Coach Johnson In Trouble For “Animal Cruelty”

Coach Johnson might be after Saturday when the Jackets look to end that 7-game losing streak to the mutts. We might have to call him Coach Vick for a week with the hurtin’ he’ll put on the dogs. Although this is what I’m hoping for, let’s look at this game objectively.

Spoonman’s Offense versus Stick’s Defense
Spoonman (Matt Stafford, google ‘matt stafford joe cox) will try to move the ball against Stick’s (Michael Johnson) defense. Honestly, UGA has a lot of offensive weapons. Knowshon has some great moves and is very speedy. AJ Green is a great young receiver and Stafford has a cannon for an arm. We have a very young secondary and if Stafford gets going it could be a long day. Having Jahi Word-Daniels back for this game should certainly help with that. Massaquoi can be a weapon but has been known to have a hard time holding onto the ball (both drops and fumbles) sometimes. We need to make that an issue for him again on Saturday.

Keys on Defense:

1. Shutdown Knowshon
2. Pressure Stafford into mistakes

Diesel’s Offense vs. Undisciplined Dawgs
Georgia’s D is fast but has been known to play undisciplined. If they do the same on Saturday then we should be able to throw up some points. Rennie Curran is the guy to look out for as he flies to the ball. If the O-line plays like it did against the U then we should be able to get the ball rolling. Dwyer and Nesbitt are slightly banged up but should be more than good to go this weekend. Both offenses have advantages and it might come down to which Defense plays better. We need to look like we did against Miami, FSU, and Mississippi State and not like we did against VT and UNC.

Keys on Offense:

1. Good Line Play
2. Keep UGA’s D offbalance

Coach Johnson Factor

While at Navy, Coach Johnson went undefeated against Navy’s main rival, Army. He also posted a 5-1 mark against Air Force. He knows how to coach in rivalry games. Let’s hope he brings that to Tech.

Numbers & Stats

• Georgia has won 7 in a row, but Tech holds the longest streak of 8 in a row
• First time since 2000 that both teams are in the Top 20
• Similarities to 1998 season (thanks to GoldenTornado on the Hive)
  • Both times GT was trying to beak a 7-year losing streak and playing in Athens.
  • In 98, both GT and UGA were 8-2.   This year, GT is 8-3 and UGA is 9-2.
  • I believe in 98, GT was AP #18 and UGA was #12.    This year, GT is AP  #18 and UGA #13.
  • GT was tied for the ACC crown in 98.   GT will most likely tie for the division crown in 2008.
  • Both years, UGA played two elite teams and got destroyed by both — UF and UT in 98, and UF and Bama in 08.
• #4 Rushing Offense (GT) vs. #15 Rushing Defense (UGA)
• #24 Offense (UGA) vs. #19 Defense (GT)
• #31 Scoring Offense (UGA) vs #12 Scoring Defense (GT)
• #41 Turnover Margin (GT) vs #66 Turnover Margin (UGA)
• Ranked ACC teams do not do very well (don’t know the statistic)

GO JACKETS!! TO HELL WITH GEORGIA!!!

790 the Zone Scavenger Hunt

I participated in a scavenger hunt put on by 790 the Zone to win 10 tickets to the GT-UGA game. It didn’t play out how I wanted. I’m still a little bit bitter about what happened.

The UGAg father/son team won the hunt. I talked to them several times throughout the event and other than being mutt fans they were very friendly and deserving of the tickets (the son served in Iraq for us).

But back to why I’m still a little upset about it. At first, Steak Shapiro told me that if we would have gotten a picture with Coach Richt we would have won, which is kinda true. We tried, but his assistants didn’t really want us to and kept giving us the runaround. We had to get back to Tech for pregame stuff so we never got time to go for a third try for him. Funny part of that exchange was that I have RWFGT as my ringtone and it went off when I was talking to Richt’s assistant, so that may have had something to do with it. But the father/son team just happened to run into him in the parking lot later in the day even though he normally parks in a private lot that is closed to the public. Lucky break for them part 1.

