Tech Sports Blog

To someone who doesn’t follow college football closely, this game screams of a mismatch. Georgia, 8-4 and unranked, with losses to Vanderbilt and Kentucky, takes on Virginia Tech, 10-2 and ranked 14th. However, just as Hokie fans will ask you to look past Virginia Tech’s losses to Georgia Tech and Boston College, Dawg fans will ask you look past Georgia’s losses to Vandy and Kentucky. The fact of the matter is Georgia finished the season with wins over then #5 Auburn and then #16 Georgia Tech. They have a good defense and a young quarterback. When you start looking a little deeper, Georgia and Tech look much more similar than their overall records would seem to indicate.

Offensive stats:

• Yards per game: UGA 329.9, VT: 320.1
• Passing yards per game: UGA 197.8, VT 200.8
• Rushing yards per game: UGA 132.1, VT 119.3
• Points per game: UGA 24.5, VT 25.7

Defensive stats:

• Yards per game: UGA 264.0, VT: 221.1
• Passing yards per game: UGA 150.3, VT 128.2
• Rushing yards per game: UGA 113.8, VT 92.9
• Points per game: UGA 17.1, VT 9.3

The similarities end when you start to look at each team’s bowl preparation. According to this Lynchburg News & Advance article, by Nathan Warters, Coach Mark Richt will have his team practice 15 times prior to the Chick-fil-A Bowl, while Coach Frank Beamer will have the Hokies practice 9 times. The NCAA does not allow more than 15 practices prior to a team’s bowl game. Richt is utilizing the maximum number of practices because of last season’s Sugar Bowl loss to West Virginia. Beamer is using the same bowl practice schedule he has used for the last 5 years. It’s easy to second-guess Beamer’s practice schedule, but given that Coach Beamer has taken Tech to 14 straight bowls, I trust he knows what works and what doesn’t work.

So, what’s going to happen on Saturday? I could tell you that it’s going to be a defensive struggle, and that the team that turns the ball over less will win the game. But you already knew that. As every Hokie fan knows, Virginia Tech’s success will depend on the offensive line. They don’t need to be spectacular, they just need to be adequate. They need to create some holes for Brandon Ore, and they need to keep Sean Glennon off his back. Also obvious to every Hokie fan is the effect Brandon Ore will have on the game. If Ore has a big game, then a Tech victory is all but assured. If he doesn’t, then more pressure will be on Glennon and the offensive line.

This game is not going to be easy for the Hokies, and I expect them to be down by a score early in the game. I think the second half will be dominated by the Hokies defense, with the offense doing nothing special, other than not turning the ball over. Here is how I see the game being played out:

• Georgia comes out fast & inspired and scores first with a touchdown off of a special teams play. This will be their only touchdown of the game.
• Virginia Tech gets on the board with a field goal off of a long drive that stalls out in the red zone.
• Virginia Tech will score a touchdown off of a turnover.
• Virginia Tech will score a touchdown on a short field caused by a good punt or kickoff return or a short punt.
• Georgia will get in 2 field goals during the course of the game, making the final score VT 17, UGA 13.

That is, of course, just my opinion. I have been wrong before, and I will be wrong again. Personally, I’m hope I’m wrong in that Georgia never has a chance on Saturday, but I don’t see it working out that way. Regardless of the outcome, I am looking forward to this trip to Atlanta. I will be driving down to Atlanta Friday night and will be there the entire weekend, including New Year’s. It should be a great time hanging out with one of my college buddies, as well as partying with all of the Hokies and Dawgs that make it down for the game.

With 7 bowls in the bag, the 2006-07 bowl season is underway. In case you missed the games, here’s a quick recap: The bowl season kicked off on Tuesday, December 19, with TCU beating Northern Illinois 37-7 in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. (Try saying that 5 times fast.) Two days later Brigham Young pummeled Oregon 38-8 in the Las Vegas Bowl and got their first bowl win in 10 years. On Friday, December 22, Troy beat Rice 41-17 for their first ever bowl victory. Also getting their first bowl victory was South Florida, who beat East Carolina 24-7 in the inaugural PapaJohns.com Bowl. San Jose State held on to beat New Mexico 20-12 for their first bowl win since 1961, and Utah had a 25-13 victory over Tulsa for their 6th straight bowl win. After being down 10-3 at halftime, Hawaii scored 24 unanswered points in the 2nd half in their win over Arizona State in the Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve.

