Virginia Tech Sucks

I thought people might enjoy reading an unsolicited post about how much I hate my favorite team. First, our coach, Frank Beamer, seems to have a curious penchant for experimenting with mind altering drugs on the night of big games against a certain team from the state of florida. It started in 1999 against Florida State in the national championship game. Frank decided that that would be the perfect night to try smoking crack for the first time, leading him to call 19 consecutive fake kicks on 4th and 27. No matter what he does, I will never forgive him for costing Michael Vick a national championship.

Then, last night, in the ACC championship game, it was time for him to see what happens when you do heroin and speed at the same time. The results were some very perplexing coaching moves. In the 4th quarter, down by 24, the hokies faced a 4th and 6 from around their own 40 with almost the entire 4th quarter left. They elected to punt. I didn't agree with the call, but it was reasonable. Then, miraculously, FSU got their 2nd illegal participation penalty of the night, giving Virginia Tech a first down. Less than a minute later, they scored their first touchdown of the night to pull within 18. And Beamer decides to go for two. Not only do I find this insane, but does it strike anyone else as a little [censored] inconsistent? A minute ago he was willing to punt on a very convertible 4th down near midfield. Now he feels he's so pressed for time that his only shot is to go for the improbable trifecta of two point conversions to tie it up. Now, I tried to do some research prior to this, but I had to keep it brief because I was excited to start my rant. But in that brief time I found that the 2 point conversion success rate is approximately 45%. Now, this probably is lower if the coach is going to call a terrible play, you are against a defense that's been murdering you all day, and your quarterback will likely just end up throwing a jump ball into triple coverage. But let's give them the benefit of the doubt and say 45%. The chances, then of hitting all three 2 point conversions is a whopping 9%. The reward being that one less possession will be necessary to tie the game. So, one minute ago, he feels that the current possession is so [censored] dispensible that he will happily punt on 4th and 6, but now, possessions are such a rare and valuable commodity that he's willing to take a course of action with a 9% chance of working just to save one.

Christ!

[lastchance]

I agree with both decisions.

A 2 point conversion is a helluva lot easier than 4th and 6.

The 2 point conversion allows you to kick a FG and a TD if you make it, and if you don't convert, it's the same as kicking the extra point because you need three TD's anyway.

[Clarkmeister]

They are playing the Dookies tough in Cameron.

[Reqtech]

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They are playing the Dookies tough in Cameron.

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Oh man, that would totally remove all the pain from last night's horrific game. Nice to see that Ratboy isn't getting quite his money's worth from the refs tonight.

[brettbrettr]

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I thought people might enjoy reading an unsolicited post about how much I hate my favorite team.

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Wrong.

[MyTurn2Raise]

I disagreed with the 2-pointer to cut it from 12 to 10. You need a 2 at some point if you are going for another touchdown and fg, but it's better to wait for the second td. It keeps the pressure on the opponents if they look up and later see they are only up 8, meaning the other team is within one score. Also, if FSU happens to kick a FG before another V TEch score, it will just be two regular tds w points to tie. My rule of thumb is to not go for two unless you have to.

I agree with going for two the first time though, as it did not seem that V Tech would be able to score that many more times in the rest of the game. Trying to keep it within 2 scores seemed a good trade-off then.

[DougOzzzz]

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I disagreed with the 2-pointer to cut it from 12 to 10. You need a 2 at some point if you are going for another touchdown and fg, but it's better to wait for the second td. It keeps the pressure on the opponents if they look up and later see they are only up 8, meaning the other team is within one score.


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I never understood this reasoning. I would always assume that the advantage of "knowing" whether they made the 2 point conversion would be important to the team trailing. If theyknow they need 2 TDs, they're not going to kick a FG on the next drive. Suppose they kick the XP, then kick a FG next drive, then take their time and score a TD with 30 seconds remaining. Now they have to go for 2. If they miss, they lose. Now if they went for 2 the first time, and missed the conversion they could have changed their strategy the rest of the game.

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My rule of thumb is to not go for two unless you have to.


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What the [censored] kind of rule is that? My "rule of thumb" is to do whatever gives my team the best chance of winning.

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I agree with both decisions.

A 2 point conversion is a helluva lot easier than 4th and 6.

The 2 point conversion allows you to kick a FG and a TD if you make it, and if you don't convert, it's the same as kicking the extra point because you need three TD's anyway.

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A 2 point conversion may be easier than 4th and 6, but there is no way in hell 3 two point conversions is easier than 4th and 6. If he kicks the extra point they're down 17. Then they just need two touchdowns and a field goal. The only way going for two benefits them is if they hit all three and keep fsu from scoring, an extremely unlikely parlay. If there was like 5 minutes left or something then obviously you go for two, but they had almost the whole quarter left.

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I agree with going for two the first time though, as it did not seem that V Tech would be able to score that many more times in the rest of the game. Trying to keep it within 2 scores seemed a good trade-off then.

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Well, i disagree, obviously, but let me ask you this: Didn't Beamer's decision to go for 2 strike you as inconsistent with his decision to punt on 4th and 6? I mean whether you agree with his decision or not, punting says "I think there is enough time left for my defense to get me the ball back and to still score 3 or 4 times. Thus, it's not worth risking giving Florida State the ball on our own 35 yard line." Whereas going for 2 says, "There's no way in hell there's enough time to score 3 more times, my only shot is three straight two point conversions!" And the touchdown was only like a minute after the decision to punt, so what changed?

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I thought people might enjoy reading an unsolicited post about how much I hate my favorite team.

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Wrong.

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Well isn't the implicit assumption that people are going to enjoy reading your unsolicited opinions made everytime you post something new?