Second-half was not all-bad. Though our road home from here now looks a bit tougher than I had forecasted way back in August.

@ ECU
@ Maryland
State
@ france

Suddenly our closing docket does not look as inviting as it did right after Boston College. Suddenly we are knee deep in our own O&M blood as the 3 L 2009 Hokie ship continues to take on water. How much damage did UNC do to our collective psyche?

I do not know about you; though I am v-e-r-y curious to see how our Staff and our baller’s respond to this much adversity.

You just do not learn as much about people when then win.

You learn a whole helluva a lot more about folk when the get beat.

Looks like school is in session this Thursday night down in Greenville. Yet lets take a closing look at the final 30 minutes of play from last Thursday night in Lane and see if anything from UNC suggests anything to us regarding our ECU chances. Then lets hope that we are not operating under TMI (too much information). Read the rest of this entry »

Well, that did not taste good.

* Is the golden era of 10 win VT football over?

Painful year for Frank and Staff

* Or is 2009 just a blip; albeit a ugly looking boggy on the O&M radar?

I’ve already seen both sides on each of TSL’s football message board’s; so I’ll leave that up to you guys to sort out down below. I do know this however … we depart at least 2 N.F.L. guys on defense (Virg’ and Kam) and at least 3 N.F.L. guys on offense (Wand, Serg’ and “Boooooooone”). The 2010 schedule is more accommodating. Then again; I would not have been so bottom-line starved as Jim Weaver so as to self-delude myself that VT is ready to play the sched’ we had this year.

That said, Miami will be better, GT could be terrific, and Bo.State has 21 back. You do the maths.

So … congrats to UNC. You are at least the third team to out-coach us this year -NEB may argue that that is closer to four- and we sure have a very testy out-of-conference (OOC) match-up with a feisty ECU which will be playing its Super Bowl, World Series and NBA Finals all rolled into one against us on ESPN next Thursday night down in Greenville. Read the rest of this entry »

North Carolina @ # 14 Virginia Tech: (ORANGE EFFECT)

TV Coverage: ESPN 7:3opm
Announcers: Chirs Fowler, Craig James, Jessie -the hair- Palmer, and EA working the sidelines
Vegas Line: UNC+16.5 O/U=TBR

11 days off is no bad thing. My personal depth-chat is riddled with “tic-marks” and flat-out scratch-outs for Chicago Maroon names that are done for 2009. With said extra practice time (despite two canceled practices); you will see the best that the 2009 VT football Staff has to offer this Thursday night in Lane Stadium down on Worsham Field. The question that remains unanswered is … just how high is this 2009 pigskin O&M ceiling? Youth or inexperience has not helped in a couple of spots, and there are even some highly trusted sources who suggest to me that we are simply down on raw Coach God talent in a couple of key positions. Thus leading to a play on words borrowing on the colloquialism of “Bud lite” to describe the 2009 VT defense.

Be that as that be, I fully expect our best Coaching effort this Thursday night down in the New River Valley. Virginia Tech always has that one or two games in a year when it all seems to come together. Good offense, great defense and special teams. This year however, that is likely code for a good defense with a great offense and special teams. Will that be enough vs. a very rock solid UNC defense?

Read the rest of this entry »

As I indicated at the end of my last write-up, I always try to marry solutions to any problems

The only place winning comes before working is the Dictionary.

that I might see. Will and Chris have seen this over the years as I try to find a remedy whenever we talk or correspond about what could stand to be improved on TSL.com. Before we look at that which needs fixing with regard to VT football in 2009, lets look at a few things that are doing pretty doggone good so as to paint a balanced picture to begin with. Virginia Tech is…

• 15th in Rushing Offense
• 11th in Passing Efficiency Defense
• 5th in Passing Efficiency Offense (T-mobile is 6th in this individually)

Now I have a pop quiz for you, though lets keep it simple as this is the weekend and we are OPEN today (Saturday).

VT is loaded at Running-Back (Rb), in the Secondary and at Qb? Pretty much true. Even if we are off schedule by a season in back-up synthesis at Qb.

So that’s the great news. Among the other likable pieces of good news would be… Read the rest of this entry »

Charles Dickens would call this a Tale of Two Cities.

Congrats to GT!

I call it a tale of two halves; gone oddly versa-vica.

In the first 3o minutes the Hokie offense went basically nowhere fast. In the second 3o minutes Frank-n-Stiney re-calibrated and got the ball move rather smartly at times. Nailing down an Ace-10 (or 21) points in the final two Quarter stanza. Not bad.

The much ballyhooed Bud Foster stop-unit was the obverse. We played astute assignment football in the first 3o minutes holding GT to 37 yards rushing; then fell apart and got run over by a very small, that’s a very s, m, all GT Oline in the closing two Quarters of play. That disturbed me more than anything.

I called for 3o GT points in my preview; which was 2 over par. I figured GT would indeed score; expecting several long runs along such lines. I did NOT figure on GT punching Bud right in the mouth and our O&M defensive face turning to jelly late in the game. Depth and Time of Possession speak to this; though it was been a while since we lacked closers or finishers on defense as well.

“Yes” I’m still inclined to say we win out. There is a poll for you on that below. That however has more to do with our closing opposition being a bit lower than I had expected in August; and less to do with our Defense being as great as I had erroneously forecasted way back during in the 8th month of the year.

Read the rest of this entry »

Unless you live under a rock, or unless you were living comfortably under a rock on the Moon … well right up until you were disturbed by a rocket landing next to you the other day … you

Sportsmanship 1o1

likely realize that we/VT had more than a few recent MNC rumblings both on TSL.com, in the Commonwealth and Atlantic area media and in the national media for that matter.