Lucky break part 2 is what ended up killing me. We came back a little early from Athens for two reasons. One was to get some of the pregame stuff. The other was that one of the tasks was to get a free throw shot in AMC with a jersey on. The shot was 10 points and the jersey was a bonus 15. I knew some of the basketball managers from my days as a trainer with the basketball team so we got back before AMC automatically locks up and waited for practice to be over so I could get a manager to help me out and get that one done. We did and with only missing 2-3 tasks at UGA and getting everything done at Tech we thought we had it for sure.

Keep in mind that we only lost by 10 points. Somehow, the father/son team found an unlocked door to AMC at 6:30 in the morning. That’s not supposed to happen. Secondly, one of the basketball managers happened to leave a jersey laying on a chair on the AMC floor. If either someone at facilities locks up, like they are supposed to, or the manager puts up the jersey, like they are supposed to, then we win.

There was one task we could have done back in Athens after the game, but it was finding some “Iron Horse” out in the middle of a field about 30 miles outside of Athens. We were told by the other teams that we probably would have never found it in the dark. Plus, we were exhausted and driving to and from Athens at that time could have been pretty dangerous. (My dad died falling asleep at the wheel so I wasn’t risking it.)

So basically we got outlucked when they got two extremely lucky breaks.

I’m a little upset about it and mad I won’t be there when we break the losing streak and crush the mutts season, but I always say that God has me somewhere for a reason. Plus, I get to flip back and forth between our game and the UVA-VT game to see if we are headed to Tampa.

Go Jackets! THWG!

Back to Life

I apologize for the extended hiatus. I have been moving around on projects at work and trying to get my Master’s project together. This is a big week though and I have a lot of stuff coming your way today and hopefully throughout the week.

It’s good to be back.

Hello Top 25, Nice to See You Again

This weekend the Jackets went up to Clemson in what some might have called an emotional bear trap. However, the Jackets have a coach named Paul Johnson that instills a confidence and quiet swagger that not many teams have. The game started off fast with a Dominique Reese pick 6 off of Tyler Grisham’s reverse pass. The Jackets scored again right before the half to make it a 14-3 game at halftime. However, Clemson came back and scored on a throw to Aaron Kelly with Jahi Word-Daniels running off the field with a hamstring injury. They again scored to put the Tigers up 17-14. This was very scary as a GT fan because it looked like the Clemson emotion had caught up to us and all the momentum was in their favor. Josh Nesbitt and Bebe Thomas said screw that and hooked up on a 24 yard pass for the go ahead touchdown to cap the game at 21-17 in favor of the Jackets.

The defense played well, forcing six turnovers. Dominque Reese, Raashad Reid, and Morgan Burnett all had interceptions with Burnett getting two at the end of each half. The Tigers also had two fumbles and a failed fourth down conversion. Jahi Word-Daniels went out with a hamstring injury. From my information, I doubt we see him back any earlier than the Miami game. Raashad Reid will probably move into the starting CB position. Morgan Burnett will probably move down to CB or nickleback in nickel situations and have Cooper Taylor fill the empty safety spot.

The offense played well enough. The O-line once again played terribly and let Clemson blow up a lot of plays. We had just enough big plays to get the job done so I can’t really complain too much. Josh knocked off some rust and should improve as he gets some more continuity back under his belt.

Scott Blair made the play of the game by catching up to track-star Marcus Gilchrist on a kickoff return before the end of the first half. It saved a touchdown and probablyt the game.

Dabo Swinney, please stop with all the freaking motivational cliches. He tried everything in the book: tiger walk, holding arms and walking pre-game, orange out, etc. None of it worked. He just got outcoached.

With the win the Jackets debuted in the Top 25 at #21 in both the AP and Coaches poll. They also are #18 in the BCS polls. This gets us a lot of exposure for the program. Let’s just hope we can hold on it, which is something we could not do during the Gailey era. Then again, a lot of things this year probably would have gone differently if Coach Johnson wasn’t at the helm.

By the way, In The Edge has now surpassed 30,000 visits. Please continue to tell your friends about ITE and help it to grow.

Chaos in Clemson

Huh, what are these expectations you speak of?

If you’ve been living in a hole or just use this blog as your primary source of Tech news (highly unlikely) then you know that Clemson head coach Tommy Bowden has “resigned” from his duties as the head man at Clemson. Wide Receivers/Assistant Head Coach Dabo Swinney will take over as the interim coach.

