Gameday blog: UM at Virginia Tech

BLACKSBURG -- The Hurricanes take on Virginia Tech in a crucial ACC matchup this afternoon at Lane Stadium. Feel free to follow the game on ABC/ESPN and share your thoughts during our live blog.

Reminder: Participation in the Cover It Live program is intended for the exchange of meaningful questions and observations during the game between fans and reporters. Not all comments or questions will be posted. Readers can feel free to participate in an open discussion in our comment section below. iPhone users are asked to be patient as it takes several minutes for Cover It Live to load.

Comments

[Rick S]

I wish I could blame the weather, injuries or bad calls, but the reality is that VT is just a better team right now, particularly on D. We played poorly all around almost the entire game, made way too many mistakes and missed way too many opportunities to expect a W against a quality opponent on the road.

We'll see what kind of character this team has next week against OK at home. I still think we are heading in the right direction, but it is going to take more time. I think they will come out ready for battle next Saturday.

[Canesjunkie]

VT is on the other side of the ACC, no?

All we have to do is win our division and we go the the championship game. That should be the goal. National championship is a pipe dream at this point.

[Canadian Cane Fan]

Stay Gay Joe...

[Rick S]

Miami and VT are both in the Coastal division (along with Ga Tech and NC).

[D-Nice]

We got beat by a much better team. The weather had nothing to do with it. This is the first good defense we have faced. Every coach on UM's staff got schooled today. Let's see how we respond next week. The defense is below average. What a big difference it would have been if we had Major Wright & PJ. None of our DBs are physical. Too much emphisis on cover corners. Don't believe the HYPE and get to WORK.

[Cav]

Exposed. It was easy completing passes when guys are running free. Weak armed Qb's against top talent. So now its going to be 2-2. Still number 3 in the state.

[Westkendallcane]

Our fan base makes me sick.

[Ibis1973]

Bradford is nothing without his favorite TE, and he is not comming back. Plus OU's line sucks

[Russell]

Time to give Highsmith some experience?

[360Cane]

I love the jealousy by haters. Their programs will NEVER do what this program has done. N-E-V-E-R!!!

This program will never return to Earth. It's in the next universe!

Envy the past...Fear the future!

GO CANES!!!

[asd05e]

UM sucks, i knew they would show up like this, D. Sharpton is garbage and needs to be benched and J. Harris is (like ive said many times before) very mediocre....this "U" is very overhyped

[Joe]

Hey Canadian, don't get your hopes up. Stop that heavy breathing. So, I guess that means you don't want South Florida tacked on to your eastern most province?????

[Russell]

I guess I'll be driving to Portland next Sat. late (after OU) instead of making it there for primetime: So anyone else think next weeks game is officially at 3:30?

[Unbearable]

Haters go away them come back?! I love the envy. This game isn't over. Plus, your swine flu Gafors will lose today anyway!

GO CANES!!! The greatest dynasty in this state. UFluke, bye bye now.

Posted by: 360Cane

down by 24... with 4 mins left, and the coaches have thrown in the towel and are running the ball, hurry up offense no where in site... and the game isnt over? randy has already conceeded the loss... what a joke!!!

[360Cane]

I'm out. U are clueless. Remember, UFluke was 8-4 before their run last year.

LMBO!!!

We have one bad game AWAY! Just wait until J12 gives his speech!

GO CANES!!!

[Cav]

I thought taylor sucked too. The D is not championship level. Terrible tackling, suspect secondary. Enough about Spence and Phillips. McCarthy should be the only one that talks. FSU destroyed them and we beat a one-dimensional team in GTECH. Plus, Miami got up early, making GTECh easier to defend. Shannon again has Miami flat for a big game. 2-2 out of the top 25.

Look at Vtech's schedule. There schedule was harder. Miami is still far away.

[GoCanesMF]

Let the hate begin!!!!

[D-Nice]

We got beat by a much better team. The weather had nothing to do with it. This is the first good defense we have faced. Every coach on UM's staff got schooled today. Let's see how we respond next week. The defense is below average. What a big difference it would have been if we had Major Wright & PJ. None of our DBs are physical. Too much emphisis on cover corners, fast but can't tackle or play the run. Don't belive the HYPE and get to WORK.

[360Cane]

Hey num num. Yeah U! I posted that back when it was 21-7 and we were driving. Then Graham made two key drops. U are a true num num and can't tell time!

[Ibis1973]

Frank Beamer needs to cut that thing off his face

[718]

Do not despair!
We are a better team than VT
nSaturday we will whip OK
and be back in the top 10.
We will win out and face UF for NC
and we will win the national championship.
This. Year.
Innocent bump on the road.
We will win the NC this year,
don't worry!

[Unbearable]

why is it that when someone speaks the truth... we are called haters. just because im not blind to what a disgrace shannon is as a coach, doesnt mean i hate miami. i love my canes, but i know a piss poor coach when i see one. if a bad season means we can get tubbs in here, i can stomach the losses!!!1

[RYaN14]

Yea those 2 drops killed our momentum. We just played like crap today. I just hope we kill Oklahoma next week. We cant afford to play like this again.

[Cav]

Great. USF is probably better than UM. Cant wait for the Great One's press conference. He is always so insightful. He looks like Bowden on the sideline.

[718]

Saturday we will whip OK
and be back in the top 10.
We will win out and face UF for NC
and we will win the national championship.
This. Year.
Innocent bump on the road.
We will win the NC this year.
Watch Us!

