#79 R.P.I. Virginia Tech vs. #1o7 R.P.I. Duke:

Today’s word of the day is… de·bate

/dəˈbāt/
(Middle English: via Old French from Latin dis- (expressing reversal) + battere ‘to fight’.)

noun

1. a formal discussion on a particular topic in a public meeting or legislative assembly, in which opposing arguments are put forward.
2. This website’s total abstinence from TOS, report abuse buttons, and terms of use.

Duke Head Coach: David Nelson Cutcliffe: age=67, (77–94 at Duke; 121–123 overall); has a rep’ for being a double Manning brother Qb guru well before Corny or
Fu’ had ever heard of the term: Qb-whisper.
$2,613,638.oo (i.e., underpaid)*

Coach Cutcliffe has only won the:

Broyles Award (1998)
SEC Coach of the Year (2oo3)
ACC Coach of the Year (2o12, 2o13)
Walter Camp Coach of the Year (2o13)
The Sporting News Co-Coach of the Year (2o13)
Maxwell Football Club Coach of the Year (2o13)
Bobby Dodd Coach of The Year (2o13)
AFCA Coach of the Year (2o13)
…yah; he sucks.

Coming up young David was a native of Birmingham, Ala., Cutcliffe graduated from the University of Alabama in 1976 and is a member of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2016. He got his start in coaching at Banks High School — his football-playing alma mater — and spent four years as an assistant coach before becoming the head coach in 198o.

David has a rep’ for being an older Qb architect, magi, wizard, Sensei, whisper, Morpheus, call it what you will –just ask the UTennessee (Peyton) and Ole` Miss. (Eli) passing record books that basically read: “Manning” wherever you look.

As most of their records’ are actually his (coach DC’s).  Pre-coach Cutcliffe broke in and ran The Tide’s athletic dorms for “the Bear” at Alabama! Coach David has a National Title ring from Tennessee. And at Duke, he only ended an 18-year bowl drought and likewise brought the Victory Bell (vs. rival U.n.c.) back to Raleigh-Durham. Then he logged Duke’s first-ever double-digit (10) win season in Duke’s gridiron history.

He has been very loyal to his Staffers’; said nonpareil loyalty is said to have cost him the Ole` Miss. job; dang. David is a triple-bypass 99% blocked surgery survivor who then asked his rookie year Duke team to cut 1,000 lbs. in collective weight! Has only put six Qb’s in the N.f.l. and two other Qb’s into M.L.B. In addition, 10 of Cutcliffe’s signal-calling pupils have either earned all-conference honors or led their respective team to a bowl game victory. Yah; I’d say that counts. As this king, David would make a fine Hokie. And I’ve never said that about an opposing coach before.

David is married to Karen Cutcliffe.
They have four children: Marcus, Chris, Katie, and Emily, and five grandsons.

p.s. one listing said David is now down to $1.7mill.
Yikes!!!

2o2o record:  2 up 9 down overall, 1-9 in A.c.c.

Duke Defense: (starters back=4)

• 4-2-5 full-nickel base.
• 127th in Total D!!! (3rd from last!)
• 1o2nd vs. the run.
• 129th vs. the throw!!! (Penultimate from last!)
• 109th in Passing Efficiency D.
• 111th in zone D!

• 6.75 of 1o in dLine Havoc. This is not an epic dLine. K? As semi-stellar pass-rushing Ends Chris Rumph II and Victor Dimukeje have moved on to the N.F.L. after combining for 15.5 sacks last season! That said, the alpha is prolly Dt1/De1 Ben Frye who is at least a bit upfield at times. Dt1, DeWayne Carter (who had a prime-mover Springball) is a really keen pass-rushing specialist. Kinda like an anti-Dave Butz of wash.Redskin fame if you will. As he moves the pocket backward on his A-gap own. After those two -who are at least rather serviceable- the rest of the Duke front-wall is numerous bricks shy of a load; or just plum outta service itself. As the next best trench-fighter is only 14th best in tackling for 2o21! Tho’ this is what it looks like when you return 25% of your starters and 18.6% of your Top-6 fronters. As the youth-movement/inexperienced Duke dLine is clearly playing 2022, already. (Tho’ Dt is prolly just a beta version north of all the deltas at De, if that helps much?) As incoming N.Dame Dt1: Ja’Mion Franklin has been a transference of transposition and not been the whopper they had hoped for down-low. And the Dukie front-wall is the only thing stop-unit wise to even vaguely pass the eye-test. (Albeit, 75% sophomoric at that).

