Virginia Virginia Tech football preview!

#43 R.P.I. virginia @ #49 R.P.I. Virginia Tech:

Today’s word of the day is… revanche!

(french: noun)

  1. a policy or movement aimed at achieving the return of a nation’s lost territory.
  2. (frequently with reference to france’s desire to regain Alsace–Lorraine after its annexation in the Franco-Prussian War).
  3. This Saturday the 12th of December come ~11:45 PM?!?

virginia Head CoachMarc Bronco Clay Mendenhall: age=54, (3o-31 @uva and 129–74 overall); has a rep’ for defense, no-nonsense, strictness, quirkiness, and even more quirkiness.
i.e. the quirkiest. And for big-time long-view player development. (one of the best; here).
(and he has a rep for rough/thuggy play… B.y.u. won: dirtiest S.I. team many a year under this bronco-buster; no shite!)
$3,400,000.oo

Happy wife happy life.

Coach Bronco also has a rep’ for… bowling. Well, he did, up until three years ago, as Bronco Mendenhall (head) coached football teams had gone bowling 100% of the time. And yet guess hoo is going bowling; again? In addition to that, Bronco has a reputation for defense overall and the secondary in particular as he was an Fs and team captain for the Oregon State Beavers back in the mid 198o’s. Bronco has also placed a flashy 68 ex-players with the National Football League since 2oo5. He is also known for graduating his players, and ranking his former program seventh for most Academic all-Americans during his tenure at Brigham Young. His dad was a stalwart De for B.y.u. in the mid-1950s and his brother (Mat) started at De for the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XVII. So clearly football is in his blood and likewise all over his sporting family tree. Bronc’ has tallied three conference titles and one conference Coach of the Year award (2008, Mt.West). He helped pioneer the modern era Spread-fighting blitz-happy 3-3-5 defensive scheme; which industrializes an Lb/S hybrid position in the hind-5.

With a track record of success at B.Y.U., a reputation for instilling order and accountability, and methods and metrics straight out of a stuffy reddest-state business management text, Bronco Mendenhall and his by the FOX News book ways and means have done about all anyone could do at his {sic: new} liberal arts school. As this no-nonsense coach may look like a very trumpeting or vanilla 7-5-7 pasty questionable fit; although -and to his credit- he’s been pretty colorblind after replacing a rather colorful (unqualified) tribal Minority hire. And to be quite direct; Bronco and his seemingly juxtaposed cultural fit are ahead of schedule here folks. So, props to Bronc’ for getting a big-M.A.C. style u.v.a. gridiron team into a bowl game threepeat, back-to-back-back. (prolly: a quad-peat at that… presuming of course…)

Mendenhall is married to Holly Johnston. They have three sons: Raeder, Breaker, and Cutter. Mendenhall is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

uva 2019 record: 9 up 5 down and 6–2 and 1st place in the A.c.c. Coastal!

(readers note: this is last year to this year numerically as statistical national rankings go!)

 wahoo Defense: (starters back=8)