Shortly after his takeover Swinney also let go of offensive coordinator Rob Spence. It was obvious a lot of people were calling for his head as well and Swinney knew that.

So lets look at this madness from a few different angles…

First, why did it happen…

Athletic director Terry Don Phillips said his intent Monday morning was to have a candid heart-to-heart with Bowden about the football team. But Phillips said he was surprised when Bowden offered to resign.

“There wasn’t a gun to his head,” Phillips said.

I say, “Nay!” Mr. Expectations had a debt owed to him and he finally put the gun to Tommy’s head. For several seasons now Tommy has had very high expectations and not lived up to them. Couple this with the fact that he has recruited very well so the talent has certainly been there to do so. He also has been haunted by what I like to refer to as the annual Clemson choke. Even if they look awesome and everyone is showering them in praise at some point the Tigers will choke and fall short of the lofty expectations set forth by the fans and media.

So we’ve got failed to live up to expectations, wasting talent, and…oh, yeah, players who have quit on him. When Chan Gailey left not everyone may have liked his football philosophy but almost everyone respected him as a person and wished him the best. Either Tommy was just a douchebag coach or he has some douchebag players. Honestly, I think it is the latter and I would hope our players would have the class not to ever say anything like these quotes from Cullen Harper and CJ Spiller (at least not in public anyway):

“It’s what he deserved,” Harper said. “Dabo Swinney is a fine man and will do an excellent job.” … (Harper’s father) “I’d call it karma,” he said. “I thought it needed to be done. I think anytime a head coach or someone in a leadership position starts to place blame on his coaches and players, it weakens their respect on the team. His past experiences have shown he’s done that.”

---

“I’m shocked. We are 3-3 because we didn’t make enough big offensive plays,” Spiller said. “I’m shocked by our record, and now I’m shocked that our coach is gone.

“I enjoyed playing for coach Bowden and I liked him, but in the end he was yelling at us to be leaders and it wasn’t working. He did all he could to motivate us, but guys weren’t buying into what he was saying. And he said a lot of the same things over and over again. “He let the offensive coordinator [Spence] run the show, and we got away from me and James [Davis]. I think part of the problem was when he benched Cullen. Some people wanted the offensive coordinator fired; [Bowden benched] the quarterback and then he got fired.”

So where does this leave Clemson?

It leaves them confused, distracted, and running around trying to figure out how to run things without Tommy while preparing for a Paul Johnson-coached team. Dabo Swinney is taking over play-calling for the offense and really there is nowhere to go but up as far as that is concerned. We might some more risks taken as the season is pretty much already written off and they have nothing to lose. CJ Spiller is said to be out this weekend with a hamstring injury. It also leaves them with a pissed off Harper after Willy Korn (why he didn’t go to Nebraska I have no idea) has been confirmed as the starter for this weekend.

Defensively, the Tigers should remain the same. I think they play somewhat undisciplined and while they fly all over the field I’m not convinced they play good assignment football and with Nesbitt coming back this weeknd that could be very dangerous for the Tigers.

Some names that have been thrown around to replace TB:

• Will Muschamp
• Lane Kiffin
• Bobby Johnson
• Jim Grobe (pssshhh)
• Bill Cowher (oh stop, it hurts)

The first three are legit candidates. I don’t think the other two are. Bobby Johnson makes the most sense to me. He’s a Clemson alum, a darn good coach, and moving to situation where he can consistently compete. Muschamp and Kiffin could be good, but are unproven at the college head coach level. Personally, I want the Tigers to get a good coach and take that step. I just believe Coach Paul Johnson is better and that to be the best you have to beat the best.

So what does this mean for Georgia Tech?

Well, it’s kinda foolish to look beyond this weekend’s game because everything is going to be overhauled this offseason. But things could go one of two ways for this Tigers team. They could lie down and quit since there’s not a whole lot to play for anymore other than a midtier bowl game. The team could also rally and play lights out for the remainder of the season.

This rivalry game usually is pretty much independant of the rest of the season in that you can throw out the records because this is probably going to be a close, exciting game.

Josh and Jaybo should be back.

He's back!

Will Korn is another factor. He’s mobile and we haven’t done that great with mobile QBs. We did contain Chris Crane, but Tyrod Taylor got the first downs (and a touchdown) when it was needed with his feet. I doubt Willy is as fast as Taylor, but the Jackets need to contain him and put a ton of pressure on him by blowing up a beleagured offensive line.

