#125 R.P.I. Virginia Tech vs. #127 R.P.I. Old Dominion:

Today’s word(s) of the day is… Stomach!

stom·ach
/ˈstəmək/
noun.

Orign:
Via Latin from Greek stomakhos ‘gullet’, from stoma ‘mouth’.

1. the internal organ in which the major part of the digestion of food occurs, being (in humans and many mammals) a pear-shaped enlargement of the alimentary canal linking the esophagus to the small intestine.
2. an appetite for food or drink.
3. how many of you can ‘stomach’ another Crowning moment or Monarchial upset come midnite, here?

Old Dominion Head Coach: Ricky Rahne: age=43, (9–16 overall and at O.d.u., tho’ a not as bad: 7–9 Sun Belting); has a rep’ for: building, offense, and passing offense in particular. And Special Teams.
$750,00.oo. (Does list as $1.5-large, due to incentives met; good on him!)

Boyhood Ricky Rahne was a native of Morrison, Colorado, Rahne attended Bear Creek High School in Lakewood, where he lettered in football and track and field. During his senior season, Rahne led all Colorado quarterbacks with 3,114 passing yards for 33 touchdowns.

Baller Rahne was a three-year starting quarterback at Cornell University from 1999 to 2oo1. Qb1 Rahne was a three-year starter at quarterback at Cornell (2oo2), and graduated as the Big Red’s all-time leader in completions (678), passing yards (7,71o), and touchdown passes (54), and total offense (7,994). He was inducted into the Cornell Hall of Fame in 2o14.

Rahne was the offensive coordinator at Penn State for two seasons and on the Nittany Lions coaching staff for six years. Prior to joining Penn State, Rahne was the quarterback’s coach at Vanderbilt for three years. 100% of his P.s.u. Qb’s are… Pro’s.

As hinted above… Big Whistle Rahne really blows special-teams works away. He is prolly the closest thing to being the next Frank Beamer in this category. He will take risks. He is an aggressive coach by nature. Some deign to even say: “very”. This guy does not come to out-point you on the outside and box the nite away and leave a Decision on the judges’ scorecards— he comes to, fight.

The coaching sewing circles say this guy… ‘rates’. Was something of an: ‘on the come’ or hot coaching the verb commodity two years back. Also, something of a hot-head at times in-game… Rahne does not suffer some things, well. He will Rahne on your parade celebration-wise (post-game) as well. As this guy is a juicy one, 22ov if you are keeping score @home.

p.s. This guy and our guy have coached together at 2 different tour stops: (Vandy & P.s.u.).
i.e., they should be familiar with each other in each direction.

Daddy Rahne and his wife, Jennifer, have two sons, Ryder, and Jake.
#RahneOn

2022 record:  3 up 9 down and 2-6 in the Sun Belt!

Old Dominion Portaling: (IN)

• Qb Grant Wilson (from Fordham)
• Wr Myles Alston (from Pitt)
• OLine Michael Flores (from Dartmouth)
• OLine Keanon McNally (from Tulane)
• OLine Chris Chernak (from Grambling)
• DLine Jahlil Taylor (from North Carolina)
• DLine Jalen Satchell (from Temple)
• Lb Sayyid Stevens (from Duke)
• Lb Demario King (from Washington)
• Db Ashton Whitner (from Georgia Southern)
• Db Justin Toler (from Norfolk State)
• Db Langston Williams (from Colorado State)
• K Nathanial Eichner (from Alabama State)
• LS Brandon Richards (from Hampton)

Old Dominion Portaling: (OUT)

• Qb Hayden Wolff transferred to Western Michigan
• Rb Blake Watson transferred to Memphis
• Wr Ali Jennings transferred to Virginia Tech
• Te Zack Kuntz is now playing for the New York Jets
• Ot Nick Saldiveri is now playing for the New Orleans Saints
• Ot Khadere Kounta transferred to UCLA
• Dt Alonzo Ford, Jr. transferred to Penn State
• Dt Chazz Wallace transferred to Colorado
• Cb Tre Hawkins is now playing for the New York Giants
• Ss Robert Kennedy transferred to NC State
• i.e., what they did have haft gone: Exit Stage …left.

USE old stars tribute PICS

Old Dominion Defense: (starters back=)