[asd05e]

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha......hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha..haha..ha....i knew this canes team sucked..Sharpton is garbage and J. Harris is too mediocre...it all about the eeewwwwwwwwwww...lol

[mike]

what can you say- great defense beats good offense. rally up around the team, i have never liked shannon since the vir. game in the OB. but he IS our coach, and we need to rally with optimism not pessimism. life is so hard, why not enjoy and root the U on. a win next week, and we look like a much better team. this game is over, like a win, you learn from it and go on. beat OU

[Joe]

At least Bowden's 80. He has an excuse for being disoriented.

[Unbearable]

Posted by: 718 | September 26, 2009 at 06:53 PM

we just got throttled today... give it a rest dude

[NigerianCane]

UM fans are the worst in the world. 1 gaame lost and it's all over. The rain stopped us today. Damn, I hate Miami fans. I'm going on canespace where only real Miami fans post.

[GoCanesMF]

We jus made tyrod look like a real qb. I like shannon but jus didn't seem like they were prepared for this one.

[philyblunt71]

Turn the page and be ready to knuckle up with them sooners! GO CANES....

[Unbearable]

UM fans are the worst in the world. 1 gaame lost and it's all over. The rain stopped us today. Damn, I hate Miami fans. I'm going on canespace where only real Miami fans post.

Posted by: NigerianCane | September 26, 2009 at 06:56 PM

the rain was the least of our problems today... put down the kool aid

[MDCane]

Just didn't have it today, period. The rain neutralized any speed advantage Miami may have had. But outside of that, they made us look like a late teens rated team. I really think the team bought into the hype. And I think Graham has many catches ahead of him, but those 2 drops hurt, no matter how you look at it. Now, this early in the season, we still need to root for a team to upset the Hokies and hope the Canes win out in the ACC. The season doesn't end today....

[Unbearable]

miami.... plain and simple... is just not a physical team!!! its painful watching this team try and tackle.

[carlos]

Pathetic pretenders

[Eddie]

I was worried about this game all week, ever since VT luckily beat Nebraska. If Jacory gets pressured, we are screwed, which is exactly what happened the entire first half. And the play calling was nothing like the first 2 games. Not sure what happened there. What happened to our run defense, after totally dominating GaTech? Oh well, time to man up against a rested OU team!

Long live The U ! ! !

[billb]

This bunch is still really green. Expect the name Tommy Tuberville to enter a lot of conversations about the Canes over the rest of this season. I don't even want to think about what OU (even without Sam Bradford) is going to do to these greenhorns next week! Can you spell U-G-L-Y?

Another looooooooonnnngg season, folks.

Do we need better coaches to become more than a .500 team?

[emgee]

Just AN UGLY DAY all over. Hope the kids learn from it....coaches too. Disappointed that we stopped trying to score in the 4th and just ran out the clock...not the Cane mentality, even in a loss.

Anyone see FSU today? I thought I saw Pat Nix calling plays.

[Rick S]

The rain had nothing to do with the loss today. We lost to a better team because we couldn't block, couldn't run, couldn't pass, couldn't tackle, couldn't stick to assignments and couldn't take advantage of the mistakes VT made. Tech's defense was far superior.

The 'Canes are still very young. More time and patience are necessary. A conference title is a long shot this year, as we need to win out in the conference and have VT lose twice to only 3 teams that have a chance against them (GT, NC and NC State), but we can still have a great season to build on.

[Adam K.]

though it is hard to say anything good about the canes i still love them. to me it came down to match ups. VT has a great defense that was fueled by the crowd and the rain, so they stomped our offense. Our speed on defense was absent due to the rain and their big uglies controlling the line of scrimmage and special teams absolutely killed us. Real canes, support these guys and to the team keep your heads up, its still all about the U, forget the haters

[Adam K.]

canes keep ya head up forget the haters real cane fans throw ur set up y yall crying its still all about the U

[SJMPARMAN]

I must say that I was surprised that this game wasn't at least close. I knew we would get the real VT defense but I didn't expect Jacory to have such a hard time throwing the ball in the rain. The O line play was just not very good in the first half, and the play calling was suspect. What happened to keeping 7 or 8 in to block? And defensively, there are some major issues. But bottom line is in a rain game, the most physical team wins, and we were not physical either offensively or defensively.

On the bright side, I would have taken 2-1 after the first three games of the season. And I think Oklahoma, with Bradford or not, is a game we can win. It was foolish to expect this team to improve so much in one year to run the table. It is only September. There is alot of football yet to be played and I will continue to support this team. I am not going to bad mouth the coaches or players over one game.

[Ur done]

Overrated. Smells a lot like 2008 USF #2 ranking in here. Downhill.

[Cav]

Stop with the VTECH defense being soo great. Bama ran all over them and so did Nebraska. Miami Oline is not great and JJ is slow and needs to play FB. He is not a top UM back. Cooper is so much more explosive.

Harris is going to struggle again next weekend. Look at what he does against quality D's with legit secondarys. You cant just loft the ball all the time.

[philyblunt71]

WTF tubberville! I'd rather hear a mark richt rumor! Anyhow canes are headed into the right direction under Shannon, he's hog'n up all the local talent and making them compete to start. Peace Out, off to horror nights with my cane gear on my back!

[Cav]

Fsu has much better chance at going to ACC championship. There division stinks and UM is now effectively 2 games behind VTech.

[neil]

Miami quit in the fourth quarter by not going to the hurry up offense and running to much and running the clock down, and they were to predictable on offense in the first three quarters they threw on first down and ran on second.

[Sarasota 'cane]

Congrat's to VT today. They came to play. Mmmmmmm, humble pie!

Go 'canes!

[Rick S]

Fsu has much better chance at going to ACC championship. There division stinks and UM is now effectively 2 games behind VTech.

Posted by: Cav | September 26, 2009 at 07:35 PM
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As much as that sucks, I think you're right.