Sep

24

VT and Frank Beamer: A Primer

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is football.

I once heard Lee Corso say “the way has built is similiar to the way built Penn State.” Now, even though JoePa is now incapable of coaching a full game from the sidelines, I could not agree with Lee more.

From the ground up, he took a football program in the backwoods of Virginia headed on probation, and built it into a national power.

Since he arrived at VT, he’s overseen a massive investment in the infrastructure in the football team and seen it go from an indepentdent school to the Big East and finally to the ACC (where the school has always desired to be).

Basically, is coach-for-life at VaTech. Why?

  • He’s third in wins for active coaches, only behind JoePa and .
  • Since 1993, they gone bowling every year, the fouth longest active streak.
  • In the same time span, they have finished in the Top 10 4 times and gone to 5 BCS bowl games
  • You also have to give some credit to Beamer for the recent success of the VT Basketball program to since the ACC. Strong football programs can help build strong basketball programs.

He a alum who struggled his first 6 years before turning the into a national power. He’s story might not be possible in the modern ‘3 years and I better see some improvement or your gone’ world of college football.

He volunteered to play on Wednesday’s and Thursdays before it was cool so they would get national exposure. He put starters in on special teams and installed an attacking defense to give him the edge they call “Beamer Ball.” Since 1999, VT trails on K-State in non-offensive Touchdowns.

He made the maroon color so popular it’s on the color of 1/2 the SUV’s in the commonwealth of Virginia.*

He’s had over 30 operations on his face, resulting in a huge ass scar on his chin, from a childhood fire accident. Bad ass.

In short, is the football.

Now, lets go to the flip side.

He recruited Michael Vick. He recruited Marcus Vick.

When Beamer recruited Michael Vick, he changed from a 3-5 loss team to a national power that had to be respected. , overnight, turned into a respected national power and almost knocking off FSU in the Sugar Bowl.

But with raised expectations and better recruits came the well-documented trouble of Marcus Vick and his R. Kelly-like penchant for getting 15 year-old girls drunk, illegal drugs, giving opponents the finger, and stomping on Elvis Dumerevil in the Gator Bowl.

One could also say that Beamer and VT together have made a decision to put lower academic standards for at the well-respected university to get better football players. HG ignores this criticism though because damn right you ought to give players a break!

HG isn’t ashamed to say a 4.4 in the 40, 700 SAT score, and 2.3 GPA for a football player should be the equivalent to 1450 SAT score and 3.3 GPA for Joe Student in the student section.#

But they’ve also had problems with the law which really isn’t cool. During the 90’s they had one 15-month span, VT racked up 22 arrests from 19 football players. But hey, we’ve been there before too.

But overall, is held in high regard by the college football community and his coaching peers.

*Denotes made up stat by HG

#Denotes no sacasm at all. Were dead serious.

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Sep

22

Interesting facts on Virginia Tech

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* has never played a game in Nebraska.

* The are 16-35 all-time in football games played in the Central Time Zone.

* This will be the farthest west, longitundinally, that VT has traveled for a regular season game since they went to in Oklahoma back in 1991.

* In 2002, played at Texas A&M’s Kyle Field. However, Nebraska’s Tom Osborne Field sits JUST west of College Station at -96.705639

* and Nebraska have played just once before, when the #6 Huskers beat the #10 in the Orange Bowl 41-21 at the end of the 1996 season.

* Nebraska is scheduled to play in Blacksburg during the 2009 season.

* VA Tech is 3-3 under against teams currently in the Big 12 Conference.

* plays at the highest elevation of any Division-1 school east of Texas.

* Only two Division-1 head coaches have a longer tenure than (22nd year). Two fellas named (43rd year) and (33rd year).

MOST WINS IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL SINCE 1995

Ohio State - 133 wins

Florida - 130 wins

Virgina Tech - 129 wins

Source: VA TECH game notes

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Sep

21

Cornfeed to get you started on Nebraska-Virginia Tech Week

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Some Cornfeed to get you started on VT week:

Linebacker Matt Holt, defensive back Mason Wald, defensive back Alfonzo Dennard and linebacker Sean Fisher have all seen time, mostly on special teams. Defensive end played for the first time last week, adding depth to the line that lost to a season-ending injury.

