Virginia Tech=4o, Boston College=14

Virginia Tech football stumbled a bit outta the Rector Fieldhouse old-school indoor starting-blocks (foreshadowing intended) to begin Saturday night.

The Hokies however did hit their stride later on in the second-half of pigskin and never really looked back. Only holding the football for about ~10 minutes and change in the final 24-odd minutes’ worth of work. (did not feel like it either— did it?) Be that as it may, all things middle of October considered? It sure as ‘bleep’ could be worse, and frankly Eye am dubious to nominate that it R.A.T.T. could be much better. Piecemeal and maybe, though at least not overall. As Fu’ and Company have done yeoman’s short-handed, Sominex type work just to hack their way to 3-1 and notch a .75o winning percentage year-to-date. Now, the real tinkering and puttering begins as same as Coach Robert Frost… we: “have promises to keep, And miles to go before (we) sleep, And miles to go before (we) sleep.”

1st 30 odd minutes:
Admittedly, NOT our best-looking start upon breaking tape; in particular over on O&M eggs and j.Ham… tho’ something else rhymes with ‘start‘…

…and this Techmen’s football squad is just learning how to VT.edu major in sporting gridiron cardiology itself…

As they and the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion all rallied and show a lot mo’ 2nd-half, heart!

(with no word yet from: Toto)

Game/Season duration:
Not something I can justifiably objectify with a pic… tho’ you were told how rotund and beefy strong k.Hebert is up top, right? You were told he had good enough speed if not quite an insane Bolt pure blistering speed-merchant, right?

What you were not told -although you can see it numerous times in this game in particular upon breaking-tape is- that hommie gots himself some Gen.Chuck Yeager 15-15 quality eagle-eye Hokiebird peepers!

This is why he reminds just a smidgeon of more physical at the same stage… Emmitt Smith!
(recall: football I.Q. is typically code for: field-vision or Eyeworks itself)

1Q 5:60 remaining:
…this is what it looks like when you make a baller your own personal, beeyotch! As Mitchell is giving double-nickels (#55) of BeeCee pure blocking hell. In point of fact, he successfully blocked him a mind-boggling 14+ yards off the LOS (line-of-scrimmage)! wowzo! I mean this is John Burke raised to the Mikey Burnup power blocking. And Gallo might wanna move over… as Mitchell is very possibly our inline blocking Alpha-Te “🎼…right about now funk show lover!🎶”

(and Eye’ma seeing this week after week… mo’ below on blocking sustainment)

2Q 12:15 remaining:
Just like Adm.Adama and she-Starbuck: “Weapons free!” baa-bee!

As Amare Barno -who is showing some sudden/improving disruptive De signs here-n-there- ran a long way; and hell-by-damn he took his ‘weapons hot’ (FREE)-shot on p.Jurk’ the not soft Qb1 of BeeCee here!

Eye don’t know how long it has been since I last saw someone “steal” a Qb?!? Although this play will be wound and rewound reel-to-reel << and >> (back-n-forth) over and over and over in any brawny-towel or flannel man’s game son, type of film-study lockerroom!
(and p.Jurk’ took it well to his compliment as well).

2Q 6:10 remaining:
Been a minute or three or a season or several since I’ve seen opposing peeps force-feed pancake blocks from our pulling-G’s. Tho’ #44 off BeeCee sees what Eye mean.

(tho’ two his credit, four-four craws like a quadruped on all-4’s to just avoiding a twin-stack of pancakes that Aunt Jemima’s fave nephew -the always ornery Smitty- was fixin’ to serve!)

2Q 2:41 remaining:
Nobody should ever question the cahones of #4 of BeeCee after this. As the preview said, he may lack hands, tho’ he don’t lack… sack!

3Q 13:35 remaining:
Yah; this will prolly draw a personal-foul at some point before 2020 ends. And if you are the momma-bear of #97 of the F’n Eagles? Eye can see why you might be crying fowl on this one.

As Will’s boy-toy Son of Anarchy Brock drops a big-ass Ric Flair signature knee-pins or knee-drops right in the throat of poor #97 of BeeCee! “Shazam!” (and then Brock basically side-humps him again downfield… wow/LOL.) Nasty; sure wars, here!

3Q 11:43 remaining:
Ain’t no hiding #8’s (unpublished) injury like dis.
(St.Julia bless!)