• Forty-two base, in theory.
• 117th in Total D.
• 117th vs. the run.
• 93rd vs. the throw.
• 1o3rd in Passing Efficiency D.
• Though… 12th best in Zone D!!! (Go fig’, right?)
• 3 of 1o in dLine Havoc. So, Alonzo Ford (Penn State) and Chazz Wallace (Colorado) are gone from the O.d.u. Dt1 and Dt2 Inside. This leaves newly elevated: Dt1 and Dt1a: Devin Brandt-Epps and Alonzo Ford Jr. (10.5 combined TFL, 6.5 sacks). Reliable if not solid run-plucky guys to boot. De however is less proven and nothing inside or outside is all that deep here. Mind that 4Q store… or… score! North Carolina Dt3, transfer Jahlil Taylor is an interesting prospect for the inside; though that is what he is at the moment… prospecting. Not contending. Not championing. And in his mere 6th year, right about now would be a good VHT (very highly touted) recruit time to fulfill all those Playbills. Okay size here. Not bad; not big either.
• 6 outta 1o in Linebacking Havoc. Lb1-prime: Jason Henderson, can you say: Rick Razzano? As Jay Hed’ only led the whole damn nation with 186 tackles last year! Distancing himself off the silver-medalist by a nearly unheard of 41 tackles or about 15 or 16 Q’s of work; ‘pending upon your workday. Dang yo’… Shultzie from Hogan’s Heroes only wishes he garnered that many: “HALT!”‘s. As in this dood is Prune Juice or Worf’s: “Warriors drink” after being drunk on stops to the highest T.U.I. (tacking under the…) total in D-1 ball in 1.3 decades! wowowow. Yah; that counts. However, after alpha-Lb1, Jason Henderson; this is an anywhere else rather unproven group around him, there’s decent size flanking him. And not much else as the Experience or Learning Curves alike attest. Depth is even 2nd-layer south of that. Modest size here. That said… j.Hen appears a bit chunky in pass-coverage and if nothing else you need to m.Jordan him and make him play both ends via covering long or wide horizontal down-n-ins or boots.
  Tech might have a few better Linebacking pure Talent(s); though Henny is the best vince.Hall Linebacker… player. (A.K.K. Eye would not mind if V.P.I. warmed up to this Jr. post-game).
• 3 from 1o in Secondary Havoc. Hind four is mo’ middle-strong than anything else… what with S1: Terry Jones and his solid-looking 63 tackles, 2 INTs, and a handful of passes defended all in return. The real problem is in the secondary with everyone gone less big-tackling safety Terry Jones. Did Eye mention T.Jones, yet? The big-big problem is there is nearly zero depth here. Maybe even –0 depth at that as the hind-4 2’s go. And the 1’s are only so-so at the best courtesy of… you guessed it… Terry; Jones. With Db-depth being the worst/least we will see all year long. Gotta edge throw here and take your chances. Little short on the edges here too. Do we have the Wright, (and Norfolk), stuff?

• D overall: The defense that finished 117th in the nation and couldn’t do much against the run took a pounding this offseason. Several of the key parts went Exit Stage Left and that’s not all right if you are an o.D.u. guy. In particular in terms of interior or run-halts vs. any quality G-c-G interior wedge trifecta of blockers.
  (Film-study): So, O.d.u. basically plays a hell-or-high-H2o approach. They are not risk-averse and they will deal from anywhere at any time. IF, they do not get there— this does create a vacancy downfield in Hotel/Motel terms.
  In generic terms, this attacking/hawking D is feast or famine based upon just how much hell their hind-7 can raise; and that is based upon just how much clogging the 70’s looking Green/Holmes angling or pinching techniques internally vs. your G-c-G can do. Or, rather; how many blockers they can occupy and thereby free up cleaner guys behind them to raise said hell. In… theory…
  In practice…
  O.d.u. runs a 30-base, sorta. As they even the 1st layer out (on a cheat-up) or odd the 2nd-layer at times. They do look to score bit hits and will steal people— an anti-expected-outcome D with some streety/thuggy-bear in it to boot. Again, there are a few physical hitters here. Tacking is average. This is entirely because they do not ‘finish’ that many 1st-contacts; and somewhere Coach Spock is eyebrow… ducking. As they miss a few stops head-hunting for the Kayo. O.d.u. really varies their base-man intensity. 3-4 off, and 1-tight, or the obverse, or anything in between man-strength wise. They will cushion at times and give you a 15′ quick-Out. They will jam your Wr1, and then Centerfielder or Cover-2 behind that. There can be help here, tho’ it did not ’22 rotate with alacrity (or maybe their Rules do not allow catch-n-release?); or they only courted middleocore so-called: ‘recovery speed’. The Monarchs will double at times if they key your Wr1. However, Tulsa -in particular- had success on Down-n-Outs and they took a seam-splitter to that Cover-2 on medium to deep looks several times; one could dare say you reap what you… sew. Likewise, angular routes that hit hook-zone drop(s) just right behind the receding O.d.u. second-layer. D does not always line up smart/swift pre-snap; quick ‘counts’ would be in order here. Edges were modestly sized then smaller the further away you moved East-West from your C1 on O. D does not shed blocks well once truly engaged. Frankly, O.d.u.’s highly ranked run-fits were a surprise. As Eye did not spy them upon breaking tapes. Nonetheless, they are supposed to be better on run-fills than passing by a considerable margin, FWIW. Finally, Old Dominion U had no “D” for pump fakes themselves. dLine will take Qb1 shots at times here, Wells needs to Fargo his chin-strap good-n-tight for this one here. Though -as B.Patterson hit upon- they also kinda have a middle flood-zone look that is not quite so aggressive, kinda reminded me of @Syracuse in another debuting VeeTee coaches rookie season.
• ∑ (summary): returning D production=46% (116th most).
  j.Henderson is your conflict defender here. As he is about 3-Q’s or, he was just 8 ’22 stops shy of the single-season FBS record set in 2oo3 wow! That; counts.
  So, there are now so-called: “multiple-O’s”, (wimminz species rejoice), right? Well, this is prolly about as close as it gets to the opposite number or a multiple-D. As in… O.d.u. both schematically and alignmently brings a variety of different looks, coverages, and fronts. They will mix-n-match their front-7 into a front-6 and toggle in/out of base 3o or base 4o sets. Kinda sorta the richrod of D’s if you will.
  That, and only 18% of this D are senior in class-rank terms. That, or you could argue that O.d.u. is already playing ’24 in defensive terms, 2day.
  As this is a very patchwork Great American Quilt D. Kinda N.b.a. set of S/F or S-G ‘tweeners, and they ain’t *that* dang BIG. i.e., ramrod and run right @’em. (Which shows less of your O to boot).