…Players like Khiry Cooper, Baker Steinkuhler, Will Compton and other highly touted recruits who received so much attention in February might not contribute until next season.

If you look back at Pelini’s first season in college football, his three worst losses were a 41-24 defeat to Missouri’s Brad Smith, a 31-7 loss to a Texas team that featured Vince Young, and a 38-9 defeat to Kansas State and Ell Roberson.

Pelini’s defense’s worst day in 2005 at LSU was a loss to Georgia with D.J. Shockley.

…(T)here are numerous examples of mobile quarterbacks who were stymied by Pelini (McNeal in 2003 comes to mind and ’s Tyrod Taylor last season). But the point is that the profile of the guys that do succeed is that they tend to be mobile. That’s of particular interest in the next two weeks as the Huskers host (featuring Tyrod Taylor) and Missouri (featuring Chase Daniel).

the are 112th in total offense. An uncharacteristic 53rd in total defense. Tied for 85th in sacks allowed. The passing game, 114th nationally, often looks like a couple diseased yaks playing catch.

  • The bye week and VT weekend could prove crucial for recruiting. Also, some good anecdotes on :

, playing defensive end as a true freshman, was considering Colorado and Oregon after the coaching shakeup last season. had visited him, but he was still unsure. Pelini called him later.

“He was like, ‘Are you going to come to our school or not?’” Meredith recalled. ‘And I said, ‘Yeah, I’m going to come to your school.’ That’s when I decided because he was so straightforward. He was not trying to say, ‘Oh, we really want you’ just to be nice.”

…Gilmore said he’s seen an honest approach to from Husker coaches since he arrived here as an assistant in 2005.

“We’re not going to promise them anything,” Gilmore said. “Because in the end, you got to come in here and compete. All you can promise them is the opportunity to come in and compete. And in the end, as a competitor, that’s all you want, that’s all you can ask for.”

While a win at Nebraska would certainly be big for the program, the stakes won’t be quite so high this week.

“That gives us a chance to nail some things down,” Beamer said. “Then get ready for a tough stretch. To be 2-0 in this conference right now and be as young as we are, I feel pretty good about that.”

88 (tie).
Location: Lincoln, Neb. Opened: 1923. Capacity: 81,067.

Because “Through these gates pass the greatest fans in college football,” and that inscription on the stadium entrance might not be hyperbole.

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Jul

16

Corn Feed - Nebraska picked 3rd in Big 12 by media

Filed Under 2008 Preview, Big 12, Big 12 Preview, Corn Feed, Husker Ass Whompin's, Huskers, Joe Ganz | Leave a Comment

Latest…

The results:

(First-place votes in parentheses)

North

1. Missouri (51) 306
2. Kansas 234
3. Nebraska 183
4. Colorado 181
5. Kansas State 108
6. Iowa State 59

South

1. Oklahoma (49) 304
2. Texas (2) 230
3. Texas Tech 227
4. Oklahoma State 140
5. Texas A&M 118
6. Baylor 52

11. I predict that Nebraska’s defense will be drastically improved — to the point where it achieves actual mediocrity. (It cannot help but be dramatically better than last year’s semi-permeable unit, which gave up, to various opponents, 49, 40, 41, 45, 36, 76, 31 and 65 points.)

12. I predict that ’s honeymoon in Lincoln, and the good will generated by his savvy vow to revive the Big Red’s once-potent walk-on program, will last for up to seven weeks, at which point the ‘Huskers will have lost three straight, and be staring down the barrel of a second-straight losing season.

Big 12: This is a clear top choice thanks to a lot of heady leaders who make smart decisions and have proven to be very accurate with the ball. The league has four guys with legit Heisman hopes in Chase Daniel, Sam Bradford, Graham Harrell and Colt McCoy. A fifth, Todd Reesing of Kansas, is as tough and as sharp as they come, although I expect KU to backslide some this year. Behind those five is plenty more talent that probably could merit all-conference consideration in any other league save for the SEC. In fact, 10 of the league’s top 11 passers return. Depth-wise, this is better than it’s ever been for the Big 12.

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