3Q 7:o7 remaining:
Guess this counts for something… semi-okay kick out edge block tho’ a nifty “cannnnnnonball” style Splash-n-the-Back from k.Smith on the fallen edge BeeCee suicide squad coverage team member indeed. And the M*A*S*H theme-song lied… this ain’t: “…painless!“

Then again, at the 3:37 remaining marker, we basically see the same coverage play again… ‘cept this time it is gonna become a damn Letterman on his Chicago Maroon varsity jacket before he leaves Blacksburg, Va.! (And never heard of:) #97, r-Sr. Db, Keondré Banks who brings the takedown pain on the BeeCee Wingback at the top of your screen. Suffering ½ a decade of a terminal contact sport, then earning a viral final-year letter? “…that’s what it’s all about❗“

m.s. (mid-script) bouns points for the Vikings look per Nordic double eye-black face Crosses to boot)

4Q 13:52 remaining:
Lec’ Smith and his Predator haircut are really starting to come on… and now you see why he has the rep of a self-made man’s swamp-donkey gone mueling freak in the weight room. As this kid may not have the most pure talent under the hood, tho’ his efforting is all O&M red-line nitrous oxide R.P.M.’s!

Don’t believe me? Six-points later just ask got totally pwned #55 of BeeCee!

(and how about the endzone prance of Blackshear?
Clearly, there is some “hip” to his: “hop”)

4Q 6:44 remaining:
Don’t wanna see this outta big-papi! As he’s got enough scar-tissue downloaded and onboard to know when it is gonna rain same as the real Ag.School factually does itself. Tho’ watch late as big ole bear-pit like and 26-years young Justus Reed comes up left-leg-lame at the end of this dogpile scrum. (A.c.l, Achilles, Elbow, and now the opposite side leg-whipped, this!) St.Nikon and St.Culbreth quad-double bless!

4Q remaining:
IF, you just gotta throw a Pick?

As BeeCee Qb1 the plucky p.Jurk’ sends poor Murrary America’s Cup sailllllling Dennis Conner style on this one. (as Apocalypse Now and p.Jurk’ “can drink from my canteen any day“)!

(and: MEMO to the Gobblers sideline: “hold your water here girlfriends!” There is nothing to piss-n-moan and complain about perfectly inbounds like ^this^. To do this is to look… mitch. And that’s not hard or smart or tough).

4Q :52 remaining:
PEACE-out Mister Umpire!!!

LOL!!!
#15 back-up Mike-Lb, Keshon Artis gets it.
You always go ‘through‘ an official; never, around.

Time To Throw (TTT)©:

Virginia Tech:
Qb pressured=6
Qb hurried=2
Qb hits=22
Sacked=1

Boston College:
Qb pressured=20!
Qb hurried=nil
Qb hits=15 (1 fumble)
Sacked=2

Tacking itself was downright user-friendly and nearly resembled Swiss-cheese early on. No thanks to a downright army tackling or porous start. And yet then it somehow finished just above water for the duration.

Go fig’ here? Though yet again… as this is why you run the numbers, not your message-board mouf.

***

Time=tell here… tho’ I’ma almost kinda/sorta wonder if the indispensable looking Khalil Herbert is not just a few bricks shy of Cy.Lawrence’s 1982 unceremonial load? Love to see whomever at Rb2 emerge to give Herbert just another series or two of a whiff of the game is still being actively contested sideline O2. Or at least some reduction(s) to his mail-carrying load once we get up 1.5 to 2+ scores. Or a new KO2-returner to emerge.

Now, in all fairness, he looks okay enough physically on film, thus far. Granted.

Tho’ we are making no small ask of this kid and we will only be asking more of him come November. Because the necessity of his very high-teens on touches today will be code for his low-to-mid-20’s ask, tomorrow. So, why not (at least try) to insurance him some 11th-month fresh-legs per writing a lowercase R&R 10th-month rest(s) policy?
(or did that just make too much, sense?)

(o) (o)
V

As the Vice Squad went… Eye scored three VeeTee Qb1 sacks, although the box-score only reads one. One may have been a (delay) Qb1-draw. Tho’ either way… the real maths lie in 7➗15 or on my 425 Shanks Hall clipboards 9➗15. Or not less than 46.7% of our Vee-shaped passing-cups were O&M Dixie paper cups as pass-pro’ went. That’s not good, or at least not good enough. Because as things stand, when taken as in indice, the Vice Squad -to their credit- does check-in, in the top 29% of pass-protection nationwide. And yet Eye believes we have at least another layer of Qb1 proTECHtion left to apply to our passing-cup. Ahem…  ; )

Our run-fits tally even better nationally, in the top-quarter (25%) if you are keeping score at home. And yet same drill here… as there are as many missed assignments on tape -that should be coachable/correctable- as there is Vice Squad guys plum gettin’ whooped at the point of attack. In point of fact, there are at least 1.5:1 more of these, possibly closer to 1.75:1. And that (although in error) is an encouraging betterment thing. As the Vice Squad ain’t quite roofin’ yet. And “yes”, Eye know… about 3 outta 4 other men’s D-1 football teams wish they had their blocking-heads in our… Vice!

As in… in 2020? I’ma seeing more blocking downfield. Better more envelopment and fold-blocking downfield and I’m at least seeing oLinemen (hustle) and try to block downfield.

