sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
- Messages
- 25,255
- Like
- 108,994
I had this game penciled in as one to possibly attend in August. Held off on committing but talked with TexanMark and the next thing I knew, I had committed to going to the Ohio and VT games. I was going to go to the FSU and NC St games as well but those are easier for me because I can fly and have been to the venues before.
Anyway, the road trip for the Ohio game was tough on me. An 8 hour drive is really long, at least for me, and going on a 9 hour plus drive a month or so later was not appealing..
Checked on ways to make the drive easier. Blacksburg is tough. There are no major cities close to it. If it isn’t exactly in the middle of nowhere, it is very close. Long story short, found that Charlotte is about 2 hours 45 minutes away, saw there was a direct flight early Saturday from Syracuse and booked a flight a couple of days ago.
Lane Stadium was the only ACC football venue I have not seen Syracuse play at. Not sure when we will play there again. This might have been my last chance. Also, I had a feeling we were going to win and I wanted to be a part of it; to witness it in person.
So I found myself in a rental car, heading north on I77 yesterday morning. The terrain got more hilly with each mile
Soon I could see the Applalchians in the distance.
By the time I crossed into Virginia, I was surrounded by mountains and it was quite beautiful. Probably only 35% of peak, but the steepness of the slopes, the saw tooth mountain tops,,,pretty awesome stuff.
Got to the tailgate around 11:25, just as it was wrapping up. No surprise there. Mark did his usual great job, aided by people who live nearby. Thanks Mark for those diet Dr Peppers! Special props to Acesn8s for his contributions.
We headed to the stadium not long after. We all wanted to see ‘Enter Sandman’ and the helicopter flyover. The helicopter flyover was nice but it too a while and was kind of ho hum.
‘Enter Sandman’ was good. The crowd was pretty into it, especially the students. But it surely wound have been cooler if it had been a night game.
It is a big building and when I say building, I mean it. The sides have walls with a number of floors and windows.
I loved the wide concourses. They have a complex and elaborate system of ramps to get crowds to the higher levels of seats. It was built to handle big crowds. Or at least expanded to so this….
The end zone area one kind of a mess to navigate. There is no way to easily get from there (I think it was added fairly recently) to the other areas of the stadium.
The signage and row numbering schemes are lacking as well. My ticket said section 33R but there were no signs for sections with letter in them. I assumed I should go to section 33 and it turned out this was right. All the rows began with 4s where I entered so I thought I was in the wrong place but they have a weird row number system where it appears they start with 1a, go up to 1z, then 2a to 2z and so on.
It is an unusual stadium in that there is only one level of seating. So they have a ton of rows.
Anyway, I eventuallly found my seat. But on my way, I saw turkey legs for sale and got one. Why not eat the opponent’s mascot just before the game? It was smoked and kind good. Maybe just a tad underdone. $10; very keto friendly.
I was a little worried about how we SU fans wound be treated on the VT campus. We ice all heard the stories about why WVU fans have done to visiting SU fans in the past.
Well, this was decidedly not the case. I had 3 VT fans stop my on my walk to Lane Stadium. I was worried it was going to get an F bomb but they all just smiles
And said ‘Welcome to Virginia Tech!’. We sat next to some VT fans and they were very tolerant of our rooting for SU and pleasant all game long. And we had nice friendly discussions with VT fans all the way back to our parking lot. Many we’re happy VT lost because they thought it would lead to Fuente getting fired.
The VT fans made a fair amount of noise and supported their team all game long. This is a football school with a large and loyal fan base I respect.
The VT band was huge and impressive. Unfortunately, they played facing away fro us and I could not hear them well she they were on the field. I bet they played out fight song pregame. If memory serves, they had 25 tubas. Solid.
