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Another late-season slide, another late-season home loss to an opponent that has been a whipping boy in recent years, and another flood of questions. Hokie fans want to know what's up, why things are happening, and when something will be done to reverse it.

I spent the day watching tape, cruising the message board, and talking to various sources trying to figure out what's wrong with the Hokies. There's a lot of venom being directed at the coaches on the message boards right now, and while it is true that this season is not one of their finer efforts, it's also true that player execution and raw talent -- or a lack thereof -- is also at the heart of Virginia Tech's problems right now.

My email in-box has quite a few messages requesting that I give my thoughts on what's really eating at the Hokies right now, but as I have said repeatedly recently, I'm waiting until season's end to make grand generalizations about the program. I've got most of the data I need right now and could actually proceed with a "state of the program" address. I don't think the UVa game will tell us anything new. Just the same, I'm going to hold off until after Thanksgiving, after the games are played, and after the mad weekly rush to edit previews, make up roster cards, write recaps, watch tape, and all that stuff.

For now, let's talk about this game. For the Hokies, this game was a dose of both poor execution and questionable coaching. From the coaching standpoint, the big topics of conversation were Coach Beamer's decision to substitute Marcus Vick for Bryan Randall, and the offensive playcalling.

We'll take a look at those topics, plus comment on the execution of the team, both offensively and defensively.

By now, you know the statistics: Bryan Randall led the team to 17 points and 238 yards of offense in the first quarter, and despite this, was benched for Marcus Vick at the beginning of the second quarter, as per the plan the coaches had announced earlier in the week.

In that first quarter, Kevin Jones was actually more responsible for the 17 points and 238 yards than anyone else. Jones had 102 yards rushing on 7 carries and one reception for 55 yards. He was lighting it up, but Randall was doing his part, too. He was 6-of-8 passing for 106 yards (5-of-7 for 41 yards, in addition to the screen pass to Jones).

Leading 17-10, the Hokies picked off Boston College QB Paul Peterson and were sitting pretty at the Eagles' 17-yard line when Vick entered the game in the second quarter.

Beamer's decision to insert Marcus Vick into the game has been questioned by many, and statistically, it was a big turning point. The Hokies had 9 first downs in the first quarter (10, if you count Ernest Wilford's "fumble" -- nice call, Big East refs -- on the opening play of the game). But in the second and third quarters, as VT was using Vick and then Randall at QB, the Hokies only picked up two first downs, and they logged four straight three-and-out possessions in the third quarter (with Randall at the helm).

But from where I sit, a lack of execution and a lack of coaching adjustments were more critical in Tech's offensive stall than the change of QBs. Jake Grove even said in a Lynchburg News and Advance article, "I thought Marcus did fine when he was in. We didn�t execute well enough up front when he was in the game for him to be successful, so I blame anything that happened on the offensive line."

Two comments: (1) That's leadership by Grove; and (2) Don�t lay it all on the offensive line.

On Vick's first two plays, Kevin Jones rushed for three yards and Vick was sacked for a loss on a heavy BC blitz. These were both plays that could have and probably would have happened with Randall at QB, though Randall might have read the blitz quicker and done something different. We'll never know.

But on third and 10 from the 17, Vick made a throw that Randall most likely doesn't make, hitting freshman wide receiver David Clowney at the side of the end zone. Clowney didn't quite get his foot in bounds, and we are left to wonder how history would have been different had his heel landed in bounds, instead of out of bounds. But the bottom line is that even if Randall makes that throw with the precision Vick made it -- not likely -- Clowney wouldn't have been any more in bounds for Randall than he was for Vick.

On Vick's second possession, he started from the Tech 1-yard line with a sweet rollout pass to Doug Easlick for a first down, and the Hokies churned out another first down on two Kevin Jones runs. Then came a six-yard run by Vick, followed by two 1-yard runs by backup tailback Cedric Humes, and then the Hokies punted.

I doubt the O-line blocks any better, and I doubt Humes runs any better, for Randall.

On Vick's third possession, that was when he started fraying around the edges a little bit, throwing a couple of incompletions, including a poorly thrown flare pass to KJ on second and 10 that fell incomplete.

But still, when Vick picked up the first down on a third and 10 run, the Hokies were flagged for holding, wiping out the first down. Facing third and 10 again, Vick was flushed from the pocket and penalized for an illegal pass when he ran one yard over the line of scrimmage and threw the ball away.

I'm not sure Randall would have done any better than Vick, though Vick did make a few mistakes. Where the Hokies got into trouble with the QB change was not so much that Vick was a step down from Randall, but that Randall, once he returned in the third quarter, had cooled off considerably. He was 6-of-8 before sitting down, and 6-of-15 after half time.