• 4.5 outta 10 in Linebacking Havoc. Shaka Heyward is a keeper Lb1. As he’s gonna flirt with racking up a bicentennial 2oo-stops in the last two years before this one is over. He is however a pure run-fighter via schematic design. He tag-teams with Dorian Mausi, who is a Safety-sized pass rusher with interesting (albeit undersized) disruptive potential inside. These two are okay, and not much more/less than that. Depth is thinly here too.
• 3 from 10 in Secondary Havoc. Duke generally has an undersized front six, however, the secondary is supposed to make up for it with large safeties and decent, physical tacklers at all five spots. Last season the Dukie secondary got hurt by injuries and desperately needs S1 Lummie Young IV and Cb1 Josh Blackwell to come back healthy. Senior Cb2 Leonard Johnson has experience, and junior S’s Nate Thompson and Jalen Alexander step into larger roles. That is/was the theory, although the lack of grad-student: J’Marick Woods being really Safety strident has seriously hurt 2021 here. S1, Lummie Young IV is #1 in pass-defense and does what he can as a Cf to clean things up. And yet the rest of the Dukie defensive backfield has basically been duked-out most of the year. Tho’ they are nothing if not deep, or is that unsettled? As 9 full guys log semi-close to equal minutes here. With two of ’em a positively Jr.High looking ≤164 lbs. or protein shook-up! Dang… As Eye guess, Cb2 Leonard Johnson might be your alpha here? Tho’ that’s a highly relative statement indeed; like K2/Everest high at that.
• Duke D overall: 5 of the Top-8 Dukie tacklers this year are… Softies! Never once have I ever said that. And even in their triune Safety-net-set, that does not portend or pretend to be a good, look. Ditto… one could fairly say that of the fellows not named: “Dt”, at least 5 or 6 maybe even 7 or 8 outta the 11 guys who line-up here appear bantamweight or light in the seat of the pants. This is (somewhat) via design/necessity for burst or quickness spearheaded schematic attack; granted. Tho’ it also invites man-blocking forward-facing assault-n-battery beyond the Ot-box down below. (Film-Study): Duke will over-shift in the 2nd-layer to the wide-side, and they will jam-Man on the short-side. Or, both sides. Will use a Dt/Ng hybrid on 1-technique or outside-eye to outside-eye. This (tries) to keep the smaller guys behind that free to roam/rally to the ball and win on speed-fills; in theory at least. The Dukies do have some quicks, tho’ struggle to rotate (on-time) behind all of this. Susceptible to in-line patterning for it too. As they did seem quick more so than they seemed fast. (Quick=early/first moves, recall). Duke struck me as wide (overplaying) their run-fills at times upon breaking tape. And the chump-change metrics weighty-wise did not help overcome that when they fail/tried to fight back through blocking-contact. Now mix in a buncha ankle-biters the further downfield you trounce and things get away from the Dukie run-fills which go fun-fills for the other side. Then Duke has to compensate via red-dogs vs. the run and gets caught backside threw the airwaves for it. Robbing Peter to pay Paul if you will. Did see a bit more jam-Man on edges here, guess that’s fair play when you court 3-safties behind that. With thirds, and zone mixes. Kinda in/outta Cover-2 or Cover-3. The zoning here is very midfield consciousnesses and tries to funnel things to the given sideline using the boundary as the 12th man in coverage if you will. And as b.Patterson correctly pointed out, they seem to just frazzle or come outta/off-of-zoning areas vs. ad-lib offensive plays. Not a very good sandlot crew for it, either. Like hind-5 gone, Skittles! Now mix in shallow or latent closing help-angles and well, there you off the to the races go.