Defensive letter-grade:

O.D.U. Offense: (returning starters=)

• 1o5th in Total O.
• 124th in ground O.
• 5oth in aerial O.
• 91st in Passing Efficiency O.
• 1o5th in Zone O.
• in sacks allowed | in TFL allowed.
• Grabbers: Any given Ricky Rahne -coached team will always have a decent passing game- the Monarchs threw for close to 25o yards last year. Even if they weren’t all that efficient; yet, the receivers need to rise up with leading target Ali Jennings off to Virginia Tech and pass-catching back Blake Watson now a Memphis Tiger. As in… who do they have leftover to make all those deeper plays?
  Additionally… transfer Marquez Bell (Cincinnati) and Dominic Dutton (South Carolina, where he ran T&F, this kid is a burner, he can: Fly, get it?) and highly touted high school recruits Ahmarian Granger (Maury High School) and Peter Kikwata (Northwest High School, Germantown, Maryland) all conspire to add even mo’ depth. And future-tense Wr1 Kikwata is the highest-rated recruit ODU has ever signed! Period.
  r-Jr., Javon Harvey -sans ali.Jennings- is your de facto returning Wr1 nowadays. 3o snags good for: 558-yards on a nifty 18.6 ypc with a long of 61 and 4 scores was really not the worst Wr2 look. The question is… is it a legit Wr1, look? The 2nd-½ of ’22 might hint: ‘yes’. As Harvey put up two, that’s (2) spectacular career-typea games in his final ’22 five. So, there are flashes that this is actually a mo’ vertical and therefore mo’ explosive Wr1; if/when he gets a bit mo’ consistent. As this is a Byron Scott Wr1 so far… up/down, hi/low., hit/miss. Tho’ he does have BIG hits when he pops clean. That, and he tends to pop really hard as the visitor in your house. As this hommie crushes for +2o6% better when @Away! Does pop the big-azz ‘bron’bron or j.Harden face-fro’… wonder how tight that chinstrap works? 5′11″, buck-eighty (18o lbs.) homespun Norfolk, Va. hommie. 2nd, on the team in ST’s tackles and that tends to be a non-sissy sign. He will stick his nose in the Commonwealth ‘fan’. Can and has KO-returned a few. Seemed to be a better scholastic Db1 and punt returner. So, any Wr1 juice is gravy here. Jordan Bly (225 yards) is your de facto Wr2 (now) and after that it is a grab-bag (pardon the positional pun). The rest are so-so, too unproven or let to emerge/break out if you are a Wr3-Wr5 fam’ member up in the stands.
  Finally, this is a nothing-if-not smaller or lowercase-looking set of Wideouts for O.d.u. Think Redskins Smurfs albeit with the velocity to engineer at least some measure of vertical, stretch.
  O.d.u. Receivers are not tall and they are even lighter in the pants than they are not tall. Would not mind seeing us knocking them about a bit.
• Qb1: Pro-Style: Hayden Wolff Qb1, is pretty good. Not quite Eddard Stark good, tho’ prolly getting a little better and better. The only real question here is… headroom? Just how much do Wolff’s adequate tho’ not exactly high-octane physical metrics have, left? He does look older and conducts himself a bit mo’ maturely than his I.D. reads just the same. Doubt this Wolff wants for much horseplay on the side either. Bet the over on his girl game here. Hayden fast-track graduated in only 3 years this past May, so O.d.u.edu props @home. Likewise, all the Ivy League offers on the recruiting trail. Does have a history of left-knee or plant-knee dings and dents alike (St.Nikon bless). Not much of a rusher accordingly, as his –1o2 career rushing marker observes. Ditto his career-long carry of a mere 15′, no joke! Likewise, needs to clean his career: 6:5 passing ratio (TDs:INTs) up more than a little bit. Ditto however raise his passer rating by ≅35-points last year and that never sucks. Just needs to mind the thread the passing needle store. That’s the news news… the good news if you are a O.d.u. visitor here, is that you boy did improve a bit as the 2o21 campaign wore on. In particular in the 11th month where he flirted with authoring a: November to Remember. And closing stronger is always an ender caliber look. His 8:3 passing vibe and his 63% up to 69% November closings were more consistent than his 52% up to 57% so-so or less October and September nadir contests, respectively. IF, Wolff just flushes those early Autumnal games outta his system, he is a better 2o22 Qb1. If he actually builds upon his 2o21 closer he is an all-League threatening Qb1. Though just raising his floor would be worthwhile here. The question is… how much headroom, remains? ON TAPE: Wolff really goes Penthouse Forum full-front and leans away (think: K.Malone not delivering on FTA’s) from pressure right in his face. Like he’s dinged a hand/wrist enough times on a hard-charging opposing helmet upon his follow-threw. Sets-up low at times and fights from a crouch. Has a few slight mechanical foibles to him. Tho’ does appear level-headed and generally cool under fire mentally, if a bit contacts adverse in A-gap terms. 247Sports listed Hayden as a *** or 3-star Qb1 and as the No. 34 pro-style quarterback in the country. Wolff did have solid Sr. season scholastic numbers. As he only started one year and frankly it shows developmentally at the collegiate level. His big bro’ (Weston) is a backup Te on the Maryland football team, his old man (Jim) played in the Chicago Cubs organization, and his momma bear (Lori) played D-1 wimminz volleyball at U.Cent.Fla. So, the Sporting Genome Project surely projects well here. The caveat is… when taken on the whole (H.S. + College stats), Wolff virtually averages at least 1.1 picks per game as a starting Qb1 at any level. So, intercepting appears to project favorably for VeeTee in this one here as well. On the favorable side, in both O.d.u. seasons as a Qb1 (last year full-time, 2o19, partial to close the year), Hayden did improve in-season both, years. That’s a signal of being a ‘coachable’ kid, or maybe having a bit more headroom than his raw physical marker(s) offer. As he has found and hung ~15 lbs. of right mass (now 219 lbs.) upon his kinda skinny/raily looking 6′5″ frame since his O.d.u. arrival. He is also a better @Home passer-by ≅5%. Tritto… his near 68% and nifty 158-point 4Q Qb-rating. Clearly, he can shift gears and ride, clutch. An unusually clean-cut kid, who seems to keep his proverbial nose the same. Tho’ the 5.11 forty (and even slower: 20-Yard Shuttle) and the Picks remind us that… “Winter is Coming”. Let’s hope this Wolff waits a game until he goes:”I’ll Huff and Puff and Blow…”

