It was one of the worst losses at Lane Stadium in Frank Beamer’s 25 years as head coach of the Virginia Tech Hokies. When the final seconds mercifully ticked off, the then No. 11 ranked Hokies lost 23-3 to Clemson. It was the second worst home loss in Beamer’s quarter century at the helm and Hokie fans, for the most part, aren’t happy about it.

Below are just a few comments on the VTHokieFans Facebook page:

“We are favored by 7 again this week!!! I hope we kick some butt and show everyone we can win on a good team.” Marsha Burnette Rakes

“Not sure if its play calling or just execution… some of hte plays looked ok, but others were broken, looked like everyone didnt execute at the same time… i thought this would have been fixed in the first four out of conference games…” Darrick J Lee

“Fire Bryan Stinespring now. Bench Logan. He will never be Cam Newton. Fact is, Clemson got who we should have pursued for QB! Wake up Frank!” Brian Jessee

As has been the case in the last several year, offensive coordinator Brian Stinespring is once again under fire from the fans for the offense’s lack of production. After a statistically good season in 2010, the Hokies are once against struggling on offense. And for the first time a long time, they’re struggling on special teams, too.

The loss was bad, but it’s not all doom and gloom. David Wilson rushed for 123 yards giving him four 100+ yard days through five games. The junior is averaging 127.8 yards per contest and has five touchdowns. He has three fumbles this season, which irks the running back, but the Clemson fumble was just bad luck. Not much he could have done about it.

So, what’s wrong with the offense as a whole? Why did they get shut out of the endzone with a senior offensive line, an all-conference caliber back, and wide receivers aplenty? It’s simple really - Beamer needs to bring in an offensive coordinator from outside the family and turn him loose and let him run an offense that doesn’t change from week to week.

TheKeyPlay.com has a great post by french60wasp titled “A Microcosm for the true challenges within the Virginia Tech program,” in which the author details why Tech’s offense consistently underperforms. And he places the blame, rightly so, squarely on the shoulders of the coaching staff. It is a spectacular read.

Defensively, while the Hokies have returned to the dominating form we’ve come to expect of Bud Foster’s defenses, I’ve noticed a severe lack of the style of defense that made Virginia Tech such a tough opponent since Foster took over. Where are the eight men in a box? Were are the guys flying around all over the place and throwing offenses off? Where’s the go-for-broke blitzes we used to see so much of? 

I think Foster’s problem is that he made his name on building defenses with walk-ons and lightly recruited players. He molded them into the players he needed them to be. But since Tech has started getting 3- 4- and the occasional 5-star recruit, it seems as thought many of them struggle to find a place on the team. I honestly don’t think Bud can change his defense to suit the skill level of his players because he’s used to adapting his players to fit his defense.

Remember the criticism about Ryan Williams? He was uncoachable because he wouldn’t stick to his gap assignment. If the play called for him to hit gap A, he’d read the play and choose a better gap. That was a case of the offensive coaches allowing a guy with superior talent just do his thing. There are some guys that you can afford to do that with and I think Bud has wasted the talent of some would-be studs because he’s tried to pigeon hole them into his scheme.

So what’s the solution? I’m not going to criticize Foster too much because he’s still getting results. I would like to see him get back to that chaos defense that wreaked havoc on offenses with blitzes and bull rushes. Teams used to fear Foster’s defenses. They still respect them, but I don’t think they fear them as they did in the Corey Moore/John Engleberger days.

As for the offense, I’ve given up hope on ever having an offense that can compete with the Alabamas, Boise States and Stanfords of college football… so long as Bryan Stinespring, Mike O’Cain and Curt Newsome are on the staff. And it’s not all on them either. Beamer has to take some of the blame because he wants his offense to fit into his strategy and doesn’t turn his OC loose.

I’m not sure Bryan Stinespring “on the loose” would yield any better a result, but ideally, I’d love to see Beamer step outside his comfort zone and go out and hire a young, innovative offensive coordinator and let him build his own game plan and identity. Let him recruit the kids he needs.

That being said, I think it would take a colossal collapse for Beamer to even get close to making that kind of change. We’re talking a 5-7 win season, or missing a bowl game like Texas did last year. And what did the Longhorns do? Mac Brown cleaned house and brought in a new OC and now look at them.

Will any of these things happen? Probably not. But, there you have it.