  • 48th to 93rd in Total D.
  • 40th to 23rd vs. the run.
  • 78th to 126th vs. the throw.
  • 74th to 1o4th in Team Passing Efficiency D.
  • 70th to 34th in zone D.
  • 12th to 17th most defensive TD’s scored!!
  • D overall: Hate this… tho’ in all R.A.T.T. fairness? Bronco’s thirty-four (3-4) halt-unit is loaded with talent and experience, again. In particular in the 2nd-layer or at Lb. As fifteen, that’s (15) different stop-cavs have started at least two-games here. Or at least it was, as that was what Eye wrote in September… read on.. Linebacking: 8 outta 10 in Linebacking Havoc. A quality-quad balls out here. The outside may be a tab bit more veteran: Charles Snowden and Noah (missed BeeCee: ‘medical’, St.Coleman bless!) Taylor have the potential to be a disruptive duo coming off the OLb edge. Whereas ILb Zane Zandier led hooVa in tackles last season and Nick Jackson, who played as a true freshman, has the tools to be a star as ILb-twinning goes. And this second-layer is a 4-man Havoc squad unto itself. As these cavalier Lb’s swarm upfield and live in your backfield mo’ often than not. As the hoo OLb’s combine to go a towering: 13′ in height. And as well all know… “you can’t Coach, Hite!” This is a regulation 3-4 sized second-layer, and pretty dang experienced to boot. And they will make more than their share of striking northward bound plays.  (UPDATE: towering/disruptive 6′8″, 245 lbs., final-year, c.Snowden (ankle, St.Phillip bless) is done for the duration). Big deletion here folks.  (UPDATE#2: Taylor missed last week as well.) Secondary: 6.5 outta 10 in Secondary Havoc. From: 31st to 13th in Passes intercepted this year, as uva plays the ball not the man. The hoo’ hind-4 got beat-up last year, tho’ Cb, in particular, should rise-up for it this season. The Alpha however is Fs Joey Blount. Joey makes upfield plays; against. As in against the wishes of your O— as Joey is an open-field threat on any INT or fumble return. This makes sense, as Joey holds a number of scholastic return records and put-up smart numbers as an H.S. Though he has been dented all year long and is only most recently put back in full-service. Ss1 is a bit unsettled, tho’… And if Ss De’Vante Cross gets you in his crosshairs? Lookout, as this ‘Vante is a rock-thrower when he (actually) gets himself on target. (as this kid is quite literally: “hit-n-miss” upon breaking-tape). This is a tallish and kinda nearly bulky or physically ripe defensive-backfield. Nothing small or medium here. That said, this is not a great, good, or even an average unit. It is in fact well south of all of that. As Ss1 (Brenton Nelson: “questionable”) cannot hurry back fast enough. The maginot line: 7 outta 10 in dLine Havoc. The hoo front-3 is unsettled and on top of that it is not particularly deep. Gone are 2/3rds of the 2019 frontline: a bulwark Ng/Dt and a solid De. That said, the maginot line does not want for size. So, even if playmaking is a year away the hoo defensive front-line should help keep the strength of the hoo stop-unit (i.e., Lb’ers), at least semi-clean. And if the cavalier dLine stars pressing forward? Look out! And a pretty nominal sized dLine for any thirty-four set— albeit much younger on the inside than out. And as you will see immediately below, similar to the uva oLine, they do a lotta things right and several things very well. (only modest miss is on: power-stops). De Richard Burney has been out (health-reasons) and Nt  Jahmeer Taylor missed BeeCee. (this after the other Nt opted-out). Ergo… depth is not deep here… might wanna chin-check that in 4Q. Bookends are >>> Ng to be sure. Brøckworst anyone?
    40 inverted Arrowhead base (with: the Will up to Even):

    (m.s./midscript: oui! They have kept the Lb’ers clean. as an improbable 5 of uva’s Top-6 tacklers are Lb’s and none of ’em are upfront down-linemen).

  • D overall: (film-study): this le-D runs anything from 20 to 50 looks on film. As they’ve mixed things up even being even more dinged-up of late. The whacky 2-4-5 (twenty) is as unusual as it gets. Tho’ in nomenclature theory this is a 3-4 base. The quadratic 2nd-layer being your one constant here. Anyhoo… this is a very active 2nd-layer on celluloid. As uva will A/B-Gap deal the ILb’ing twins or bring an even’ing-Lb off the edge. Pretty creative at it too. Not a super strong Man unit. Both in play and in chalkboard intensity of man-coverage itself. Lotta medium-man things that suddenly roll into under-zones and try to force you to make longer connections behind all this medium-congestion. With some Tampa-2 or haves behind that JIC. Like a head-cold of coverage kinda D. uva does pursue hard, with intensity itself. Bronco has them burning high-octane calories here. In short-yardage, they will go to a jam-man. Might be worth a play-action looksee downfield once or twice when field-position allows. Finally, BeeCee went to work on uva on the throw-fit edges to the hashmarks. They musta seen something here… as the uva velocity is okay to average+++. Tho’ it ain’t Renaldo Nehemiah D. (and sadly, we ain’t exactly a: “Bullet” Bob Hayes caliber O).

  • ∑ (summary): returning D production=81% (15th most!), hmmmm, it is one of the hoo Linebackers, just take your 3-way-pick for conflict defender here. The hoos actually return 12 of their Top-14 2019 tacklers and that’s a problem a lotta D-1 D’s wish they had. Ditto courting a top-5 set of defenders who are 100% final-year Senior ballers. Accordingly, this is a pretty dang experienced set of uva defensemen; the only question is… will the C’ville frontline keep The Lawn, clean? De’Vante ‘burnt toast’ Cross lives here… as does the rest of the laggard hoo secondary. Linebacking is the alpha and the dLine does their workmanlike job. uva tackles well enough to semi-well enough inside the Ot-box upfront. Not as well wider and deeper and the secondary is tertiary in tackling if that. Good, solid, pretty sizey, and kinda physical front-7 in this pseudo 3-4. it is the hind-4 or defensive backfield that lets you get upfield. Thus, leaving this thirty-four hooVa halt-unit a few secondary bricks shy of a load. Valhalla this ain’t… more parts plutonian shore as you get further away from the LOS (line-of-scrimmage). More so on run-fits if/when these Lb’ers and starting Ss1 cannot go. Watch for Qb keeper numbers to rise here. As there are hooVa points of attack that do not really Fu’fense mismatch.