  

  That all to say… there were credible late-Camping whispers that said… Wolff does have a history of hand-dings (St.Julia bless). Qb2 Mack is throwing better than he did when he started O.d.u.’s first six games last season and Clark (Notre Dame transfer), who is agile and has a strong arm, continues to make progress from his second A.c.l. surgery (St.Nikon twice bless!).

• Qb1a: And then? Old Dominion departed Hayden Wolff to Western Michigan, Brandon Clark retired from football, and DJ Mack is done. That leaves … uhhhhhh. Yeah. There’s still time for someone to land from the transfer portal; however, Grant Wilson is an option after serving the last few years as Fordham’s backup, and Jack Shields and Tyler Stott are young prospects getting a shot. So, now we nearly scrap-heap see Grant Wilson and Jack Shields derbying for the Qb1 spot. Wilson: 6′3″, 2o9 lb., Jr. who jus’ transferred from raming it hoe for: Fordham. As a rammer-Qb1, Wilson was actually a Qb2 or the caddy last season on the Rams’ record-setting D-1aa BIG-O. Shields is a former walk-on from Centreville, Va.; who had a big spring game with four touchdown passes. Tyler Stott is a redshirt freshman from Las Vegas. Or in other words… the in-situ Qb Experience Curve just got… sacked. And the Learning Curve took a small to moderate TFL (tackle for a loss).
• Qb(?): And then? O.d.u. camp snoops hinted that O.d.u. was really hurting at Qb(n)one in ’23 August terms. Like scouring the roster for some Pivotal help(s)! As in… true freshman Colton Joseph has been making a Camping push; depth-charting up(wards) against the elder statesmen of: sophomore Jack Shields and junior transfer Grant Wilson. Who knows? This may very well be an on-field announcement or c.Sheen in Platoon.
• Rb1: r-Jr., (5′9″, 192 lb.), (also graduated in under 8 semesters; his 2nd time in 3 years, .edu mind yah!) ‘uncle’ Blake Watson… the best Rb1 on the field Friday nite? How ’bout Rb1 Blake Watson + Rb2 Elijah Davis… being the best Rb1 and Rb2 1-2 punch on the field on Friday nite? Such is not entirely umpossible as out-of-kilter as that may Virginia Tech vis-à-vis Old Dominion seem. And although I do not know if these two are outright great? I do know they conspire to be pretty dang good, together. Shake-n-Blake does a lotta sorter to medium things well. Kinda/sorta their version of a throwback scatback to our very own Cy.Lawrence of sorts. Blake… is a very narrow and even mo’ serrated-looking guy cut-up-wise than that. Smaller, lowercase frame with a very low B.M.I. and basically a human barracuda to show for it. You can see a full double-hinge knee brace showing out underneath his (right) compression sleeve sock. (St.Culbreth bless). Darty, quickie, cutty kinda rusher. Who broke in as a D-1 Wr. So, you’d have to think he has some measure of handiness to his game. The older bro’ (Brad’) is only a San Diego Charger, already. ** or a two-star recruit by 247Sports. Mr. Watson had 1o6 receptions for 1,885 yards and 25 touchdowns in his career at Green Hope, which does not Slot, poorly at all. Pretty decent (26.5 ykr) conference-leading KO-return guy when they need him to be to boot. 22nd ranked rusher in D-1 terms last year. (1,112 yards with 8 majors). Does have a history of a lotta dings and at least one, dent. Generally, the spinsters say this is a ‘smaller and quickish group’. Which typically encodes for smaller on Talent itself.
  The new top-kick Rb1-wannabe is transfer Kadarius Calloway. This Calloway clubbed as the #2 ranked recruit in Mississippi and the 98th ranked recruit in the country coming out of high school. Then however he hit a clearinghouse snag and went the JuCo qualifying route. This is interesting in that he was a VHT (very highly touted) S1 recruit. That, and he had more receiving yards than rushing yards in scholastic terms. Maybe a Baltic Ave. man’s Roger Craig of sorts. Maybe? That said, this is one of the few guys I’ve studied who seems larger than his listed metrics indicate— wimminz species rejoice. As this leaves me wondering how well our new Mike1(s) will do getting their chins-checked here?