  

  Duke did switch at times to a more even front or a near forty-three; however, Pitt was nearly rag-dolling them to close— and honestly, that struck me as a coaching staff already gonzo. As the quality, 2-3 upfront, 1-behind that, and 1 or 2 behind that just plum wear down being marooned out there that long. (As TOP (time-of-possession) is creeping away from them as I type…)
  Finally, the Dukie horizontal speeds seem to be a bit leady (or: Pb) at times. As in not as fast as their leaner-meaner metrics might pursuit squadron suggest.

• Duke D ∑ (summary): returning D production=62% (92nd). De or Dt having a good hair-day is your conflict defender here. Eye guess… hard to be sure?
  Last season the defense didn’t get any help from the offense, and yet it didn’t do enough on its own, either. The Dukies gave up 445 yards and 38 ppg, were awful against the run and struggled to get off the field. The pass rush was strong ^per those 2 De’s) and there were enough takeaways to matter, yet the whole thing should’ve been better— there was too much talent in place to be so middleocore.
  Maybe? As that was the preseason green-slate chalkboard theory, right? The in-season reality has been even worse than screwy 2o2o was and frankly, nobody expected the Duke halt-unit to suck this much. As Eye dare say they are even worse than Gah.Tech was on film, which is saying something indeed. As depth (or the lack thereof) and late-season wear-n-tear leading to a shop-worn break-down on D have been a halting bugbear for years here. And frankly, tacking was the wimpiest I’ve seen on tape this year, and then the game actually; started.
  As Duke really does allow chunky cheese typea plays on D. Y.A.C. Broken-fields. Broken-coverages. There are numerous seams (recall: 4-2-5 even base): that seem pretty inviting here upon breaking-tape to me.

Defensive letter-grade:

Duke Offense: (returning starters=)

• (READERs note: these digits are WITH their Qb1, with whom they may be, without!)
• 31st in Total O.
• 38th in ground O.
• 46th in aerial O.
• 77th in Passing Efficiency O.
• tho’… 120th in zone O!!!

• O overall: Qb(???): Chase Brice -who transferred to Appalachian State- is gonzo. Chris Katrenick portaled out as well. (REMIND you of anyone?) Gunnar Holmberg (shoulder, DAY-to-DAY, St.Christopher bless) is ‘posed to be your Qb1… tho’ we just got burnt by how that went just last week. As Gunnar is gunning fo’ some shoulder/lats/rib-health (same as our very own po’ BAX). St.Adam double bless each, twice. As Gunnar is already out there on one blown knee (St.Culbreth bless). Tho’ this time it is his off-side that is illin’; so that prolly helps a bit. As this has been a very dinged/dented Qb(n)one all career-long. Gunnar Holmberg (6′3″, 205, Grad’-r-Sr.) has some kinda spiffy numbers besides his surname. 71% career passing for nearly 2.2K yards does not suck. Although his career ratio tips the negative or ‘rong way (7:8). Gunnar does have +175 and an interesting 42-points tallied on the ground to his credit to boot. He also was the No. 15 pro-style quarterback nationally by 247Sports. Although, he was a big gunslinging on a few extra INT’s in scholastic terms. His whole family played noticeable college sports from Olympic, to field-sports, to mat-sports, to football. He has 2 fam’ members in the N.F.L. and one just so happens to be the tired old cuss himself, his great uncle, George Blanda! St.George bless, yah; that surely counts, a 10-8 Raider legend counts at that. The dinner table stories here merit an over bet in spades. Tho’ his pocket-presence is an absence upon breaking-tape. Qb2: Riley Leonard (a 6′4″, 2o5 lb., rookie or nugget year voter) may just be your future Qb1 for Duke. Although 51% on an even ratio (1:1) of passing does not aerially frighten me at all. Riley’s 88-yards rushing however is pretty slick for such limited P.T. in seasonal terms. As Riles has logged one good game (hooVa) and two stinkers (Pitt and Wake) thus far. However, No. 14 dual-threat Qb in America (Rivals) and AAAAAAA or septa-A Alabama Player of the Year is none too shabby. As there are those who say Riley is a better hardwood player than a hard-way gridiron player just waiting to happen. As he was only named two-time basketball AL.com Edward Jones Coastal Male Athlete of the Year (2020 and 2021)! Dang… yah, that counts. As does his T&F career with 3-letters earned there to boot. So, athletics he gots… as his whole Y-chromosome family played college roundball and his old-man is only the Citadel’s all-time Steals Leader! Riley also picked up Hudl’s Top-5 Dunks of the Year Award last year! wowow! An inverted spin (‘rong way) 180º windmill Quixotic flush!!! As his national (in-game) dunk sure looked 1st-best to me. (See: pic).