The whole Tech offensive machine got out of synch from the second quarter on. BC started keying on the run, and while I didn't think they were crowding the line with eight guys, they certainly were quick to descend on Kevin Jones en masse when the ball was handed off to him.

Where Bryan Stinespring failed his team was by running the deep, delayed handoff against a team that was keying on the run. He failed them by not calling misdirection plays such as a QB bootleg, or by actually handing off on the fake end-around. BC was selling out to stop the run, and while the Hokies punished UCF for that strategy in the season opener, they didn't punish BC for it here.

Where the players failed Stinespring was in not executing when Stinespring did make a good play call. One example was a first-down play call in which Bryan Randall ran down the line on a fake option, dropped back off the line of scrimmage, and fired the ball deep to Ernest Wilford (I've loved that play ever since UVa ran it with Shawn and Herman Moore back in the late 80's and early 90's). Wilford failed to get separation -- though, in fairness, he was grabbed and held briefly by BC strong safety Paul Cook, while the refs played the part of Ray Charles -- and Randall threw a poor pass into double coverage. Great play call, bad execution, blown call by the refs.

On the next play, Stinespring called a screen pass to KJ -- the same play that went for 55 yards earlier, and it was blown up by BC because Jon Dunn missed his block. Dunn then proceeded to slam his fists into his thighs and curse himself while the play was still going on and KJ was still fighting for yardage.

There are other examples of the players not executing -- Clowney dropping a pass inside the BC five-yard line on third down; Jon Dunn flinching and drawing a false start penalty on a critical fourth and two; Randall throwing the ball at the feet of an open Ernest Wilford; Randall locking onto receivers and getting his passes batted down by BC linemen; Justin Hamilton running a four-yard pattern on fourth and five, with Randall throwing it incomplete, anyway, etc. -- and Stinespring making poor play calls, like running two straight delayed handoffs from a one-back set with two tight ends on first and 10 and second and 8.

As I said, this offense was simply out of synch, and though it's convenient to blame it on the QB switch or the play-calling, that doesn't nearly tell the whole story. This offense suffers from having to pick from an experienced QB who isn't a good passer, or an inexperienced QB who runs and passes well, but can't see a blitz coming and can't put enough good plays together -- and who is snakebit by penalties or his teammates not making plays.

This offense also suffers from receivers who can't run routes and get open, except for the occasional breakaway by Wilford or Justin Hamilton, and when combined with the sputtering play from QB, it adds up to inconsistency in the passing game, and facing defenses that aren't afraid of the passing game. They can then key on the run, and even as great as KJ is, he can't win a game by himself. The offense occasionally needs to convert with the passing game, and they struggle (4-of-13 on third downs).

The offense had some big plays, but it blew two golden opportunities. They started one possession on the BC 17 and got no points out of it, and they started another on the BC 18 and got just a field goal out of it.

But then again, 27 points ought to be enough to beat BC at home. Which brings up our next discussion.

Derrick Knight: 38 carries, 197 yards rushing. And not one exceptional cut, broken tackle, or juke. Knight's got good straight-ahead speed and probably has some decent moves, but all he really had to do was run behind an offensive line that was opening big holes on a Hokie defense that got poor play from its defensive ends and linebackers in particular.

It wasn't as if BC really mixed it up, either. On first down, second and short, and second and middle yardage, BC ran it 38 times and passed 10. When VT does that, Hokies break out the lynch mob (VT's ratio, by the way, was 23-12).

As noted in the game recap, the Hokies gave up nine plays of 15 yards or more. Nine. That's way too many. A goal of the defense is to limit the opposition to no more than one play of 25+ yards, and in this game, they gave up three (a 60-yard run, a 37-yard pass, and a 64-yard pass).

BC scouted the Hokies well and ran the misdirection QB bootleg several times early in the game with great effectiveness, completely taking Tech's linebackers (who overpursue) and defensive ends (who often take the inside rush) out of the play.

Four times BC hit a wide-open fullback Greg Toal with pass completions. They ran right at Tech's linebackers repeatedly, knowing that they're not good run-stoppers (Mikal Baaqee once again had an astronomical number of tackles -- fifteen -- the large majority of which were made five yards downfield and falling backwards).

BC got their first TD on the strength of a 37-yard screen play to Knight. Vegas Robinson failed to get on Knight coming out of the backfield, Peterson dumped it to him, and Knight blew upfield to the Hokie 8-yard line.