Defensive letter-grade:

Cavalier Offense: (returning starters=6)

  • 81st to 34th in Total O.
  • 117th 59th in ground O.
  • 33rd to 39th in aerial O.
  • 69th to 69th in Team Passing Efficiency. (not a typo!)
  • 38th 55th in zone O.
  • 21st to 87th in completion% O.
  • 110th to 71st in passing yards/catch. (short-throw set & Wr inert alike).
  • 26th worst to an okay 64th in Butterfingers (fumbling).
  • Rb’s: as frenchy run-fits go… no boohoo Rb has a carry north of 38-yards this season. (dinged-up) Rb Wayne Taulapapa has tallied 66 points this year, and that’s pretty amazing on a pro-rata-rushing basis when you consider he has not even cracked 400-yards for the duration! That said, do not discount this rushing-O entirely; as the lessor Simpson Rb2 (Shane) had been a bit better of late. Wr’s: lead-Te t.Janna and top Wr’s Dubois and Reed do not return (see: pun below). Productive and basically useful Sr. pass-catcher Terrell Jana, does. As do his 74 snags good for 886 receiving yards last year after an altogether unremarkable career prior to that. After that? uva has some real catch-corps rebuilding to engineer here. And this is a very mixed lot metrically, as 6′7″ down to 5′8″ all go routing here. Mighty-mite Kemp handles the short things and skyscraping Davis handles the go make a play things. Though Kemp is a true 3-spot-threat. (backfield, Slot, and X). The rather vertical his ownself: (6′7″, 211 lb., rookie or nugget year) Lavel (“questionable”, concussion-protocol, St.James bless!) Davis Jr. checks in at a whopping 26-yards per snag and is a real old-school Daryle Lamonica vertical stretch threat here. Finally, lotta dings and a few outright dents here. Coach God Bless. o-Line: uva is better at G-c-G or internally than externally; their inside wedge is close to being nominated for: legit. After that, the rhetorical word was: ‘inconsistent’ upfront here. My word hooever upon breaking tape is: ‘uneven’. Saw a couple I liked (already mentioned) and a couple more I’d like to attack (blindside-Ot for example). The tough part of uva is that their 2-oLine-strengths are 3-gaps apart and that makes it difficult to truly load-up the damn mule and plow the field. Oline is better than average in run-fits and better than that in pass-pro’. Last year only 2.5 starters returned, there were no Sr’s. and, including Penn State transfer Alex Gellerstedt, only three Jr’s in the mix for potential playing time. i.e. 2020 and 2021 should be blocking better. Tho’ they do have a peculiar offset from the LOS on the boundary-side; 7-men on the Line-of-Scrimmage anyone? Still yet, this really should be an improved oLine than the one we saw upset us last season over in c’Ville Va. As seven that’s (7) former fulltime starters roam here. And C Olusegun Oluwatimi is one of your better Center’s this side of Vernon Carey Jr. down at Duke fore the whole A.c.c. And oh yes… fewest A.c.c. Qb-sacks allowed? Oui-oui! And other than (6′10″, 325 lb., Jr., right-Ot: Swoboda) this is a nominative sized front-5. Finally, although I do not know if this is a great oLine; it is a good/solid oLine that makes you beat it as it does not beat itself. A rather chaste oLine if you will. With 90% back next year, this is penultimate good as it gets. And as you will see below… the uva oLine does every single thing well north of average and the on-schedule things they do greatly. Although they are a bit Guard thin at the moment. And pretty pasty or vanilla on athletics. hoomen, Can’t, Jump!  Qb: gone is the Perk-o-C-U-later at Pivot. (shew!) As eye won’t be missin’ an actually talented and fierce competitor at Qb1 for the first time since matty.Schaub. Heir (apparently) was Mississippi State transfer: Qb2 Keytaon Thompson. Although it is actually now: a Koufax southpaw slinger: Qb1 Brennan (concussion: earlier this year: St.Zoe bless!) Armstrong. (pun intended actually enough). Thompson is not to be ignored, as he has 38 battering-ram carriers; (and 6 receptions for 2 TD’s!); kinda their QVT. Yet he’s only 1 of 3 passing. So, key the run first on this Qb2. As the real Qb1 goes, this Bren’-gun is a r-Soph. by way of Shelby Ohio (having beaten out the seemingly likely to start S.E.C. refugee: grad-transfer from Miss.State one Keytaon Thompson). And seeing that Thompson did not transfer to uva just to sit? You have to be curious to see just what Armstrong brings to the wahoo passing table. Brennan is a ginger (not a Mary Ann). He comes with a known tag that all viral things prolly did put Brennan at a safe(r)-bet per familiarity with virginia’s system advantage. Additionally, as this year (pseudo) does not NC2A count… why play a kid who is very possible 1-n-uva.edu-done in the second-place? i.e., Eye gotta wonder if Bronco is really taking the 2022 long-view in this Pivotal decision here? Either way… Armstrong is said to be quite the altruistic Qb1 with a Coach God Given “feel for the game”. hooVa spies suggest that Armstrong is quite the seamstress or really talented at threading the proverbial passing needle if you will. Armstrong (foreshadowing intended) is said to be a physical-runner, with enough moves to keep you honest; and at least one observer harkened him back to uva’s J.Druckenmiller Lyte. Time=tell on all of that… though even if all of that is all that and a ‘snap’? I’d rather be playing Armstrong sooner rather than later if you will. That said, Bren’ was an early gray-shirt enrollee, so he’s been at uva for a spell and should have the playbook and all systemic things down pat. Armstrong was a legit **** (four-star) ESPN national recruit. He was the 20th ranked dual-threat Qb by 247. And he did rumble for 1,000-yards+ three straight times in high school terms. Where Armstrong put up good though not quite whooping gridiron scholastic digits. On tape… Bren’ packs average speed and quicks; tho’ not quite a pure burst or fast-twitch loaded Qb1. Bren’ is a bouncy looking thrower upon breaking-tape, who will scramble the pocket and purchase extra time east-west to take one final northerly looksee downfield. Bren’ courts a good arm, he sees the field (backside too) well and he will take the fight to opposing Db’s on Read-Option keepers downfield. Bren’ runs well enough internally with just enough footwork for one move; he is a pretty dang accurate passer (impressed here). And he is confident enough. 2020 Bren’ is really a 2022 ask back… tho’ you could do much worse in response to the departed Perkins at Qb1. (and I’d wager the over on Bronco liking ‘his boy’ here). HAWT Qb1 of late too folks… over 850-yards of combined total-O in his last 8Q’s of work. With a career passing-high which he merely followed up via authoring a career rushing-high! snap! That praise rightfully bestowed… Armstrong does drop by 7% out on the road and by a noticeable 33-points in Qb ratings in your house. Making Brennan something of a Homer, indeed. Though his 2nd-half passing improves by a staggering 17% when compared to pre-intermission numbers. Making him something of a closer as well.