  

• Rb: “I say this as Duke fans continue to wait for Rb Mataeo Durant to breakout. The hopes were/are that he is/was a keeper at Rb1.” Eye wrote that last year as Duran caught my Eye in the Sky upon breaking tape. This year he is close to being a breakout baller: what with the team lead on the ground at: 21o rushes great for 1,o62-yards on 11 combined TD’s! As Mataeo also places bronze-medalist or 3rd-best in the grab-game with 23 catches for 229-yards. As this M.D. is pretty much a Fu’fensive dual-threat dream ‘back. Durant just became the program’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Chris Douglas in 2oo3! WoW! Durant, who has 1,o62 yards on the ground, is just the fifth Dukie ever to post 1,000 rushing yards in a season. wow, sum mo’! Now, all those superlatives rightfully bestowed, this hommie is gettin’ that homeless look in terms of wear-n-tear. Seems a mite shopworn of late to us as Coach Dee.Cee. is handing him the rock a lot (at times). Nearly gar-ron-teed low 20’s on run-fit touches, plus a handful of passing-fancy looks per game on top of that. Including a couple of Cyrus Lawrence looking outings where Duke was pretty close running their very own Rb1 or #21 right into the ground. As in… 33.33% of his contests this year have logged in at between 2.6 ypc and 3.7 ypc. Not Treet, tho’ ground-round edging closer and closer to going potted-meat. Or, Coach Kurt Vonnegut type football as they are using this kid up. What with 2 of those 3 ground-n-pound efforts coming in his last 4 {sic: games}. That’s not a useful look, mo’ parts usury. As po’ Mataeo’s monthly digits have dropped from 6.7 ypc to 4.5 ypc now down to a mere 3.7 ypc. Momma Mataeo… please report to the save my son dance-floor. And his ypc drops by a full 6′ per carry after Intermission! Dang… a dang cruel mistress this oblong spheroid yet again. Mataeo Seems a mite smaller or narrower than his listed 6′1″, 195 lbs. (true-Sr.) at least to me. He was the No. 49 running back in the country by Rivals. This after coming up outta a pretty small High School which prolly hurt his recruiting digits. Tho’ he did enuff to garner being tabbed: South Carolina Class A Player of the Year as a senior. Scholastic metrics are good, tho’ tailed off after a krazy 2K Fresh. rushing year. Does have turbo-prop jets in his feets… per: his third-place finish at the state meet in both the 1oo and 2oom. Family played collegiate ball all over so that’s always a friendly N.f.l. D.n.a. sign. Did also get nominated (Top-5) nationwide for: for the Franklin D. Watkins Memorial Award! An honor presented to the nation’s top African-American high school scholar-athlete; so he musta been doing something right, rights? Rb2: Jordan Waters is said to have even mo’ pop in his cans… so file that one away for future use.
• Wr’s/Te: Wr1 Jake “good hands people” Bobo is legit. Very. Legit on size as well, standing in at a whopping 6′5″ and yet a pretty athletic 215 lbs., (Sr.). Like a really elongated possession guy. As he don’t net too many long ones (only one snag ≥36-yards), he don’t score too many points (6); that rightfully said… 59 grabs for 628-yards working underneath is pretty fair to middling work if you can get it. As Bobo is quietly sneaking up on some level of all-A.c.c. Fun guy to watch if you like Don Maynard technical/efficacious routing to boot. As someone coached this kid step-show up. Wr2: Jalon Calhoun is the mo’ vertical guy who at least gives you some northward relief. As the Duke catch-corps is experienced and it is pretty deep as well. As eight different guys already have ≥11 receptions, and their 3-Te’s all have at least 100-yards receiving. Not quite HR-hitting epic, tho’ trying to be good-hands-people and work that singles/doubles game all around. And the Dukie catch-cadre is tall. Nearly very less one-Wr.