Those have now be laid to rest for the 10th consecutive year. That’s the NATT news.

The PATT news is that we are not out of the A.C.C. championship game hunt. We are tied with both Miami and Georgia Tech right now in the critical L column with one L apiece. This tirade has the unfathomable distinction of trailing … of all teams … france; who is as yet unbeaten in A.C.C. play. Then there is the fact that Miami beat Gah.Tech; we/VT beat Miami and GT beat us.

The RATT side is that the Coastal Division water’s are very muddied at the moment. I can see an O&M, orange-n-green, gold-n-blue and even a smallish le` blue-n-orange dye maker painting the surface at this very moment.

We are now finished with the tougher part of our 2009 docket. We are however scathed. We do need this OPEN week like a dead man needs a coffin. Our September to remember expended more than a few mental and physical O&M bullets and that caught up to us on Saturday night in the final 3o minutes down in the ATL. Congrats to Gah.Tech. You guys won this one fair and square. My cyber hats off to you and Coach P.J. who turned VT inside-out in the final 30 minutes of play. Read the rest of this entry »

#4 Virginia Tech @ #19 Georgia Tech:

TV coverage: ESPN2 6pm (in HD)

Trouble with Tribbles?

Announcers: Mark Jones and Coach Bob Davie
Vegas Line: VT-3, O/U=52

Has anyone ever seen Cyrano Jones and Coach Paul Johnson in the same room at the same time? Captain Kirk and I did not think so. Coach Paul Johnson: I respect your service to our country at the Naval Academy. However, did you have to call our defense: “…jokers…”???

That said; they do not get any bigger than this one inside the friendly confines of the A.C.C. and more importantly as an intra-Coastal Division match-up goes. The kicker here is that it is the home-standing Yellow-Jackets or Wrambling Wreck of Georgia Tech that have their backs pressed firmly against the A.C.C. championship game wall. Thanks to playing 3 games in 12 days the Yellow-Jackets were left stinging by the L they took from the Miami Hurricanes earlier this year.

Our Hokies are between a MNC rock and an A.C.C. hard place. We already have 1 L on our docket ourselves. A second L would 100% eliminate any MNC hopes and leave the famous Jamerson Athletic Center trophy case with a O&M “vacant” sign illuminated for yet another year. Further, taking an L from GT surely muddies the A.C.C. Coastal waters for everyone and would put our A.C.C. championship game bid into some measure of jeopardy.

Official Prediction Thread link!

Ergo, this truly is a must win for both teams.
Buckle your chin-strap.
Ante up and kick-in.
This one is gonna be brutal O.K. Coral offensive shoot out. Last unspent bullet … wins. Read the rest of this entry »

Will -freaking- Stew is right.

Homecoming 2009

We did let up off the accelerator in the second-half.

Though it was interesting to see that Bud let up before Stiney did.

That said, this game was over early and it was over in an ugly way if your are a lingering Boston College guest. We beat B.C. from O&M pillar to post. We beat B.C. like a rented D-1aa Compass School. We gobbled B.C. up like a lower-mid-major Homecoming cupcake.

This game was close right up until it kicked off. Though we did get lucky on several serious looking second-half injuries. So lets digest the final 30 minutes together and then discuss what’s on tap with Gah.Tech.

Read the rest of this entry »

That’s how you rise up to #4 in the A.P. and USA Today poll’s folks!

Enter Sandman!

Which basically puts us two games outta the 2010 MNC game in Pasadena as the Rose Bowl hosts this years D-1 title tilt.

Florida will likely get to play Alabama; thereby eliminating one of them. Be nice of Oklahoma could knock off Texas for us next weekend. That would give us nothing short of total mastery over our very own 2010 MNC destiny.

All we need to do is win out; then pick up those two other magical games.

Will that happen?

That remains to be seen. Though the 2009 54th ranked and rising fast Virginia Tech offense sure makes you feel froggy about our chances. Am I putting the horse before the Gah.Tech card and yelling “Giddy-Up” prematurely? Prolly. Have I not been this confident in a VT offense since the best days of MV2 and company in 2005? Definitely. Though the 2009 VT MNC odds will still be authored by the still somewhat nubile though improving VT stop-unit and VT Pride & Joy. And I dare you to find me a team that has improved this much on both sides of the ball since game#1.

All of that typed; lets take a look at a pretty close to perfected first 30 minutes of Hokie play vs. Boston College from Homecoming 2009.

Read the rest of this entry »

#32 Boston College @ #6 Virginia Tech:
TV coverage: Raycom
Announcers: Tim Bryant, Doc Walker and Mike Hogewood
Vegas Line: VT-13.5 O/U=44.5

Boston College has been the talon in the Virginia Tech side for several years now. But why?

This year will tell the tale.

If it was only personnel (i.e. the B.C. interior defense); that should show itself this Saturday as the VT internal-zone running plays should open up for R.Williams and Josh. If it was the scheme and or being out-coached … VT will yet again struggle with the 2009 Flying Eagles.

If it was personnel this was just a blip on the O&M radar scope. Albeit a rather oversized blip at that. If it was scheme, you should look for some X’s and O’s copycatting to occur as other teams parrot and piggy-back what B.C. does to VT on offense and defense down the road.

Official Prediction Thread:

Saturday 3:30pm or so and we should know … either way. Though said knowledge will play a huge determining factor in this games outcome. Unless the B.C. injuries postpone discernment until 2010. Read the rest of this entry »