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Excorcising the demons

Friday, November 16th, 2007

[The following post was published at HokieHaven.com on November 16, 2007.]

As the final seconds ticked off the game clock last Saturday at the end of the Florida State game, I could almost hear Tangina from Poltergeist declare to the Hokie Nation that “This house is clean.” We could finally sing, “Ding Dong, the witch is dead!” The proverbial monkey was finally off of our collective back. It had been over 30 years since the last time we beat Florida State – in fact, Coach Beamer had never beat Bobby Bowden – but the last three losses to those hated ‘Noles were particularly bitter. As new members of the ACC, Florida State was the only team we had yet to conquer on the gridiron as an ACC peer.

Those last three games against Florida State (’99 National Championship Game, ’01 Gator Bowl, and ’05 ACC Championship Game) were certainly on our minds last Saturday, and the emotional release after the win punctuated that point. Even though the win was barely a blip on the college football radar, the fact that the students rushed the field after the game demonstrated what the win meant to the program. The Seminoles had seemed to be our nemesis team: when we played them the stakes were high, Bobby Bowden managed to out-Beamer the Hokies, and Tech lost. The 40-21 victory over the Seminoles exorcised those demons, and the Hokies can now only look towards the future.

What exactly does the future hold? Two of the Hokies’ most familiar foes are the only opponents remaining on the regular season slate. Tech has faced Miami every season since 1992, and they have faced Virginia every season since 1970. Recent history has been kind to the Hokies as they are 3-1 against each the last 4 years, but these aren’t your big brother’s ‘Canes and ‘Hoos. Miami has lost their last 2 games, and 4 of their last 5, including a 48-0 woodshed beating at the hands of the Cavaliers. At 5-5, they still need to win one more game to become bowl eligible. With Virginia Tech and Boston College remaining, Miami’s postseason fate remains very much in jeopardy. Meanwhile, Virginia, who had been the posterboy of mediocrity the last few years, has scratched and clawed their way to be amongst the ACC elite. Following an embarrassing loss at Wyoming the first week of the season, the Wahoos went to work and flew under the radar to a 9-2 record with only the Hokies standing in their way to a trip to Jacksonville at the end of the season. Who would’ve thought that the regular season finale in Charlottesville would mean so much?

As for Saturday’s game against Miami, it’s hard to believe that a game against the Hurricanes could mean so little in the grand scheme of things. Virginia Tech’s win over Florida State eliminated Miami from the division race before the ‘Canes could eliminate themselves by losing to UVA. There have been so many memorable games between Tech and Miami that have meant so much. The 43-10 smackdown we gave them in Blacksburg in 1999, the 41-21 loss they handed to us a year later when it was #2 vs #3, the Earnest Wilford drop in 2001 when Miami was #1 on their way to a national championship, and the 31-7 beating we handed to them in 2003 when they where #2 are just a few of some of the great games played between the two schools.

This time Miami isn’t ranked, and the outcome of the game will not affect our quest for an ACC Championship. Even with the reduced stakes, I can’t help but to feel excited about Saturday’s game. Saturday is senior day for one of the more memorable senior classes Virginia Tech football has seen. The likes of Vince Hall, Xavier Adibi, Chris Ellis, Duane Brown, and Eddie Royal will be playing their last game in Lane Stadium. In addition to that, this season has made a turn for the better since the nasty loss to LSU, and this will be the last time that most of the fans will get see this team in person.

At 8-2, the Hokies are just two wins away from yet another 10-win season, and the Hokies control their own fate for their bid at a second ACC Championship. Those dark weeks following the loss in Baton Rouge are nothing but a distant memory, and Tech put together some very nice wins. Even with the QB swap-a-roo (which I have warmed up to), I get the feeling that the team is starting to hit their stride. Hopefully they will build on this momentum and win four more games this season.

Quick Hits

  • Did you catch Bobby Bowden’s comments about last weekend’s game? The Roanoke Times reported that the game was one of the three worst physical whippings suffered by any of his teams during his coaching career. That is some high praise, although I’m not entirely surprised by it. That was one of the hardest hitting games I think I’ve ever witnessed.
  • ACC Championship Game update: Things are much clearer now. The winner of next week’s Virginia Tech vs Virginia game will play the winner of this week’s Boston College vs Clemson game.
  • How about Maryland? Just when I thought they’d end the year with a losing record and have to stay home for the holidays, they pull off one of the biggest upsets in the ACC by knocking off Boston College. They are now 5-5 overall, and with Florida State and N.C. State remaining they have a legit shot at getting bowl eligible.
  • While Miami has looked bad the last few weeks, I don’t expect Saturday’s game to be an easy win for the Hokies. It’s a rivalry game, and I get the “wounded animal” sense from the Hurricanes. They were embarrassed last week, and they’re going want to prove to themselves that they’re not that bad.
  • Yet another #2 goes down. While writing this column, I watched Arizona upset #2 Oregon on Thursday night. They’re the fourth #2 team to lose this season. (Not to mention the #1′s have been upset.) This has truly been a fun year to watch college football, and I don’t have a clue who’s going to make it to the National Championship Game.