After Middle Tennessee State takes on Central Michigan in tonight’s Motor City Bowl, the bowl season starts to ramp up towards next week’s crescendo of BCS Bowls. I won’t talk too much about the BCS games, because I know I’m not going to say anything profound. Obviously, the print and electronic media are closely following those games, so there’s little I can contribute. However, I would like to talk about a few of the non-BCS bowls that I’m looking forward to. There are a few that I consider “must see” games.

• Holiday Bowl – #21 Texas A&M vs #20 California – Both teams are 9-3. Both teams started their seasons 8-1 before dropping 2 in a row. Both teams won their last game of the season (Cal beat Stanford, Texas A&M upset Texas). California is a 4.5 to 5.0 favorite and is the better team on paper. However, A&M is 7th in the nation in rushing (210.5 per game), and I think they will grind out the upset here.
• Chick-fil-A Bowl (aka: Peach Bowl) – Georgia vs #14 Virginia Tech – You may think I’m a homer for choosing this game as a great matchup, and you may be right. However, I truly believe this is going to be one of the better bowl games of the season. This game features two great defenses and two young quarterbacks. This should be a low scoring affair with some big hits. (More on this bowl in my next post.)
• Cotton Bowl – #10 Auburn vs #22 Nebraska – I think Nebraska is better than their #22 ranking. Their only bad loss came against Oklahoma State. The Huskers other losses were to USC, Texas, and Oklahoma. Conversely, I don’t know what to make of Auburn. Are they really the #10 team in the nation? They didn’t look like it when Georgia beat them 37-15. I think both teams have much to prove, and I think Auburn will eek out the win.
• Capital One Bowl – #12 Arkansas vs #6 Wisconsin – I wish I could tune into this game, but I will likely be driving home from Atlanta at 1pm on January 1st. I love this matchup for one simple reason: I want to find out if Wisconsin is as good at their 11-1 record. I think Arkansas is a good team, and based on Wisconsin’s schedule (no wins over ranked teams), I think Arkansas wins this game.

Bowl season is a great time to be a football fan. We get to see teams that ordinarily would never play each other go head-to-head. There are always surprises, usually with a few big underdogs pulling out the upsets. And, as New Year’s comes and goes, we get to see the highly ranked teams play each other for national bragging rights.

Below are my picks for this year’s bowl games. I am 5-2 heading into tonight’s Motor City Bowl.

2 Jan 07: Updated with recent results.

8 Jan 07: Updated again with more recent results.

24 Jan 07: Final update with national championship result.

Poinsettia: Texas Christian over Northern Illinois (correct)
Las Vegas: Brigham Young over Oregon (correct)
New Orleans: Rice over Troy (incorrect)
PapaJohns.com: South Florida over East Carolina (correct)
New Mexico: San Jose State over New Mexico (correct)
Armed Forces: Utah over Tulsa (correct)
Hawaii: Arizona State over Hawaii (incorrect)
Motor City: Middle Tennessee over Central Michigan (incorrect)
Emerald: UCLA over Florida State (incorrect)
Independence: Oklahoma State over Alabama (correct)
Holiday: Texas A&M over California (incorrect)
Texas: Rutgers over Kansas State (correct)
Music City: Clemson over Kentucky (incorrect)
Sun: Missouri over Oregon State (incorrect)
Liberty: South Carolina over Houston (correct)
Insight: Minnesota over Texas Tech (incorrect)
Champs Sports: Maryland over Purdue (correct)
Meineke Car Care: Boston College over Navy (correct)
Alamo: Texas over Iowa (correct)
Chick-fil-A (Peach): Virginia Tech over Georgia (incorrect)
MPC Computers: Miami over Nevada (correct)
Outback: Tennessee over Penn State (incorrect)
Cotton: Auburn over Nebraska (correct)
Gator: Georgia Tech over West Virginia (incorrect)
Capital One: Arkansas over Wisconsin (incorrect)
International: Cincinnati over Western Michigan (correct)
GMAC: Southern Mississippi over Ohio (correct)

