Report Card vs VT

Last night was one of the most pathetic performances I've seen from the Miami Hurricanes since the 48-0 OB finale in 2007 vs Virginia. Last night's game, to me, rivals it. After we get the first TD from Stephen to Stacy for 84, and we stop VT on the next drive and force a punt, we had a real chance to bust this game wide open on Stacy's PR, and was just about to go up 14-0, when he fumbled, and VT recovered, and instead, it was 7-7. (14 point swing and VT had gotten the mo). 

On the ensuing Kickoff, Artie has a big return and possibly take one back to the house, when he loses the ball and VT recovers that. 5 plays later, after Tracy forces a fumble, they take the lead for good at 14-7 on the very next play after Tracy's FF that VT recovered.  Early in the 2nd after we went 3 and out, we have a bad snap, and Patty puts his knee down and VT has a very short field starting at our 17, and score two plays later to go up 21-7. 

One play that told the story about our night was the Stanford TD on 3rd and 17. The tackling was abysmal. On that play, a stop had to be made and at worst, you hold them to a FG, instead, he goes 32 yards for the TD, and instead of maybe 24-14, its 28-14. That's a four point swing right there in Tech's favor. 

Another was the forced fumbles we caused that could have swung mo back our way, instead, VT was Johnny on the spot both times. It seemed the breaks went their way. The second FF that was recovered by VT for the TD, turned out to be the back-breaker. We did the right thing on that, but they were a step faster than we were on those both times. 

Last night was a very poor excuse of a defense. What I saw last night from Mark D'Onofrio's scheme was utterly embarrassing and completely inexcusable. 549 yards allowed last night (291 yards allowed in the 2nd half. Thomas goes 10-12 in the 2nd half for 183 yards) Of those 549 yards allowed, 183 of those were on the ground and 366 by Thomas passing. We didn't win the TO battle last night (-2) and when you don't win the Turnover Battle, you're not going to win many games, and last night vs a Top 10 Defense in Tech, we didn't win and we certainly won't win when you have -8 yards rushing in the 4th quarter like we did last night. This loss is on really two areas: Defense and Special Teams. VT started their drives from their own 28 on Average, and we started our drives from our own 24 on average. 

We had 4 Three and Outs last night, to just 2 for VT. The Time of Possession in the 2nd half was startling, and shows the ineptness of our defense under D'Onofrio. VT had the ball for 21:32 to just 8:28 for our Offense. For the game, VT was 57% on 3rd Down conversions. In the 2nd half, they were 78% on 3rd Down conversions. On the other hand in those same situations, we were 3-12 in those spots. That won't get it done vs a team as stout as VT is, especially on D. 

I'm going to give the report card and its going to be very simple. 

Offense: D-

Defense: F

Special Teams: F

I don't know where we are right now, but let's understand this, we do not control our own fate anymore after that fiasco last night. We have to get back on track very quickly up in Durham on Saturday at 3:30 on ESPNU against a very good Duke team. That's all for this week.