CHokies Sighted in the Vicinity of Charlotte, NC

Posted on December 7, 2011 by The Notorious ZSB

Well championship weekend came and went and I got to watch a game I saw in October for a second time with even more disastrous results. Clemson shredded us, flat out were the better team and proved it on both occasions. Now that said, there are some mitigating circumstances. The injuries we sustained on D proved to be too much, we had people playing out of position and playing in a big time game who just weren’t ready for that task. We lost Jayron in the first quarter, and couldn’t generate any pressure on Clemson defensively. Check my write up for the game, we did everything we needed to do to lose. Watching this game was especially painful because it appeared at the half that we had managed to hold on and could maybe come back in the 2nd half but exactly like the first game it all fell apart and the dismal groan of every fan who saw it coming in the stands was palpable. A lot disappointed me in this game and lets dive in.

Defensively once Jayron Hosely went out there was no excuse playing freshman against Sammy Watkins, there is no question about his speed and ability and we could not cover him the entire game regardless of how we got the ball. Cris Hill and Dietrick Bonner were not up to the task, Bonner will be a good corner but he was totally overwhelmed in this game. Bud needed to make an adjustment to put Kyle Fuller out on Watkins, he is soundly our best corner after Jayron and to stick him to wallow at the Whip LB position was depressing to watch. The D line played angry and did a relatively good job of changing the pocket, but they did an awful job of getting Tajh or to make plays in the backfield. It didn’t matter what we did Clemson had the answer, Bud Foster has a lot of work to do before we see them next year down in Death Valley. Twice our D got exposed and worn out, can’t happen in the bowl game.

Offensively my problem is the criticism I’ve had of an offense designed by Bryan Stinespring (I don’t care who is calling the plays), when things don’t go the way we expect them to we struggle mightily to make any changes or adjustments to the game plan. We tried to do the exact same thing we did in the first game and it went just as badly. Instead of pounding DW (who only got 11 carries) to help wear out their defense and open up lanes later in the game we relied entirely on Logan Thomas to do all the heavy lifting, I cannot fathom when we became a spread pass happy offense, but it goes completely against what we do best when we execute well. The play calling was again bland and predictable, we didn’t do anything that confused or unsettled Clemson and once we were down they simply pinned their ears back and whipped the O-line yet again making it impossible for Logan or anyone to make enough good plays. It is atrocious that David Wilson got as few carries/touches as he did, and it was insulting to see us line up in the shotgun and motion the TE across the formation like we did the entire first game, it felt like the coaches didn’t bother to recognize what went wrong the first time and what went well. It was a serious head scratcher on offense during this game.

Now here is the icing on the cake, despite our blow out and not winning the ACC Title, we still earned a BCS bid. Given that this was the ceiling for this team (a BCS bowl game) I’m still content that we had a good season, 11 wins is nothing to scoff at, the talking heads can say what they want, but good teams win those close games and we did this team could easily have had a much worse record and that’s the difference in our program and a lot of others. Even in a year where the team faced a lot of adversity they pulled it off and came away with a lot of victories. I am perfectly happy with landing in the Sugar Bowl because honestly it’s the best BCS Bowl site, we don’t have an ACC Title, but all our fans get a considerably nicer destination for our 19th bowl in a row. I’ll follow up with some thoughts on our selection in the Sugar Bowl in another post later.

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Weekend Preview ACC Title Game Dec 3: vs Clemson

Posted on December 2, 2011 by The Notorious ZSB

 

Once again we find ourselves exactly (mostly) where we all expected this team to be, back in the ACC Title game with a chance to collect our 4th title in 5 years and our 5th in 8 since we joined the league. This team has finished with 11 wins during the regular season for the third time in the past 12 years, and we continued our streak of 10 or more wins to a country leading 8 years in a row. There is a lot to be proud of when you look at this team, the one blemish being that miserable game we played at the start of October against a hot Clemson team. They embarrassed us in our own house, and since then we’ve been hoping we can get another shot to rectify our performance from that night. Well here it is, Clemson managed to limp into the title game while we’ve roared into it on a seven game winning streak. It’s going to be an even crowd down in Charlotte (maybe with a Tiger lean since they had more time to buy up tickets), but I know our team has that one loss on their minds, without and perhaps with a convincing victory this team could be inline to play for a national title. That said, we can only control what we can which is the team’s play on the field, so it’ll be incumbent upon this group of Hokies to play like we have in all the conference title games since our disappointment in 05; with tenacity and hunger showing the Atlantic Division rep that we run this conference.  Thankfully these guys have been here before, and will have a chance to become the winningest group of seniors to play at VT, they know what it takes to win.