• Oline: 3-blockers are back up front and all of the depth behind that returned as well. Tho’ Duke has been buggin’ on Pass Pro’ for a spell. ex-G1, now: Blindside-Ot Casey Holman, Jr. is prolly your bell-cow here, although the lack of progression from VHT (very highly touted) Ot/C Graham Barton, Soph. has not helped. The odd-side is the go-to side here, more experienced and the one big-boy (cas.Holman) works here. After that, the Dukie blocking-5 is nearly a bit undersized in a couple of spots. And breaking in two new bookend-blockers (Ot’s) at the very same time can indeed encode for: ‘trouble’. Likewise when your C1 Jack Wohlabaugh is coming off of a badly nuked knee (St.Nikon help!). As the Duke run-shapes are shapelier than their passing-cup is at the moment. Tho’ the odd-side is the only side close to right-sized here. And Rb1 Ma.’rant seems to like moving left. Yet, the internal wedge (G-c-G) is getting run-fit better as I type… they are gonna flit with old-school Bill Fralic Pittsburgh efforting if they are not careful.

• Duke O ∑ (summary): returning O production=51% (11oth most!) (film-study): …kinda a strange, squirrelly, even throwback O in part. Lotta quick north-south stuff on run-shapes. Plunges, short-traps literally only one or two holes over max’. Almost P.burgh Stiller 70’s looking with Hb1, rocko’ Blier Iso’s inside. Then they work behind a stacked H-back/Te and the Hb behind him. Strange odd misshaped O in some ways. Redundant even, as Duke will run/wears plays out until you stop ’em. Very Chuck Daly of hoops looking. Tho’ the onus is on their blocking 5 or 6 hats to put a helmet on your front-6 or 7 effectively enough. Not a punishing oLine, tho’ techniqued-heavy or handsy, they really extend their arms and try to beat you with boxing-reach. They also have naked backfield 4-wide sets that kinda go Left-Coast b.Walsh era quick-hitting pick-n-pops. As there is a LOT going on within 10 or so yards of the LOS (line-of-scrimmage) for the Duke O.  There is one vertical throw-set guy here, here-n-there… tho’ you could go Syracuse under-flood zone here and dare the newbie Qb to beat you deep. (Helps clog/gum-up and banjax run-shapes up as well). That said, O does its best work -which ain’t that bad- after it gets the run-shapes trim enough. And then play-actions behind that. Holmberg is decent enough at such. And as mentioned above, the Duke grab-gang is not small or Smurfy. They can seal an edge when they want to on Rb or screening works. Oline will try to road-grade and angularly work downhill at times, not bad; tho’ not frieghty enough. Duke pass fits are pretty dang 2021 narrow. Nearly Bill Dooley looking in film, with a lotta quick-hitters in front of the (defensive) 2nd-layer. Greenwood/Cox would feel most at home, here. And this is a pretty grabby catch-crew. Duke might have the best hands overall on tape this season.
• The Dukie offensive 1’s (i.e., starters) combine for a whopping 81.81% of all Duke catches this year. So, you must honor them every bit as much as you have to wonder just how honorable they will late 4Q be?

  

• Duke O overall: 59% run:pass 41% mix. Very high run-fit tilt by modern era basketball on grass standards. The athletic trainer is your secret sauce offender here; if/when he can somehow go H.Dumpty and get the cracked-up Gunnar gunning for VeeTee here. ex-Qb1 Chase Brice had a whole lot of time to work, however, the interceptions were devastating for an offense that shot itself in the foot over and over and over again. As the 2o2o Dukies led the nation with an incredulous and entirely self-defeating 39 turnovers last year. This year they do okay enuff on O between the 20’s, and yet play Dean Smith 4-corners or stall-ball in your Red-Zone. 124th worst in fumbling only compound fractures dat all the mo’. As you gotta go full Strip-Club here, as these Dukies are butterfingers all over as pigskin-(in)security went on film. Rumbling, bumbling, stumbling… (then)… fumbling.
  Lastly, @Coach Tee… try for a Not Enuff Men on the LOS call in this one.