• oLine: The offensive line struggled at keeping defenses out of the ’22 backfield, and didn’t push much for a ground game that averaged just 92 yards per game. Top Ot1, Nick Saldiveri is off trying to become a marching home New Orleans Saint, and blindside or left-Ot1a, and Sunday-sized, Khadere Kounta will be a part of Chip Kelly’s line at UCLA. So, the interior should be the mo’ okay part early on. Albeit via no real credit of their own. A relative okay vis-à-vis. That, and depth is very questionable here on top of all of that. right-G1, Leroy Thomas, Sr., is prolly the best one here; howbeit via default. That and Old Dominion has three blocking transfers that are expected to contribute when they travel to Blacksburg this Saturday nite. Tulane transfer Keanon McNally, Grambling State graduate transfer Chris Chernak Jr., and Dartmouth transfer Michael Flores. Or in other words, no matter what, this ’23 O.d.u. oLine is prolly gonna take a minute; or October, to… cook.
  O.d.u. oLine has okay enuff height though only courts one guy north of 292 lbs. upfront.
  That, and the 3-newest guys combine for rough 45o career snaps. And the newest 2 of that 3 barely scratch the surface for ≅15o total snaps. Yikes. Lotta green wood on this blocking fire men.
  Finally, the ‘whispers’ say this is a leaky V-passing-Cup team; in particular on the interior.
• O overall: Creative. Interesting. GOTTA be fun to play in. New. Refurbished. Enemy of dull. Could work… given November time.
• ∑ (summary): returning O production=69% (54th most).
  (film-study): So, Wilson is prolly the Qb1… though getting a look at him is like a Ric Flair eye-poke unitl game no.2. We have zero, that’s (o) O.d.u. tape on him to break!
  From what Eye can glean… O.d.u. throw-fits rely on rubs (if you are a Monarch) or picks (if you are an opponent). They will stretch things vertically at times. This is a speedy Gonzalez O too; like richrod’s “indy” tempo at times. Fast to ‘hike’ and even quicker to align. They will test our S&C and defensive signaling/communications as much as they test anything else. O.d.u. will operate from a shorter shotgun tho’ not a pistol. Think: sawed-off. Hb1 in front of Qb1 who is deeper than the Hb1. Trips will go Wide, or doubles per each side. They did some sharp sealing or shield turn-blocks; and they will counter behind the aforementioned ad nauseam Te1’s pull. This is a quick-hitting shorter/truncated pitch-n-catch or screening battery. They will nickel and dime you and dink-n-dunk on quicker thingys or they will also milk longer-reacting downfield things in the pocket. Not a real mid-level looking O. Quicker or longer. This from: 5-uncovered oLinemen with an off-set Hb in a shotgun base. The really interesting part being… the Sam or short-side Wr-Stackers are nearly outta-bounds. So, you know they can not release any wider; they have to release inside or vertically. USE the sideline boundary as the 12th defended and align/angle accordingly. oLine tends to pull from 1-Gap-over or zone off-T on 45°’s. They will motion/shift behind all of that pre-snap. They will play-action, freeze, or screen-fake horizontally. And frankly, I have to say this is a very interesting look to see. O.d.u. stresses the piss outta everything 53-⅓ yards east-to-west. Then looks to snap you off something-something behind (deeper) than all of that quick-hitting LOS (line-of-scrimmage) look. This a very curious O; and inventive NOT dull one to be sure.
  This offa doubled-stacked 3 or 4 Wide looks. Hence, the ‘ball is away 1st-read quick or pretty quickly and that tends to keep Qb’s upright as it would take an L.T. all cracked-up to get to this quick-set O at times. Look for some zone-blitzing if/when they get the ‘ball out too quick to muck with this D-1aa Qb1.
  Also… Wr blocking on edge is an absolute nonnegotiable “MUST” here and you gotta wonder just how long these mini-me’s can hold any Cb edge-seals?
• 46% run:pass 54% mix. Who knows who is your secret sauce offender here? So, here you will learn on the go …as O.d.u. has a new offensive coordinator. O-Cord1: Kevin Decker: is a nubile 34-year-old who comes from Fordham, where his group had the second-best offense in F.c.s. history. As in ever as in all-time. Dang yo’… as the Rams only averaging 6o9 ypg and Fordham only dropped a slower-case looking menz hoops at 49.5 ppg on your head for your troubles. WoW. Like the Guinness Book of Rec’s: “w0w!” at that.
  From what Eye could see… this O favors traditional run-fits; and is not a Qb-toting O. It also favors the Qb spreading the ball around and airing mo’ than grounding itself. It uses Rb via committee. And reps/P.T. are available all ’round— as you might expect for keeping the pedal to the ‘tempo’ metal.

Offensive letter-grade:

BONUS: O.d.u. is the 7th ‘newest’ team in all of D-1. (i.e., the seventh most: “newcomers”)!

Double BONUS: O.d.u. has seven, that’s (7) Seniors by class rank. (i.e., the least Sr’s in all of D-1)❗️

CAVEAT: 81% of the O 2-deep was Norfolk about in ’22 and ~7o% of the D 2-deep was too.