The Hokie just put together their strongest performance of the season, crushing UVA in Charlottesville forcing multiple turnovers and creating multiple sacks, they did this by stonewalling the UVA rushing attack which predicated their entire game plan. Clemson has failed miserably the last two weeks against a mediocre and inconsistent NC State team, and then again in their worst offensive game in years to their instate rival Gamecocks. This is really where I see the biggest margin of difference between the first game and this second game. In the first game our D line was banged up and we even lost a starting D linemen in that game, their offensive line was healthy and playing at a high level. This time around, Clemson’s o line has been unreliable and our D line is healthy and has really solid depth as a result of all the injuries, guys that were young playing before and blowing gap assignments aren’t anymore and we’ve continued our defensive tradition. Clemson I feel is going to have their hands full establishing a consistent running game to help create the misdirection and confusion they want from their offense. Secondarily you have to consider that we weren’t healthy at the WR position and LT wasn’t fully healthy either last we met. This is no excuse for putting up 0 points, but since then we’ve been able to stretch the field vertically which we couldn’t last time, and we have discovered 3rd and Logan. Our third down conversion rate was horrific in our last meeting with Clemson, but we also didn’t run the same sort of short yardage plays with LT during that game either. Despite how crappy and ugly that first game against Clemson was, it really spurned the team and the coaching staff to pick and design plays to let our two best offensive weapons do work while tying up another defender to consider Logan. Long story short I feel that the areas where we struggled in the last game have improved significantly since then. We played a good enough defensive game, but it’s hard on the D when the offense doesn’t produce consistent drives. I think we can produce at a higher level on both side of the ball this time around.

The Hokies will win if…

They convert third downs and avoid turnovers. Our two huge failings in the first game doomed us, and they will doom us again if we commit the same mistakes. Clemson has playmakers and you can’t give them extra chances, sustaining drives to keep the defense fresh and keeping their offense off the field is our best avenue to victory. It goes without saying that generating turnovers (which we usually do) will also be key for demoralizing this Clemson team, they haven’t been as mentally tough as they were early in the season when they make mistakes and get down early.

The Hokies will lose if…

We don’t generate pressure and plays in the backfield, and turn the ball over. The key to blowing up Clemson’s offense (as shown in the past few weeks) is to get into their backfield, the faster we can disrupt Tajh and break up running plays to take away play action the better we are. If we can’t like we couldn’t in the first game, their talented players will get to make plays in space. Same concept as spoken earlier, extra chances if we give them extra chance to score we will be in trouble, they have the ability to put up yards and points and we can’t give them the chance to get a comfortable lead like they did last game. I’ll also add that we need to do a better job of limiting their talented TE Dwayne Allen especially on third down, he was murderous against us in the second half with multiple 3rd down conversions on respectable down and distances. He cannot be allowed to make those plays this time around.

Any title game is big, this one is big for this team for a couple reasons beyond the obvious. They want to potentially finish with the best record of any Virginia Tech team under Frank Beamer (going by wins debate about how ‘99 factors in with less games and a NCG appearance are legit considerations), collect more wins as a senior class than anyone before them, and avenge their lone loss of the season. I think this group knows what it takes to win and play at a high level and they’ve shown it over the past 7 weeks particularly in the past month. Clemson is reeling, and I think the mental states of both teams are going to play heavily in this game. The Hokies should be on a mission to cement ourselves as the kings of the ACC, and more importantly the best of these two teams since I know they don’t feel like they played as well as they should the first time around. Clemson will want that first title since 1991, but I have to wonder if they’ll feel up to it if they face adversity early in the game. I once again like the Hokies to win this one, and I think we should win by 7-10 points. I think much like last years title game, it should be not as close as the score might indicate. See you in Charlotte!

