Sugar Bowl—It’s Time

It’s time. Game time. I haven’t written anything since the disaster of an ACC Championship gave me the biggest football hangover I have ever experienced. Ever. Bigger than last year’s Stanford hangover, and that one was bad. So bad that even thinking about football, even after learning that the Sugar Bowl awaited, made me queasy.

But it’s here. And you know what? Screw Michigan, and Denard Robinson. (I’m sure they have other players, in fact, I’m sure they field a whole team, but I don’t know the name of a single other player, so, sorry Denard). Screw the whole “VT doesn’t belong here”crap. Screw Doug Gottlieb for stating it again on ESPN radio while I was driving home from work. Screw everybody. We’re here. Deal.

The kicking situation is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of. Kickers gone wild. What the blessed heck? But you know what that means? More 4th and Logan opportunities. Bam.

So let’s do this thing. It probably won’t come easy. It probably won’t come fast. I’ll probably be near puking for most of the game. It’s a “big” game. Hokies, as a rule, view the big game as Superman views kryptonite.

But I say…..no more. At some point, the tide must turn. If you’ve got to start somewhere, why not here? Why not now?  Don’t tell us we don’t belong. Use that as your motivation. Go. No excuses. No explanations. Believe.

“This is just spectacular……..”

 

It’s Not Revenge We’re After-It’s a Reckoning

That UVA game was something, huh? Finally, finally, finally, the rout I’ve been wanting all season. And could it have come at a better time, against a better team? No it could not.

And this just makes me laugh. Serious stiff arm.

And now tomorrow is the big day. Redemption day. Time to make the October 1 meeting against Clemson seem like just an anomaly. It was a bad game. A really bad game. No excuses. Just bad. And winning Saturday won’t make it less of a bad game, just like beating Boston College in the ACC Championship in 2007 didn’t make the 14-10 heartbreak in the rain less of a heartbreak. But you know what? It went a long way in healing it, just like a victory on Saturday in Charlotte will do as well. Nobody likes to lose. I want to win them all. But more importantly, I want to win the ones that matter. And this one matters.

So how do the Hokies win this time? By doing these things:

• Learn from how Clemson lost the last few games and use that-run it, run it, run it. And keep running it some more. Run Thomas up the gut, run Wilson around the end. Then, when the Tigers are convinced that the run is the thing, send Danny Coale downfield. Boom. Points.
•  I love this, so I’ll quote it directly from Illinois Hokie-. And for the love of God just keep going. That’s my plea to Frank Beamer this week. Up by 50? Try to go up 75. Five hundred yards total offense? Shoot for a grand. Because we’ve seen that Clemson can come back in a hurry (against Maryland and Wake Forest) and they aren’t out of it till they start talking about Steve Spurrier. 
• Pressure Tajh Boyd, and keep doing it. Make him uncomfortable. Make the pocket a scary place to be. And keep it coming.
• Contain Sammy Watkins. Is he healed? Is he playing? I’m not even sure, but I think so. Make him regret that decision.

It seems like a pretty easy recipe. Even I could cook it, and I hate to cook and can’t follow directions for crap. So, just do it. Do it because you didn’t do it in October. But do it now, when it truly matters. Remember that this is OUR conference, and no one takes that away, least of all a team who has made “pulling a Clemson” their life’s work. Pull a Virginia Tech. 27-2 in November (yeah, yeah, the game is December, but the stat looks cool, right?), 4 ACC titles since joining the conference, ACC Player of the Year in David Wilson. 13 All-ACC players.

Focus. Prepare. No excuses. No explanations. Win.

 Make no mistake, it’s not revenge he’s after. It’s a reckonin’.

 

Let’s Finish It-UVA preview

Or to be honest, UNC recap/UVA preview/everything else I’ve been slacking on lately.

UNC GAME

Damn, that game was cold. Really cold. Like, wondering why I was standing out in it, couldn’t feel my toes cold. But I love a Thursday night game, and this one didn’t disappoint. Well, except for the last 6 minutes. Those were a wee bit disappointing.

