Are Frank Beamer and Virginia Tech Primed for Another November Charge?

Confidence...sometimes life or death comes down to whether the person has it or not.  Confidence seems to be the key component in decisions made by Frank Beamer and his staff. 

Beamer's Hokies appear to be on their way to another strong November.  Is this due to younger players stepping up or understanding their role on the team?  Could be, but what explains the upturn last year as well?

The answer: confidence.  Not only is it how much confidence the staff has in their players, but also how much they have in themselves.

Bud Foster seems to always have it.  Even when there seems to be an issue on defense, he appears to be on top of it and knows that he can fix it, no matter if he has a bunch of seniors or freshmen.

Frank Beamer and Brian Stinespring sometimes appear to lack in this department.  Some of it is due to the lack of confidence in the young players on offense.  In fact, this lack of confidence shows why the special teams struggle, because Beamer does not want to use the starting upperclassmen on special teams to save their energy for the other plays. 

The players seem to pick up on this and doubt themselves as well.  For instance, drops seem to be more prevalent in this receiving corps because that doubt is there.  The lack of confidence was prevalent when Sean Glennon was benched and Tyrod Taylor lost his redshirt.  However, this was due to questions about the whole offense and not on Glennon.

Another issue is the confidence in their coaching abilities.  This one also appears in Beamer and Stinespring.  Stinespring appears like he can actually run this offense and be creative with it.  Last year, they were able to implement the two-QB system without major problems.  Last Thursday, there were signs of the modified Wildcat formation with Greg Boone running it. 

Beamer's confidence in his defense and lack of it in his offense may also hinder Stinespring in trying something new (as well as new players).  Beamer and staff seem to get to the point in a season where they say, "Why not?"

Some of it is confidence growing in both players and the coaches, and some of it is that they feel like they get to the point of no return where if their new strategy fails, it really will not hurt this team.

If you look at this team's makeup five to 10 years in the past, they were known for fast starts and horrible finishes.  This was in part to easy non-conference scheduling at the beginning of the season.

However, some of it was the players becoming overconfident and reading how great they were.  Once they were punched in the face, they seem to cringe and doubt themselves instead of moving forward with a better plan.

If Beamer and his staff can stay confident with his teams, as well as the players staying confident with themselves, the sky's the limit for any Hokie team in the future.