As a member of the Football Writers Association of America, I receive email newsletters from (among other organizations) the National Football Foundation. Their latest email letter contains gobs of info about college football TV ratings from the 2008 season. Of particular interest to me is how little of a factor the ACC is/was in the televised college football landscape last year. With the renegotiation of the ACC’s TV contracts coming up soon, this needs to change, or the league will head to the bargaining table without much negotiating muscle. (more…)

The season is fast approaching. You’ve read up on the Hokies and know what they’ve got. You know about the schedule. It’s time to predict what you think is going to happen, so we ask the question: What’s your prediction for the Hokies’ 2009 regular-season record? (more…)

In the last few recruiting classes, the Hokies have done an outstanding job stockpiling offensive talent, with one exception: quarterback, the position that matters most. In the space of just a few hours yesterday, Tech did something they haven’t done in years: secure commitments from multiple QBs high on their target board.

In 2001 the Hokies signed Bryan Randall, and in 2002 they landed Marcus Vick. Both of those players were highly rated QBs, sought after by many, and they had successful careers on the field. A stroll through TSL’s Past Recruiting Classes page reveals an alarming lack of quarterback signees, and many of those signees were never really slated to play QB at Tech.

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Sure, VT Spring Football 2009 is the big story, and we’ll get to that this week with some features closing out the big stories of the spring. But I wanted to jot down some quick notes on the draft yesterday, both Hokie-related and non-Hokie-related. I’m not a draftnik, so don’t expect jaw-dropping revelations, but here’s a couple things that caught my attention.

The Hokies’ only draft choice, of course, was Macho Harris, who was selected in the fifth round by the Eagles (anti-Philly fans, insert your groans here). You’ve probably already heard that’s the lowest number of Hokie draft choices since 1993, when no Tech players were selected, but I prefer to think of it this way: It’s the lowest number of draft choices in the Beamer Bowl era of 1993 to the present.

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I was thinking the other day about a comedy piece that I ran the summer before Tech’s 1999 football season. I titled it “That Championship Season,” and while it was intended to be just a humorous piece, it unexpectedly foreshadowed VT’s run to the national championship game. I ran that column in the old HokieCentral.com Members Only section, which was the first ever pay content on TSL (known as HokieCentral.com at the time, from March of 1996 until November of 2000).

We do a great job of archiving old content here at TSL, but the Members Only archives slipped through the cracks … until now. This feature is s one of the better examples of the old Members Only content (not to be confused with the 1980s Members Only jackets that we all remember and, er, love so well).

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We were talking about the Sports Illustrated Vault — an amazing web site — on the TSL Pass Subscriber’s board, and I linked to one of my favorite all-time SI articles, a feature from 1982 called “Whatever Happened to the Sugar Land Express?” The article detailed the incredible high school career of Ken Hall from Sugar Land (TX) High School. The article detailed the many high school rushing records held by Hall (as of 1982), including the record for touchdowns in a season, with 57. That led to some questions on the board …

Namely, “Does that mean that [Tech running back] Darren Evans broke Hall’s record” with his 61 touchdowns rushing as a senior at Warren Central High School in Indianapolis, IN? Yes, it does … sort of. (more…)

Hokies looked really sharp early, making 6 of their first 9, but they finished the half 10-of-22 (45%), meaning they cooled off significantly. Made just 4 of their last 13 (30.7%).

Canes ended the half on a 16-6 run, trimming a 22-8 deficit to 28-24.

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Virginia Tech’s Malcolm Delaney has now nailed 25 of 26 free throws in his last two games and 36 of 38 in his last four games. His 87.1% average from the line is second in the ACC and one of the more impressive free throw averages in memory. It brings up the question: where does Delaney’s accuracy from the line place him all-time at Virginia Tech, and what records is he on pace to set?

87.1% is darned impressive, and it sent me to the Tech record books to see where it ranks. The short answer is that the last Hokie player to shoot better than 87.1% was Tech forward (and sometimes center) Bobby Beecher, way back in the 1982-83 season. Beecher made an incredible 73-of-80 free throws that season, good for 91.3%.

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I just read something in an Orlando Sentinel blog that got me fired up. It’s a common mistake that college sportswriters make that they shouldn’t make, but almost all of them do. And it drives me bananas. And it reminded me of something else that college sportswriters do that drives me bananas. Here comes a rant.

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Hey, I guess it CAN’T go on forever! Here are a few quick notes on the NC State game — stats of note and general thoughts.

1.) Don’t get too upset about how VT doesn’t fare well against the Pack. It’s just matchups. Take Courtney Fells vs. Malcolm Delaney. Delaney didn’t play with much confidence offensively, and it’s because he spent the game being guarded by Fells, who is 4 inches taller and very athletic. Not many teams in the ACC can glove up Delaney like that.

Likewise, NC State is just generally bigger than the Hokies, and it’s hard for VT to guard the Pack.

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