    uva base O: X; Y, Z, Z, personnel and Hb.
  • O overall: returning O production=51% (95th most). Armstrong seems a very very capable pocket-pool guy when he has a clean pocket right on cue. Very sharp intermediary thrower who really excels 5-20 yards downfield. Has enough arm -although not bionic- to make most of the throws. Runs better than I expected on tape. Seems to have ‘clicked’ with his run-shapes like a champ more so than a pure dual-threat freak. Think of a less physically hammering though better pure rushing Jim Druck’ and there you go. That said, to be having a bunting-banner (to mix my sporting metaphor) year, Armstrong still misses one here and there and he misses a whole lot more when he takes too long in a clean-pocket or gets flushed out to his even or right-side throwing across his chest. There can be pass to pick here at times. Kinda reminds just a little minute of Big-Ben’ Roth’ of Stiller fame in a way. As this one-man Army makes a few noodle-headed throws that make no sense upon breaking-tape? (Film-Study): …lotta shotgun and 3-wide looks with 1-Hb and/or 1-Te underneath. Straight-drops into pass-pro’ with nothing else (i.e. limited play-action). Seems to favor the odd or left-side just a little minute on run-shapes. Making this a very simple elementary school 1st-read or uno-read O at times. That simply said; Armstrong has a knack for pinching the R.P.O. takeoff point just right. Could be an air-traffic controller that Reagan would not have fired in another life. Did see some unusual naked shotgun backfield sets morph into Jumbo 2-Te looks. uva really trusts their front-7+Armstrong on Qb1-leads here. uva’s oLine folds well to the 2nd-level and their edge (Wr) blocking is better than average. Surprised me a bit even. uva will jet-sweep to a Slot-Wr and have the play-side H-back/Te crackback. And they rely on their Wr’s to win individual battles for Armstrong on metrics/size alone. Finally, uva does a lotta, Loeffler, looking clearing/dragging behind the play for what looks like a safety-valve type of dump-off throw that they actually had offensively scripted the whole entire time. This is a better and a headier uva O than I’ve seen in a bit. Lotta R.O.I. on little to medium things returns here. Even mo’ would if this was a “good-hands-people” set of All-State grab-gangstars. As they butterfingers more than their share of pitch-and-(not)-catch.