Offensive letter-grade:

Dukie Special Teams: (return)

Duke was a nifty 12th best in Net Punting (now: 37th) and so is Duke P1, Porter Wilson. Porter goes a heighty looking 6′5″, 225 lbs. as an r-Soph. Punter. So, aim high on your block-point here Hokies. Porter was merely the No. 12 punter in the country as ranked by 247Sports and a *** or three-star prospect per ESPN. Porter ran T&F in high school where he took all-region honors in the discus. So, you’d have to think both a leggy and army punt-fake will eventually be in play for Duke. Porter is more of a hangtime or seal type of Punter. He does not see many of his punts returned. Improved leg strength; and he did recently have a very good 70’s “Dear Penthouse Forum…” looking porn-stachê, tho’ it looks like he gave his upper-lip the axe. Too bad too… (and, this P1 is ‘whispered’ to have leg1 in the A.c.c.). As he has a mess of punts ≥55-yards already.

• 57th in Punt Returns | 61st in KO returns. S7 (no typo) Jaylen Stinson is legit here.
• 60th best in punt coverage | tho’ 4th greatest and in suicide-squad! (Dang!)
• Duke has blocked 0 kicks and allowed 0 kicks to be blocked.
• Duke has blocked 0 punts and allowed 0 punts to be blocked.

Duke’s Kicker is Charlie Ham. And Charlie be totally rockin’ an actually ginger-flavored Greg Brady ‘fro too! I actually don’t (quite) hate it— with no word yet from: Flock of Seagulls or Ah-Ha. That attempt a Rubik’s Cube era humor aside… Charlie and his Joe Stalin hair that just won’t stop… were both listed as the No. 7 Kicker in the country per ESPN.com. That does not suck, and neither does this collegiately 87% last year. Tho’ sophomore-slumped all the way down to near 2 outta 3 so far in 2o21. c.Ham is a: 6′2″, 180 lb. r-Soph. year K1, with a menudo/spice-boy top. Did Eye mention his hair, yets? As Charlie has already logged one more Special-Teams stop (i.e., tackle) than you and I have combined this campaign. The ‘whispers’ say Charlie has touchback range on Kickoffs and at least mid-55’s on FGA’s. Even if he seems way more game-log compatible out to mid-40’s give/take. Charlie is also a back-to-back-to-back, or threepeat Georgia State Champion; and a #1 National Ranking to boot! Albeit in the sissy zebra-ball flavored version of foütball. No wonder I’ma making fun of your hair Charlie… with no word yet from Bosley, either. Doh! However, and in all candor, do not die of shock if Duke has found themselves a 4-year starting Place-Kicker. As the only knock, I could find is that he’s had a few PAT’s sent back here-n-there. As this is a line-drive style so-called punch-Kicker.

Duke Special Teams letter-grade:
Not bad, better than average; if they only got outta their own way a bit more, there is leg-talent here. Lowest possible B— for it.

Unit Rankings:

1. VT D.
2. VT O/Duke O (tied).
3. …gap…
4. Duke D.

X-factor(s):

• motive: well, who loves their outgoing big whistles mo’ and who blows the same off=??? EDGE=push.
• weather: not latent foilage colouring bad for this time of the year. Prolly helps the better run-shapes… whomever that encodes for? EDGE=rushing.
• health/off-field: Our/VeeTee’s injury report is trending on being ≅600% longer than Duke’s. Size matters here… and the Dukies are in very good fighting-kitsch for this time of year. EDGE=Duke.
• penalties: …things are unraveling @Duke as 90th best in yellow-laundry is not very thoughtfully Coach Cut’ like. EDGE=VT. (kinda sadly, too).
• intangibles: 1o3rd in all-important Turnover Margin and 88th in TOP (time-of-possession) are not good looks. EDGE=VT. (Significantly, too!)
• futigue: Duke had an OPEN week a fortnight back, with VeeTee coming in on 5-weeks’ work. Although the short-BeeCee week might help a little… EDGE=Duke.