A look back and a look ahead

Wednesday, October 24th, 2007

[The following post was published at HokieHaven.com on October 24, 2007.]

With week 8 now in the books, we are now just over halfway through the college football regular season, and what a half season of college football we have seen! It seems like every week there have been monumental upsets, and the top 10 of the rankings have essentially been a revolving door of teams. The Hokies are back in top 10 as well, right where we thought they’d be at 6-1 overall and 3-0 in the ACC, but the road to this point has been bumpy with some unforeseen twists and turns.

Instead of rolling through our early opponents and playing LSU tough, the Hokies have had issues moving the ball on offense in those early games, and they were completely dominated in Baton Rouge. Our defense didn’t look stellar the first few weeks, our offense had a non-existent running game, a true freshman was taking snaps, and doubts crept into the minds of the Hokie Nation. After a lackluster homecoming win over North Carolina, a nervous Hokie Nation wondered if things were going to get worse before they got better.

After a nice win on the road at Clemson and during the clobbering of Duke that led toTech’s 4 straight win, a funny thing happened in Durham: the Hokies, players and fans alike, got their swagger back.

While everyone reminds themselves that it was “just Duke”, it was still the kind of lopsided win that we hadn’t seen in awhile, and it renewed our hopes of a possible ACC championship. The offense began to move the ball with ease, the defense gave Duke no room to breath, and special teams finally blocked a kick. The players were having fun, and the fans now feel a sense of genuine excitement for the upcoming stretch of games that will make or break this season for the Virginia Tech Hokies.

What stretch of games the Hokies have left on their schedule! Boston College on Thursday night for a top 10 match-up; on the road to Atlanta for another Thursday night game versus Georgia Tech; the familiar foe in the Miami Hurricanes; the much anticipated in-conference visit by Florida State; and a trip to Charlottesville to take on UVA in a game that may decide the division.

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Things are not always what they seem.

Friday, September 28th, 2007

[The following post was published at HokieHaven.com on September 28, 2007.]

A couple of weeks ago, in my post following the LSU game, I seemed to have ruffled the feathers of some of the readers of HokieHaven.com. Many took my thoughts to be that I was down on Tyrod Taylor. I just want set the record straight.

First off, I’m not down on Tyrod – I’m down on the offense. Secondly, I’ve officially drank the Tyrod Taylor kool-aid. Tyrod has been very poised the last few games, and he doesn’t look like a true freshmen out there on the field. He has made some great plays, and, I admit, he gives our offense better opportunities to score. That said, I stand by the statement that our offensive line is bad. The fact that we couldn’t stick it in the endzone from inside the 20 against William & Mary our first two drives really makes me nervous about our tougher games this year.

If we can’t get a touchdown in the redzone against a Division I-AA opponent, what’s going to happen when we play Boston College, Georgia Tech, Florida State, and Miami? The good news is that many of those games are a month or so away, so the offensive line has some more time to improve. The bad news is that I just can’t shake the feeling that we’re looking at a four-loss year. North Carolina and Duke are the only ones I can mark down as wins with a high degree of confidence, but I just can’t help to think that between road trips to Clemson, Georgia Tech, & Virginia and home games versus Boston College, Florida State, & Miami that we’ve got three losses waiting for us.

But hey, what do I know? I’m just a Virginia Tech fan like the rest of you. I follow our Hokies with passion, and I think Blacksburg is heaven on earth. Hopefully this year’s team will prove me a fool for doubting. When I start to think negatively about this year’s offense, I just need to remind myself about last year. Last season, Hokie Nation was in meltdown mode after back-to-back losses to Georgia Tech and Boston College. Tech fans were in a state of despair, and many were expecting to see a few more losses. Things weren’t what they seemed, and the team ripped off six wins in a row.

The uncertainty surrounding the rest of this season feels very similar to the uncertainty we felt at the midway point last year. With UNC and Duke book ending the trip to Clemson, followed by an off week, there is time for the offense to get going before they hit that nasty stretch of the schedule starting with Boston College (who, by the way, is playing extremely well).

This is my suggestion for everyone who is letting our stagnant offense get them down (including myself): take a deep breath and relax. There is one very difficult game in the next four weeks, so we have good chance to get things together before we make our run at a division title.

