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The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly: Virginia Tech Edition

What went right, what went wrong, and everything in between Vs the Hokies. Plus team grades.

By Jerry Steinberg
Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Watching the 2015 Miami Hurricanes Football team is eerily similar to being Bill Murray in "Groundhog's Day."

They make the same mistakes week in and week out.

And despite Brad Kaaya being one of the best QB's in the country and Stacy Coley and Rashawn Scott looking unstoppable on the outside, they leave tons of points on the field week in and week out.

Putting teams away just isn't in their DNA.

However they got the much needed win today.

Kaaya was the man when they needed him most.

The ACC Coastal is still in play, and that's a good thing.

The particulars below.

The Good:

  • I like the green.

  • You'll see this on SportsCenter tonight, I am sure.

  • Al Quadin Muhammad and Chad Thomas continuing to play inspired and effective are good signs for a struggling D. You can add Kendrick Norton/Juwon Young into the mix as well.

  • Too many FG attempts this season, but at least Miami has a good kicker.

  • Nice to see Coley with another big performance.
    • The pocket isn't always clean for Kaaya.  He's really showing a lot these past few weeks, hanging in and making big time throws under pressure.  His toss to Rashawn Scott at the end of the half was outstanding.  And that 4th Q drive to put the game away, was all him!

    • Artie Burns (2 INTS) has sick ball skills (though he did give one back in the 4th).

      The Bad:

    • Yet another TD off the board for penalty, and Mark Walton is the victim again.


    • Why is it 6 games in before the O utilizes Walter Tucker (at all)?
    • More bad tackling, more sequences where the D is unprepared pre snap, and so on and so on and so on and so on.
    • This unit did not look good. The O line as a whole remains incredibly disappointing.
    • A picture is worth 1000 words.

    • The Ugly:

    Team Grades:

    Offense:

    grades

    Starting Danny Isidora at RT (or anyone not named Sunny Odogwu) was long overdue.

    Kaaya is a stud.  Clutch, clutch, clutch on the put away drive.

    And With Coley joining Scott as a consistent threat, this passing offense is really tough to defend.

    But the running game remains suspect against better defenses.

    And they leave so many points on the board with mistakes in the red zone. It's utterly frustrating.

    The offensive line was even worse this week than last.

    Defense:

    grades

    Trent Harris created the first score of the game, recovering a Brenden Motley fumble deep in Hokies territory.  Yes the QB lost the ball before contact, but the pressure helped.

    But one possession later a chunk play to Bucky Hodges occurs when Motley has all day to throw the ball Vs a 3 man rush, leading to a FG.

    This sums it up.   Still inconsistent.

    Nice to see some young guys like Thomas, AQM, and Young step up though.  Young might be a revelation.

    There are some signs of improvement but a lot to correct still.

    Special Teams: 

    grades

    Freshman Sheldrick Redwine made a very nice open field tackle in punt coverage in the first quarter. Jaquan Johnson has one in the third. Another big day for Badgley.

    Overall solid of not spectacular across the board.

    Coaching:

    grades

    2nd week in a row the D is burned by the speed option?  That's unprepared.

    Two 3rd and long draw calls, (the first in fairness was 3rd and impossible) illustrate a very conservative approach. Strangely before the Kaaya to Scott 2nd Q TD they appeared to be playing for the half as well.

    Too many penalties yet again.

    I will say this, the team played hard.  There was no evidence of an FSU hangover this week.