 

Illation, conclusion(s) and OPT digits:

Number of Duke’s who could Daisy  @Tech=8’ish.

the takeaway:

Two teams that are beyond desperate for success meet when Duke visits Virginia Tech on Saturday over in the new chillin’ back out New River Valley.

Duke (3-6, o-5) has dropped its last five games in a row, and four of those haven’t been close. In point of fact; the Dukies went two consecutive games without scoring in the first half until last week’s 29-54 hosting gone roasting to visiting Pittsburgh.

---

On top of dat… The Dukies are a near Les Miserable 4-19 in their last 23 All Charmin Conference contests, going a downright miserable 0 for their last 1o league starts! Yikes…

St.David bless— as this is a nice/neat twilight guy at Head Coach. Who has (frankly),
prolly stayed at least a year too long.

***

xxx‘s & ooo‘s

formulae here favors… people who do not watch?

Or, do not have… Eye’s?

As this one portends too not be easy on the same.

permutations:

1. Δ1=45% chance that VT does not rally to their sagging/bagging coach.
2. Δ2=45% chance that Duke does not rally to their sagging/aging coach.
3. Δ3=10% chance that this game is one that nobody really wants to win and that it is decided only in extra innings for it too.

#ChallangeA.c.c.epted… there are 1,440 minutes in a day and someone prolly only needs to super-play the final 10-minute-n-change to pinch a hard-to-parse one here.

the optics…

… Duke has given the ball away two or more times in 14 of the last 17 games and in 2o of the last 25.

As there is user-friendly and then there is Duke. Who was nearly 200% worse in Turnover Margin than the 2nd-worst team in 202o and this year they have improved all the way to 1o3rd, best! wowow! (Thus, making Duke asexual, or a team that loves to beat… itself!)

the skinny…

…The Dukies have dropped their last 18 games going back to 2018 when allowing 178 or more rushing yards on the ground.

So, there’s your in-game barometer or 178 MB’s of Mercury right ^there^.

Lo.FM (Long-field Management©)

• The Hokies are a lowly 102nd best in 1st-down O | whereas Duke is a virtually matching 1o3rd best in 1st-down D!
• The Dukies are a reasonable 54th best in 1st-down O | whereas the Hokies are a smidge better at 48th best in 1st-down D!
• The Hokies are a decent enuff 51st best in 3rd-down O | whereas the Dukies are a putrid 125th best in 3rd-down D!!
• The Dukies are an even better 38th best in 3rd-down O | whereas the Hokies are (still) a pretty salty 30th best in 3rd-down D!
• Lo.FM Analysis: …well, the advantage does not lie with the Dukie D Daisy Duking much of anything at all. Kinda a de facto or defensive win for the good guys here. EDGE=Hokies.

TTT (Time To Throw©)

• VeeTee is a centrist 68th best in Sacks allowed O | while Duke is a near mutual 64th best in Qb’s sacked D.
• Duke is (tied) at 68th best in Sacks allowed O | while VeeTee is a C— 74th best in Qb’s sacked D.
• VeeTee is 69th in TFL allowed O | while Duke is a perfectly middled 65th best in TFL inflicted D.
• Duke is (however) a near sieve-like 1o5th best in TFL allowed O | while VeeTee is a below-average 75th best in TFL inflicted D.
• TTT Analysis: …well, they nearly canceled out the whole middleocrity shebang here, other than the Dukie run-shapes which need a Peloton or, three. EDGE=VeeTee (modestly).

Fu’rther...

