D-1aa 19th William & Mary @  D-1 41st Virginia Tech:

TV: ESPNNews, 4pm
Line: VT-20.5,
bet $15.80 on VT to win $1, or bet $1 on W&M to win $7.50
O/U=OFF

Coach Tony Dungy does not approve of this preview, with no word yet on whether Mike Tirico is refusing to read this preview and Virginia Tech has 1,048 tickets left to sell (as of Tuesday).   Yawn.

Or should I say team A is playing team B? Has it come to that? As William and Mary is no longer called the Indians, they are now called the Tribe and what is the Vegas over/under on how long that politically incorrect nickname lasts?

Or in other words…………………ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

Why not simply let the players play, or does that make just make too much sense?

To wit, today’s word of the day is…

satiety

sa·ti·e·ty  (s-t-t)

W&M Defense: Forty-three or three-four (starters back=9)

• nothing too exotic, pretty face-up 4-3 base set, will toggle into a 3-4 Shell
• occasional slight arrowhead second-layer look with the MLb cheating up (or back) a 1/2 step or so, will offset this linebacking crops one gap over towards the wide-side which is nothing if not unusual to look at

  

• this is a Run first approach, A, B and C-gap run blitzing from any of the 3 Tribe Lb’s on any given play;  maybe even all 3, although not quite a serial killer version of defensive aggression, either, with the hind-7 just a bit further off the ball than usual
• 2nd layer is the strength, with 2 all-conference studs at Lb. (A.Green and L.Rhodes)
• although Mike Reilly as a D-1aa all-American at De is prolly the best player on the whole entire football team. Think Wyatt Teller gone D-1aa De! VERY strong kid right at the point-of-attack! Shew! This kids a man called horse!
• generic medium man with Tampa-2 behind that, not an overly exotic secondary
• will toggle into man-tight on the short-side and a softer medium-man on the wide-side, Mike=Qb spy off a hook-zone drop
• did  see a few 4-2-Nickle looks in obvious passing downs on tape
• lottsa mid-range drops or disguised medium-man, as this defense will not give up the HR throw if it can help it; although it does leave short-range room to work
• NOT the most physical tacking defense I’ve ever studied on film, did over-pursue and tackle a bit high on film as well
• not a 7, 8, 9 in the Box defense, a bit bend though don’t break
• One starting Cb goes 5’7” and a buck-60 (16o lbs.), please, someone, attack him now! (the other 10 are VERY right-sized however)
• DID go for the INT and the INT return for 6, will jump Out routes at all times, accordingly (21 points worth of INT return’s last year!)

Defensive letter-grades:

W&M Offense:  single-back I, Pro, Ace-21 (returning starters=~6 (two guys alternated last year)

• retro amount of under C looks with single back sets (no mystery which Rb gets the rock); or broken Veer looks from time-to-time; though there is shotgun activity here and lottsa H-back sets as well
• will go balanced line with Jumbo 2-Te’s | modest amount of pre-snap motion

  

• basic Gap or 1/2-Gap over downhill 45° angle blocking scheme; will Trap off of internal Plunge-plays as well; not much to be found beyond the D-gap or 7/6 holes left to right
• chip-n-release style zoning upfront
• 100% brand new left-side r-freshman oLine!
• oLine=293 lbs. and 6’4” on average
• decent sized oLine, not mammoth, tough D-1aa big enough, let’s put it that way
• 2 slow looking Qb’s on film from last year and only B.Caprio is back and if he could not beat out #11 from last year? Geez! (don’t bet on Match Club President and new Qb1 Steve Cluley finishing this game; either, as he is a runner and he will take contacts, plural)
• straight drops, 1/2 rolls and a few reverse rolls as well (part of the Veer look)
• 1 great looking Wr (Tre McBride, all-American in his own right), and a lotta experience at Rb, so this 101st ranked total O will prolly get better –M. Abdul-Saboor may flirt with 1K rushing
• short to medium horizontal stretch passing attack, not terribly explosive; mostly a more traditional  looking 2 or 3 wide
• and get this: the Tribe has not had a starting Qb start more than 6 consecutive games since 2009! WOW!