  • ∑ (summary): 50.1% run:pass 50% mix. Eye meant the rounding era typo, as uva has thirteen mo’ carries than chucks and that makes them umpossible to key here. Massive Te (6′8″, 269 lbs. with 33 snags) Tony (dinged-up) Poljan is your secret sauce offender here. As TeePee is quietly having a very keen season. Overall, this is a short to medium throw-fits meat-grinder O that lacks at least a little “pop” in their cans. Big plays (less the Davis Jr. wannabe rat-packer), mostly do not live here. Tho’ efficiency, a good measure of size and at least a little physically do punch the clock for uva. Literally, as you will see in TOP down below. As uva’s O only amasses three runs north of 22-yards— although here’s the Catch-44… They lull you to sleep and then go deep-shot with five that’s (5) different HR throws of ≥50 yards spread across five different Wr’s being the true caveat. As uva takes The Deep-risk and here-n-there, and often enough the frenchy O goes… Jacqueline Bisset. (and it all goes down upfront… this is not an individually whoop your ass dominant oLine, tho’ it is an oLine that is fully formed, fully gelled, and fully cliquéd). Finally, notice that since uva mid-season trimmed about 10-12 Armstrong passing attempts/game, he and uva got all kinda stretch-leg-strong on their run-fits and their INT% got cut by 2oo%! (wild, rights?)

Offensive letter-grade:

hooVa Special Teams: (both Sr’s return)

The cavaliers were 78th in Net Punting and so was Nash Griffin. They are now 83rd in Net Putting and incoincidentally so is Nash. Nash is a 6′2″, pretty strong looking 225 lb. final-year P. Nash is also a Koufax kicker or a lefty/southpaw punter so load the Jugs Machine for CCW (counterclockwise reps). As this reverse spin can and will handcuff you the first time or three. Nash merely had the longest punt (79-yards) of the D-1 season last year, which is great for the bronze medal in punting distance-wise at uva all-time. Nash may be ever so slightly familiar to you has he has ST’s double-dipped as uva’s P.A.T. and FGA-Holder since he got to T.Jay’s crib. n.Griffin was first string All-State in Indiana high school ball his Sr. campaign as a P and as a K alike. He was a 2014 Kohls All-American Punter to boot. He also has a history of FGA-fakes; as he was a soccer and hoops star scholastically so watch for a possible keeper on 4th-n-short here. Nash was 1st-string All-State (Indy Hoosier state H.S.) as both a Jr. and again as a Sr. And he went virtually 16 straight games from his perfected junior season until he finally missed an FGA during his final scholastic season! wowow! So far, he has 1 career rush and 2 career passes @hooVa. This year he’s right at a centrist 42 ypp. (which is actually a little better than 2019).

  • uva is 85th in Punt Returns | a solid 29th best in all of D-1 in KO returns.
  • uva is 64th in punt coverage | 53rd and in suicide-squad. (both mucho 2019 improved).
  • uva blocked 1 kick and allowed 1 kick to be blocked.
  • uva blocked o punt and allowed 1 punt to be blocked.
  • and oh oui-oui… Bronco hovers just south of 2 outta 3 onsides KO’s career recovered, I’ma jus’ sayin’…

uva’s Kicker: final-year Brian Delaney. The 5′10″, 190 lb. K1 is not bad. As just a few years back and Bri’ was rated the No. 5 kicker in America by 247Sports. That has cachet, and so does an AAAAAA state titlist championship bling. So, I gotta give this special-boy that round 10-8. Gotta give Bri’ these rounds as well: as he was only rated the No. 1 punter in the country per Kohl’s Kicking and then only rated the No. 2 kicker by ESPN.com. Dang yo’… that’s some real live multi-tasking leg-talent there folks. Making uva’s inking of Brian something of a kicking-coup. Delaney has been a severe upgrade for Bronco as leg-swings go… as he has only three true misses on his résumé in the last two years. With three blocks allowed upfront (2019-2020) and that makes him more like one true miss K from 27-yards out to 49! Which may not a bionic leg suggest; although he’s pretty dang tough to beat inside of the forty-five. As a lotta teams wish they had his careerist 86% FGA reliability problems (even if they have to punt in lieu of a long FGA)— let me tell you.