My quick takeaway from the game is this: Logan Thomas has the potential to be an amazing, amazing quarterback. I have been so very impressed. Patience, poise, much better decision making, fewer mental errors. This guy is for realz, yall.

David Wilson, while still almost beyond compare in talent and potential, still has a ways to go. The fumbles have got to stop. I seem to remember this being a problem years ago with Kevin Jones as well. Maybe they can chat some in the off-season and come up with a solution. Perhaps they can also talk a little about vision, patience and not always relying just on natural talent and speed to make a play. I don’t want to stifle talent at all. I believe you take your strengths and run with them (pun, get it?), but you also have to have the vision to know when it’s okay to run backwards and when it’s not. Most of the time, it’s not.

Finally, don’t quit playing just because the score is 24-7 and everybody is cold. It’s not over till it’s actually over, folks. Plus, onside kicks are stupid and I hate them.

And moving on to…..

Let’s All Join Hands and Sing a Song About UVA

First, good Hokie fans, stop talking about the BCS. Here’s the thing about the BCS. The Hokies are currently ranked 5th. Currently. To remain 5th, or 4th, or 3rd, or whatever, certain things have to happen. Some SEC teams have to lose to each other, and it’s very complicated and I didn’t bother to actually read it all. But, most importantly, WE MUST BEAT UVA.

In fact, I’ll go out on a limb and say definitively right now, VT will not be playing in the national championship. Not gonna happen. And I don’t care anyway. It’s not our year. The next one may be, or the one after that, but not this one.

But here is what IS going to happen, because Logan Thomas got his wish and UVA found some way to bungle around a little less than Florida State did last weekend and timidly plucked victory from the jaws of mediocrity.

• Beat UVA soundly on Saturday.
• Rematch with Clemson in the ACC Championship
• Beat them soundly as well.
• Return to the Orange Bowl.

Notice that these go in a certain order? They have to be done in exactly that order. You can’t frost a cake before you mix it. You can’t watch the credits before the movie starts. You can’t finish the race before you begin it. The race begins Saturday, folks. One thing at a time. Nothing has been decided yet. So, to quote yet again my most favorite of all movies:

Ike, take Stillwell. Finish it. -Tombstone

Logan, take David Wilson. Take Boykin. Take Coale, and Coales. Take Drager. Bring along Exum, Fuller, Hosley, Hopkins and Whitley. There’s still work to be done. Finish it.

So go. Prepare. Focus. No excuses, no explanations. Win. Finish it.

Georgia Tech on a Thursday night-what could be better?

(Well, a lot of things, actually, but I just needed a title).

Things I have learned this week in my pregame blog reading about Thursday night’s VT at GT matchup:

• The flexbone, decoded. (That sounded a little dirty, didn’t it?)
• And why it’s so difficult to defend.
• That VT has a history of not performing so well the week after a bye.

• Hokies After a Bye Week
  Year	Opp.	Result	Total Offense
  2006	BC	22-3 L	181
  2007	BC	14-10 L	265
  2008	BC	28-23 L	240
  2008	Maryland	23-13 W	400
  2009	UNC	20-17 L	256
  2010	GT	28-21 W	335

  Bud Foster decided it was a good week to make a lot of defensive changes.

You know who I miss? Reggie Ball. Too bad we’re not playing that Georgia Tech team again. 

Really, this game is one of those where so many different things could happen. The only real guarantee is that I will be perilously close to vomiting at all times until the end of the game. I guess it wouldn’t be Georgia Tech otherwise.

