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
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