Rose: Michigan over Southern Cal (incorrect)
Fiesta: Oklahoma over Boise State (incorrect)
Orange: Louisville over Wake Forest (correct)
Sugar: Louisiana State over Notre Dame (correct)
National Championship: Ohio State over Florida (incorrect)

I made these picks prior to the first bowl. If I could change them, I would pick West Virginia over Georgia Tech in the Gator Bowl, since Reggie Ball won’t be playing. I felt the Yellow Jackets had a shot at the upset, but I don’t see it happening now.

The Virginia Tech men’s basketball team started the season with a very shaky record of 4-3. Two of those losses came in the Old Spice Classic, where Tech finished a disappointing 6th place. After beating Iowa 69-65 as apart of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, the Hokies had a tough 1-point loss to George Washington in the BB&T Classic. With a 62-61 lead and less than 20 ticks of the clock left in the game, Coleman Collins missed a slam dunk that would have put the Hokies in a great position for the win. Hampered by a preseason injury and the loss of his father earlier in the year, Collins’ senior season has been a disappointment thus far.

Since the GW loss, the Virginia Tech men’s basketball team has rattled off 4 straight wins: beating ODU by 17, Appalachian State by 32, Wake Forest by 3, and Seton Hall by 19.

While those wins weren’t necessarily against premier opponents, they were each good, solid victories in their own right. ODU managed to close within 7 a few times in the second half, but the Hokie late-in-the-game meltdown that plagued the team so much last season never materialized. App State was held to 37 points, which was the second fewest point total by an opponent in Cassell Coliseum. Somehow the Hokies made enough free throws to beat Wake Forest. Wake lead at the half 31-27, but Tech had a pivotal 13-2 run in the second half that gave them control of the game. Tech also survived a 3-point attempt at the buzzer by Wake Forest that would have sent the game into overtime. This game marked the first time the Hokies won their conference opener since the 1996-97 season. Against Seton Hall, a solid team from a great basketball conference, the Hokies played their best basketball of the season during a 20-0 run in the 2nd half.

According to the Washington Post recap of the Seton Hall game, written by Adam Kilgore, Hokies head coach Seth Greenburg analyzed the tape from the team’s first 5 games after Thanksgiving weekend to figure out why Tech was 3-2. Coach Greenburg’s conclusion was that the defense he installed in the preseason wasn’t working, so he implemented a new defense that came into its own against Seton Hall. Tech held Seton Hall (who were averaging 81 points coming into the game) to 61 points, forced 21 turnovers, and had 16 steals & 12 blocks. The Pirates shot just 27.7% from the floor and were held scoreless for nearly 8 minutes in the 2nd half.

The Hokie defense really shined against Seton Hall, and this is a good time to hit their stride, too. After taking on Campbell (Dec 23) and Marshall (Dec 30) during the Holiday Season, the Hokies play Richmond at home (Jan 3), at Duke (Jan 6), at UNC-Greensboro (Jan 10), and North Carolina at home (Jan 13). From Richmond to UNC, that’s 5 games in 15 days. I don’t care who you’re playing, that’s a tough stretch.

Another positive note from the win over Seton Hall was Coleman Collins’ game. While he only finished with 5 points, he played 19 minutes off the bench and had 6 rebounds. He played with energy and hustled on defense. I think he’ll use this game as a springboard to get his season turned around.

Doubters will look at the last four games and say that while the Hokies have rolled, they really haven’t played anyone. However, the three out of conference wins are going to be solid RPI boosters (according to RealTimeRPI.com VT is 34th at the time of this writing), and any conference win is a good win in the ACC. They’re on a roll, and if they can maintain this momentum, Virginia Tech should be 11-3 going into the meat & potatoes of their schedule and playing with the kind of confidence with which tournament-quality teams play.

The subject says it all. This is just the obligatory “first-post”. I have quotes around first-post because it is the first new post. I have imported all of my content from my original site, which was active in 2005.

I hope to make at least one post a week during basketball season. It’ll probably drop off a bit after March Madness, and then pick back up as football season draws near.