And yet we are only in the top-36% of passing efficiency… some of this may Qb1 hot-seat change; tho’ some of this is on our thinner catch-corps and some of that needs to heal-up and then step-up and help-up our  Qb1-rating(s) just the same.

As we actually did win the pressurizing element of the TTT metric— (as Hooker’s 16 rushing hits really artificially skewed this, this week). Although in all candor, we prolly won it closer to 30-14 up on the big board.

Tho’ why quibble with that?
C’est la Gåmè…

Longfield Management (Lo.FM)©:

Virginia Tech:
positive: ||||
Swiss (neutral): ||||
negative: |||| | (1 VT penalty)

Boston College:
positive: |||| |||| |||| (1 TD!)
Swiss (neutral): |||| (1 BeeCee flag)
negative: |||| |||| ||

In the missive to massive pay-side message board rush to anoint Hooker as the vastly better passer than BAX’ter is… the always (too) quick to judge and slow to learn masses forgot to recognize and respect on one major L-sized thing…

…yes, we admit it here.

Hooker is indeed the better throw-game Qb1 than BAX is vis-à-vis.

Granted. I’ll give you that round 10-9. Or +67 in Qb-rating points!

Though I’ma takin’ the next round from yah 10-8.

As it is Hooker who is looking a good deal healthier and therefore mo’ physically spry than the R.P.O. and twinkle toes velocity max’ savvy BAX does upon breaking tape!

Crazy just how much courting 2-good shoulders (his left in 2019, recall) does to Hooker’s Y.A.C. (Yards After Contact) prowess in 2020 terms. The r-Jr. HenBoss lists at: 6′4″, 228 lbs. The cat-quick r-Jr. BAX lists at: 5′14″, and only 2o2 lbs.!

Do you see what Eye mean?

The HenBoss >>> 💪 >>> BAX

Is what Eye means! As Hooker was hookin’ the Fu’fense up with numerous Spock-like fistic, I mean first-contacts and still gaining-ground type runs on Saturday night over in the feels like fall New River Valley.

(now… what Eye did not like was… where was BAX when they panned to Hooker holding court on the bench? Hooker was right there; engaged, in the BAX sideline huddles, whereas BAX looks like he feels broken-off. Sports, happen. And that at shows he cares about himself and about being Qb1. Which is not ‘rong in-and-of-itself; it is just that it shows you care about more than just yourself when you reengage. You need not marry a Hooker, tho’ you do need to court and get some heavy-petting in with the always nebulous concept(s) of meta-communicating and Leadership.

As it is remaining engaged -even when “yes” it does selfie hurt- that speaks: Applied Sports Psyche textbook …volumes!)

(o) (o)
V

The one bugbear Eye do truly Fu’fensively see is… we gotta convert more 3rd-downs on Lo.FM’s and gennerate more BIG Lo.FM positive (➕) plays as well.

We are good -pretty dang good- by-the-bye at NOT making BIG bad Lo.FM negative (➖) plays for the other side the ‘rong way. 18th best in fewest passes pilfered overall, and 9th best in Turnover Margin with better than average (25th) in butterfingers (or fumbling) all conspire to agree. Granted. As we ain’t doing anything really Lo.FM bad here… nearly not at all. So, there is Cornhole game-on that…

Tho’ I’d like to see two r-Jr. year Qb(1)’s with eight collegiate years in between ’em start to move the “➕” or positive Lo.FM big-play needle forward a bit more.

As that is virtually always 4th or 5th-year upperclassman material in and of itself. And so, now really should be a really good time. Happy they are not wetting the Lo.FM bed any mo’… just like to see them shag that carpet on the Lo.FM floor.

Because, and shockingly enough, the somewhat flimsy looking O&M eggs and j.Ham stop-unit is actually better than the Fu’fense is on 3rd-downs! (Eye know… “wow”, right?). (and remember, 3rd-down-n-long conversion are typically more parts Qb1 and throw-fits. Whereas 4th-down conversion rates (at which we are a heavy-lifting 19th best) tend to be more parts hammerhead run-fits.) This makes perfect sense when you consider just how good K.Herbert and the Vice Squad are at trench-warfare or “dee-dub”. (doin’-work).

And the kicker is… (no pun intended), it ain’t the early-down(s) Fu’fense. Which actually is typically on-(chain-gang) schedule (or arriving early) 58% of the time so far. And, and, and… we are a slick looking 10th best in ypc (yards per completion). So, the play-making aerial ‘oomph’ is there. Somewhere …we just need some cowbell as our late down Lo.FM targeting software goes.

As we did stay on Lo.FM schedule longer vs. BeeCee under Hooker here than we have all year! So, Coach Gandøff and ringers like myself, find that to be “…an encouraging thought” indeed.