Before I sign off, I’ll leave you with some items from the things are not always what they seemed department:

  • Do yourself a favor and forget about last week’s box score. Yes, we barely out gained William & Mary, and our rushing stats were not good. However, don’t forget that the second string defense was in the game by the second quarter, and the second string offense started the second half. We took our foot off of the gas, and then the game was about getting reps. If you look at the first quarter when the starters were in the game, our offense often had a short field, and that helped skew the box score for the first quarter. The only part of that game that worries me is our inability to get two touchdowns in the first two redzone appearances.
  • Everyone expected Branden Ore to be a league leading running back this season. Unfortunately, he is having a sub par year so far. What happened? Is it our offensive line? Is he out of shape? I hate to say it, but Kenny Lewis, Jr. looks like our best tailback right now. I hope Branden can get it turned around.
  • LSU gained 598-yards against Virginia Tech on September 8th. Ohio and William & Mary combined for 376 yards the last two weeks. I think we can all agree that Bud Foster got things turned around defensively.
  • Virginia beat Georgia Tech last weekend … and it absolutely stunned me. With Notre Dame going to 0-4, Georgia Tech’s win over them doesn’t look so good. The Yellow Jackets, whom I thought would compete for the Coastal Division title, might be a pretender this year. UVA, who looked absolutely horrid in the first few weeks, got a nice quality win at home. With a favorable conference schedule this year, you have to admit that the Wahoos have a shot at the division.
  • Miami rolled up and smoked and Texas A&M last Thursday (Sep 20). Miami looked much better on Thursday than they did in the first few weeks, although it was obvious to me that A&M did not deserve their #20 ranking. Miami is not as bad as they looked against Oklahoma.
  • Someone forgot to tell me not to sleep on Boston College this year. They’re 3-0 in conference play with a win over defending ACC champ Wake Forest and a dominating win over then #15 Georgia Tech. I figured that they’d finish in the middle of the pack with a new coach. Now, I’m thinking they’re the team to beat in the Atlantic division. (By the way, I still have to look up which division is called what.)
  • Michigan got a nice win over Penn State in the big house. The rumors of doom & gloom in Ann Arbor following Appalachian State’s and Oregon’s wins over the Wolverines have been exaggerated. Look at their schedule; they have a relatively soft schedule until they finish up with Wisconsin and Ohio State. The Wolverines will be competing for the Big Ten championship going into their final two weeks, and those last two weeks may decide Lloyd Carr’s fate as their head coach.
  • Last year I finished second at the end of the season in the College Football Pick’em I run. After two weeks (we started in week 3), I am dead last. Last weekend I finished worse than the guy that didn’t pick two games. If you’re thinking about putting money down on a college football game at some point, make sure your consult with me to ensure your pick is the opposite of mine.

The Weekend at LSU

Friday, September 7th, 2007

Friday 5:30pm

Delta flight 4673 took off from Charlottesville roughly 15 minutes after 11 AM with at least 7 Hokies on board (myself included). I found it somewhat ironic that there were so many Hokies on a flight leaving Hoo’ville, but there are a good number of us in the Charlottesville area. The flight followed I-81 for the first 15 minutes or so, and I got a great view of Christiansburg and Blacksburg from the air. It was kinda funny that I followed my normal route to Blacksburg from the sky to see the Hokies in Baton Rouge.

I spoke with a few Hokies while waiting to board. This is obviously a big game in SEC country, and there is a buzz about this game not felt since the USC game of 2004. The LSU fans I talked to at the Atlanta airport consider it a big game, as well. Everyone is looking forward to the weekend’s festivities.

So, now I’m checked into my hotel and enjoying a few minutes of downtime before I head off to see the LSU campus. I’ll do my best to bring you a few updates throughout the weekend.

Random sidenote: I saw “Refrigerator” Perry at the Atlanta airport. Yup, he’s still a big dude. Friendly, too.

Saturday 10:45am

Wow, do these folks know how to prepare for a football game! I walked around campus yesterday afternoon for about an hour and a half. There were lots of tents already setup for today’s tailgates, and a number of students were setup on the parade grounds for today’s broadcast of Gameday. I also took a peek at their new live mascot: Roscoe, soon to be Mike VI. He’s a cool cat. I hope to upload some pics of him at some point.

I went down to The Chimes after walking around campus. I think I spent 4 hours there last night. I arrived by 7pm and left around 11pm, and it was packed the entire time. There were lots of Hokies there, and mostly friendly banter going back and forth between Tigers and Hokies.

Well, it’s time for me to get my butt moving and headed to campus. That’s all for now.

Go Hokies!

Monday after

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to make any more updates over the weekend. However, I know everyone has saw the game and was disgusted.

My post game thoughts will be published here in a day or so, so stay tuned.