The defense needs to stay consistent and play like they have been. Brad Jefferson played in the Gardner-Webb game (if you can call it that) so he got to shake some dust off and should be back to his Gladiator self this weekend. Derrick Morgan has played possesed and hopefully can continue that trend this weekend. I especially like this 3rd down wrinkle we are doing where we have 3 down linemen and Derrick lines up as a lineback in blitz position behind the nose tackle. We got a sack out of it against Duke and great pressure against Gardner-Webb with it. I bet you we are setting up something where he drops into coverage and hopefully confuses the QB enough to get a sack, a bad pass, or an INT.

This Clemson fan base is going to be rabid after the change. I’ll be there this Saturday so all the GT fans there need to be loud from our little corner of the stadium (and space).

This is a game where we definitely need to get on them early and take the crowd out of it and let the doubt once again soak in.

4-1 and Feeling Good

The Jackets dominated Duke this past week in a 27-0 win. The defense was absurd. It pressured Thaddeus Lewis all day and never let him get any rhythm going whatsoever. Even walkon Alex Walker got an INT on the day. This is even more impressive as Duke was 3-1 and averaging around 30 ppg. The offense saw Jaybo Shaw mature and BeBe go off to the tune of 230 yards. The coaching staff is absolutely remarkable as they turned a 3-0 lead at halftime into a 27-0 blowout win by the end of regulation. Well done Jackets!

This weekend the Jackets take on the FCS cupcake Gardner-Webb. I expect this one to get ugly quickly. Josh may return this weekend. I hope he does as he needs a couple series to shake off the rust before heading up 85 to face the Purple Pansies of Clemson. I’ll have more on that game next week. The defense is playing lights out right now and has a chance for the first back-to-back shutouts since the Dodd era. GW has a good run defense, but so did Miss St. I don’t expect much of a fight.

We should be 5-1 and poised to go down to the wire with VT for a spot in the ACC Championship game. Root for any ACC opponent playing VT because we need them to lose two.

The bigger analyses and previews will return with the monster second half of the season.

Other notes:
I put a permanent link to CentSports and Goal Line Blitz in case anyone wants to sign up. CentSports is a really fun way to bet on games without worrying about any of your own money. GLB is a fun online football RPG.

This weekend is the Red River Shootout. Many people know that Texas is my second favorite team. Since GT is pretty much not even in the National Championship picture, I’m hoping the Horns take down the Loser Sooners and get the inside track to the BCS Championship game.

Hook 'Em Horns!

ITE BYE

Sorry everyone, just been really busy. I’ve got a loaded week this week with several assignments dues this week, lots going on at work, and one of my good friend’s wedding stuff going on. I’ll do some short snippets if I get some time, but otherwise I’ll be back next week with analysis of Duke and preview of GW.

GT vs. Miss State Preview

The Jackets have two out of four of their ACC road contests out of the way and head this week into an out-of-conference matchup with the Mississippi State Bulldogs of the SEC. This is the first time the two have matched up since 1929 and the Jackets hold the series at 2-0.

Special Teams

The Jackets certainly improved at Virginia Tech. We did have an extra point, but then again we were playing VT and made up for it with the conversion later in the game. The bulldogs have a pretty good punter in Blake McAdams. He is on the Ray Guy Watch list and while his average isn’t eye-popping he is pretty good at pinning his opponenet inside the 20. Adam Carlson is their kicker and has made 18-29 field goals in his career and was 10-13 last year. Not bad, but he’s gotta get within range first.

GT Defense vs. MSU Offense

I fully expect us to dominate. Vance will play and AT Barnes will be back for this game. Kyle Jackson has been playing very well and I believe he might be the leading tackler on the team right now. The secondary has continued to play well and will continue that against a horrid MSU offense. Wesley Carrol has taken the majority of the snaps for the bulldogs. I’ve heard that their one of the RBs might be injured for this game. If the dogs can’t get some sort of running game going in this game then they don’t have much of a shot to put many points on the board (at least from their O).

