I did, for a year anyway, and why did we only have 3 quarters back then? According to
McBryde Hall, and my 36 hours of Calc and Stats, three quarters is 3/4’s, not 4/4’s. So where was that hidden 4th quarter, way back when? That curiosity dealt with, and nonetheless, here are VT’s first quarter football grades for 2007…..
(my thanks to ArtVandelay for his work in contributing these seasonal projections)
Defense: a low B+, which is actually up from the start of the year. I now officially suspect it is being overlooked, as to just how much the GPA attrition that is Ro.Minor, has hurt this VT football team. I’ve seen a bit of a drop in our Secondary play, and our defense in general when we sit our DB 1’s (1’s means first-teamers; i.e. sitting “Macho” and B.Flowers). To start the year I actually saw a lot of arm-tackling, though that has 
cleared up a bit. On the good side, LB depth is much better than I expected, and when C.Powell plays mad, we have a very nice first-string spot-unit (see his 2nd quarter insertion into the OhioU game, when #99 single-handily took the LOS over for himself).
But still…….this defense is down 28 spots in Total Defense compared to last year, and we’ve only played 1 tough team so far. Run defense is down 31 spots, Pass Defense is down 34 spots. We still have a good defense, it is 29th in D-1 after all; but that’s all this defense currently is, i.e. good.
Offense: raise you hand if you predicted 667 total rushing yards for B.Ore for 2007? I
thought so. Neither did I. But that’s how poorly he has fallen off, a difference of nearly -1.5 yards per carry for this year on average. That’s not a hic-up, that’s strip-throat at best. But Ore is a bit dinged up, I found it on tape where I did in fact see him favoring his left-ankle, he also sports bad ribs. On top of that, our OLine is pretty much a mess, and will not be any better for SR’s suspension this weekend. Getting Wang back is critical, but even then, I’m not sure his reinsertion is the general Panacea that we need. T-Mobile needs more time to allow for his brain to catch up to his body. He is a smart kid, so that should occur, but don’t hold your breath if you want it to occur this year.
Total Offense is down by by 8 spots, Rushing Offense by 7, Passing Offense by 7 as well. My hope is that Wang’s reinsertion will kick start this offense, and allow it to jump form it’s current 107th, to somewhere in the low 90’s to mid 80’s. I’m sorry, but that’s the best I can foresee, and that only merits a middle of the road D-.
Special Teams: A-. Only Royal’s on-going fascination with watching catchable punts roll, from an oblong and unpredictable projectile that is often called a football prevented an A+ being assigned here. Only KO Returns actually need a little work, but we have the play-makers back there to handle that, given enough return reps. Bowden is pressing for all-ACC honors as a rookie, Dunlevy is perfect and getting several KO reps himself, Develli seems unfazed by the extra 5 yards.
Overall VT grade: I went back and forth on this, I had a hard time falling off of my C+
to B- fence. But the VT ST’s finally won me over, and allowed for me to submit an overall letter-grade of B-, courtesy of 1 extra credit bonus point for all of D.Brown’s steal’s. b-st.
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