“Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing…after they have exhausted all other possibilities.” -Winston Churchill-
Raise the roof!
As the American debt-ceiling is propped up and lives to fight another day.
U.N.C. doing the right thing however is another animal entirely.
That said, this team does enjoy its share of “tiger blood and Adonis D.N.A.” Check it out…
1# Defensive-End (De)
#6 Defensive-End (De)
#9 Defensive-Tackle (Dt)
#8 Inside-Linebacker (ILb)
#14 Outside-Linebacker (OLb)
#8 Wide Receiver (Wr)
#62 Wide Receiver (Wr)
#70 Wide Receiver (Wr)
#21 Center (C)
#26 Guard (G)
#11 Quarterback (Qb) recruit in America two years ago.
#1 Offensive-Tackle (Ot) recruit in America two years ago
#7 Fullback opening holes for the #1 power Tb in the A.C.C.
Only the final ranking is non-national; as all the rest are where the 2011 Heels are pegged out of all 120 D-1 football teams overall at this time. I’d say U.N.C. enjoys some star-power; wouldn’t you? I counted no less than 24 guys in their 2-deep ranked 65th or higher out of High School; 9 of which were ranked 15th or better! Dang. That’s enough star-power to start your very own constellation or astronomy class. Which is something U.N.C(heat) appears to be running low on these days; class that is, not astronomy. Nevertheless, it is holistically possible that this is the most talented team that VT will face this year; ergo, I’m giving this powder devil its due, and you should too.
(1o.o7) Thursday nite at home for U.N.C. On defense U.N.C. is big, biggest, and biggest. Three U.N.C. downlinemen tip the Toledo’s at 285 or more and neither Dt weighs less than 318 lbs. U.N.C.’s second layer (Linebacker’s) is healthy as well. Yes, the U.N.C. font-7 is loaded for bear. Not Survivorman loaded, not Dual Survival loaded, not even “bear” Grylls multiplied by “grizzly” Adams is this stout upfront. However, as you have probably already noticed, the U.N.C. defense is not so stiff the further away from the LOS (line-of-scrimmage) that you move. Which is not to infer that the U.N.C. secondary is porous in and of itself; it is a high C+ quality hind-4, maybe even a low B-, just not quite so epic as the U.N.C. front-7 is. Ergo, VT will not be winning this one down in the trenches via ground-warfare. If there is a game not named Miami in which L.T. will have to wing VT to victory, that game is surely name U.N.C. My only question is will he have the time?
If course, there is the sidebar or flat out sidetrack known as the October NC2A sanction(s) meetings between U.N.C. and the NCAA regulatory body. Raise you hand if you know how that one will go? Me neither. However, this is either one big collective sigh of relief, a moderate wrist slap, or something that could still turn out downright bad if your favorite color just so happens to be powder blue. Stay tuned; although either way; there will be a regular season closing effect that will be felt posthumous to this NC2A/U.N.C. October meeting –be that pro or con.
U.N.C. also gets our beloved Hokies on 12 days prep; which can not possibly hurt after 65 successive days of scrimmaging. These Heels should be rested up as opposed to worn down by 10 previous weeks of incoming football. Nothing like an OPEN week to Rest and Recreate some fresh-legs and allow these Heels to lick some wounds and get back to playing physically 5×5 football. VT on the other hand will have gone all-in during the previous week’s visit to the ATL having to play in the assignment S.A.T. bowl vs. P.J.’s flex-bone offense. Yes, I have predicted VT to chop Gah.Tech down to size; however this much high-voltage rushing 0r powerhouse offense that could leave VT saying: “Hello (Mr.) Houston we have a problem.” So, how could U.N.C. upset VT inside of Lane? Experience; after having missed 89 suspended or injury riddled starts combined in 2011, this is one very deep football team as numerous Heels had their feet held to the 2010 fire a full year ahead of schedule. Last year U.N.C. had 6 turnover in its final 8 drives vs. Virginia Tech; if I were a betting man -and I am- I would not wager on that happening time time out. Further, with this much powder-blue pass rush, if there is a game in which much ballyhooed rookie Qb L.T. might just find himself planted like a tree and dusting himself off after landing on his wallet all nite long it would have to be U.N.C. This one won’t be for the faint of heart, this one will be old-school rock ‘em sock ‘em smashmouth football –buckle up. Virginia Tech=16, North Carolina=20.
See that strike-through keyboarding up above? Yup. That was written prior to the Butchie Davis scandal busting wide freaking open and ultimately costing Butch his job.