Monarchs Special Teams: (return)

Last year O.d.u. went from 1o9th in Net Punting in 2o21 to 19th in Net Punting in ’22 and so did P1, Ethan Duane. E.D. is a ‘good day’ or Land Down Under P1 by way of: Melbourne, Australia, “mate”. He keeps a ginger top and beard alike and you’d have to like the girl game over here with the Men At Work accent effectively socially in tow. Ethan goes: 6′2″, 2o9 lbs. as a rare true-Soph. punter for O.d.u. Nick is NEW to American football, as he has played in exactly 13 games of the same at any level. Ergo, Ethan has never suffered getting a punt sent back and he has an okay-looking career-long of 60-yards thus far. After coming up on the Aussie Rules Football circuit, Ethan found his way to the leg factory otherwise known as: Australia ProKicker. Where he was indeed ranked No. 2 among international punters by ProKicker.com. Mr. Duane is known for his soaring hang time (4.58) which is among the best in D-1. This should only help in punt-coverage “Riddle” or “Lucy” terms. Ethan goes single-handed at the drop point of his wind-up/release. So, “aye” our football is surely new to him. Though 39.7 yards on average with eight 50+ yard punts this early may just speak to something bigger/better later on. Centrist punter (other than hangtime) so far, though this is a 2o24 ask back either way.

• 6oth in Punt Returns | 72nd in KO returns.
• 13th in punt coverage! | 65th and in suicide squad.
• O.d.u. has blocked 4 kicks and allowed o kicks to be blocked!!!
• O.d.u. has blocked o punts and allowed o punts to be blocked.
• Offensive field-position  | Defensive field-position

5′9″, 185 lb. mighty-mite, Ethan Sanchez, last year’s surprise ’22 PK1 returns as your PK1 in ’23. Ethan is a true Soph. K1. He is 100% on P.A.T.’s and nearly ~80% on FGA’s. With a career-long of a so-so-looking 44-yards to date. In point of fact… his next P.A.T. miss will be his very 1st P.A.T. miss— at any level of play! Never missed one in H.S., though his 47-yard scholastic long makes you wonder bionic leg-wise, at least a little bit. ‘chez was however the No. 2 ranked kicker in the country and ranked a six-star kicking prospect by Chris Sailer Kicking! wowzo! Type about a leg-game or kicker of a recruiting coup for little Old Dee U. Seems a little slower/longer on his wind-up to me upon breaking tape… might offer something of an A-gap speed-rushing shortest distance between two points not named a: ‘fold” looksee if you really need(s) to try to snuff one out on him. Ethan does not KO, and that prolly speaks to leg-swing strength itself. As his two misses in ’22 were 22 and 23 yards with only one FGA beyond an even 40-yards. Though still yet, even though he had zero attempts in a few ’22 contests, he only logged one south of perfect in the all-leg-game realms ’22 contest and that has to count for something. As O.d.u. appears to have a keeper of a leg-game K1 on their hands here.

LaMareon James is a gentrification or urban-renewal KO returner. He; houses, thangs.

Special Teams letter–grade: This is the one pretty decent looking leg to the Monarchs football tripod set. Prolly a very solid B and it might even have some future-tense headroom crowing all of that.

Unit Rankings:

1. VT D.
2. VT O.
3. -GAP-
4. O.d.u. O.
5. O.d.u. D.

X-factor(s):

• motive: Prolly is O.d.u., we are their World Series and Starrcade and hottest girl ever. However, mehopes that Pry has them ‘up’ or ⇑ for this one @home, @nite. And we do have payback on our side; twice at that. EDGE=push.
• weather: looks as good as the top of the 8th inning to Summer itself can. Prolly favors the O’s too. EDGE=scorebaord.
• health/off-field: VeeTee had a dingy nearly denty August Camp. Several 1s missed a lotta the final scrimmage. (Rb’s and one Qb1a). The Monarchs might just be in better fighting-nick here. EDGE=O.d.u. on default.
• penalties: 1o3rd best in penalty yardage; tho’ Pry-bar and Co. were only ~10-spots better. EDGE=push.
• intangibles: This one was kinda a split vote of sorts… VeeTee won TOP (time of possession) not because the Hokiebird was a ball-hog, mo’ so ’cause the Monarchs were not. However, O.d.u. won the all-important Turnover margin by a pretty sizey margin merely via being average or so-so at the Turnover Margin itself. EDGE=O.d.u. through no super credit of their own.
• fatigue: N/A just yet.

 

Illation, conclusion(s) and OPT digits:

Number of Monarchs who could  crown royale @Tech=4 maybe 5 if you are one of ’em.

the takeaway:

…the takeaway is… you need not have any of Dr. Minnix Applied Sports Psychology hours per Illiniois to realize that O.d.u. prolly ain’t feelin’ too queeny here.

---

I mean… how many mo’ times do they need to hold our court before they start to like their very own chances to threepeat, that’s (#3peat), here?

LOL…

…so, whatever rebuilt ‘best shot’ they can still cock is the shot we are gonna have to take.

That, and we are at least a little bit wonderous if we/VeeTee could be
looking ahead to downing a Boilmaker or three.

xxx’s & ooo’s:
Eye suppose VeeTee is a bit ahead on Learning and Experience curves alike. Though not by a whole whole lot either.

formulae here favors:

…since 2o18… three points, that’s (3) points or ½ a play separate these two teams here!

Game Ball or mag·num o·pus:

WWI: “The Great War”…

Trench Warfare favors…

Not courting an oLine that has 60% of its kid-o’s logging in at just north of ~15o Σ (or: total) career snaps! (2o% of whom is really only back-up level; or utility/caddy 7th-man or Hondo+1.).