I think a good argument could be made that the opponent with whom we have played the most memorable games during my lifetime is VT. There have been a. Inch of them. And guess what? This one was as memorable, perhaps more so, then any of them. I expect we will see pods approved as a scheduling mechanism for P5 conferences during the off-season, as the SEC prepares to add Texas and Oklahoma, and the ACC will quickly move to a pod based scheduling system for football. That should address the ridiculous situation we have now where we play VT in the dome once every 14 years. This will be great to build conference rivalries and make the ACC a better comference
VT started the game with their safeties overplaying the run. They wanted SU to beat them through the air. Syracuse was able to move the ball and have successful anyway, in part due to some good blocking by the OL, and mostly due to some great running by Sean Tucker.
VT has struggled in offense all season but was very successful yesterday against the SU defense. We had Garrett out and it looked like we decided to force them to beat us with a short passing game. VT WRs routinely got 5 yard cushions and the troubled VT QB was able to make some easy completions doing this.
They have really struggled to run the ball and struggled early again. But they got a bunch of first downs with their QB runnjng, often untouched for 10-15 yards.
It was the same thing Travis did to us in Tallahassee. Disappointing to see it happen again so often. The good news is that adjustments were made and this stopped being a major issue.
We got hurt later though by the VT RBs. They had a bunch of long runs where our safeties got caught too close to the LOS and the RB got behind them and ran a long way.
I think this was ultimately our biggest problem. Safeties gettting out of position and getting burned. It is a really young bunch and I hope Tony is able to make some adjustments for BC.
I like a lot of what Sterlin is doing on offense. You have to have a genuine running threat for this offense to be successfully against ACC defenses and he realized, eventually, that the only way that was going to happen was to get a QB who can run the ball on the field.
That extra guy being involved makes all the differences. Especially when he is as tough and smart as Garrett is. It certainly helps when you have the best RB in the conference involved as well.
Sterlin kept throwing it deep all game long. We just missed on what, 3 different throws (all slightly overthrown).
But VT had their CBs on an island all game long. They refused to show respect for SU’s WRs and you know what? They got away with it until the last 19 seconds of the game.
I think we are going to have to take deep shots regularly with our WRa until we start to convert them into TDs more often.
Then the safeties have to get involved with pas coverage and our running game can really go to town. We are close to getting the whole offense working properly for tyhe first time post Dungey. I think it is going to happen this season, provided we can keep our key players healthy.
We still have issues at WR, where you see receivers running the wrong route, giving up routes and struggling to get open. I think Courtney is solid now. Alford is starting to establish himself as a deep threat and it looks like Cooper is becoming more of a factor with each passing game. Sharod is showing some signs of stepping up too. If only we had a TE threat defenses had to worry about as well….
I have been watching SU games since 1973. I would put this effort by Shrader up there in the top 5 efforts to will SU to victory since then. He was banged up pretty badly. Was hurt before the game started and took a bunch of hard shots from the Hokies. (They didn’t tackle that great but when they did, the hits were hard).
He just made play after play on his own, saving missed handoff, missed pass blocking assignments; you name it; he sis it. At times, he weaved around the Hokie defense like a drunken sailor. But he found a way to get first downs and keep drives alive over and over. And if you get him close to the goal line, watch out. He is going to do his damnest to get into the end zone. Amazing he has 12 rushing TDs already. And I think he has around 600 yards rushing. He might get 1000 if he can stay healthy.
Hoping the passing game can continue to improve and we don’t have to rely so much on Garrett’s legs to get us first downs abs points. A body, even his massive body, can only take so many hits.
Props to this team for never quitting all year long and overcoming a lot of adversity…including the usual number of troubling ref calls and review calls. Was it as bad watching on TV as it was live? Lane has a decent replay board. Nothing close to ours but it isn’t bad and man, it looked like the refs were lost all game long.
It wasn’t long ago that BC was undefeated and getting talked up as the best team in the ACC. But they are 0-3 in conference play now, and it sounds like they lost 3 more starters to injury yesterday. UL ran wild on them and they have to be very concerned about being able to stop our offense. And their offense stinks. They can’t run the ball and Grosert can’t throw it.