Yes, U.N.C. is still a problematic match-up on paper; as they do have the skillz that play the bills. However, where will the Heel’s mindset be for the 2011 regular season? How much gutting and goring can one football program possibly survive? Your guess is as good as mine, as I have double negative zero idea how U.N.C. will respond to all of this. However, I expect a bipolar response nevertheless.
Either or, take your pick. Either the Heel players simply let go the Interim Head Coach rope, and refuse to put out for Everett Withers; a 48 year old defensive minded coach who does not even have his own Wikipedia webpage. Or, they rally round the power-blue flag and plant said flag right between the shoulder-blades of 9 or 10 of their 2011 opponents.
Accordingly, and even though I have no traction here with the potential interim lame-duck in waiting at the helm down on Chapel Hill, I’ll side with U.N.C. winning a very ugly and quite possibly a very thugly looking game in Blacksburg with a team that is (blank) kicked and is therefore playing their Bowl game vs. mighty Virginia Tech. (same score as above, on a much more salty nite)
(11.26) This brings me to the team that most of you love to hate and the team that I most enjoy writing about this side necktucky or wvu. The boo-hoos from france or the London-calling Virginia Cavaliers. Having 18 starters back -tied for first most in the A.C.C.- does not suck. However going for 5 wins, then 3 wins and then 4 wins in your last three consecutive years does suck. Every bit as much as does going a meager 1-7 in in-conference play last season sucks as well. That said, more often than not, new coaches tend to make their biggest strides in their second season all things being equal. The french have only enjoyed one winning season since 2005 and even though I do buy that Mike London has things generally trending in an upwards direction at HooVa, he and the Cavaliers still have a tough row to hoe. That said times two; with any luck at all these 2011 Cavs could actually open 4-1 before things get real on October 15th as their 2011 A.C.C. docket opens for business and the french will either find out just how far they have come or how much further they have left to go.
If there is a bona fide strength to this season’s french football team I have not doubt that it would be the offensive Maginot Line, or hoo oLine in 2011. This blocking unit ain’t half bad and has a shot at being pretty dang good come November, if they can stay healthy early on. Up front the hoos return 82 career starts and they only allowed 23 sacks in all of 2010. The kicker is who will play Tb and who will be the hoo-Va Qb? Over on the defensive side of the ball, the hoos do have a whopping 10 starters back from last year; with a nearly fully senior dLine and Secondary backing them up. Leading the way would be Cb Chase Minnifield who can stake some claim to being the beast defensive-back in the entire A.c.c. Cam Johnson is a rock solid De, and Steve Greer will make some noise at MLb. Beyond those three there is nothing better than average to see on this 2011 hoo stop-unit. They are better the further away you move from the LOS (line-of-scrimmage); and yes that is code for having trouble stopping the run. Which segues me rather neatly into my closing hoo-Va take.
In a word these 2011 hoos look “spotty” to me. Oui-oui, they do have some stud starting talent here and there, every bit as much as they have at least a handful of critical holes that may be 2012 or beyond away from being fully filled back in. Scratch that, france may very well be 2013-2015 away from beating mighty Virginia Tech in the only sport that counts to truly red-blooded patriotic sporting male. This one is all about Talent, and VT should -if nothing else- VT should still be able to out-Talent uva for at least the next 2-3 years. Or in other words, the only way france wins is if VT beats itself. Virginia Tech=29, france=7
A.c.c. summary and prediction:
In the last 5 years VT only has 8 scratch marks in the ole L column in-conference overall. Second best is
Gah.Tech with 13 or nearly a half season increase in getting beat in Atlantic Coast terms. Florida State is fifth best with 18 L’s and Miami checks in right behind them with 21. In generic terms, you can go ahead and pencil any remaining Frank Beamer coached VT football team into any pre-season A.c.c. championship game match-up and live to tell the tale about 4 outta every 5 years. This particular year however the A.c.c. Coastal looks much deeper and therefore much more formidable to me. That suggests that the Coastal winner could be 6-2 or possibly even 5-3 which brings the risk of the A.c.c tie-breaker into full effect. On the other side; the Atlantic winner looks to be closer to 7-1 with some shot at finishing a perfect 8-o in conference play. Most of the pre-season A.c.c. prognosticinti are predicting Florida State to take the A.c.c. Atlantic division regular season crown, and by the by I am inclined to agry with a seminal Atlantic moment. Yes, Klempson could have some say in that, and yes the Mike Glennon era is set to dawn down at NC.State. Nevertheless, I have to give the Atlantic nod to “Jimbo” Fisher to return to the A.c.c. title tilt down in Charlotte, NC. The only debate that I can see here is will that be code for 8-zip or 7-one in conference play for Florida State this season.
The A.c.c. Coastal is a different matter entirely. I see no less 4 teams here who could upset each other’s 2011 ship. Consequently, intra-division play (i.e. Coastal vs. Atlantic match-ups) could be the key to determining the A.c.c. Coastal Division regular season champion this year. Here’s how they forecast on pre-season paper:
- VT has one hard and one soft from the Atlantic.
- Miami has one medium and one hard.
- U.N.C. has one soft and one medium.
- Gah.Tech has one medium and another medium.
I’m pretty sure 7-1 will win the Coastal this season, and we all know that 8-0 would win the Coastal for sure. Right now my only question is: can a 6-2 VT still win the Coastal with inter-division L’s to Miami and to U.N.C.?
- A.c.c. sleeper team of the year: Boston College
- A.c.c. Player of the Year: David Wilson, Virginia Tech
- A.c.c. Coach of the Year: Al Golden, Miami
- A.c.c. Rookie of the year: Mike Glennon, NC.State.
- A.c.c. championship game: Miami=24, Florida State=21.
Virginia Tech Bowl forecast:
- The A.c.c. winner most likely will slot into playing in the Orange Bowl on o1.o4.12 in Miami Florida vs. a fellow B.C.S qualifier.
- The A.c.c. runner-up gets the Chick-fil-A bowl in the ATL on New Year’s Eve 2011, vs. S.E.C.
- The A.c.c. third place finisher gets the Champs Sports Bowl vs. the big east #2 on December 29th in Orlando Florida.
- The A.c.c. 4th place finisher gets the Sun Bowl bid, out in El Paso Texas vs. the PAC-10’s #4 team on New Year’s Eve.
- The A.c.c. 5th place finisher gets the Belk Bowl in PHNC-Fu country otherwise known as Charlotte North Carolina vs. the big east #3, on 12.27.11.
So there you have it as 2010-2011 potential A.c.c. bowl tie-ins go in O&M best and worst case scenario terms.
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My best take is that if Wilson and L.T. were both nuked for substantial parts of the 2011 O&M regular season, that VT would drop to approximately fifth best in the A.c.c. If only one got nuked for a large chunk of the regular season campaign, that VT would somehow manufacture enough wins to finish in the third to forth range. Obviously, if you have VT winning the Coastal Division, your choices are the Orange Bowl or the CFA Bowl should VT be beaten in the A.c.c. championship game.
In C.A.T.T. (critical thinking all the time) terms, authentic VT line-item analysis suggests that this is a second or third seeded pre-season football team in the A.c.c. on paper. With some luck, and some health (beyond Blake DeChristopher), I would give VT a near 50-50 chance to win it all. However, if already anointed all-world r-sophomore Qb Logan Thomas suddenly actually plays like a r-sophomore, or if Bud Lite does not improve as much as is contemporaneously forecast off of an all-time low-water mark in stuffing the run under Frank Beamer’s Hall of Fame tenure in Blacksburg VA, VT could and possibly would find itself fenced on a third-forth place A.c.c. boundary.
If L.T. and my boy David Wilson play all 12 regular season games and remain physically locked-n-loaded I am inclined to forecast 11 regular season wins; with the possibility of a twelfth win taking place in the second or third seeded A.c.c. bowl game depending upon how the A.c.c Coastal shakes out. If both offensive super-stars remain upright, and Bud Lite takes a couple of steps forward (plural), and if kicking and punting are both nails once again; I could even go good for predicting another A.c.c. championship.
That said, that’s an awful lotta ifs, and the ifs at Qb and Tb are paper thin right now with the kickoff to 2011 August camp now less than 24 hours away. Ditto Whip and Free-Safety (Fs), and if your stud Flanker (Fl) ends up having to punt that is never code for a good thing. Overall, 2011 boils down to skill position depth or skill position health at Qb and Tb; such is the limiting factor as the 2011 VT football season goes in the final analysis.
Accordingly, I will forecast that VT will formally win 11 games, with a bowl win in the Champs Sports bowl vs. none other than hateful wvu. Virginia Tech=18, wvu=12.
“LET’S GO!”
“HOKIES!”
b’street