Posted in ACC, Clemson Tigers, College Football, Virginia Tech Hokies | Leave a comment

It’s hate week

Posted on November 23, 2011 by The FatMan

See having their logo upside down is a sign of disrespect I love this time of the year. In normal parts of the world the weather has turned crisp but not quite cold yet. It is a time to gather with friends and family and give thanks. We gorge ourselves on protein and various carbohydrates soaked in fat. Most importantly this is a time for football. And not normal football. This is most most special week of football of all. This is hate week.

This is the week we get joy out of loathing others. The biggest rivalries are played this weekend. The Backyard Brawl, The Civil War, The Iron Bowl, and of course The Commonwealth Cup.

Everyone knows the game this year is the Coastal Championship Game for the first time since 2007. There is a lot more on this line the the usual bragging rights and bowl eligibility for the ‘Hoos. Worst of all the Cavs actually are decent and scare me a little.

UVA has gotten a lot better over the course of the season. They are not the same team that barely beat an awful Indiana team and need overtime to beat Idaho. They don’t have any spectacular players, but have been executing at a high level. The keys to their success has been a good defense and running game. Their passing game has been ok but not spectacular. Basically they play a similar brand of football to what VT plays. This game is going to be won by the team that establishes the running game early. If we start slow we may find in a hole we can’t get out of very easily. We will need to play better then we did against Clemson, UNC, and Duke.

But that is all irrelevant until game time. For now we shall bask in the warm glow that only pure unadulterated hate can bring us. Allow it to flow over you like a warm tidal wave. Embrace it. And please for the love of god make as many bad UVA jokes as you can.

Posted in ACC, College Football, Virginia Cavaliers, Virginia Tech Hokies | Leave a comment

Weekend Viewing Nov 12 – Divisional Championship Weekend

Posted on November 11, 2011 by The Notorious ZSB

The Hokies win in convincing fashion shutting down the damned Bees from Atlanta in the fourth extending our road winning streak to 12 games, longest in the country. It was a game befitting of a Thursday night and we got em back for 2009. Logan Thomas was a beast and so was David Wilson, maybe he’ll start getting more attention now. Charlotte here we come. Now that that is out of the way, there might be some other games this weekend to keep an eye on…

Friday Primetime Viewing

South Florida @ Syracuse ESPN2 8:00 – Big East shit fest. Syracuse followed up their downing of now clearly overrated WVU with two poor performances, and USF can’t seem to figure out how to be a football team right now so this is a crap shoot. You’ve all got better things to do.

Saturday Noon Viewing

#2 Oklahoma State @ Texas Tech ABC 12:00 – Oklahoma State controls their own destiny to get to the National Title game. Oklahoma had that chance too until Texas Tech put the kebosh on that with an inspired performance, and then much like the ‘Cuse promptly turned in duds following their big upset. The Okie State D is seriously suspect all over, if Texas Tech wants to win they will need to score with more regularity than they have the past 2 weeks and they can because their D probably wont stop the Cowboys either. This is the Big 12 what’s defense?

Wake Forest @ #9 Clemson ESPNU 12:00 – So the Coastal Division title game went down on Thursday and the Atlantic Division crown will be decided here. If Wake Forest wins they will hold the tiebreaker over Clemson for the ACCCG should they win out. Now they did promptly shit the bed in their last game against a really all over the place UNC. Although Clemson also lost last time they took the field. If Clemson wants to show they are different than previous Clemson teams they will need to show their mental strength and come out and play well or this will just be another season where they screwed themselves and their fans. Wake Forest has the guns to pull this off, it should be a tight game, but the home field advantage coupled with my desire to get another shot at Clemson tells me to root for the Tigers.

#19 Nebraska @ #12 Penn State ESPN 12:00 – This game is going to get the most press for all the wrong reasons. I see a game between two teams with strong defenses and seriously questionable offenses. First team to 20 probably will win this one. I have no idea how the PSU players are going to respond, the reports from the locker room are that they are together, but we will see. Penn State is in a surprising position atop their division, but Nebraska needs to win if they want to stay in the title chase for their division.

