luther Maddy and Derrick Hopkins are playing at a very high level.

Herma’s Readers made a big contribution to the Intrepid Heroes Fund.  Frank Beamer takes great pride in that, especially on Veterans Day.

The toughest thing in college football is saying goodbye to a great senior class.  That’s what Tech will do on Saturday.  They have 13 seniors, and 10 have already graduated.  The other three are scheduled to graduate.  Their leadership really showed up on Saturday.

It was great to see Tech’s backs play well on Saturday.  Trey Edmunds and J.C. Coleman ran the ball really hard.  That last drive was very impressive when the Hokies ran out the clock.

Maryland is impressive on film.  They can move the football and their defense is good.  Turnovers got Maryland against Syracuse.  They are very capable and they are dangerous.  They will be trying to get bowl eligible on Saturday.

Monday was Day 3,272 of Virginia Tech’s continuous possession of The Commonwealth Cup.