GT Offense vs. MSU Defense

The pattern of coaches practicing our O in the summer continues as Sylvester Croom mentioned that they looked at our offense some during the summer. Their D is stout. They are just as good as the past two that we’ve faced. I expect them to get tired though after having their offense out there for very short periods of time and our offense to break some big plays late in the game to put it out of reach. This offense is obviously getting better each game and Josh showed us how special an athlete he is. Dwyer will not miss this game and Lucas showed us what he can do last week. I expect to see a few more passes this week though.

Sylvester Croom

Coaching

Sylvester Croom is a good man and a pretty good coach. Not spectacular but good. Their D coordinator obviously knows what he is doing. There’s a lot of calling for the O coordinater’s head though. The people of Starkville are getting restless and tired of such a productionless vanilla offense. Let’s hope that trend continues this week.

Who to Watch

Jessie Bowman – Will he get as much pressure up the middle as VT and BC have?
Wesley Carroll – Can he get any semblance of a passing game going?
Michael Johnson – Is this his breakout game of 2008?
Roddy Jones – He showed us how can be utilized in the passing game, will he be a threat in both aspects of the offense this week?

Prediction

Ugly, hard-fought game. Big plays by GT late.

GT 24 – MSU – 9

Sorry for the short preview, but I’ve got a busy week and, honestly, Miss State is a boring team to research. They are at the bottom of the SEC and have a boring defensive-minded team with no offense, kind of like NC State.

Interesting Note: My wife’s cousin is a strength and conditioning coach at Mississipi State.

GT vs. VT Analysis

Believe me, I was not happy after this one. It hurt. It was just a rough loss to swallow. However, after a few days to cool down the sun is coming back out and I still love this team. So here’s my breakdown of the game.

Special Teams

Not terrible. A lot of people were worried about this part of our game and it really wasn’t all that bad. Yes, we did have an extra point blocked, but we made up for it with the 2-point conversion later in the game. Honestly, you can’t really expect to play VT and not have them have something big happen on special teams. Scott Blair hit his only field goal try of the afternoon. No spectacular returns, but we also held on to the ball during the returns. Coverage on kicks was pretty good. Overall, I’d say we showed improvement in this area this week.

Defense

Our inexperience at linebacker showed and VT showed how to neutralize our dominant D-line. Honestly, the Hokies didn’t have much beyond Taylor’s scramble ability. He made a few good throws and Darren Evans broke a couple nice runs, but their offense really came down to T-Mobile’s feet. I think with Glennon playing we win going away. The D-line got good push, but if any lane at all opened up Taylor got through it quick and made people miss to get some crucial first downs for the Hokies. I said this was going to be a key and we just didn’t stop it. Part of it was Taylor’s quickness and speed but part of it was linebackers not being in a position to slow him down either. We are young at linebacker and this type of thing will improve with experience. Our LB crew will be stacked for the next couple of years.

One thing that surprised me is we didn’t get a single turnover. They didn’t really pass all that much so there wasn’t many chances for interceptions, but give VT credit for holding onto the ball and not giving it away on any fumbles.

Oh well, at least Tyrod doesn’t seem like as much of a thug as another VT quarterback who most recently wore #5 before him.

Offense

Josh and Heart

While my heart bleeds for this team it is also wrung dry by it at the same time. So, the good? This team shows an uncanny will to fight and scratch and will NEVER give up. Josh Nesbitt is a man and he will give his all to get this team a win. I’m seeing an attitude about this team that I haven’t seen since I arrived on the Flats in 2003. The reads are looking better and Josh is timing his pitches better. The A-backs had a much better day as Roddy grabs a huge reception for a TD and Lucas Cox showed his abilities. Josh also set a record with over 150 yards on 28 runs. This team is obviously improving and showing flashes of ability and glimpses of a very bright future.

The bad? Turnovers. No, not of the apple form. Those are delicious, but this kind is hard to swallow. We put the ball into the Hokies hands too many times. VERY rarely are you going to go into Blacksburg, give them the ball three times, and come out with a win. To keep it as close as we did was remarkable and a testament to how dangerous this team can be. The fumble right before halftime proved to be the dagger in GT fans’ hearts. Without that fumble, which setup a Hokie touchdown on a Taylor scramble, the Jackets probably win this game. It was just a mixup between the minds of Dwyer and Nesbitt. These will become less frequent as familiarity with the system grows. Remember, this is just the third game running Coach Johnson’s offense. Cut down on the turnovers and we are going to be very difficult to beat.