Florida @ #13 South Carolina CBS 12:00 – Florida hrm well this year has been just extra blah for them. South Carolina is another team that has a good record but the eye test tells me otherwise. Realistically gotta expect that the Gamecocks can take this because they have more offense than the Gators, but no question as long as Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey are around I’ll be afraid of the Gators. Muschamp has a ways to go, and Spurrier wants to keep his chances of being murdered by LSU alive. I dunno whether this is worth the watch versus the other games in this time slot, but if you felt compelled to fellate the SEC/hear the fellating then this is the earliest CBS game yet this season.

#16 Texas @ Mizzou FX 12:00 – Texas has no passing game, literally they threw the ball less than 10 times last week for not much yardage. Mizzou just can’t quite seem to play consistent. They have the ability to play with more talented teams and right now Texas seems equally talented, but significantly more one dimensional. You want an upset special this would be my pick. FX broadcasts kinda hurt though so watcher beware.

#17 Michigan State @ Iowa ESPN2 12:00 – Iowa loses to Minnesota then beats Michigan who knows what Kirk Ferentz is up to. Michigan State downs Wisconsin then shits the bed against Nebraska, at least we sorta know what Dantonio is up to. The division is still hanging in the balance and this is one of those games that will either clarify or muddy it up.  This should be classic hardnosed Big 10 football and I like the chances of this being an entertaining game.

Pittsburgh @ Louisville ESPN3 12:00 – Pitt is whatever, but Louisville is suddenly interesting. They looked like they were going to be not very good after the month of September, but Charlie Strong’s group has really grown over the past month and find themselves in second place in the Big East while Pitt is reeling.

Kentucky @ Vanderbilt  ESPN3 12:21 – Although the Vols haven’t won an SEC game this is still the contest for the cellar. Don’t really watch it but lol at the box score. Also you know watch Aaron Rodgers little brother that could be a cool thing to see him develop early in his career.

NC State @ Boston College ESPN3 12:30 – Your ACC shitfest for the day. NC State is once again getting it together for their Coach and BC is really wishing they hadn’t pushed him or Jagz out because they are now bowl ineligible for the first time in over a decade. NC State only needs to win 2 out of 3 from some of the worst in the conference to get to a bowl game which they surely need. I expect them to get it done, NCSU won’t let BC run wild on them like Maryland did.

Saturday Afternoon Viewing

Duke @ Virginia ESPN3 3:00 – Virginia hasn’t beaten Duke in 3 years. If they want a chance to play us for the division after Thanksgiving they’ll need to change that this year.

TCU @ #5 Boise State Versus 3:30 – This game lost an enormous amount of luster when TCU dropped early season games to in state opponents Baylor and SMU. To add injury to insult because TCU was running hard from the MWC to an AQ conference (the Big East then the Big 12), the MWC fucked them over and moved the game to Boise. This will be the best chance for the Broncos to lose on the Smurf Turf for the first time in something silly like 4 or 5 years. This is going to be worth flipping too if only to burn your eyes with the blue turf.

Texas A&M @ #14 Kansas State ABC/ESPN3 3:30 – The Aggies just have not been able to put it all together and play 60 minutes of excellent football. The consistency isn’t there. K State plenty of consistency, the silver lining for aTm is that the Wildcats don’t pass much which will remove one of their biggest weaknesses from being as big a part of the game. The real question here is can Sherman rally the troops and finish strong through November when the competition will tail off compared to their October slate, and can K State do the same while theirs gets tougher?

#20 Auburn @ #15 Georgia CBS 3:30 – If Georgia can win this one they will have just about wrapped up the SEC East title saving Mark Richt’s job for another year. Defensively the Bulldogs have improved over the course of the season while Auburn remains completely luck driven it seems. I don’t think they have the defense to stop Georgia’s pass game enough, but I also didn’t think they would have a winning record this year either so who knows. Auburn can score points when they get into a rhythm. Should be a solid SEC afternoon game between the hedges.

#24 Michigan @ Illinois ESPN/ABC 3:30 – Watch as Denard Robinson is squandered by the Michigan coaching staff! Watch as Ron Zook ZOOKS HIMSELF. Honestly I don’t care about this game, but its meaningful for the Big 10 whatever gay division they’re in standings.

