I am still massively irritated that the refs took our TD off the board and that Davis missed the end-of-game FG. That last game should have been 48-7.
We've left way too many points on the board in other games this year:
Turnover deep in Bethune territory;
Picks at the end of 2Q and beginning of 3Q vs. USF;
The BS touchdown called back vs UF;
CJ Daniels dropping balls vs. Stanford and UF;
Missed FG vs. Stanford and NC State;
The 4th quarter vs FSU;
4th and 1 failure vs. SMU, Trader's ridiculous fumble, Lofton's ridiculous drop;
Botched FG attempt vs ND;
4 turnovers vs. Ville.
I fully recognize that if you score earlier in the game, or get a TD instead of FG, you may change the way you substitute or call the game, as may your opponent. So I realize that there are limits to how honest these counterfactuals really are as a thought experiment.
Disclaimer aside, if we look above, at MINIMUM we SHOULD have had 30 vs ND, 27 vs. SMU, 31 vs. FSU, 55 vs. USF, 51 vs. Stanford, 37 vs. Florida, 48 vs. NC State, 48 vs. Bethune. I don't even know how to quantify the Ville debacle. These are
VERY CONSERVATIVE numbers.
We cannot leave any points on the field in the next two games. This does not mean you panic in the middle of the first quarter and go for it on 4th and 6 from the opponent's 22 yard line. Don't do stupid **** that puts us behind schedule. But it means we'd better be scoring on **** near every offensive possession. We need turnovers, and preferrably, defensive scores. We need Toney to hit on returns, and preferrably, a house call or two. We need near shutouts from our defense.
We need to be in a position where the backups come in with about 10-12 minutes to go. And they have to continue to run our offense and defense full throttle.
I strongly believe that much of the narrative about our "incomplete games" would be assuaged if we'd simply done our job and gotten a few more points where we were in position to do so. I acknowledge zebra activities have ****ed us multiple times as well.
I consider VT an elimination game not just in terms of W/L, but believe we will be eliminated if we don't blow them out.
In sum, I share
@CDWright40 's grim view of our chances. Our sliver of hope rests first and foremost on us going out and playing near-perfect games against both VT and Pitt. There's no other way to get there.
