Your Duke Friday Night Lights football preview is up!


 #47 R.P.I. Duke#48 R.P.I. Virginia Tech:

Virginia Tech football stands in at 2 up and 1 down and now faces an extremely well-coached and altogether decent Duke football team who also stands in a 2 up and 1 down. (albeit o-o in the A.c.c.)

The Hokies return to work for a rarefied Friday Night Lights tip-off vs. Duke on ESPN at ~7:01 pm. Where Vegas says our beloved Hokies are… insanely enough… a ten-point home fave’ (VT-10)?!? Which seems odd when most -self-included- picked us to be 3-nil overall and prolly a member of: the Others Receiving Votes in most national polls by the first day of Autumn 2019 A.D. This segues me effortlessly enough into today’s word(s) of the day…

Today’s word of the day is… a topographic phrase: “here bedragons!

(Latin phrase): Hc Svnt Dracones

Here be dragons means dangerous or unexplored territories, in imitation of a medieval practice of putting illustrations of dragons, sea-monsters and other mythological creatures on uncharted areas of maps.

  1. the Hunt–Lenox Globe (c. 1503–07),
  2. Borgia map (c. 1430),
  3. Fra Mauro Map (c. 1450),
  4. 19th-century Japanese map, the Jishin-no-ben,
  5. …the 205-mile A.c.c. Coastal roadie from Raleigh-Durham to Bburg Va., Friday night?

Today’s (other) word of the Day is… Martyr!

(noun). ecclesiastical Latin

  1. a person who is killed because of their religious or other beliefs.
  2. from Greek, martur: to bear ‘witness’, offer testimony to/for…
  3. 10 pm Friday night? Or late in the 10.05 @Miami day?

Duke Head Coach: David Nelson Cutcliffe: age=65, (68-73 at Duke; 113-102 overall); has a rep’ for being a double Manning brother Qb guru well before Corny or Fu’ had ever heard of the term: Qb-whisper.
$2,613,638.oo (i.e., underpaid)

Coach Cutcliffe has only won the:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Duke 2018 record: 8 up 5 down and 3-5 in the Atlantic Coast.

Mythpreceptions:

The Truth Fairy >>> the tooth fairy

  • 2018: Party Tagline/mythpreception for you to believe: too many knuckleheads, cultural nadir.
    Reality for you to contemplate: well guess who kept those very same knuckleheads around for 1 to 2.2 seasons and either failed to run them off or simply failed to see the coaching=criticism hard to manage signs? Such is the credibility demise of comparing rotten apples to sour grapes.
  • 2019: Party Tagline/mythpreception for you to believe: we are too young; in particular on the offensive line. This one is somewhat true… to the Fu’fense’s defense.
    Reality for you to contemplate: nevertheless, we were pretty dang young at times up front last year and yet we blocked a good deal better while being youthful and inexperienced at 60% of our spots… same as 2019’s 60% undercooked matrix. Hmmmmmm… (as my fear here is not so much Experience Curve or Learning Curve related… as it is Corny/Fu’ coaching over their heads. i.e. what if it ain’t the Jimmy’s and Joe’s; and it is our pigskin I’s & Q’s for X’s and O’s?
  • 2020: Party Tagline/mythpreception for you to believe: our scheme -for sure over on defense- well; it needs your patience and at least 1-2 years for this retro/updated conversion to take place. Possibly 3 to 4 mo’…
    Reality for you to contemplate: (this too will be at least a bit true…) although how many years more are we gonna be another year away from whatever it is we were a year away from the year before? This with our quality of football and win-total dropping every single year thus far. And why are we so far away annually with so many 4-star guys (19) inked by Fu’ and now firmly in place on his roster his way? Again; something is not adding up here…
    BONUS 2020 Party Tagline/mythpreception for you to believe: this porridge is too-ooo hawt.
    Reality for you to contemplate: Or in other words, next year’s schedule is not dotted with three different dweeby teams we used to curb-stomp by a 43-7 ppg average margin courtesy of our very own Will -freakin’- Stew’s (Monday Thoughts). So much as it is layered upon a certain Unhappy Valley coming to our New River town. As I don’t know about you? Though me? I miss Bud’weiser owning his side of the ball’s coaching misQ’s and/or stopping arrows for his kids already… and he ain’t even; gone. Sigh…

    The (other) Don

So far Coach-Fu’ has survived precisely 100% of his worst Virginia Tech big-whistle days. Although I do NOT know if they are all {sic: now} officially behind him… I do know that my and the actually salient-cogent pigskin cognoscenti among you realize that the 2019 days of slack cutting and/or O&M fence-sitting could (now) be coming to an end.