It will be interesting to see who is favored in the game. Writing this on a plane; guessing the line is already out there.
it has been a strange year. Let’s make it stranger and beat the Eagles. I would like to see them finish last this season in the Atlantic.
Anyway, the road trip for the Ohio game was tough on me. An 8 hour drive is really long, at least for me, and going on a 9 hour plus drive a month or so later was not appealing..
Checked on ways to make the drive easier. Blacksburg is tough. There are no major cities close to it. If it isn’t exactly in the middle of nowhere, it is very close. Long story short, found that Charlotte is about 2 hours 45 minutes away, saw there was a direct flight early Saturday from Syracuse and booked a flight a couple of days ago.
Lane Stadium was the only ACC football venue I have not seen Syracuse play at. Not sure when we will play there again. This might have been my last chance. Also, I had a feeling we were going to win and I wanted to be a part of it; to witness it in person.
So I found myself in a rental car, heading north on I77 yesterday morning. The terrain got more hilly with each mile
Soon I could see the Applalchians in the distance.
By the time I crossed into Virginia, I was surrounded by mountains and it was quite beautiful. Probably only 35% of peak, but the steepness of the slopes, the saw tooth mountain tops,,,pretty awesome stuff.
Got to the tailgate around 11:25, just as it was wrapping up. No surprise there. Mark did his usual great job, aided by people who live nearby. Thanks Mark for those diet Dr Peppers! Special props to Acesn8s for his contributions.
We headed to the stadium not long after. We all wanted to see ‘Enter Sandman’ and the helicopter flyover. The helicopter flyover was nice but it too a while and was kind of ho hum.
‘Enter Sandman’ was good. The crowd was pretty into it, especially the students. But it surely wound have been cooler if it had been a night game.
It is a big building and when I say building, I mean it. The sides have walls with a number of floors and windows.
I loved the wide concourses. They have a complex and elaborate system of ramps to get crowds to the higher levels of seats. It was built to handle big crowds. Or at least expanded to so this….
The end zone area one kind of a mess to navigate. There is no way to easily get from there (I think it was added fairly recently) to the other areas of the stadium.
The signage and row numbering schemes are lacking as well. My ticket said section 33R but there were no signs for sections with letter in them. I assumed I should go to section 33 and it turned out this was right. All the rows began with 4s where I entered so I thought I was in the wrong place but they have a weird row number system where it appears they start with 1a, go up to 1z, then 2a to 2z and so on.
It is an unusual stadium in that there is only one level of seating. So they have a ton of rows.
Anyway, I eventuallly found my seat. But on my way, I saw turkey legs for sale and got one. Why not eat the opponent’s mascot just before the game? It was smoked and kind good. Maybe just a tad underdone. $10; very keto friendly.
I was a little worried about how we SU fans wound be treated on the VT campus. We ice all heard the stories about why WVU fans have done to visiting SU fans in the past.
Well, this was decidedly not the case. I had 3 VT fans stop my on my walk to Lane Stadium. I was worried it was going to get an F bomb but they all just smiles
And said ‘Welcome to Virginia Tech!’. We sat next to some VT fans and they were very tolerant of our rooting for SU and pleasant all game long. And we had nice friendly discussions with VT fans all the way back to our parking lot. Many we’re happy VT lost because they thought it would lead to Fuente getting fired.
The VT fans made a fair amount of noise and supported their team all game long. This is a football school with a large and loyal fan base I respect.
The VT band was huge and impressive. Unfortunately, they played facing away fro us and I could not hear them well she they were on the field. I bet they played out fight song pregame. If memory serves, they had 25 tubas. Solid.
I think a good argument could be made that the opponent with whom we have played the most memorable games during my lifetime is VT. There have been a. Inch of them. And guess what? This one was as memorable, perhaps more so, then any of them. I expect we will see pods approved as a scheduling mechanism for P5 conferences during the off-season, as the SEC prepares to add Texas and Oklahoma, and the ACC will quickly move to a pod based scheduling system for football. That should address the ridiculous situation we have now where we play VT in the dome once every 14 years. This will be great to build conference rivalries and make the ACC a better comference
VT started the game with their safeties overplaying the run. They wanted SU to beat them through the air. Syracuse was able to move the ball and have successful anyway, in part due to some good blocking by the OL, and mostly due to some great running by Sean Tucker.