Do not expect too much upfront here folks and hopefully, you will not be brought so ’23, low.

permutations:

1. Δ1=6o%, Eye am want to say that Vah.Tech is the rightful favorite here. We are P5 and they used to be D-1aa not that far back. We should have mo’ depth in the Top-44 for it too. Hopefully, we have jus’ plain ole mo’ in the Top-22, right(s)?
2. Δ2=30%, Eye am unwelcome to say that O.d.u. is prolly feelin’ no O&M-phobia or pain right about now. Why should they be? And it has me wondering out loud… is this a boxing adage case of: “styles make fights” and O.d.u. is our Ken Norton or just not our, “style”?
3. Δ3=1o%, usually I keeps this one lower if I use an extra innings call at all. That science fact objectively stated… this one has that very slight yet kinda squirrely feel to it to me. As this one could be one of those won the Box Score by at least 1oo Σ (or total) yards flavored day that leaves an acerbic taste in yo’ mouf that the seemingly winnable game rumbled, bumbled, stumbled, and fumbled its way into extra innings at all.

#ChallangeA.c.c.epted… there are 1,440 minutes in a day and you’d have to hope we need less than the full 60 here if we (actually) bother to play a full game vs. O.d.u., for a change. So, I’ll say about fiddy or (5o) minutes to sleep this mitches this time.

the optics…

…Eye spy with my little Eye… a grab-bag O.D.U. or not your recent vintage highly upsetting one at least.

As in… the Monarchs just got picked over with a slew of top starters off to bigger Portaling spots to go along with the loss of several veterans to graduation.

Again, this is NOT the O.d.u. that went 2 for 2 in their very own backyard vs. us/VeeTee.

***

the skinny…

…a buck-45 (lbs.) in weight.

Or, wait…

As in: the Monarchs went 3-o last season when allowing fewer than 145 yards rushing on D, and then they went o-fer-9 when they didn’t. Under Rahne, the program is 8-3 when keeping teams to under 145 yards rushing. Which, as it was explained to me… is about the lack of substitutes and the ability to keep every1’s from wearing down in-game and therefore relatively fresh. Whereby they can make it Rahne.

BONUS: And going a staggering ~–9 minutes in TOP (Time of Possession) last year in ’22 only compound fractures the brain all the mo’, here.

145 rushing— that’s your in-game barometer or MB’s of Mercury here.

Lo.FM (Long-field Management©)

• O.d.u. was near wimpy 122nd best in 1st-down O | whereas VT was a salty 19th best in 1st-down D!
• VT also was a weakling looking 122nd best in 1st-down O | whereas O.d.u. was a suspect 105th best in 1st-down D.
• O.d.u. was paltry 123rd best in 3rd-down O | whereas VT was a near salty 29th best in 3rd-down D!
• VT was a sorry-looking 119th best in 3rd-down O | whereas O.d.u. was an immodest 108th best in 3rd-down D.

Lo.FM Analysis:
Sure looks like VeeTee should rent this one here. Though both O’s look like they are about to be served. As in an eviction notice or kicked (get it?) to the curb. However, the mo’ reliable Hokie D seals the deal here. EDGE=VeeTee.

TTT (Time To Throw©)

• O.d.u. was a leaky-looking 1o2nd best in pass protection O | whilst VT was below average or 74th best in opposing Qb’s sacked D.
• VT was a near sieve looking 108th best in pass protection O | whilst O.d.u. plum got after it at a downright useful 31st-best in opposing Qb’s sacked D!
• O.d.u. was a virtually centrist 70th best in TFL (tackles for a loss) allowed O | whereas VT was a nifty 28th best in TFL-inflicted D.
• VT was a little better than average at 54th in TFL allowed O | whereas O.d.u. was nearly identical at a likewise C+ 54th best TFL inflicted D.

TTT Analysis:
Well, The Gobblers took this one in clearly 10-9 typea boxing round-scoring terms. The Hokie D nearly pushed that out to a 10-8 or knockdown advantage and the inherited Crooks’ were not that shabby upfront in negating negative opposing defensive plays. EDGE=VeeTee by mo’ than in the Lo.FM to be sure.

Our handy dandy friend, the so-called: Forum Guide of Graham Houston fame is merely saying ask… Triangle Theory… which says that… we should rugby-punt this section until Audubon and Round-Robins everywhere have something in common {sic: opponent} to say.

Projected S&P+: 121st.
Projected S&P wins: 3.1 W’s.

the sportlight…

…here in the sportlight we are issuing caution…

As in, try being at least a little bit cautious regarding assigning value to the following fixtures (or foibles) vs. O.d.u.; no matter how much they shine or tarnish here.

• Qb1 or Qb(n)one.
• the 2o24 1’s (and/or 2’s) for Crooky upfront.
• And Ty.Bow’s coaching the verb acmen itself.

Give ’23 a minute or three to cook men.

And if that does not help; give it quarters 5 through 16 and see where things R.A.T.T. stand after three straight fencing, toss-up, coin-toss or pick ’em games in a row.

Let ’23 rotate the laces before you rush up and boot the same.

Or, would that just make too much damn, sense?

–oOo–

Has *the* Don justified Trumping himself or is old-man Joe out-FOX’ed and plum Tuckered, out? BeRock O’biden his time? Kamala the non-Ugandan non-Giant?

Now that your fascist blood is big pumpin’… the polytrix of Fight Club here rate about 5 to a 7. Eye am want to hope it is a juicy “seven” at that. Nevertheless, when was the last time you saw a truly emotionally juicy VeeTee football team that just could not wait to get a piece of team A.B.C.?