Random Thoughts

Monday, January 8th, 2007
  • There’s an excellent recap of Saturday’s win over Duke over at HokiesFullCourt.com. Read it during your next coffee break.
  • At the time of this writing, the Hokies are ranked 34 according to RealTimeRPI.com. This means that the win over Duke has nullified the loss to Marshall.
  • Which VT basketball team will show up in Greensboro on Wednesday? The one that played Marshall? Or the one that played Duke? Smashed between Duke & UNC, this has all of the markings of a trap game.
  • My bowl picks for this year are not very good. 17-14 with one game left. At least I’m over .500.
  • I can’t make up my mind on what’s going to happen in tonight’s BCS championship game between Ohio State and Florida. After the regular season, I thought Ohio State would destroy Florida. Recently I began thinking that Ohio State would win, but Florida would keep it close. I think I’ve been letting the media get in my head. I’m going back to my initial feelings – Ohio State will win by at least 10 points.
  • Regardless of your feelings about Ohio State, you have to respect Jim Tressel. The man won a number of national championships at Youngstown State, and he’s 4-0 in bowl games at Ohio State. Three of those bowls were BCS bowls. Tressel is a great big-game coach.
  • By now I’m sure you’ve heard that Louisville’s Bobby Petrino is going to be the next head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. Petrino is certainly an interesting hire. He is an offensive-minded coach who has built up Louisville’s program into a BCS contender. I’ve heard there is still a question of whether or not the Falcons will keep Michael Vick. In my opinion, they keep him. I think Petrino is looking forward to building an offense around Vick (rather than making Vick run his offense).
  • Will Bobby Petrino buck the current trend of college coaches who bust in the NFL? (eg: Steve Spurrier, Butch Davis, Nick Saban)

Update: Here are some YouTube videos of highlights of some of the recent VT-Duke basketball games:

Bowl season full of comebacks

Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007

Regardless of the outcome of the handful of remaining bowl games, if was I asked to summarize this year’s bowl season with just one word, I would say comeback. (Or is that two words?) So far there have been 6 teams to win their bowl games after being down by 8 or more points.

  1. Florida State was down by 10 in the 2nd quarter and down by 7 at the half in their victory over UCLA in the Emerald Bowl.
  2. In the Sun Bowl, Oregon State was down by 14 early in the 4th quarter before beating Missouri 39-38 with a 2 point conversion after their final touchdown with 23 seconds left in the game.
  3. Texas Tech was losing to Minnesota 38-7 midway through the 3rd quarter in their overtime victory in the Insight Bowl. No, that’s not a typo. The Red Raiders were down 31 points with less than 23 minutes left in regulation and proceeded to hold the Golden Gophers scoreless during the remainder of regulation while scoring 4 touchdowns and a field goal to force overtime.
  4. In the Meineke Car Care bowl, Navy held an 8 point lead in the 3rd quarter over Boston College, but the BC Eagles scored a touchdown midway through the 4th quarter and a game-winning field goal with the clock expiring to beat the Midshipmen 25-24. While this would have been a huge victory for Navy, it still was a feel-good win for Boston College. Steve Aponavicius, a walk-on who was in the stands last year, kicked the 37 yard field goal that won the game.
  5. No Hokie will forget Georgia’s second half comeback in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. The Bulldogs were down by 18 at halftime before scoring 28 unanswered points in the second half to beat Virginia Tech 31-24.
  6. West Virginia, also down by 18 in the 3rd quarter, scored 21 unanswered to beat Georgia Tech 38-35 in the Gator Bowl. Ironically, 38-35 was the final score in their upset win over Georgia in last year’s Sugar Bowl.

That list doesn’t include Oklahoma forcing overtime after coming back from an 18 point halftime deficit before losing to Boise State in last night’s Fiesta Bowl. I have no doubt that will have been the best game of this year’s bowl season. Oklahoma refused to quit in the second half and clawed their way back to take a late 7 point lead. What was even more impressive was that Boise State responded with equal guts and determination. Shame on you if you didn’t see that game!

Even if the remaining bowls are snoozers, I think this still will be one of the most exciting bowl seasons ever.

2006-07 Bowl Season

Tuesday, December 26th, 2006

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.

2006-07 Bowl Picks

Tuesday, December 26th, 2006

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.

Dr. Pepper to Sponsor ACC Title Game

Monday, April 25th, 2005

ESPN is reporting that Dr. Pepper will be the title sponsor the ACC Championship Game. With Boston College joining the ACC this year, the ACC will have an annual championship game in Jacksonville, Forida. It is a 5-year deal between
Dr. Pepper, the ACC, and ABC Sports. At this point, there aren’t any more details in the article.