The ugly? In my opinion, the O-line play has got to get better. VT blew up a lot of plays as soon as the ball is snapped. That is simply unacceptable on any level. The O-line has got to get some push so we can run the dive better to really see the brilliance of the option offense. Gardner has been good, but the interior of the line has not been very good and to top it off we seem to get costly penalties at inopportune times. I’m not sure what the problem is here, but it’s got to get better to have this offense run the way it needs to. On the plus side, we did seem to have pretty good pass protection.

Coaching

Coach Johnson trying to flag down an eye doctor for these guys

What can I say? It’s been solid all year. You can see that this team is mentally prepared and that mistakes are not a product of coaching. Problems we have are mostly contributed to inexperience, which is what we all expected. Coach Johnson knows how to adjust and have his kids in the right mindset. The thing I really like is Coach Johnson has such a fire about him. He showed that he was just as mad about that helmet-to-helmet call as the rest of us. You could clearly read his lips when he was yelling at the refs that they gave the game-winning field goal to VT on a bullsh*t call. It might be a matter of time before he’s fined by the ACC for calling out the incompetance of ACC refs that we all view week in and week out, but it needs to be said.

Loss 1 – Where to now?

The future is bright Yellow Jacket fans. A loss always sucks, but we certainly showed promise. I doubt we play another QB that is as mobile as Tyrod Taylor and our LBs will be more experienced by the time we do. This offense will continue to get better. The Jackets are favored in their next three contests and if they take care of business will be 5-1 going into Clemson. We did well splitting the BC-VT monster of a start and the option offense should be much improved for the more difficult second half of the season. All I know is that the second half of this season is going to be VERY exciting. This offense should have started to click and the inexperienced defense will have experience.

Coach Johnson has this program headed in the right direction and opponents are going to hate to play us. We just lost by three to the Hokies in Blacksburg, that is nothing to be ashamed of. Especially when you consider that take away the fumble before the half and/or the helmet-to-helmet call and I think we win that game. We show considerable promise and I love the attitude of this team.

Mississippi State comes to town this week. A horrid offense, but a very respectable defense. Turnovers will again be key, but I’m excited and certain that TOs will start to dissappear with experience in this offense.

Prayers go out for Jonathon Dwyer’s hip and to Virginia Tech losing two ACC games. We need Jonathon. I think he will be ok and the training staff will do all they can to help out that contusion. Since the Hokies now own the head-to-head with us, we need them to lose two ACC games and us win the rest. Can we do it? Yes. Will it be easy? Absolutely not. But we can always hope, right? Coach Johnson and this team has certainly inspired hope in this GT fan. Go Jackets! Bring on the other Bulldogs!

GT vs. VT Preview

Sorry I didn’t get a BC review up, but my wife got really sick and I had a deadline for work earlier this week. I won’t say much, but it was a great win. A lot of people keep saying we were lucky, if it wasn’t for X then…blah blah blah. We won. It doesn’t matter if the win is by 1 or 100, it’s still a win. Better yet, it was against an ACC opponent and a pretty good one at that…on the road. That’s impressive to go on the road, have three turnovers, and still find a way to win.

But this week it’s Lane Stadium and 65,000 foaming-at-the-mouth Hokie fans.

Special Teams

It’s no surprise that this needs to improve. Two weeks in a row we’ve had turnovers on kickoffs. Scott Blair is only 1-5, although two were from almost 50 and one of those just hit the upright. However, the snaps and holds are going to need to be flawless this week as the Jackets head into the birthplace of “Special” special teams play. Beamerball got out Beamerballed in week one against the marauding ECU Pirates, but don’t expect that to be a regular thing. In a game against VT your special teams need to be tight and just not make mistakes. You don’t have to be returning 80 yard kickoffs or anything, but you need to minimize any mistakes that the Hokies can capitalize on. We’ll see if we’ve made any improvement here.

GT Defense vs. VT Offense

Tyrod Taylor

Maybe I’m retarded or sippin too much Kool-Aid, but I feel pretty good about this. I fully expect Tyrod Taylor to play at least 80% of the snaps. The Defense played especially well at BC, particularly in the 2nd half. It’s encouraging to see adjustments and that could be the difference in the VT game as well. If the game is close at half, then I have confidence in the coaching adjustments to come out and play better in the second half.