As if you read my three 2019 Eye in the Sky closers… contrary to now popularized and entirely bogus TSL.com pay-side message board belief… I have gone entirely outta my way to NOT draw my typically sweeping conclusions and cut Fu’ and Co. some extra slack to the start of 2019. As thus far we have been playing Coach Rumsfeld football… i.e. “we don’t know what we don’t know.”

Or… here be dragons indeed…

***

As there are whispers behind the scenes that this 2019 team -thus far- has played to its level of competition. Making it something of a younger or more novice John McEnroe to mix my sporting metaphor.

Nevertheless, Duke is a different animal men. And getting upset by an overall so-so to decent and yet exceptionally well-coached 10-point visiting underdog Duke football team, @Home on FNF’s national TeeVee; would leave VeeTee very possibly looking up the skirt of an o-3 Atlantic Cultural Confidence Fu’bar start the ‘rong damn way!

Or thereby leaving us effectively eliminated from the getting done by Clemson in the Atlantic Coast Championship round sweepstakes. (as we will not be favored to upset Miami in anything down in Coral Gables subsequent to any homesteading upsetting Duke L.)

As right …or not so much… the next 8 collective quarters of O&M football are gonna offer testimony as to the rest of 2019… and just how well this (alleged) 2018 cultural reboot did or did not go. Be that a bullish BUY-order market or a grizzly Adams SELL-off market for our beloved Hokiebird. As my triune pragmatic Eye in the Sky’s “HOLD” order is about to be inflationary or deflationary, rescinded.

Because, either way gents, she-coach Daenerys Targaryen is about to drop a dragon or three… and we are just on the 2019 precipice of finally being able to witness if this No Bitches Allowed cultural reboot is all that it is cracked up to be.

Time≠tell here… time=the next hard scrumming ~120 minutes of Fu’tball.

The answers are coming.
Morpheus

Duke Defense: (starters back=2!!!)

  • 62nd in Total D.
  • 59th vs. the run.
  • 65th vs. the throw.
  • 26th in Qb’s sacked.
  • 33rd in Tackles for a Loss (TFL) inflicted.
  • 104th in Team Passing Efficiency D.
  • 19th best in Fumbles Forced. (Fu’s head could, explode)
  • TBA in dLine Havoc.  Chris Rumph II and 6′2″, 269 lb. sophomoric De Victor Dimukeje both agree. Tough to label an alpha here, as these two conspired to split my dLine leading vote. Tho’ the Duke dLine plays a lotta (intentional) stalemate, chicken-fighting, gap-contain looks. Not quite read-n-react though yah; kinda similar to Bud in trying to funnel/spill plays to uncovered defenders to clean up. As EPIC plays=gravy upfront for Duke. Dt may not be great, tho’ it is extremely deep and the top-4 are just downright useful as can be. (as the one (potential) neg’ coming into 2019 was pass-rushing tho’ as you can see above…) De, however, crashed too many plays upfield or simply missed LOS (line-of-scrimmage) stops. Strange, for the experience/talent they stock here. With a downright strange amount of reaching/grabbing or army tackling at the point-of-attack… odd. Very.
  • TBA in Linebacking Havoc. 6′1″, sparky/plucking 233 lb. looking r-Sr., Koby Quansah Lb is the alpha. Good baller, solid instinctive looks on tape. Quality peep too… as Q’ has been nominated for the Wuerffel Trophy this year. Such is an award presented annually to the F.B.S. player who best combines exemplary community service with athletic and academic achievement by the All Sports Association. Additionally, Koby has likewise been nominated for the Allstate A.F.C.A. Good Works Team. Which recognizes collegiate sporting excellence in community service. Never ever read a bio’ like this=me! And I’ve read more bios than anyone else doing this for VeeTee. Koby is more parts forward/plugging run-fighter or a mistake-free run-sealant who does less vs. the pass. He does have a history of foot breaks. May St.Sebastian bless. B.Hill is the slightly more exciting Will-Lb. Although the Duke 2nd-layer by-the-bye is solid if not spectacular. As they are missing both mulit-season starters from 2018. Ergo, there may not be as many freak plays here tho’ there ain’t many “oops” that live here either.