And yet BeeCee nearly hit 300% more Lo.FM’s than we did to the good!

i.e. this middleocore positive-Lo.FM generation matrix may indeed beat Nc.State, Duke, and BeeCee… tho’ whom will this November beat to close?

🏈 👁️.Q. Award Winner: whoever reached over and halftime spoke truth to the power (outage) that was our opening 30 minutes of paint-by-numbers O&M pastel defense.

the takeaway...

• You can take Fu’ outta the Big-8… though you can’t take the Big-8 outta Fu’!

• Or Oklahoma {sic: State} pinball wizard football here we and Coach Pete Townshend come?!?

NOT umpossible Hokie Nation.

At least not in 2020 terms… the kicker is how much O will we have in 2021 terms sans the Heisman front-runner (pun very much intended) k.Herbert next year? And just how much will an obviously personnel juxtaposed O&M eggs and j.Ham halt-unit improve for it?

---

(though there Eye go again… putting the cart out in front of the horse)

As j.Hamm’s needs to get Crawford’s trick right-knee right-as-rain and get his defensive hind-4 up to 5×5 remaining defensive strength. That fairly said… there are present-tense film study concerns already in situ and therefore already ensconced in place that surely appears likely to linger. As the season to date data points posit… the Fu’fense will have to score at least ≥32 points to win from here on out. Now Wake really ain’t much on D, and Louisville is trying to give birth to being middleocore on defense, however…

• MiaFla, 28th in scoring D.
• @Pitt, 7th in total D and 1st-best in Run D!
• Clemson, #1 overall, and Top-10 in every single thing D!!!
• uva, 30th in rushing-D fits; and a rival with Commonwealth confidence back.

(and least we forgets, the fighting-Falwells? 4th best on D, at 5-o overall, while receiving 57 votes in the Coaches Poll!)

So, can/will we R.A.T.T. maintain our bum-rushing Fu’fensive ground-game shapes? What with an amazing six. that’s (6) different guys logging at least one carry ≥23-yards already; and
another six, that’s (6) different guys having logged a rushing-TD already to boot!

We had better.
As Owens Dining Hall and Eye foresee some undercooked O&M eggs and j.Ham.

Still yet, and either way; this Stallions Era part III rushing treat is something to watch/eval’ and even 2020 offensively enjoy (while it 2020 offensively, lasts!)

xxx‘s & ooo‘s

formulae football says… we outkicked our coverage or: “punt” here.
As yah; methinks Fu’ and Co. did outcoach j.Hafley and Co. on the night. Fair play on that.

Tho’ even epic coaching the verb typically does not yield a shiny +5 Turnover Margin of work. Eye mean, where is Boston College in this one if there are NO turnovers in this game?

(hint: 26 total-yards behind so last time I checked)

“The Rest of the Story...“

…way way back once upon an early 1980’s time in basketball camp… none other than the Logo himself, “Mr. Clutch” Jerry West taught us the two things he knew about great teams…

1. …they go’on and beat the teams they are supposed to beat by the margin that they are supposed to beat them by.
2. and… that they find a way to win when they don’t play their best.

The Αlpha (or begin-all in Greek) speaks to bullet-point number-two. We played a suspect looking beginning or first-half; in extra particular over on O&M eggs and j.Ham’s side of the ball. What with an astonishingly soft to the point of flaccid looking 7 missed tackles in the first 16-minutes of scrumming! That ain’t our best… even if tackling has gone a bit ex-lax this campaign thus far.

Then, to put the first bullet-point; second… we went Ωmega (the end-all in Greek) and played far better at the end of the second half and beat Boston College @home like most prolly thought we would marginalize them way back before everything 2020 went sideways on the whole shebang.

Or -and God Bless here if you get where I got that Α to Ω, From- though we literally went double-double on the Logo’s (see: the Greek pun for 1 hoops OPT win!) two call signs of championships teams in on freakin’ game. Or from his alpha to his omega—on the very same night.

⇐⇒

As it was actually our run-fits (and the physically determined HenBoss) that truly rose up and finally ran a pretty fair-to-middling Boston College stop-unit plum over.

That does not suck men.

As we gutted one out and have shown more thrasos (Θράσος, or Greek for guts) in four games this season than we have shown in any other Fuente season alone. Fuente being Spanolõ for: “source” least we forgets. And Fuente (and Hooker) merit considerable resourceful credit here!

–oOo–

And yet… although this should tally as an objective final-outcome 6 up and 1 down football club to being  2020, this ain’t quite a six-hyphen-one squad indeed.

The hammer finds the tallest nail, first. —Japanese proverb

And this defense has to get at least a few things put in 2020 order P.D.Q.

Or they will go something like 2-2 or .5oo in November,
at best, and get hammered.

At least once, possibly; twice.

💯🏈💯

#wimps!

Virginia Tech=4o, Boston College=14

“LETS GO!”

“Hokies!”

bourbonstreet**