Me neither— or at least not since the 2nd-half @hooVa when Shrek went little Beamer in the Rutgers Bowl Game and somehow got through to them at ½-time.

Sure, would be nice to see some real live “WANT TOO” again, n’est-ce pas?

That squarely struck? The coaching sewing circle ‘whispers’ say Rahne makes it pre-game speech, rain!

That and you’d have to think they may want a piece of their turn cloak ex-Wr1.

♥  ♣  ♦ ∪

woulda, coulda, shoulda❗️

1. Yes, we woulda won last time less just 1 of our 4 fugly INT’s. Prolly less the 1 fumble. Prolly less the stoopid looking fourteen, that’s (14) ‘whistles’ in reverse.
2. Yes, we coulda won the time before less just 1 INT, 1 fugly Qb1 leg: ‘snap’ (Godspeed @JAX). Prolly less the 1 heinous Hokie-on-Hokie sideline total 3-Mile Island gone Love Canal total composure meltdown; which included Hokie player vs. Hokie Staffer’s retarded kid crime!
3. Yes, we shoulda won both times— and yes, we should be: 4-nil. And yet(s) we are rather .5oo vs. lowly, dingy, dippy O.d.u. (o’fer on the Road and 2-zip @home).
4. And the two O.d.u.’s that upset our Owens Dining Hall applecart you ask? .333 then an even worse .25o on the year! Or, ten, that’s (1o) games south of .5oo overall combined.
5. Recall as well -that when Pry does O&M win; which is 27% of the time thus far- he wins by a whopping ≅1.8 full plays on average.
6. Meaning: we do not yet rightly know if Pry is a R.U.T.S. -now is the only thing that matters- kinda guy. Or, if Pry is a Sportsmanship -later is the only rematching thing that matters- kinda guy. Maybe he would kick O.d.u. good-n-hard if/when he gets them down? Then again, maybe he’d work the 2’s and the 3’s and the 4’s if/when; as they have to play someday and scrubs need (P.T.) love too. We just have no historical evidence either way whatsoever. Not one-iota, (1ι).
7. We do, however, know that anything north of a 3-play (or, 2o-points) would be a record-setting margin of VicTory for Pry-bar here.

(strategically): The Call:

Eye can ghost that: … there were a few (mo’) BIG plays hit (to the good). Though they got Picked a bit this August to boot as well. Ergo, therefore, to Whit, methinks this will be a hell or high ’23 H20 team gents. They will sneak a couple of teams/W’s when the misQs are low, and yet they will let a game or two Drill Field snowball and get away from them when misQs are high.

Kinda… “All work and no play makes…” griding 1o1.

As they nearly have to take risks in order to cover/plug remaining deficiencies. That, or you could let the air outta the ball and go gridiron 4-corners and play keep-away and try to win Richard Nixon Co. Fair blinking contests late.

^^^that^^ however, does not jibe with being: ‘competitive’ max’.

Hence we feel the risk-tolerance threshold will be lowered a bit… and whatever risk:reward ratio happens, just… happens.

Understand additionally, this is a young second-season scheming team. They are two mo’ seasons removed from re-scheming their sets. Nearly ≅60% of the expected contributors are underclassmen. And three of the Top-3 offensive additions played elsewhere last year. That hints at misQs to us four in ’23, especially early on while 9th-month things are being tinkered-n-puttered with and wrinkles are being ironed, out.

Finally, nearly ≈28% of our ’22 1’s played elsewhere last year. That, and, nearly 20% of our ’23 2-deep played elsewhere last year. This all conspires to tell us that ’23 prolly does beat ’22 head-to-head. Say by 1.5 full-plays give/take.

So, hopefully, a mere 3-wins is straight out. As Pry and Co. are trying to flush the old/inherited L’er mentality off-the-field; literally. i.e., they actively want guys out there that have never been (much) beaten @VeeTee and were never (often) beaten in scholastic terms.

This brings 4 to 5 wins into play (risk backfires; or –health guts ’23).

It also brings a nifter 6-7 wins into play (risk frontfires and +health just nicks ’23 by).

6 wins is my pick. 4 is the floor.
A quadratic+2.

(tactically): The Call:

Right now as things stand… Eye’ma calling fo’ a Pry to (attempt to) make a statement here.

’cause ~7o% of Old Dominion’s roster played elsewhere last fall: Some were in high school, some in junior college, or another college program at whatever level of ‘ball.

---

That means the Monarchs’ could be available to OD’ing on the left tail of the Learning and the Experience Curves alike. Ovipositors as taking those tails all the way… (think: Alien movie franchise).

That means a game that gets away from them as the visitor in Blacksburg.

As this one has a king-turned-queen look as the box score goes Joffrey to VeeTee’s Game of ‘Moans’.

VeeTee may not curb-stomp O.d.u. upon breaking tape; or inside the minuta of the box score itself; although here is Pry’s chance to: ‘send a message’ and IF nothing else O.d.u. may just send themselves.

Postage Due to Norfolk, itself.

Enjoy this one Hokie Nation.
’cause after this one it is back to “3-hour stomach aches“.

And as you know... not all stomachs "...weigh the same."

🙏>>>🏈

upset Index=18%

#wimps!

Virginia Tech=44, Old Dominion=13

“LETS GO!“

Please support the VT F.C.A.!

“HOKIES!“

bourbonstreet**