I love it when a plan doesn't come together.

Not that anyone noticed, but I said I was going to resume posting on Sunday, and didn't. I anticipated having some free time while visiting my wife's grandparents this weekend.  You see, old people and pregnant women tend to take naps.  I was correct on that, and had a few free hours on Saturday.  What I didn't anticipate would be the lack of internet access.  It seems the old people finally got rid of that.  So, I will still be resuming regular posts on Sunday, 9/9 that is.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to post a preview for the VT-GT game that was played last night.  Instead, I'll give my own personal view on the game. Here are 5 takeaways from the game:

1.  We need to fire our offensive coordinator and QB coach/playcaller.  We've needed to do this for quite a while, but it's only getting worse.  Repeatedly calling pass plays behind the line of scrimmage on 3rd and 5 is completely ignorant.  Even worse was running an option on 3rd and 5 against a team that practices almost exclusively against the option.  We have a quarterback who thrives when he gets in a rhythm.  The coaching staff seems surprised that he can't get in a rhythm when we complete a pass for a first down, run three slow developing run plays, and punt.  When you have a 6'6" QB, you should be throwing over the middle...a lot.  Lastly, the most egregious mistake was wasting a timeout on 2nd and goal (from the 6) in the first quarter.  Alot of people would put it on the players, which may be fair, but the problem I have is that it was our first trip into the red zone of the season.  The season's first trip to the red zone should be the easiest playcalling time because you should have already established those plays. 

2.  Scheduling GT for the first game was incredibly stupid.  Georgia Tech is a team that always starts strong by out-speeding the teams they play early.  Even with extra film and practice time, it is very hard to get a defense prepared for the speed of an option offense.  Scheduling our most important in-division game of the season for the first game against a quick-start team was a big mistake.  Fortunately we narrowly escaped.  The other reason it is stupid is because of our second game.  We play Austin Peay this saturday.  While that may not sound threatening, it is.  When we started our 2010 season against Boise State on a monday night, then followed it with a saturday game against lowly James Madison, we lost to JMU.  Beamer, after the game, said we would never schedule a Monday-Saturday week ever again.  Well, that lasted a whole one season.  My strategy for the Austin Peay game: If we don't score two touchdowns in the first quarter, bench the entire first string offense for the second quarter.  Send a message.  That's where we failed against JMU. 

3.  Bud Foster is the best defensive coordinator in the country.  It's not really close, and it's a shame he is underappreciated.  There are other teams out there that are known for their defense...Alabam, LSU, etc.  They have great defensive coordinators.  The difference, though, is that they stock their defenses with the top athletes in the country.  Bud Foster builds defenses.  He takes guys no has ever heard of and turns them into All-Americans (see Cody Grimm).  It's really dissappointing that we have such a loyal asset on defense but we refuse to find someone with similar passion on the other side of the ball.

4.  Georgia Tech has screwed themselves with Paul Johnson.  Bringing in Paul Johnson has crippled the GT football program.  I understand that PJ has the best first four seasons of any coach at GT.  I just hope GT is happy to settle for decent seasons as long as he is around.  The option offense cannot win a National Championship.   What the option will do for you is get you wins in 50-75% of your games, almost guaranteed (with GT's recruiting ability and conference affiliation).  However, getting above 75% is extremely hard because the teams don't fare well typically in close games.  If GT is happy with being slightly above average, then they have the right guy.  If they want to be a contender, they need to ditch the option.  That's where the problem gets worse, though.  If PJ left, GT would have to rebuild to have guys who can run a non-option offense, which could hurt the team for a while.

5.  I am extremely happy to be 1-0 (1-0).  I didn't need an OT game to start the season against a rival to start the season.  I'm trying to not get worked up about VT football the same way I have in the past.  I'm trying to avoid a heart attack.  Last night was brutal.  Fortunately, we came away with the win.  The winner of the VT-GT game has represented the division in the conference championship in every year of the league, so getting this win is a huge relief. 

Since I haven't shown a card on here (and it is still a card blog), here is a handful of recent Hokie pickups: