Belk Bowl preview 2019 A.D.!

#4o R.P.I. Virginia Tech vs. #39 R.P.I. Kentucky:

Today’s word of the day is… Wildcat!

wild·cat
/ˈwīl(d)kat/
noun

  1. a small native Eurasian and African cat that is typically gray with black markings and a bushy tail noted for its ferocity.
  2. an exploratory oil well.
  3. (adjective) (of a strike) sudden and unofficial.
  4. A non-Qb playing Qb in American football. (wonder where Eye’ve seen that?)
  5. Your 2019 A.D. New Year’s Eve bowl champion when the Charlotte clock strikes 4 PM?

Kentucky Head Coach: Mark Thomas Stoops: age=52, (43–44 overall and @Kentucky); (this) Stoops has a rep’ for: recruiting, Secondary wiz’, an adaptive blue-color guy with a
very high work-rate. (something of a head coaching Scot Loeffler hours wise).
$4,250,000.oo

Baller Stoops attended Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown, Ohio, where his father was an assistant coach and defensive coordinator. After graduating from high school, Stoops played college football for the Iowa Hawkeyes as a student of the game Db from 1986 to 1988. Participating in four straight bowl games as a playar.

Coach Stoops broke into the clipboard ranks as a graduate assistant coach at Iowa for his ex-Coach (recent R.I.P./Coach God bless) Hayden Fry from 1989 to 1991, and then became the athletic director and defensive backs coach at Nordonia High School in Macedonia, Ohio. In 1996, when Kansas State assistant Jim Leavitt was hired as the head coach for the South Florida Bulls, he hired Stoops as his Db’s coach. Stoops served as the Db’s coach for the University of Wyoming Cowboys. At Wyoming, Stoops served under head coach Dana Dimel. When Dimel was hired at the University of Houston, he took Stoops with him to join the Cougars as co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach in 2000.

Does not lack for professional pedigree 1o1…

In February 2001, Stoops was named the Secondary coach for the University of Miami Hurricanes. Mark’s brother, Mike, was hired as the head coach of the Arizona Wildcats for the 2004 season. Mike then hired Mark as part of his staff. On December 11, 2009, Stoops accepted the job as defensive coordinator at Florida State University. After this, he finally got his Top Kick break with Kentucky six seasons back in 2013.

In 2019 Coach Stoops was named S.e.c. Coach of the Year. Marking the first time a Kentucky coach had won the award since former V.P.I.’er Jerry Claiborne in 1983. Big Whistle Stoops has already spawned a biune branch coaching tree of his own including archival w.v.u.’s Neal Brown.

Family tree Stoops is the younger brother of former Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops, former Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops, and Ron, Jr., the oldest of the brothers, who is an assistant coach at Youngstown State.

Poppa Stoops and his wife Chantel have two sons, Will and Zach

2018 record:  10 up 3 down and 5-3 in the So.Eastern Conference!

 Kentucky Defense: (starters back=4)

  • A forty-three base with numerous combinations/complications.
    (in very particular in their hind-7).
  • 20th in Total D.
  • 60th vs. the run.
  • 4th vs. the throw.
  • 9th in Passing Efficiency D.
  • 23rd in |zone| D.
  • 12th best in Scoring D.
  • 1o7th in fumbling (tho’ they (now) run a ton; skewing 1o1…)
  • 9 (outta 10) in dLine Havoc. Where’s the beef? Well, right now it is at KU in bolder/boulder looking and truly massive Ng (6′4″, 369 lb., third-year) Quinton “big-Bo'” Bohanna. This dood is a beast for the first few quicker than you’d think melee weapon steps. Brutal on the inside, like a T.Settle+. The colossal #95 does have a history of ankle-rolls (St.Philip bless); although Q.Bee is actually a rarified Vince Wolfolk style 2-gap Ng/Dt. As it takes two {sic: blockers} to make things go right here. De’s Calvin Taylor Jr. and Joshua Paschal (he of malignant melanoma on the bottom of his right foot 3-surgeries and St.Philip triune bless) have bigger numbers this season however; that tells you just how loaded for bear these Wildcats are upfront on D. And did Eye mention their star-De (CeeTee Jr.) from above) is merely 5′21″ (319 lbs.) tall? no ‘bleep’ same size as Earvin ‘magic” Johnson. (his-giant ass J.Lo. hoop-earrings, are optional, however…) The KY DLine will over-shift to the Will side at times, and although they are physical and tackle well enough… they must maintain contain or you see why this KY halt-unit is nearly dead average vs. the run if/when you get past their mastodon looking dLine. Tho’ this is a very active skyscraping dLine and it deflects/tips more than its share of opposing passes. And this is a downright huge Dline; what with everyone between logging a P.Bunyon -esque 286 and 369 lbs.; shazam!
  • 4 (outta 10) in Linebacking Havoc. Lb DeAndre Square has nearly been a surprise every bit as much as Lb Jordan Wright has been a disappoint. As this is basically Linebacking via committee here. This is not to say that they are bad; it is, however, to say that they lack individual star-power beyond Lb Jamar Watson’s pass rush capabilities. He can and Will, blitz. (see the pun?). Tho’ the KU Mike-Lb has been a target in opposing throw-fit terms.

    34 Will & Sam walk-up virtual 50 looks with Cf deeper.
  • 7.5 in Secondary Havoc. There are injuries at S and at Cb here that are expensing KY a fair amount of depth— if it comes to that. If not, this is about as keen and as intellectually schematically developed of a hind-4 or 5 as you will see in a year or three. On top of that, 100% of last year’s starters have left the Rupp Arena building and so did their 2018 top-back-up in secondary terms. ex-Wideout Brandin Echols has been a breath of fresh air at Cb and fellow Cb Jamari Brown is doing what he can… still yet; the experience and learning curves both say: “lookie here” when you play Kentucky. (as only one returning Cb had played mo’ than 1-game at Cb coming into this season). The secondary has a lotta moderate to average defensive coverage stresses at the snap. Tho’ they can toggle press or off outta this at their leisure too. Additionally, there are a lotta under-zone rules here (meaning you maintain your zone space even if the play runs by you— a mutually strict and wasteful at times look). Hind-4/5 will also concede shorter works to medium/deep protect more often than not. Although this set of anti-aircraft gunners is missing its starting Fs (Davonte Robinson, quadriceps; St.Nikon help) more than a little bit. That and this ain’t the largest hind-4 I’ve ever studied on tape. Haze’ and our Te’s seem physically inviting match-up wise here.

    CF in M.L.B. mixed sporting metaphor 1o1…
  • D overall: This is a most excellent secondary schematically and we are really fortunate to get to have Fu’ Cornhole this one for four weeks in the video-room. Lotta shells that roll into more/less a Centerfielder playing Tampa-1. Which tells you how big play nervy they are… or in this case; ain’t. That means they can fast-forward with 10 run or short pass congesting guys easily enough. There are zone mixes and disguises here… full 4-press-man suddenly lets go and enters into something of a modified quarters zoning looking downfield. The secondary does not come off of blocks well and although adequate it does not exactly stock 4-5 Cole Beck’s in recovery speed terms.
    Thingy is… their dLine has been good enough to shift into/out of modified 30 and 40 fronts and even a few 20 looks that cheat an extra defender into a pass-fighting position (i.e. their hybrid OLb/De position. That’s a versatile defense folks, and not one I’d wanna have to pound enuff coffee to scheme-up for on a normal or on a short work week. There are even; well; even or 50 five-man fronts when they want it here as well. i.e. the Vice Squad needs to pick right about now to play its game of the year.
  • (summary): returning D production=44%. National defensive player of the year, Lb, Josh Allen was everybody’s 2018 conflict defender here. Right now, however it’s prolly more like De, Calvin Taylor Jr. Who has a mess of Sacks & TFL, plus passes-defender in zone-blitz and three fumbles forced. This is a pretty downright active halt-unit; if not an outright aggressive one. Placing 47th in defensive TD’s tallied and 21st in fumbles stripped says so. It is also a morning glow or peaked unit what with only allowing 11.6 ppg since before Oct 31st. Which is most impressive as their tackling is up-n-down as most of the front-7 halts better than the hind-4 stops.
XXX-rated and XXXL sized dline 1o1!

Defensive letter-grade:

Kentucky Offense: (returning starters=4)

  • 79th in Total O.
  • 4th in ground O.
  • 126th in aerial O.
  • 123rd in Passing Efficiency O.
  • 95th in |zone| O.
  • 124th in completion percentage O!

    This numeral uno will Lois your… Lane!
  • O overall: Qb’s… well, when your Top-2 Qb’s are out for the year and a 6′, 199 lb. Wr2 (give/take) is now playing Qb1 for you; well that’s a bad thang, right? ‘rong! Or at least not here. As… 1,506+199+422+1297+1=A LOT. That’s KO-returns plus Punt Returns plus Passing Yardage plus Rushing Yardage plus tackling. As that’s all this Wr2 turned P.J.’s flexbone wet-dream of a Qb1, is. Tho’ he is also your Mr. Paul Hornung (most versatile) Award winner for 2019. Who is the only player in the country to lead his team in rushing and receiving. Who was only the no.5 ranked ATH (athlete) outta high school according to Scout. He was only named the 2017 Male Athlete of the Year of Ohio (all-sports!) He only (still) holds a sweet-16 buckeye state scholastic gridiron records. This from an uber exciting quad or 4-way baller that is actually known more so for his: ‘calm’ on the field demeanor. Who plays intramural competitive basketball (24 ppg in H.S.) on the side to help unwind form football and who only wants to be an N.f.l. G.M. As this third-year Jr. baller only amassed 11 plays ≥25-yards from scrimmage and only 36% of them went for ≥51-yards! That’s it, he sucks. Cut him now! While you still can… as the ‘whispers’ say he is eyeing the Not For Long SHtik. And oh yes… #1 Lynn Bowden Jr.’s nickname you ask? “Six“. As in… points. oLine:  the offensive line, which includes a pair of A.P. All-S.e.c. first-team members in center Drake Jackson and guard Logan Stenberg is legit. The internal blocking wedge of G-c-G is too legit to Q. Literally. As their pull-side kickouts and footwork(s) were at a nearly football clinic level upon breaking-tape. Needless to say, the interior oLine is north of the exterior oLine although the whole entire oLine is living right here. And frankly, towering (6′8″, 324 lb.) blindside-Ot Landon Young (bad A.c.l. returnee | may St.Nikhon bless) starts for at least half of D-1 right now. Maybe more like 60-70%. (Oline will airplane-wing and Bud, or j.Ham or the ghost of c.Wiles needs to gun it for a: not enough men on the LOS (line-of-scrimmage) call here). That said, KY pulls backside and blocks down frontside very well. This is a nimble oLine that scores well in Euclidean or geometry class terms. Finally, an extremely active oLine with their hands. As in hugging/mugging you even if that is not technically a holding call it sure looks catty/fishy to me. Big oLine too… as only 1 guy works south of 315 lbs. for KY  Rb’s: gonzo is merely KU’s Tb Benny Snell; who was merely the school’s all-time leading rusher. Yikes, and it is little wonder than traditional run-fits are way off here. Well, unless of course, they are not… as three different KU Rb’s have tallied: 515, 609, and 757-yards rushing and that does not include the Wr turned Qb1 above! Yikes again and in a different direction. As three of those top-4 ball-carriers average ≥6.4 ypc and the zeta-cat merely averages 5.4 ypc. In further point of fact… all of the Top-6 Wildcat ball-carriers have at least one HR punching run of ≥ 45-yards thus far this year. Or in other words, a whole damn lotta IsoPPP+ or chunk-runs gain ground here. Most forecasters agree that Rb Asim Rose is the alpha Rb ‘cat. And all 3-Rb’s are above average as rushing physicality goes. And impressively above average in putting a shoulder into their Qb-lead blocks. Wr’s: for courting only one guy north of 19 snags -a guy who is now your starting Pivot- and only two guys with more than one TD reception… it is interesting to see that the KU catch-corps has five guys with snags for 40-yards or more. Still yet, only ex-Hoopster Wr Ahmad Wagner gives you much of anything vertically and this is a pretty vanilla grab-gang by-the-bye. As with the Wr1 to Qb1 positional swap… all five top-Wr’s from 2018 are now 2019 gonzo. Although Te looks promising for the next 2-3 years; as two developing X-factor scrappers (Rigg & Upshaw) both quietly/sneakily do reception work. And these Wr’s remind of Hill/Pearson/Richards of Dal.Cowboy fame in that they run you off the play on a presumed pattern every bit as much as they actually, block. (i.e. you should know better than to fall for this). Tho’ these is some hoss sized Wideouts if/when they do get around to blocking. Ponderosa sized Wr’s at that.

    KY (near) fulltime H-back 3-wide Spread-Gun base:
  • (summary): returning O production=41%. This is now a heavily run-tilted O and it was (in theory) supposed to be a pretty balanced O what with its decent enough 2018 Qb1 returning. However, this O has seen not less than 6 different peeps attempt a pass this year. Three Qb’s and one ex-Wr1 have logged more than mop-up minutes at the Pivot position. Additionally, 3 Wr’s and 1 Rb have attempted a pass; so, this is indeed a trick-or-treat offensive prescription. There are some modified or offset Pistol looks here, there are some narrower splits upfront and frankly, this oLine really maintains/sustains its internal fills/folds longer than most. There are 3-4 wide looks and even Quads to the wide-side at times, and then they run short-side behind all that mess of all the things. And they like to come right at you on the ground. Run, handoff, Qb-keeper, with an occasional pitch— then rinse recycle repeat. A very green offense in bluegrass terms. Bowden is a slippery ‘cat; in particular for a guy with tape jobs over both cleats in his final regular-season game of the year. (protecting both ankles (St.Philip bless); which makes you wonder how good he is if both ankles are now alright?) (BONUS: BTW… this is a nearly feisty/slappy oLine, with a taunting/flexing at you sideline to back it up; “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” and they are entertaining if nothing else post-play). And they will still occasionally line their new Qb1 up outside and throw to him in his more homeopathic position of Wr.
  • 90-95% run:pass 10-5% mix (of late); (tho’ 68%:32% for the year) Any Rb getting the ball is your secret sauce offender here. 99th in passing yards per completion pretty well defines the ‘cats truncated throw-points. And honestly, what does that really mean when you run with the Wr1/Qb1 wiggle that they do? This is giving new meaning to: ‘the Wildcat formation’ indeed. Because KU throws not less than four pretty dang quality rushers at you and only one of ’em (199 lb. Qb) is south of 215 lbs.! Or in other words… if your run-fits ain’t broken? Don’t break ’em. Tho’ this is a pretty mixed/variety heavy O with regard to running (pun 1,000% intended) what amounts to nearly basic Qb Iso’/Leads or pure Option football to the odd (left) or right (even) sides. KY to its credit has found every single page in every single Qb/Option/Run centric playbook ever published and (somehow) stapled them together into a pretty dang spiffy set of rushing clinic Cliff’s Notes. As Bowden has completed just 29 of 62 passes for 330 yards yet has rushed for 1,235 yards and 11 touchdowns, averaging more than eight yards per carry.

Offensive letter-grade:

Wildcat Special Teams: (return)

Kentucky is the 25 qt. gold-medal or 1st-best in all the land in Net Punting and so is Max Duffy or ‘mad Max’ as this guy’s leg has truly weaponized this possession changing position. The 6′1″, 196 lb. third-year Perth, Australia Australian punter was merely rated as the No. 1 punting prospect in the class of 2018 by Ray Guy’s ProKicker.com. He merely averaged 48-yards per punt with an average hangtime of 4.42 seconds, according to ProKicker. And he only grew up playing basketball and soccer, then he switched to Australian football at age 15. That’s all… and Max’ sure has an interesting leg-drop and follow-through… as a lotta clockwise (CW) spin plays footsie here. Max’ is the oldest (25-years) member of the KY football roster and that makes him an identifying big deal post-game. Max’s dream job is to be a head coach in the Australian Football League and he only hits 47% of his punts in excess of 50-yards with only nine howitzer type shots of ≥63-yards.

  • Kentucky ranks 69th in Punt Returns | 71st in KO returns.
  • Kentucky slots 90th in punt coverage | and the bronze-medal or 3rd in suicide-squad.
  • Kentucky has blocked 1 kick and allowed 1 kick to be blocked.
  • Kentucky has blocked 1 punt and allowed zero punts to be blocked.
  • Lynn Bowden is a return game freak; so much you could almost make an argument for kicking it out-of-bounds.
  • P.A.T. defense team will try to block point-after-tries from both sides at the same time; it might be available to some Oct.31st End-around trickeration on the final day of 2019.

The KY place-kicking job is a tough one to call… well unless you are old enough to be familiar with the game of: Musical Chairs.

As two K’ers (try) to give Kentucky a leg up here. Jr. Matt Ruffolo and t-Fr., Chance Poore. Matt has a better FGA percentage (75%) to Chance’s lowercase looking 55%. The ‘whispers’ say Chance has been battling “being dinged-up” all season long (Godspeed). Tho’ neither K is stellar; even if you do have to wonder out loud if the bowling Christmas Break downtime helps heal poor Chance right on up? Matt is All-S.e.c. Academic Honor Roll and he did not miss an extra point for two straight seasons (2016 and 2015) in the scholastic Buckeye ranks. And he also ranks second all-time in Ohio for consecutive P.A.T.s made with 1o3. The So.Carolina native Chance was only ranked as the No. 1 punter/kicker in the 2018 class by Prokicker.com! That’s all… Chance also started in soccer and tennis in high school and is said to be quite the athlete (for being a K) overall.

Chance has missed 2-PAT’s and Matt has missed 2-PAT’s. As 3-pointers go… Chance appears to have a slightly better long-range leg; with Matt being better on short-range to mid-range FGA’s; and with overall leg-strength itself being close to even. This makes sense as Chance is the noticeably bigger/stronger looking guy if you are willing to sit the best Punter in the land and give a long-range 3-point play a… chance.

Special Teams letter-grade: There is a metric ton of leg-talent here, and Bowden returning a Punt in a pinch would be quite the Belk Bowl dynamo. Coverage and blocking could be a bit better tho’ this is an above-average Special Teams cadre either way. Highest possible B+++.

Unit Rankings:

  1. KY D.
  2. KY O.
  3. VT D.
  4. VT O.

X-factor(s):

  • motive: NOT an easy one to figure… tho’ if one of these two might be down a notch you’d have to figure that is just got 15-years upset VeeTee. EDGE=KY.
  • weather: Non-Factor 1o1. Call any play you want(s). Pretty much (pardon the pun), pretty much right as rain a fortnight past the Winter solstice. EDGE=God.
  • health/off-field: The injury reports read pretty much even quantitively, tho’ not qualitatively. As VeeTee had a narrow edge for a change here until some Pivotal pay-side MB news leaked on Saturday. (now) EDGE=PUSH.
  • penalties: The ‘cats are better than average here (47th); although we Hokies are nearly twice as better than they. EDGE=VT.
  • intangibles: The Wildcats are an average turnover team, tho’ that’s still nearly twice as dandy as us. EDGE=KY.
  • fatigue: N/A. (both have been off the same time less one day and both should have regained 100% ‘fresh-legs’ here)

Winning as the 3-point Vegas betting fave post being upset by uVa is all about what(s)?

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Illationconclusion(s) and OPT digits:

Number of ‘cats gone Wild’  @Tech=11

the takeaway:

The takeaway here is… that the Fu’fense had been rolling going into @uva. Out-passing and out-rushing three straight fair to middling to outright good opponents along the way.

In point of fact, the Hokies were up a rather impressive looking +582 total yards to the great vs. those three opponents after doing everything less actually stealing one over @Notre Dame.

Meanwhile, 313-miles nor-by-nor-west over in Lexington, Ky., the 2019 Wildcats had outgained everyone they played since going back to before Oct. 31st. Playing some very snazzy bluegrass football and going up a positively numbing looking +891 over those Penta-set of games (5). The ‘cat’s were not just whoopin’ people they were battle-axing peeps to the tune of a downright phenomenal +1,447 grounded rushing total (Σ) yardage margin when both KY O & D performances were taken as a composite.


Or in other words… both teams were improving nearly all over. It is just that Kentucky was improving more and then -suddenly enough- a nonpareil 1.5-decade upset happened to Virginia Tech along the way to the Coastal candy store @uva.

***

Or in final words… although Kentucky is surely set to kickoff 1Q of the Belk Bowl vs. Virginia Tech on New Year’s Eve day… is Virginia Tech about to (clinically hungover) start the 5Q of u.V.a.?

permutations:

  1. Δ1=45% That Kentucky’s rushing attack is too much here; that, and they have several downright naughty looking dLine vs. Vice Squad serial match-up advantages upfront down in the muck.
  2. Δ2=35% Stoops is .333 in the post-season thus far. Fuente is .667 in the post-season thus far. And Fu’ and Bud do get a month to prep’ for this all-out juggernaut Wildcat rushing attack. Plus -and stop me if you’ve heard this one already- this is Foster’s last game ever. (hopefully, VeeTee wants to send him out 5×5 or on the right).
  3. Δ3=15% That this one is too close to call. Flip a coin and if you do not like it flip it best two outta three. (with a 1-3% chance that this one needs extra innings to settle the score).

the optics

  1. The last time the Wildcats won 10 games, it was 1977 and former president Jimmy Carter was finishing his first year in the White House. KU not only notched double-digit wins last season the beat FLA. for the first time in 31-games! KU has also suffered through massive facility upgrades and seven recruiting classes inside the top-40 under Stoops; or in other words… as Boxing Day last week would have us put it; this is clearly a program ‘on the come.’
  2. KU has a staggering 60 rushing TD’s in their last 25 games!
  3. In their 3 games against teams ranked better than 114th in the nation in run defense they averaged 253 yards rushing and 5.16 ypc.
  4. In their 4 games against teams ranked 114 or worse (incl 1 FCS) in the nation in run defense, averaged 427.5 and 8.72 yards!
    {/GusDaMan prop’s!!!}
  5. The Wildcats can earn their 32nd win in the last four seasons – the most since Bear Bryant led the team to 34 victories from 1949-1952 playing against my old man; way way back when.
  6. The Wildcats have surely been very injurious to your odds to win after the open stanza (1Q) of play expires. After being a little better in the 2Q for the year -and pretty close to equilibrium in the other three-quarters of yearlong work- KY is now: up +700% in 2Q, up a mindboggling +1,100% after intermission (3Q) and then up an additional +450% to close the game (4Q)! WoW. As there is peaking and then there is Kentucky once they get the whole shebang, rolling. As it is all downhill for KY once they summit your initial ~15 opening minutes of participation.
  7. This will be the 20th all-time meeting of the teams, but their first since a 14-7 win by Kentucky in 1987. The Wildcats lead the series 11-6-2.
  8. Bud Foster is riding off into the O&M Lane Stadium/Beamer Way sunset after the Hokies meet Kentucky in the Belk Bowl at Bank of America Stadium. Foster followed head coach Frank Beamer from Murray State before the 1987 season and has been in Blacksburg ever since. That includes the last 24 years running the defense under Beamer and Justin Fuente, who replaced Beamer after the 2015 season. Foster’s defenses have posted 36 shutouts and have collected the most sacks (893) and second-most interceptions (393) in the FBS since 1996.
  9. WAR BUD!!!
  10. (Happy B-day @Will)!

the skinny

Lo.FM (Long-field Management©)

  • KY is 99th in 1st down offense and 82nd in 3rd down-converts on O. (VT is a physically fit 22nd on 1st down defense and a solid 42nd in 3rd down maintenance D).
  • KY is 14th in 1st down defense and 67th in 3rd down-converts allowed on D. (VT is only 85th in staying on-schedule on 1st-downs and 77th when behind-schedule on 3rd downs).
  • EDGE=KY decently… as they don’t gain IsoPPP+ type chunk-yardage on 1st-down via handing the ball off nearly 90% of the time. Tho’ the Fu’fense unconditionally must stay ahead of the sticks here, as these bluegrass thoroughbreds really Tee-off on you when you have to obviously 3rd-down throw.

TTT (Time To Throw©)

  • KY is 15th in sacks allowed (tho’ they don’t hardly pass at all; now) | and yet a phenomenal 11th best in TFL allowed while running nearly all the time in the last couple of fortnights of work; yikes! (VT is 14th in Qb’s sacked (which makes no never mind vs. KY here) | and a sporty 39th in TFL inflicted; which should help).
  • KY is 30th in Qb’s Sacked on defense; (dang!)| and then they are a more manageable 82nd in TFL inflicted on D. (VT is an inviting 86th in sacks allowed | and a modest 74th in TFL allowed).
  • EDGE=KY, even better than above in Lo.FM terms which were trying to grade out as a near thing. Here however and it would not appear that the Fu’fense has enough juice to compensate for when the VT O pops a fu’se. And the KY oLine is just hell on wheels in their run-shape one their full playbook loads.

KU Projected S&P+: 54th.
‘cat Projected S&P wins: 7.1 W’s.

Forum Guide:

Our handy-dandy friend the so-called reflexive or round-robin driven Forum Guide of Graham Houston fame is calling for nothing. As these two post-season combatants share precisely 0 foes in common. Although KU did beat the breaks off of fellow A.c.c.’er Louisville to close the regular season.

Splits:

The total yardage maker favors Kentucky by a not entirely whopping 36-yards game on the year and would basically predict a ½-play or near sister-kisser type of contest (O was separated by 6′ overall and basically 100-yards in favor of KY on the ground and the same 100-yards in favor of V.Tech through the airwaves. Nonetheless, the real annual difference-maker was found on D, where V.Tech was better vs. the run by right at 28 fewer yards allowed in the trenches; whereas KY was even better at nearly 65 fewer yards allowed in aerial terms.

highnoon tipoff!

However, in the most recent 3-game terms… we see that the Fu’fense is about 10-yards per game improved vs. the year while KY is an astounding +120 yards per game better on O overall and a downright silly looking virtually +200 yards per game better when carrying the mail. On the other side of the recent 3-game trends line-of-scrimmage, we see that KY has tightened up their halter-belts by an impressive 85 fewer yards allowed per game on average. With the run defense experiencing a slightly great sense of betterment although the pass defense has noticeably improved as well. Or in other words, KY’s hit squad be gelling and warming to the task indeed. The Hokies halt-unit has improved as well, right at 95 yards per game thriftier than back in October; with the Bud Böck aeronautical defense improving just a bit more than the Budweiser terrestrial defense has. Although both segments are trending in the right direction to be sure.

When taken head-to-head in the last 3-scrums… and we see that the most recent 3-game
metrics are actually predicting about a 1.75 play Wildcat hairball VomiT
or this Lexington crew by right at 12.5 points in the Belk Bowl.

Thank you, Coach Foster, for all you've 24060, done!

the call

One of the humdingers that Eye really did not like and heretofore did not list above was seeing Kentucky ranked 26th in TOP. Hooker and the Fu’fense really do need a ‘feel good’ BIG-play to pop good early on and snap them outta any potential lingering Commonwealth Cup funk.

Fu’rther, recall that it was the Eye in the Sky that detected -then perfected- the one opposing metric that the final edition of Bud Bock simply had to have on tap. i.e. an opposing oLine that sucked at the passing-cup and in keeping you outta their backfield on their run-fits. (yes, Miami, N.Dame, U.n.c., and Wake I am looking 3-1 shoulda been 4-nil at you). However, that inviting sieve-like turnstile/pinwheel effect does not exist here.

Rock, paper, scissors…

VT cat-calls UK!

That’s where Eye R.A.T.T. (logically) was until Saturday afternoon on the mother-ship of Techsideline.com.

Eye had footloose practice reports on my hands— with no apparent Commonwealth Cup hangover to report. As our @Charlotte bowl practicing seemed upbeat… of all the streak snapping things? (this suprised me, as I was hoping for salty type news here… nevertheless…)

I had this a ½-play to not quite a full-play game either way late last week.

Someone hits just one more play, someone nets just one more call or someone catches/misses just one more four-leaf bounce in a close looking Belk Bowl contest.

As I kinda/sorta was leaning in the direction of V.Tech having the better Top-22 to Top-30/35 ballers or so give/take.

oOo

Then I found the trench-fighting match-ups and likewise started wondering just how cavalier this Tech team may -or may not- be. Then we caught word of Hooker suffering another knee ‘ding’ a couple of days ago at bowl practice, Farley is likey doneski for 2019 and with Waller in civies… and well, R.A.T.T. and that’s just too much.

And if all of that was not enough… V.Tech just totally verbal diarrhea (NSFAnything) $-hit talked the Wildcats of UK. The V.Tech 2’s and 3’s or back-up’s just went right at Bowden— of all the dip-(bleep) things!?! Dropping more than a few n-bomb’s and she anatomy synonyms all over.
FREE “Acta non Verba” T-shirts indeed!!!                                                                                    👊 ✋ 🖖

As a scrum that was more parts rock, paper, scissors…
just went full born (word of the day) Wildcat Formation or, rock paper… Spock!

Stay frosty kittens.”
🐈

upset Index=59%

#wimps!

Virginia Tech=26, Kentucky=36

LETS GO!

HOKIES!

bourbonstreet**

 

 

3 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. Scope #1: Section 7’s Glass half is half full here in Queens City tonight, as Section 7 Crew is reporting in for the evening now…. Word is KY DL loved the holiday celebrations a bit too much, too much cheer along with a ham, turkey, biscuit/gravy, 20#s of creamed w/ extra butter potatoes, etc… seems all returned much bigger than left. So look for the Big DT’s to be a bit sluggish as seems they’ve lost their lunches in practices a few times this week…
    Scope #2: Deuce is loose and wheels ready to roll
    Scope #3: Don’t be surprised if Eye spys Hazelton on some crossing working the middle of the field
    Scope #4: Foster’s chapped
    Scope #5: Would not be surprised if VT doesn’t show up, as we’ve read for the last 5 weeks how inferior VT is to KY, the fans seems checked out, the reports more fit on telling all how we’ll lose vs how we’ll win.. Luckily Section 7 has it in the bag… .you see Hooker can throw and Hooker can run and Hooker can score…. Lynn Bowden is a one trick pony, so look for a few turnovers when he’s pressing and that my friends will be the rest of the story… VT 38 KY 24

    1. (non) Scoop #6… guess what Eye saw tonite? (blew my mind, too)

      Wildcat Fans, in all kinda blue KY gear, coming through Bluefield (@Food City) to gasoline and
      food-prep’ up.

      small world… sometimes.

      b.street

  2. We on the same page.. Nothing New Today for VT or Corny. And Don’t forget the wildcats will have a few good busted plays against VT.. But the Patts will still Love Him..

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