Slot-Wr’s Joe Reed’s all-world KO-return numeric: (i.e. the only player in FBS history with 2,700 career kick return yards and a career average of at least 28 yards) are now N.f.l. ramming it home out in La-la-land. So, hopefully, this cools off a bit this year; though this is a helluva a return-game Talent exodus for uva.

Finally, as B.Patterson found last year… it is Oct.31st here some weeks; as uva is not adverse to whacky ST’s formations or outright trick-plays.

Special Teams letter-grade: like ’em or lump ’em… if they hoos find another good punt-returner(s) they are loaded for bear on leg-swing game itself. Grizzly at that… as this is not less than a B+++ ST’s unit on kick-game experience and acumen alone.

Unit Rankings:

  1. VT O.
  2. uva D/uva O (tie).
  3. VT D. (nearly tied).

X-factor(s):

  • motive: 1.5 decades (F)l(u)shed down the commode… with Justin coaching for his coaching (the verb), life! You do the maths. EDGE=VT for the first time since 2003!
  • weather: Not ½-bad for mid-December; what with only a fortnight of shopping days left. EDGE=neither.
  • health/off-field: Coach God bless this 2020 mess! That faithfully said… uva is pretty dinged and outright dented at Wideout and in the Secondary. Tho’ the O&M injury-list has 9 mo’ peeps on it and well, there you go. EDGE=uva.
  • penalties: coach Fu’s team has tightened back up a bit as yellow-laundry goes, and yet Bronco busting teams do pretty good (39th fewest flags). EDGE=push.
  • intangibles: uva is okay (61st) in all-important Turnover Margin under Bronco. Tho’ they do handle the game clock itself (31st best). EDGE=uva.
  • fatigue: VeeTee is actually up right at a fortnight of R&R in the least 5’ish weeks of play and sleeping in their own beds here. This could prove 4Q, significant. EDGE=VT!

 

Upsetting Commonwealth Cup holding uva is all about what(s)... here?

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Illationconclusion(s) and OPT digits:

Number of cavs could hoo-ha @Tech=10

the takeaway:

The takeaway here is…  the Apostle of All Conservative Conference himself -and the guy hoo sure seemed like the least likely C’ville liberal arts cultural fit- is doin’ pretty sharp work(s) over at TeeJayU.

As you gotta give Bronco this round 10-8; you really do.

Who knew this staunching starchy of a McCarthy Era r-state guy was just what the libby-lib’ bluest state uva med.school football ordered?


Not me!

Eye was ‘rong.

I’ll go’on and confess my publication sins here.

As Eye truly thought this hiring all ‘rong on all kinda level(s), plural.

(as one could be forgiven for wondering “out-loud” if Coach Best actually
inhabits the West Side sideline in this in-state contest right here)

***

xxx‘s & ooo’s:

One could also be forgiven for typing that one team is peaking and it is the team that has tallied 43-points or mo’ in 75% of their most recent four contests.

That, and one team ended last week with its Qb4 at the helm due to a Qb1 that was: “tooooo cold”, a Qb2 wrenched his knee, and a Qb3 that said: “☮️ut!”

…whereas the other teams’ Qb1 is physically right and his game is peaking as I type.

formulae here favors:
The team that did not play the possible National Champion Clemson last week.
That, and I’d like another day to prep’ for any seldom seen 3-4 defensive set; if I can get it.

permutations:

  1. Δ1=2/3rds% of me says to trust the team that has been more trustworthy of late. C’est la game.
  2. Δ2=1/3rd% of me however says that he hopes a wounded and cornered Fu’ -although a square his own self- has nothing to L here and knows that he is not only leaking is very own sanguine coaching fluids… he is coaching for his very own O&M life. And a VicTory here might be code for a 2020 B.O.V. and Whitlock act of clemency, if not outright mercy it’s ownself. “Might…”

#ChallangeA.c.c.epted… there are 1,440 in a day and VeeTee prolly needs to win a good 55+ minutes here. And they may need to fight for 65+ minutes to get this one done at that.

the optics

hoo knows?
Eye really don’t… not at all. Not 1ι (one-iota). And Eye doubt Fu’ does too!