DA U (Miami FL) @ Florida State ESPN/ABC 3:30 – The Sunshine state has so many instate rivalries, but this is the one that matters to me and to the ACC. These were the teams that were expected to lead the conference onto the national stage so this iteration of the game needs to be a good one with a national broadcast. The best thing that could happen would be for this thing to go down to the last possession. VT/GT held up their end on the Thursday night, time for these two to step up and play some fun exciting football on Saturday.

Washington @ USC FX 3:45 – Former Pete Carroll protégé’s face off for the second time. Two good offenses and two respectable defenses along with 2 of the better QBs in the conference. It’ll be a fun one to tune into while you kill time for the evening schedule.

Saturday Primetime Viewing

Tennessee @ #8 Arkansas ESPN2 6:00 – There are some classic memories for Vols fan back in the day as it concerns last second victories vs Arky. I don’t think that’ll happen here. Without Hunter and Bray this team will get outscored. We can once again expect at least 1 half of solid play, but either way it won’t be nice by time its over is my bet.

UCLA @ Utah 6:30 – No broadcast for the Pac 12 south leader? UCLA can represent in the title game if they win out and Utah is beatable, thus its worth a mention in things to keep an eye on the score of at least.

Maryland vs Notre Dame NBC 7:30 – To be played at Fed Ex field with uniforms that burn your eyes. I actually kinda liked the helmets they’ll be wearing, and Maryland will be wearing their visual vomit flag uniforms again perhaps in the hopes of recreating the W they got opening night. Just watching those players run around in wacky uniforms might be worth tuning in for a bit.

(Thanks to SBN) I actually love the underlay to the Gold, the Shamrock enhhh

Photo by Patrick Semansky - AP | Thought you'd never see these again huh

#7 Oregon @ #4 Stanford ABC 8:00 – This is truly a weekend of division deciding games. The Pac 12 North will be settled in this game. The last game that Stanford lost? To Oregon last year, since then they’ve ripped off one victory after another (although they were lucky not to get beaten by USC a week or two ago). Oregon is back to doing what they do, tearing through people while putting together a quietly good defense. Just like last year’s game this will probably be a bit of a track meet, there are too many good players on both teams to see these defenses stifle them. If Stanford wins I’d almost like them to make it to the National Title Game (I don’t think Okie State beats Oklahoma they never do), and Oregon well they’d love to spoil Andrew Luck’s season once again denying Stanford a high they haven’t had in a long time (shit just a Rose Bowl would be great right?)

Hawaii @ Nevada ESPNU 10:15 – Your late night wind down, WAC soon to be MWC “powerhouses” get some TV time.

This is a huge weekend and once all the dust settles we should have a really good idea of who will be playing in conference championship games in a couple weeks.

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Allow me to get on my high horse

Posted on November 11, 2011 by The FatMan

Z gave an excellent post about what is going on at Penn State. He argued for restrain and control which I can understand. I disagree with that path. This is not a time for restraint. This is a time for emotion. This is a time for anger. This is a time to get rage.

Let us not forget this central fact. Children were raped. Let that hang in the air. Rape. Children. The simple fact that those two words appear in the same sentence is almost criminal. Children were raped. Lets us not forget this.

I made this decision emotionally. I will not apologize for that. I will not apologize for making this decision rashly. Some decision should be made with emotion. Some decisions should be made rashly. This is one of them. Children were raped. This is a time for rash decisions. Fire Joe Paterno.

I know saying that is controversial. I don’t care.

Children were raped.

The entire athletic department and administration should be purged.  Fire everyone. Burn it all down.

This is about the soul of a university. The soul of a state. Joepa may have done nothing wrong, but for the greater good he must lose his job. If for no reason other then he will be a symbol of when penn state lost their way’ He must lost his job. Is it fair? No. Does that matter? No. Symbols are important.

But let us never forget that children were raped. Nothing is more important then that. The simple fact that children were terrorized is the most important fact. It’s all shit. Innocent children were assaulted. You really give a fuck about a football coaches job?

—————————————————————————————————

As the editor I want to tack onto the end of this that I find it appalling that so much attention is being given to Joe Pa and Penn State almost entirely erasing and diminishing the crimes that Sandusky committed. I get that it’s bad what happened at the school, but as Evan said we cannot forget the person who really committed these crimes and what is the most reprehensible part of it.