Quick list of things that cannot happen if the Hokies hope to win this game:

• Start off slowly on offense. Here are some handy charts I didn’t make on why this is a terrible idea and didn’t work so well in 2008, 2009, or 2010.
• 

• 
• 
• Miss tackles or assignments. Defending against this offense isn’t just swarming to the ball and hoping for the best. It’s sitting and watching and knowing what your guy is doing at all times, lest he get away from you and run 30 or so yards before you stop him.
• Forget that every so often, GT will pass. And when they do, they will burn you if you’re not ready for it.
• Shank punts. Run backward instead of forward when you are returning punts. Allow GT to get good field position when they are returning said shanked punts.

But I’ve gotta stop being all gloom and doom. After all, the Hokies did win this game last year and I was reminded this morning of this fact:

So here’s what we do. Come out fighting. Run, pass, catch, score. Block, tackle, force fumbles. Focus. Prepare. Plan. No excuses, no explanations. Believe. Win.

And that’s it.

Duke recap–and Thanks a lot, Clemson (not really)

VT traveled to Duke on Saturday for what may have been the most boring football game every played. And, just barely won it………Oh, sorry, I drifted off again just thinking about it.

Folks, I love Virginia Tech football. Love it. I missed half of the Marine Corps Ball because I had to watch the 1999 VT/WVU game. I made my husband take my daughter to a Pony Birthday Party because it conflicted with the NC game a few years ago. I skipped my son’s flag football debut to go to the Nebraska game. I tape every game, and watch most of them again. I take notes, although you wouldn’t know it from my recaps. I don’t mess around.

That being said, as I watched this game on Saturday, all I could think was, “I wish this would just hurry up and be over”. I had things to do that afternoon, and had to finish getting my costume ready for a party that night. I was bored. Bored. Bored watching Tech football.I even stopped recording the game. I knew I wasn’t going to want to watch this piece of garbage again.  THIS NEVER HAPPENS.

I knew the Hokies were going to win. Even when it seemed really bad, I knew they would win. I also knew it wasn’t going to get any better than the 14 points scored in the first half. They did just barely enough to win, and not quite enough to lose.

Just for fun, however, let’s list the ways they could have lost:

• Field Goals-If Duke could actually make them, the score would have been 19-14, Duke.
• Penalties-Could there have been any more penalties? (Pretending I’m Chandler Bing, there).
• Interceptions and missed opportunities- If you read these stats before you read the final score, 444 yards of total offense, 243 yards of rushing, 32:30 time of possession and forcing Renfree to throw 3 interceptions, you’d think this game was a complete rout. However, we haven’t factored in the 94 yards of penalties (thanks fictional boyfriend Jayron, who I may be breaking up with today and gifting my affections on Kyle Fuller), two LT interceptions, a missed FG by Tyler Weiss, and another shanked punt by Branthover. Which leads me to:
• Special Teams-Could this unit be any worse (Chandler again)? Has there been a decent kickoff or punt return yet this year? If someone remembers one, let me know. Most of the time these guys seem to be running backwards or just in circles. And it also seems to me that the other teams are regularly getting amazing field position to start drives. Is there no longer any emphasis on downing punts or not allowing the other team to run it out to the 40 before tackling them?

But, it’s over. And it’s a win. So there. One step closer to the Clemson rematch we are all waiting for. And now that Clemson beat GT this weekend to help us out, oh wait, pulled a “Clemson” just when it seemed like they were actually legit and stuff, all that’s standing in the way is yet another VT/GT showdown. Shit. And sorry, Heather, pulling a Clemson is exactly what they did. 

It’s important to remember, though, that Clemson did not “pull a Clemson” in Atlanta. Clemson was prepared. It was focused, but Georgia Tech was better, and the Jackets deserve their spot in the BCS standings this week. –wisdom from Heather Dinich

Clemson had one task on Saturday night. Beat Georgia Tech so that I wouldn’t be so damn nervous going into that Thursday night game. One task. Couldn’t get it done. You are dead to me, Clemson. Never again will I count on you for anything.

I’m pissed off now, Jobu. Look, I go to you. I stick up for you. You don’t help me now. I say “Fuck you,” Jobu, I do it myself. –Pedro Cerrano

So there. It’s not going to be easy for the Hokies the rest of this year. It never is. There’s only one thing they can do. Keep winning. Win by a lot, win by a little. Win big, win barely. Doesn’t much matter now. Just win.

