Our Hokies are looking to bounce back from our worst defensive showing since CAL rang our O&M bell for a smooth 52 points back during the Insight.com Bowl. T-Mobile will attempt to be the flint that will ignite a spark-less VT football team….
But first games first. Big-12 Oklahoma State visits Troy, (to borrow a Keith Jackson phrase), “Allllll-la-bama” tonight on ESPN2. OK.State is a middle of the road Big-12 football team. Troy is a sneaky little Sun Belt football team. Don’t believe me? Just ask the scare Tory State put into FSU last year, and the upset they torpedoed 19th Missouri with at home on national TV two years ago. Troy has some ST’s woes, and some offensive-line concerns as they have only brought back one OLine starter from 2006. But OK.State has a suspect Turnover Margin, and that is just the kind of foible that can land the Cowboys in a real pickle down in Troy Alabama. I want to pick the upset here, as Troy is a nifty 85% at home in the last 7 years; but it’s tough to go against the 31% completion% edge that favors the Cowboys. That’s a lotta 3rd Down conversion, and a TOP edge just waiting to happen. I went back and forth on this one several times, but I’ll take Troy at home, for my final answer. Troy 24 OK.State 22.
ESPN360 will showcase our game over the internet. I suggest you do not tweak the default settings for ESPN360, and I further suggest you log into the stream about an hour prior to kickoff.
But what about the game itself? Our 16 game starting Qb is simmering over on the O&M
pine, our all-everything rookie Qb is now our starter, we benched a starting Sr. DT (C.Powell), and we had an often quiet unassuming Sr. LB (pic), seize the vocal leadership roll in the always notorious players only meeting this past Monday. So there is quite a bit of drama packed into what was thought to be a relative obvious game, just over 6 weeks ago. But who will win?
Several of you have been asking about how does OhioU compare to ECU? ECU is better because of the noticeable difference that favors the Pirates in total defense (which is odd for such a defensive coach as F.Solich). But OhioU does have a better Offense than the Pirates, they have an all-MAC quality Rb, and enjoy some actual throwing of the football for a change. Hence no more: “Why does Frank Solich always drive 55? Because he can’t pass.” joking in terms of the stoic former Cornhusker offensive philosophy.
But OhioU is 95th in Total Defense after playing two nobodies, and it appears as if 2 OhioU defensive starters will sit this one out (DE, SS). Our Hokies need a user-friendly defense, and we need that badly. As any Frank Beamer offense that features a lead back who averages 2.6 per, and an entire offense that averages 1.8 per carry, is a VT offense that is threatening to stay home for the holidays.
The Bobcats have not won 3 in a row to open a season since 1976, that streak will have to wait at least until 2008. Our Hokies are set to step up, in fact they must step up, or that gurgling sound you will hear will be 2007 going down the O&M drain. I foresee we will step up with “…one giant leap…” as Frank tames the Bobcats for his 200th win. VT 38 OhioU 3.
b-st.
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