As the F’n Gobbler optics are as blurry and unsightly as they can be.
In extreme particular in V.P.I. locker-room/ear-hole terms.
As VeeTee sure feels more parts astigmatism and less
parts Lasik here to me.

…and if 2020 had not been a Leap Year?
All of you would be 24-hours closer to firing all of this up!

the skinny

…the skinny is pretty thin. As in both teams are gonna get their depth-charts tested in this one and the deeper team may just be he who laughs last come midnight on Saturday night over in the unseasonably pleasnt New River Valley.

Lo.FM (Long-field Management©)

  • uva is a nifty 23rd best in 1st-down O | whereas VeeTee is a user-friendly 121st-down D!
    uva is a sloggin’ 96th best in 3rd-down O | whereas VeeTee is a middleocore 64th in 3rd-down D.
  • VeeTee is a conducting 19th best in 1st-down O | whereas uva is softish 86th in 1st-down D.
    VeeTee is centennial 100th best in 3rd-down O | whereas uva is a moderate 62nd 3rd-down D.

Lo.FM Analysis:
Both O’s enjoy significant 1st-down advantages vs. the given inviting opposing D.
And yet both D’s enjoy significant 3rd-down advantages vs. the given opposing iffy O.
EDGE=push.

TTT (Time To Throw©)

  • uva is a bashing 9th best in Qb’s sacked | whereas VeeTee is a vanilla 64th in Qb protection.
    uva is a strong 28th in TFL inflicted | whereas VeeTee is a so-so 54th in TFL allowed.
  • VeeTee is a strong 17th in Qb’s sacked | whereas uva is a solid 37th in Qb protection.
    VeeTee is a good 33rd in TFL inflicted | whereas uva is a downright thrifty 9th in TFL allowed.

 

TTT Analysis:
Both teams plum git after it and get into your backfield on D. Although the Vice Squad is not bad at this, uva is apparently better at plugging dykes and keeping leaking under check.
EDGE=uva.

⇐⇒

The most recent 3-game splits tell us that…  uva is up a whooping ➕110-yards of total O. With uva improving (throwing in particular) and VeeTee retreating in run and throw fits, tho’ in particular on the ground. On D… uva’s D has moved by a whopping 9′ to the worse, or pretty dang consistent compared to the year-to-date vitals by-the-bye. The VeeTee D has moved by 3′ in total with run-D gaining nearly every single inch that throw-D has loosened up on. Strange…
EDGE=uva (virtually all on O).

8 PM tipoff!

The H/A splits say that… the uva O drops by about 30-yards in your house (pun intended as most of it is an aerial slip). Although the Fu’fense is actually worse by 20-yards @Home (a little on the ground and a little atmospherically). On D and uva wilts by about 25-yard per contest (most of it down in the trenches). With O&M eggs and j.Ham actually restricting by a decent 40-yards to the good, more of it on disallowed carrying.
EDGE=VeeTee (at least a little, on stopping).

Our handy dandy friend, the so-called: Forum Guide of Graham Houston fame is merely calling for a safety or 2.25 VicTory in this one here! As both teams really split things up as common round-robin opponents went when taken head-to-head. The only other trend was VeeTee was better earlier on vs. common opponents with uva catching back up vs. common opponents of late. (and this could be significant if not telling; at least to me).
EDGE=mini-me or half-play to VeeTee.

the call

All of ^that^ to say… the one intangible thing that struck me immediately raised to the instant power upon breaking tape on uva was… they are far more enthusiastic to play right now than we are. Noticeably raised to the quite a bit power for the inner McBryde Hall in all of you.

Which only means one thing… hoo do you head-game trust mo’, here?

Plandemic:
The C’ville cavaliers (5-4, 4-4 A.c.c.) are riding a four-game winning streak and haven’t been beaten since Oct. 24 entering Saturday night’s Commonwealth Cup clash in Blacksburg, Va. The downright bear Grylls: “slippy” homesteading Hokies (4-6, 4-5) are on a four-game L’er streak and haven’t won since Oct. 31st!

They do have…

virginia’s offense has averaged 43.3 ppg and 463-yards during the hot streak. Virginia Tech’s defense has given up 38.8 ppg and 460-yards during its recent cold snap.

While the Cavaliers are looking for their first five-game winning streak since 2007, the Hokies could end with a negative record of L’ers for only the second time since 1992.

Wait for it… you know it’s coming…

…thus, making this one a game of…

Two ships passing in the night.

uva Projected S&P+: 49th.
uva Projected S&P wins: 7.8 W’s.

oOo

Start=finish here. And to turn this one on its opposing head… if I am Bronco? I hit the potential ‘quack-attack’ or lame-duck Fu’ with everything I have right outta the damn gate. I chin-check Fu’ and company via throwing opening 1st-round bombs and see if I can at least bomb their O&M head-game right on outta there from the word: “go”.