Lisfranc sprain? Really? –BC recap and injury report

So, that there is the Lisfranc joint....

So, before a few weeks ago, the words Lisfranc sprain had never been introduced into my vocabulary. Why? Because they are extremely rare–in fact, only occur in one per 55,000 persons per year, which makes it some extremely bad luck that both Jeron Gouveia-Winslow AND Bruce Taylor have suffered this injury this season. Gobbler Country has a good article on who has been hurt this season, and it ain’t pretty, folks. It’s distressing. But, on the bright side, and talk about making love out of nothing at all, VT is ranked 12th in the nation in total defense right now. So while the injuries continue to mount up and sound like a cause for concern, I’m not going to go making a problem where none seems to exist.

Image from Tech Sideline.com

As for the game recap, here goes. The first half could be described as pedestrian at best, inert at worst. Passing game–flat. Running game–not there. Fortunately, David Wilson agreed with me, and told Shane Beamer so at halftime. Good thing Shane listened, to the tune of 134 yards and breaking the 100o yard mark. He is now leading the nation in rushing. Yippee!

And as for the race, so to speak, for the Coastal Division title, Heather at ESPN tells us it’s wide open.

By comparison, the Coastal Division is so wide open that Duke still controls its own destiny. The Blue Devils have yet to play a Coastal Division opponent. Virginia? In it to win it. The Cavaliers win out, they could be playing in Charlotte. Five of the six teams are within one loss of each other. Georgia Tech needs some help because it already has two division losses. If the Jackets win out, they could still play for the ACC title, but there could also be a third team with just two losses that would win the head-to-head tiebreaker like Miami or Virginia.

However, I’m not sure it’s as wide as she wants to think, as she neglects to point out that VT is the only Coastal team with only 1 conference loss, and that Georgia Tech has to play Clemson this week. Plus, Virginia plays Miami on Saturday, and both teams have a history of being completely unpredictable after a win. So is the division Virginia Tech’s to lose? Maybe. Hopefully.

Oh, and one more thing. The uniforms? Bad. Really, really bad, Orange Effect be damned. (Was it even Orange Effect? Who knows. They were terrible, though). I’d struggle to get going in those things, too.

 

 

Slow start, much better finish. Wake recap

“We got down and no one panicked,” Tech head coach Frank Beamer said. “Everyone kept doing their business. Players kept playing hard and coaches kept coaching hard. We found a way to get it done. We beat a good football team, and I’m really proud of us hanging in there and not panicking and coming back and getting a win.”

Okay, so I panicked a little. It was a dismal first quarter, and flashes of Clemson kept echoing in my head. And not just mine, I’m sure it did in yours too. Luckily, I don’t coach or play on the team. I don’t know why I keep forgetting that Hokie teams of late apparently prefer to play from behind. Dunno why. Maybe it’s a motivator or something.

Anyway, this game began as what has become standard. Bungle around incoherently and inefficiently on offense for the first quarter. Allow a quick score by the other team (and cause my (albeit fictional) boyfriend to get hurt in the process). Forget on 3rd and 2 that you possess a quarterback who can fall forward and pick up two yards.  Finally pick up a first down. Remove head from ass and begin to play football. Don’t look back until David Wilson has again amassed over 100 yards, new punter kid Branthover is booting punts 50 yards, Logan Thomas has developed a deep passing game and a defense so young that it may be soon recruiting my eight year old son has sacked Tanner Price four times.

So, it looks like the Georgia Tech game will again decide who the ACC  Coastal champion is going to be. I’d say something here about how if UVA can beat them, then……, but I won’t. I’ll just say this and be done. This VT team has pluck. Grit. Moxie. Spirit. Spunk. It may not have consistency, but it has pluck. And sometimes, that’s enough.