They got their second TD on the strength of 8 carries by Knight for 41 yards. They got their third TD after Vinnie Burns kicked a 31-yard punt that gave BC possession at the Hokie 47-yard line. From there, the Eagles scored in five plays, finishing it with a 16-yard TD pass from Peterson to Grant Adams, who was running open along the back of the Tech end zone. The TD pass came after a couple of blown plays by VT's linebackers kept BC alive.

VT played a solid third quarter defensively, limiting BC to four first downs in four possessions, and they did it by blitzing heavily. Twice they killed third-quarter BC drives with sacks, and early in the fourth, Isaac Montgomery made a great play, stripping Knight and recovering it himself.

The blitzing finally caught up to the Hokie defense on what turned out to be the game-winning play, a 64-yard pass from Peterson to Adams. The Hokies rushed one too many players one too many times, and Peterson lofted a perfect pass out to Adams, who had gotten behind Vince Fuller. Once Fuller was beaten, he displayed an affliction that has stricken the Hokie defensive backs: a lack of tackling skills. Instead of wrapping Adams up and dragging him to the turf, Fuller grabbed at him around the shoulders, slapped at the ball, and fell to the ground while Adams ran the last 15 yards to the end zone.

That was a great play by BC, and it happens when you blitz a lot. What is hard to stomach was the lack of outside containment of the rushing game by Tech's defensive ends and linebackers. Time and again Knight bounced his runs outside, an area where the Hokies have become frighteningly vulnerable the last couple of years. The DE's often stunt inside, giving up the corner, and the linebackers and defensive backs aren't filling the hole. BC did a great job taking advantage of that in this game.

Knight's 60-yard run on BC's last possession is an example of this. On second and 10, whip linebacker Brandon Manning blitzed from the left side on a pass blitz, which means he took a deep angle into the backfield. Defensive end Noland Burchette stunted down inside, leaving an enormous hole on the left side. Baaqee made a bad situation worse by vacating the area and sliding towards the inside, and Knight had nothing but green grass in front of him. With the Hokies playing pass, the Eagles called a run and burned Tech big-time with it.

• As the season winds down, Kevin Jones is the only Hokie whose play is getting better. His 62-yard run for a TD was one of the best runs I've ever seen. In the last four games, Jones has carried 108 times for 680 yards (6.3 ypc) and 9 touchdowns. To put that in perspective, if Jones were to keep that pace over the full 12-game regular season, he would accumulate 324 carries for 2,040 yards (a Tech record), 6.3 yards per carry (a Tech record) and 27 touchdowns (tying a Tech record).

• BC killed VT with the kick return game for the second year in a row. In this game, BC returned 2 punts for 16 yards (8 yards per return) and 5 kickoffs for 152 yards (30.4 ypr). Last year, the punt return figures were 4 for 105 (26 ypr), and the kickoff returns were 5 for 174 (35 ypr). All told, in the last two years � (sound of cash register ringing) � that's 6 punt returns for 121 yards (20.2 ypr) and 10 kickoff returns for 326 yards (32.6 ypr).

• One to think about: On Eric Green's interception return in the second quarter, he let an offensive lineman run him out of bounds at the BC 17, and the Hokies failed to score. I find myself wondering, what if Green had cut back across the field? There were nothing but offensive linemen pursuing him, and I think he would have scored, had he just tried it. Sigh.

• A sign of a defense out of synch: On a third and 5 play for BC in the third quarter, Vince Fuller gave up the inside slant to Adams. Vegas Robinson was too slow to fall back into the passing lane, and Peterson hit Adams for the first down. Easy pitch-and-catch.

• Another sign: Many times this year, including this game, the Hokie defense is barely getting the signal from the sidelines in time for the snap. This was a big problem in the Pitt game, and you could see it in this game, too.

• The type of face mask penalties the Hokies are getting are a sign of poor tackling technique. They're grabbing players high, around the shoulders and helmet, and are latching on to face masks as a result. VT had two face masks in this game.

I had meant for this game analysis to be more coherent and descriptive, but alas, it's not. To sum it up, the Hokies are simply out of synch, both offensively and defensively (and in special teams, as well). The players aren't executing well, the QB rotation isn't doing the offense any favors, and the coaches aren't putting the team in the best position to win. You can't point the finger at any one aspect and place the blame there, because things are intertwined, and too many components of the team are failing the others at key times.

The Hokies will take this "limping to the finish line" act to Charlottesville, where the planets are aligning for UVa to finally break the four-game Hokie winning streak. Tech has to get it together and play some fired-up football, or the Hokie spiral will be 2-4 over the last six regular-season games.

We'll have our preview later tonight/early tomorrow.

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