…a history!

As in… I found it most intriguing… to see how the uva-players took to the earlier postponement(s)/movements. As in… Eye saw no fear in their pre-game outlook back in September. Like they not only wanted our work -they were NO longer- sweating the same.

Which is quite the clinical role-play reveal in prisoner gone jailer of late.

They seemed pretty damn confident that they were/are now the mo’ physical team and that they could bully us into coughing up our lunchroom monies just the same. This is the ‘whisper’ I had picked up on from a few coaching contacts as well. Bronco has convinced them that not only are they the better team, that they are the harder if not tougher team and that’s a pretty smart look.

The closer

There are also several breaking vibes that Fu’ has 60-minutes left in his career with replacement Coach Next offer(s) already extended at the end of the revanche rivalry game-week itself.

That’s a helluva a look Whit.
(as this shoulda been your post-game or Sunday outreach).
As this undercuts a nearly ain’t got a leg left to stand on quad amputee Fu’ right as rain.

This is Fu’ed up…

Lame ducking Fu' justin time for uva?

As the Whitlocked Hokiebird may just lay a stink opus magnum egg here.

As the only calculus Eye have left is— does this one end truly Fu’gly or not?

Or, maybe Eye shoulda choose: “meow” for the word of the day?

Stay frosty kittens.
–Starbuck

#1Fight!

🥊💯🥊

upset Index=38%

#wimps!

Virginia Tech=26, virginia=4o

LETS GO!

Please support the VT F.C.A.!

HOKIES!

bourbonstreet**

17 Responses You are logged in as Test

    1. Ouch=worst case.

      They pop a big-play, we wet the O&M bed and it starts to get away from us.
      That would be closer to 3-plays as Bronco busts Fu’ as hard as
      he can; while he still can– as this may be his last shot.

      b.street

  1. Bourbon – very comprehensive!
    You forgot something….and all the hoos in HooVille couldn’t put Squat together again…

    What’s your w-l % for this season?

  2. Great preview. Sometime, the players have to wake up and say today we do the impossible. Today I do the impossible. Do the Hokies want to end 2020 0-5? I hope not

    1. Thank you!

      For real?
      You want me to recite all that; again?

      Let’s see how uva goes… 1st.
      Tho’ ask/remind me up on TSL and maybe… (as Eye’m not sure it helps; now?)

      “And help is the biggest 4-letter word of ’em all.”

      b.street

  3. Interested to read why you thought–at that time, no 20/20 hindsight please–that the Fuente hire was a bad move.

      1. Thanks. I’ve read you regularly and carefully, for many years now. I don’t recall a strong anti-Fu theme, nor justification thereof. Must have missed it 🙂

        Looking forward to reading more if/when…

  4. Nice work B … I think the skinny would read more better as VT OL > UVA OL though. Darrisaw & Hurbert, Inc. enjoys a solid AA2 rating whereas I would assess HooCo & Ass(ociates) in the speculative tier, ie inconsistent. The cav RB vs QB running revenue analytics indicate a bit of volatility in their groundnpound game.

    Bronco-bucks are way oversold. Fu(tures) are undersubscribed.

    FORECAST
    Hurbert locks in his $undays today. Fu defends his coaching rep with industry analysts. Numbers are close through Q3 with the TOP KPI colored deep maroon. Then investors get excited about new JHam product with sacks and TO’s that set-up the Hokies to pull away in Q4 … 33-17.

    1. Well, +3o4 thanks!

      Maybe it will (now) rain?
      This has to help us, or at least not help them.

      b.street

  5. Have to agree with you. We are back to the Jimmie Sharp days and the next coach has a tremendous job in front of him. I am very pessimistic as firing a coach is the easy part.

    Hoos roll.

    1. Eye hope not.
      Tho’ that’s not umpossible.

      (less an in-state electrifying Qualified Minority hire).

      b.street

  6. I unfortunately tend to agree with your take on this Commonwealth Clash, hoos are the hot team riding a winning streak & we are not hot and not winning. 42-28 for Broncos bunch.

    1. Honestly… what was there to point to us being “right in the head”?
      (and playing a King Stephen of Ireland “braveheart” game❓)

      b.street

  7. “Eye saw no fear in their pre-game outlook back in September” this is the difference, we show fear against Liberty…

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