3-game splits,
…well, here we see that Duke is down nearly –100 ypg on O; with about 60 of that pur a worsening on the ground. Whereas j.Ham and Co. are softer by about +60 ypg more allowed to the ‘rong, virtually all of which is on the ground as well. On the other side… we see that the Fu’fense is actually up close to +45 ypg, all of which is courtesy of Blackie/Thomas, as the Hokie throw-fits have contracted by a couple of 1st-downs give/take.
EDGE=V.Tech. (as both Os are so-so’s of late, tho’ the Dukie D is being kayoed (more: below)).

H/A splits,
…and here we see that Duke’s O falters by about –65 ypg less as a visitor in your casa. While J.Ham and Co. are a little better vs. the run-game in Lane, and yet a little worse vs. the pass-game in Lane. Or, a net canceling relationship. On the other side… we see that the Fu’fense is about 30′ shorter @home (or a nominal negative change technically). While the Duke D lilts by right at –40 ypg to as (non)-road-warriors go.
EDGE=V.Tech. (Basically, because Duke falters when traveling even if the Hokies do no better as the hostess (not) with the 24o6o mostesss).

Our handy dandy friend, the so-called: Forum Guide of Graham Houston fame is merely calling for an absurd (pre-injury) +55 VicTory dance here! Even when Eye took this trinue pro-rata the Forum Guide still called for a 3-score Tech Triumph. (18.33).

Needless to say, at least the first part seems pretty misguided here— as you could be forgiven for wondering out loud if the Fu’fense even had double-nickels up on the scoreboard left in it?!?

Beta-Data-(mining):
Duke is 116th or worse, in, every single thang on O! (Negative Drives being the least worst). Never seen that one before. On the O&M eggs and j.Ham side, the Hokie halt-unit tallies pretty nifty efficiency metrics (30-somethings) straight across, and in particular on their throw-fits. EDGE=VeeTee.

The Fu’fense is 70’s to high 80’s other than SOS (strength of schedule) which is not good, tho’ not quite call F.E.M.A. on speed-dial 3-Mile-Love-Canal either.  Duke scored poor, poorer, or poorest. Some things tried to be D+++/C— and some succeeded at tallying a legit F+++.
EDGE=Hokies.

the call...

…who (Injury Report) knows?

…tough one to call for it, nevertheless, that’s not why you are here, is it?

Here in the sportlight…

…queer as this one will read… methinks both/either Qb1 being done hurts Vah.Tech more!

As j.Ham is pretty dang savvy in defensing the pass.
His run-fills this year are a bit dykie or leaky.

And the Qb2 of Duke has a ways to airwaves go… and yet he has wheels.

Noticeably better ones than the Duke Qb1, does!
Wild, ain’t it!??

Duke Projected S&P+: 93rd.
Duke Projected S&P wins: 5.2 W’s.

PLANDEMIC:

2nd Half Scoring: Duke is down nearly 200% here going back to last year.

As this one may just be a contest of one twilight coach (d.Cut’) vs. one lunar-eclipse coach (Fu’) and who stays stronger, longer; and outlasts the other soon-to-be goner here.

As both teams look like they are ready to deep-6 and pink-slip 2021, already.

–oOo–

Likewise, I am at least a little hopeful that the VeeTee Pivot or Qb position will be -what WWII era footballer old-schoolers once called- “up-gunned” a bit this week from Ft.Knox to BAX or even to con.Blumrick

As this one is not my well-fabled two ships passing in the night…

So much as this is a meme of two ships swapping paint; albeit on the bottom.

♥  ♣  ♦ ∪

Still yet, someone has still gotta somehow win this one, right?

Might as well be the good-guys @home.

Eye think, or at least Eye hope.

’cause I just cannot pick a D allowing 614.3 ypg in their last three, to upset the D that is allowing 42o.7 ypg in their last three— when the 614.3 ypg D is out on the road.

These two clubs pretty much, suck.
No debating dat.

It is just that one D sucks mo’.

Shop Vac^Elextrolux, sux!

🧛‍♀️🏈🍭

🙏>>>😷>>>🏈

upset Index=43%

#wimps!

Virginia Tech=36, Duke=2o

“LETS GO!“

Please support the VT F.C.A.!

“HOKIES!“

bourbonstreet**