    Base 42-Tri-Safety-Nick‘ with varying depths/staggers:
  • TBA Secondary Havoc. 4-year Team Captain, 5’11’, 180 lb. final year Dylan Singleton Fs is back and so is his surgically repaired left-ankle (may St.Philip bless); that cost him 2019 springball. Nonetheless, Singleton still merited one of two All-A.c.c pre-season Safety selections by most of my pre-season wraps. In point of fact, the leading Dukie returning tackler -per the 2 departed Lb’s above- is leading Duke this year in halts and has already surpassed 38% of his total stops last year at the 25% point of this season. This rather loquacious r-Sr. has played right at 1,500 college football snaps; so schematic experience is not left wanting. Though he now leads Duke with 29 stops and a Fumble recovery and seems to be moving well enough on breaking tape. Ss, Michael Carter II, and Cb Leonard Johnson conspire to give Duke a pretty crafty hind-5. And this is very very important to any 4-2-5 fulltime 3-safety Nickle alignment men. Extremely! As they are decently experienced and pretty dang deep hind-5 balls here— and they are crackerjacks at or near the LOS (line-of-scrimmage). As this is a very good secondary overall. And it does favor a quarters type of Tampa-IV look. Just not your typical prevent defensive quarters cover look. Ry’ on wheat and whatever his acromioclavicular has left in it vs. this is gonna possibly be the ~10 PM tagline to the game itself. As they do not defend the long-ball all that well; although this requires a long-protect from our 85th ranked passing cup (Sacks Allowed) and this exposes Ry’s bum shoulder all the more. (this is his passing shoulder to boot, i.e. the one he lands on when passing more often than not!). This secondary moves a lotta peeps around as well, call that diversity or out-of-place at your leisure. Tho’ this is a Vegas card table, with shuffling galore.
  • D overall: Not a huge So.Eastern sized D with only two guys north of 255 lbs. Tho’ solid, sharp guys who do not wet the Duke bed all that often. With a whole lotta complexity here… you’d dang well better have your eyes peeled and your head on a swivel as Duke is dealing peeps from all over. Riskiest Duke D Eye’ve seen in a minute or three. As there are old-school and politically incorrect, loops, twists, stunts, slantings, X’s whatever you wanna call it. Reddog delays and deeper than expected ones too. A decent amount of this was boundary side with zone-blitz behind that over on the field-side. D is not pokey, and they ain’t oversized enough to be rightfully considered to be stiff. Tho’ they ain’t Usain Bolt’s either. (this I like… presuming we can break contain).
  • ∑ (summary): returning D production=71%. NOT the most physical D I’ve seen upon breaking tape. D is so-so to less on stops. Tho’ it is a schematic foible for the Fu’fense no matter this/that and they do a lotta front-6+ things that have me nervy already. And they have a 30-look in their back-pocket; in addition to their pretty confusing forty-two.

Defensive letter-grade:

Duke Offense: (returning starters=5)

  • 72nd in Total O.
  • 55th in ground O.
  • 79th in aerial O.
  • 3rd in sacks allowed | 2nd in TFL allowed. (BEST I’ve collectively ever seen!)
  • 111th in passing yards per completion. (i.e. a truncated West Coast type O).
  • Tho’ 40th in Team Passing Efficiency. (efficient although short).
  • O overall: (semi-returning) Qb: Quentin Harris (who can fumble; might wanna put a hat on this former Qb2) is back and he found a handful+ of right-mass this offseason. Now checking in as a 6′1″, 201 lb. r-sr. year Qb. Q.Harris may not be as precocious on passing as the injured and extremely equatorially bipolar Daniel Jones was (God Bless), still yet, he makes plays happen and he is the superior pure rusher; albeit a slim looking spindly one (put a hat on him, did I mention that; yet?) And he was only the 22nd dual-threat Qb in the country per ESPN.com (at a private school, no less). Tho’ (St.Nikhon bless) he has already blown an A.c.l., and he is slight of 2019 build. Plus, Harris has been dinged this season. Harris is from a stunning sporting family, as no less than eight college ballers live within one generation here. Finally, he’s up to 73% right now and he still sports a very shiny 17:3 career passing ratio (TD:INT). Q has improved more than a little bit each and every week. And he is a short to medium thrower by trade. (DAX & Ash’s innertube look, Eye am looking at you!) Finally, it is bizarro that Q’s passing numbers drop by 200% 1st-half to second, and yet his rushing metrics skyrocket by 500% to the great over the same intermission toggle; wild. Not to mention he just got up on ex-Qb Dave Brown’s school record with a total of eight TD passes in consecutive games; while becoming the first Power Five signal-caller since Louisville’s Lamar Jackson in 2016 to throw four TD’s and run for 100 yards in the same game; wilder! Upfront, not less than six that’s (6) guys with starring oLine experience return; and they should be noticeably better for it this campaign. They are better and more experienced by far on the inside at the G-c-G wedge. Blindside Ot (Holman) is about as technically sound as they get. If he doesn’t like Duke.edu? Duke.fb may like him too. The even-Ot is prolly the beta here. That and this heady Dukie oLine got a little airplane wing here-n-there; Summa Cum Laude surprising to me. Rb: Brown (shoulder dent; St.Christopher bless), is a good looking all-around ‘Back, with a mere 18th best Rb outta high school tag nationally from ESPN.com. Brown might have a little more burst/pop to his game than does the beefier (6′2″ 225 lb.) Jackson. Though neither back struck me as T&F off-season HR threats. That said, make no mistake, a lotta singles and doubles and a few triples do live here. With team-leading Deon Jackson (177 yards) continuing to make a very quiet Atlantic Coast Rb name for himself. And Duke is 4-deep in quality Rb’s to boot. Wr: expected alpha Wideout (Jake Bobo) is out indefinitely with a clavicle snap (St.Christopher bless). Calon Calhoun has been a pleasant team-leading (15 snags for 10.4 ypc) surprise. Typically hamstrung Wr Aaron Young is a decent possession type guy and **** VHT Scott Bracey is the one HR catcher in this catch corps. Although this catch-corps is very 2018 (departure) poor right about now. Make no misQ on that.
    Whack-o O 1o1! (half-cocked offset/slanting-Veer)

     

  • ∑ (summary): returning O production=37%. Duke will play-action, and they will throw to basically anyone, Rb’s Te’s, Wr’s, et al. They will also run (draws and Qb bootlegs) when they are supposed to pass. In particular, attacking on favorable 1st or 2nd down down-n-distance situations. Harris does have some in-line speed, he is a legitimate run-game threat. Has a decent touch on the ball, live arm, does lack seasoning. Duke will motion behind the play; they have sharp-looking double screens with a wide-side initial screen fake. Gotta stay home backside and no hero ball need apply here. Shorter, quick-hitting passing sets, out to about a medium depth. The run game is the same, quick-hitting Iso’s between the tackles to off-T works. With very dedicated Wr blocking on edge; best I’ve seen in more than a minute. Did see a little Pistol action too. A snappy looking quick-witted O to be very sure. Quick hitting pop-pop, “bang-bang” O, when it gets, is <2 “Mississippi’s” throw-points going. With more than a few crossbuck or countering looks. Even a few Flex-Bone triple-option behind the play sets.
    And frankly, Harris has surprised (if not thrived) here. As last years book said he was the running-Qb; only. That being said, we have more offensive playmakers by a +3 (or more) count that Duke does. Duke is fit, tight and executes at a very high level. Tho’ they lack HR hitters as you can see in their individual biggest gains (what with only 1 rush north of 23 yards and all hurls south of 39 yards max’).
  • 57% run:pass mix 43%.

Offensive letter-grade:

Dukie Special Teams: (1 return)

Duke is only 77th in Net Punting and so is 6′1″, 190 lb., r-Sr., Austin Parker. Parker is a very serviceable Punter, he was “kicked” pardon the pun, he was booted, I mean he was dismissed from Duke for plagiarism two years ago. Tho’ (somehow) he is back in school and on the football team now, and he is a tricky guy. Literally, as he has 2 rushing punt-fakes and one passing punt-fake to boot. Has a history of fragility and clavicle breaks (St.Christopher bless), although he has been hovering right on 4th place in A.c.c. punting for several years with a career-long of 68, after being a high school Qb and star hoopster as well.

  • 44th in punt coverage | and in 38th suicide-squad.
  • 50th in punt returns | and 69th in KO returns.
  • has blocked 1 kick and allowed 0 kicks to be blocked.
  • has blocked 1 punt and allowed 0 punts to be blocked.

Duke is one of four teams yet to miss an FGA, I’d say that 12 quarters counts. And so does novice year K, AJ Reed. He of the at least Marvin Gardens/East Egg hair that just will not stop. Seriously, you put this guy in the Randolph Hall wind-tunnel set to Cat’-5? And nothing happens… tho’ goldilocks can kick. At least 12 quarters into 2019 thus far. 5′11″, and a senior prom looking 175 lbs. of all leg. AJ was ranked the No. 11 kicker in the country by Scout.com. And although his bio’ page says: freshman, I’ma gonna guess the stat lines from 2017 and 2018 want a word with that. AJ has been kicking off for Duke for 2 or 3 years depending upon which bio’ you read. Methinks he’s at least a Jr. year baller tho’ there is no class rank consensus to be obtained here. Nevertheless, AJ has made 7 total FGA’s on 14 total collegiate FGA’s. Although he is 4×4 or four for four this season. He was AAAAAAA (seven-A) all-state as a K down in Alabama. He seems to have makeable range out into the high 40’s as a Place-Kicker goes. He has only missed one P.A.T. at any level of play and he has a career-long make of 50-yards in D-1 terms. That and the fact that Mr. Reed won a few High School post-season games at the buzzer tells me he’s prolly a pretty good K with a pretty good leg-swing… I’m just not sure if he is R.A.T.T. great K or not?

m.s. Reed is one of a staggering 5 numerical K’s on the Dukie roster. Never seen that many places held (so to speak) by that many D-1 K’s before? So, either this is a Davidic ST’s pet nichè or Duke was really K’er nervy and brought a lotta legs in, just in case.

Special Teams letter-grade: Like Duke’s special teams, if they just had a few more expendable freak-ballers they’d be even better too. Flat B letter-grade here.

Unit Rankings:

  1. VT D.
  2. Duke D/Duke O (tie).
  3. VT O. (tho’ nearly tied with above).

X-factor(s):

  • motive: VeeTee and Duke both need this one… although VT does not need to be o-2 in the A.c.c. standings staring o-3 down for it. EDGE=VT.
  • weather: Good looking early Autumn football nite. EDGE=neither in very moderate conditions.
  • health/off-field: Duke has a lotta back-up Skill guys hurting or flat-out out for this one. Although the Hokies injury list is longer and a good deal of it is Postion1 caliber, guys. EDGE=Duke. (God Bless).
  • penalties: V.Tech is at least twice as good here so far in 2019. (which is unusual for a D.Cut’ team). EDGE=VT.
  • intangibles: V.Tech does enjoy several hidden yardage markers in our O&M favor. Let’s hope all of these summations to be enough… as Fu’ will take anything he can get right about now. EDGE=VT.
  • fatigue: Duke has a short week ~bicentenial miles travel to the New River Valley whereas the Hokies get to lullaby in their very own beds. EDGE=VT.

The opening Pt.Spread of Duke+10 is really code for... what(s)???

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Illation, conclusion(s) and OPT digits:

Number of Dukies who could start @Tech=8'ish.

the takeaway:

The takeaway here is… Eye don’t really (R.A.T.T.) know what to take away here?