Posted in College Football | 2 Comments

Thursday Primetime Preview Nov 10th – @ Georgia Tech BZZZZZZZ

Posted on November 9, 2011 by The Notorious ZSB

Welcome to the one game each year I dread more than any other. Is this one of our classic rivalries? Not really, but when you have games that have come down to the wire for the past 3 years with Johnson at the helm and the Coastal Division title on the line basically every year (given that the winner of this game has gone on to win the division every year since divisional play started in 2005), add in the fact that the coaches really don’t care for each other and this is rapidly becoming the premier ACC rivalry for the Coastal. Everyone expected us and Miami, but Miami just hasn’t held up their end of the bargain. There are a bunch of streaks on the line for us, most notably our conference record 11 true road wins, our last defeat coming…you got it on a Thursday night in Atlanta to the Yellow Jackets in 2009. So this game is basically the season, the loss to Clemson made our margin for error slimmer, but once again come November with a shot at the ACC Title on the line, it’s all about Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech which will be the TECH to rule them all!?

This is a game that has basically been decided by turnovers the past 3 years. In 2008 we got more and won. In 2009 we didn’t and couldn’t comeback from the hole we dug ourselves on our way to the loss. 2010 hinged on 2 interceptions deep in GT territory (maybe also Nesbitt going down, but definitely the ints saved us) which let us get away with the W. This is no LSU/Alabama, but this is a game between two teams that put their all into beating the other and in those sorts of contests the little things are what matter. Special Teams also cost the Jackets last year, and Special Teams have been a sore spot for us this year. When you’ve got two teams that play so close year in year out I think it becomes even more magnified, the little things that get done right. The real test as I see it is which GT team is going to come out to the field tomorrow night? If it’s the team that was ruining people left and right through September and took Clemson to the woodshed, then this is going to be an infuriating game to watch that will probably conclude with the Hokies losing in heartbreaking fashion, Bud still hasn’t quite figured out his best strategy for taking down this offense. If this is the team that limped through October our chances to make a big statement on a Thursday night go way up. Ultimately here is what it breaks down to, our defense has been really good all year, we need them to be at their best tomorrow night. The offense needs to be as good as it was through the middle of October, GT is going to get their yards and get some points, they need to step up and come out with fire and authority. Stiney isn’t the best OC in the world, but he knows how to pick on an Al Groh defense. This is a close one, and for the first time all season Thursday night has a game worth watching.

The Hokies will win if…

They sack Tevin Washington on passing downs, collect turnovers when they have the chance (fumbles particularly), and we must continue to be strong on third down. The GT offense is built to grind out yards, it is big play, but it is also capable of completely draining the defense with long drives (it killed us in 09). Obviously we want to limit their big plays, but I think its going to be far more important to get strong stops on third when we can. I feel that the offense is going to score enough points to give us a chance to win, this game will be won for us depending on how the defense fares. They aren’t a passing team so making sure that when they choose to pass we make it as difficult as possible is crucial, that hasn’t been on point since September really for them, but it cannot be discounted how much more difficult this game gets if GT puts together a consistent passing game.

The Hokies will lose if…

We turn the ball over, get sloppy with penalties, and can’t be at least mediocre on special teams. Look at our loss and our close games and you’ll see a really unnerving trend. We turn the ball over in the opponents half of the field, have drive killing penalties (or sustaining ones in the case of the Duke game), and fail to properly punt or kick the ball worth a damn. These things will absolutely destroy us in this game and will rapidly make this a blow out opportunity for the Jackets. We need to stay disciplined and ahead of the sticks for us to win both offensively and defensively.

Big game, big exposure, big stakes. This is the kind of game that the ACC needs. Time to put on a show and have a great game to catapult us through the rest of November. I don’t hate you Georgia Tech, but damn if the animosity of a good rivalry doesn’t build year by year, this ought to be another one to add to the growing fire. Lets Go Hokies! Avenge the 2009 loss and basically clinch the Coastal. November is where you find out how good your team is with titles on the line, let’s be at our best and go get ourselves in position to head to Charlotte!

Fingers crossed DW gets to do this again!

Posted in ACC, College Football, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Virginia Tech Hokies | 1 Comment