Stopping the running game is most certainly going to be the game plan. VT doesn’t have that great of receivers like they’ve had in the past and they will lean heavily on the run. If they are not running I don’t trust Taylor’s arm or Glennon’s decision-making to beat us. VT has some pretty good RBs in Kenny Lewis and Darren Evans and we all know what kind of ability Tyrod Taylor has with his legs. The O-line is not fantastic so if the D-line can live in their backfield and stop the running game then I see the D having a very succesful day shutting down the somewhat inept Stinespring-led offense. There’s a lot of finger-pointing on the Offense up in Blacksburg so shutting them down early could quickly lead to frustration on the Hokie sidelines. Frustration leads to mistakes and GT is going to need to make those mistakes turn into big-time negative plays or turnovers.

GT Offense vs. VT Defense

This is such an intriguing matchup. It’s like apples and oranges comparing them to the BC defense. It’s just a whole different monster. You can never count out a Bud Foster defense, he’s one of the best in the business. However, this is not the Hokie defense we’ve been accustomed with. (Suck on that dangling participle you freaking VT English professors.) One encouraging sign for GT is that the VT Defensive line hasn’t played particularly well. Their DTs are not BJ Raji and Ron Brace for sure. Dwyer should have a much more successful day on the dive than he did in Chestnut Hill. Also, this defense is young and if they start missing assignments then the option could work very well for us on Saturday. Macho Harris is their best player on defense, but the question remains as to whether or not he is fully healed from that injury enough to make his usual impact.

The problem the Jackets face with this defense is their athleticism. Outside of Miami and possibly F$U and UGAg this is certainlyt the most athletic defense the Jackets will face. Speed kills and their defense has plenty of it. Missed assignments may be covered up a little bit by the Hokies speed. BC has a good defense, but they certainly didn’t have the type of speed that we are going to see on Saturday. Letting these guys get going early will get the crowd into it and this is not something we need to do. We need to score early and then let CPJ put his foot on their neck and not allow them to get up.

Coaching

Frank Beamer

Frank Beamer is like the one A you got while going to Tech. Dave Braine got that one right, but then lost his mind and couldn’t get back up to that bar. I like Beamer as a person, even though his teams generally are a hodgepodge of good kids and thugs/future-inmates. Beamer is a solid coach that has his kids ready to go. They are the only other team besides USC to boast four straight 10-win seasons in the past four years.

Bud Foster is one helluva DC. Never ever count him out.

Stinespring is the ?. A lot of Hokie fans are calling for his head after their offense has been floundering as of late. He’s better than Nix, but that’s not saying much. Let’s hope he continues his campaign for a pink slip this weekend.

Crowd

Hokie Crowd

There are only a handful of games each year that this is truly a factor. I have been to Lane Stadium and I can tell you that this is personally the best, most-intimidating crowd I have experienced. Before our 51-7 beatdown in ‘05, when the team came out to Enter the Sandman, that was the most electrifying I’ve EVER seen a crowd. That is the only time in my entire life that I could not hear myself speak. I believe it is a combination of the crowd being really into it and the stadium design that allows the crowd noise to just sit right on top of the field. It makes for an exciting and a little bit of a scary atmosphere, but it’s the reason I love to go to games there. I hope it doesn’t affect this young team like it did in ‘05. We need to channel it into excitement and focus.

Every 3rd down

Also, the fans behind the bench can be ruthless with insults (some quite inappropriate). These players need to be able to ignore them or just score early and take them out of the game. I’m not sure if CPJ has coached in this atmosphere (VT) before, but it is nuts and our team needs to shut it off before it becomes a problem for this team.

Who to Watch

Jonathon Dwyer – Will he get yards up the middle against a much softer DT tandem?
Michael Johnson – While not really building stats, his presence has made an impact. Can he help to get pressure this weekend and containing Tyrod from getting downfield?
Macho Harris – Is he healthy enought to make an impact?
Tyrod Taylor – How much will his feet hurt us?

X-Factor: Stinespring – Will the offense sputter and the frustration and finger-pointing set in?

Prediction

Vegas Line: VT -7
My Line: VT -3

Prediction: GT 20 – VT 10