Offensive  letter-grades:

W&M Special Teams: (return)
Senior K John Carpenter is prolly the best Kicker on the field this Saturday and as such offers the Tribe one of it’s very few advantages in this one. John also double dips as Punter where he chalked up a perfectly pedestrian 39.9 ypp average last year; hence his accurate yet not quite bionic style of kicking. KO Returns are tight (5th best last year), as Wr Tre McBride is a threat from anywhere on the field. Punt Return team is even more vanilla, though Bill and Mary did have some punt protection and coverage issues at times.
Special Teams letter-grade: (C+++)

X-factor(s):
Look ahead, trap game with Hampton on tap next for W&M; just kidding. Although there is no doubt that Virginia Tech is quite possibly aware that they have to visit C’bus (Columbus) Ohio up next. Some measure of sorting out left to do at certain positions and some lack of gelling all factor in as well.

Illation, conclusion(s) and OPT digits:
This is just not a very athletic looking W&M football team on film; however, they do have 5 or maybe even closer to 6 star-power guys (De, Wr, Lb, Lb, maybe even a Rb and Cb too boot) and will thus construct their 2014 football team around the same stellar nucleus accordingly.

---

Now do be clear, the 2 Lb’s, De and the Wr are talented enough. Talented enough to start at Virginia Tech right now! However, after that, things average out more than a little bit and things only thin out more than a little bit behind all of that. As ignoring aforementioned Tribal star-power, I just did not see bu-cu speed or athleticism on tape from this normative looking Colonial Athletic Association D-1aa contender. Or to put it another way, beyond those 5 or 6 D-1 caliber players … things got D-1aa in a hurry.

That being said, William and Mary is a solid, well-coached D-1aa football team. If you do not believe me, just ask wvu, UNC and Maryland in the last handful of years –all recipients of raiding-party drive-by scares. Or you could also ask the Tribe’s penalty stats for the last few years under head coach Jimmye Laycock, as William and Mary routinely finishes top-5 in both fewest penalties and fewest penalty yards accessed against alike. That a surefire sign of not only a well-coached football team, that’s a sign of a very well disciplined football team too boot.

We/Virginia Tech will also be William and Mary’s Super Bowl, World Series and N.B.A. Finals all rolled into one. So make no mistake, we will be taking their best punch all-day long this Saturday down in the warm looking (89f) New River Valley. And yet as I already said, William and Mary is a D-1aa football program at the end of the day, at the beginning and in the middle. They do enjoy D-1 talents at at least four starting positions and some might have me say that four is the new six. Either way, or being as generous as I can, that’s 27% of this Tribe that Virginia Tech would not vote of the Atlantic Coast island. Although that’s also code for at the very least 72% that probably could not even back-up much less pass a skills challenge in Blacksburg Virginia.

That and there’s just not enough Tribal offense in play here for Bill and Mary to come into Blacksburg and steal one sans some serial Hokie help. Think -4 turnover margin variety of Hokie help on a Murphy’s Law opening day.

***

“Confidence is going after Moby Dick in a rowboat and taking tartar sauce with you!”
– Zig Ziglar-

Ergo, the mathlete in me is quite confident Virginia Tech wins after what I’ve seen on film, as this is a solid yet unspectacular William and Mary D-1aa football team that is at least several bricks shy of the upsetting load. No matter how much the rest of the sporting milieu spews James Madison warning label poppycock, this Tribe just does not have the chops for that! Rest easy Hokie Nation, you will be satiated well enough by the time the Sun sets on this one.

UPSET index=19% chance, (and I feel like I was fully beneficent at that)

Virginia Tech=36, William & Mary=3

“LETS GO!“

“HOKIES!“

bourbonstreet**