VT has struggled in offense all season but was very successful yesterday against the SU defense. We had Garrett out and it looked like we decided to force them to beat us with a short passing game. VT WRs routinely got 5 yard cushions and the troubled VT QB was able to make some easy completions doing this.
They have really struggled to run the ball and struggled early again. But they got a bunch of first downs with their QB runnjng, often untouched for 10-15 yards.
It was the same thing Travis did to us in Tallahassee. Disappointing to see it happen again so often. The good news is that adjustments were made and this stopped being a major issue.
We got hurt later though by the VT RBs. They had a bunch of long runs where our safeties got caught too close to the LOS and the RB got behind them and ran a long way.
I think this was ultimately our biggest problem. Safeties gettting out of position and getting burned. It is a really young bunch and I hope Tony is able to make some adjustments for BC.
I like a lot of what Sterlin is doing on offense. You have to have a genuine running threat for this offense to be successfully against ACC defenses and he realized, eventually, that the only way that was going to happen was to get a QB who can run the ball on the field.
That extra guy being involved makes all the differences. Especially when he is as tough and smart as Garrett is. It certainly helps when you have the best RB in the conference involved as well.
Sterlin kept throwing it deep all game long. We just missed on what, 3 different throws (all slightly overthrown).
But VT had their CBs on an island all game long. They refused to show respect for SU’s WRs and you know what? They got away with it until the last 19 seconds of the game.
I think we are going to have to take deep shots regularly with our WRa until we start to convert them into TDs more often.
Then the safeties have to get involved with pas coverage and our running game can really go to town. We are close to getting the whole offense working properly for tyhe first time post Dungey. I think it is going to happen this season, provided we can keep our key players healthy.
We still have issues at WR, where you see receivers running the wrong route, giving up routes and struggling to get open. I think Courtney is solid now. Alford is starting to establish himself as a deep threat and it looks like Cooper is becoming more of a factor with each passing game. Sharod is showing some signs of stepping up too. If only we had a TE threat defenses had to worry about as well….
I have been watching SU games since 1973. I would put this effort by Shrader up there in the top 5 efforts to will SU to victory since then. He was banged up pretty badly. Was hurt before the game started and took a bunch of hard shots from the Hokies. (They didn’t tackle that great but when they did, the hits were hard).
He just made play after play on his own, saving missed handoff, missed pass blocking assignments; you name it; he sis it. At times, he weaved around the Hokie defense like a drunken sailor. But he found a way to get first downs and keep drives alive over and over. And if you get him close to the goal line, watch out. He is going to do his damnest to get into the end zone. Amazing he has 12 rushing TDs already. And I think he has around 600 yards rushing. He might get 1000 if he can stay healthy.
Hoping the passing game can continue to improve and we don’t have to rely so much on Garrett’s legs to get us first downs abs points. A body, even his massive body, can only take so many hits.
Props to this team for never quitting all year long and overcoming a lot of adversity…including the usual number of troubling ref calls and review calls. Was it as bad watching on TV as it was live? Lane has a decent replay board. Nothing close to ours but it isn’t bad and man, it looked like the refs were lost all game long.
It wasn’t long ago that BC was undefeated and getting talked up as the best team in the ACC. But they are 0-3 in conference play now, and it sounds like they lost 3 more starters to injury yesterday. UL ran wild on them and they have to be very concerned about being able to stop our offense. And their offense stinks. They can’t run the ball and Grosert can’t throw it.
It will be interesting to see who is favored in the game. Writing this on a plane; guessing the line is already out there.
it has been a strange year. Let’s make it stranger and beat the Eagles. I would like to see them finish last this season in the Atlantic.