In particular in Fighting-Gobbler regards. As Vah.Tech could easily and possibly should be up 3-zip on the year. And yet we ain’t and yet that brings a whole lotta lowercase to medium-sized negatives back into underwhelming O&M proof=positive play.

I do however know that two pretty dippy looking teams just played V.Tech to within one score or actually let V.Tech for ~90% of V.Tech’s heavily favored two most recent seemingly cake walking type of contests.

I also know that the basketball school known as Duke went out and rebounded after being done by ‘Bama by backhanding their two consecutive cupcakes by a collective 86-31 margin.

You do the maths…

permutations:

  1. Δ1=45% that this is a 1-play VicTory.
  2. Δ2=40% that this is a 1-play we did not put up our Dukes L.
  3. Δ3=5% that this goes into extra innings as 60 minutes may not be enough here.
the optics
This one makes us 2-3 or 3-2. I'm positive this could be a negative double-dip!

the skinny...
our handy-dandy friend the so-called Fourm Guide is still closed for another fortnight give/take…

A Pt.Spread PLUMMET!

Splits:
Duke does run the ball +30 ypg better than VeeTee on one less, carry. VeeTee is also about 33 ypg softer in defense of the ground-game at the moment. Making for about one full score worth of a rushing advantage in favor of the Dukies. The Hokies are a little over one 1st-down better per game in passing yardage. And this is even more curious to me when you consider that Duke is very north-south truncated as their normal passing fairé goes. This is born out via the +8% completion percentage advantage that Duke courts. And further by the factoid that Duke is on pace to allow one Qb-sacked every third game. Great for a negligible 2.3 ypg in (Qb rushing) reverse. Or not even enough to take the Dukies outta FG-range more often than not. Whereas the Fu’fense gives up 15.3 ypg or easily enough to bring our Aussie P out onto Worsham Field. (and in a potential one-score contest…)

Duke has been an amazing 2Q team thus far, nearly out-scoring VeeTee by 325% and outgaining VeeTee by virtually the same 2nd-inning margin. The caveat being… the Dukies really do a lotta damage upfront and then basically coast or tend to tank as the night grows, longer. As they only average 2.3 ppQ and 35 yards of total O in the final-15 minutes of ball. (whereas the Fu’fense plays a pretty linear or steady game all game long). i.e. do not fret if VeeTee is chasing entering the final stanza— tho’ do feel pretty damn good if they are pacing Duke at that moment as well.

  • The Hokies have dominated the series, winning 16 of 18 since 1982, including the last three. However, the home team has dropped five of the last six with four pt.spread upsets.

the call
Really did not like the TFL/Sacks splits here. As Duke does a truly adroit job at making you chase the sticks while playing ahead of the chain-gang their ownselves. If you’ve studied the Lo.FM over the years -and Eye know you have- you know that it takes a very savvy upperclassman Qb1 to navigate such a down-n-distance disadvantage. And we could have a lot to overcome here boys-&-girls… as the Fu’fense is 83rd in Sacks Allowed and even worse at 91st in TFL (Tackles for a Loss) allowed.

To put that another way… Duke’s Sr. Qb is nearly 18 points ahead of our 5th-year r-Sr. Qb in Qb rating and that (likely) means we need a Rb and/or a Wr to go off and step things up.

Additionally, I’ma not a fan of the fulltime Nickle or forty-two that Duke runs on D. Same as Syracuse’s pet halt-unit; this is a most innate look to really muck around with the Fu’fense intrinsically enough sans having to reset your base D. A homeopathic spoiler of an opposing Fu’fensive defensive scheme if you will. As Duke averaged 1.7 W’s year in the two coaches prior to Coach Cut’— and now averages 7.4 wins per year under Coach Cut’. Even Fu’ will never enjoy a 435% coaching acumen increase. (as that would mean we are 1st place in the A.F.C., East).

Accordingly, the Dukies won the 2013 A.c.c. Coastal crown, they’ve bowled six times in seven seasons, they’ve been ranked in parts of the last four seasons, and after winning three bowls ever pre-Cutcliffe? They’ve now won three in the last three years!

Or in other words… giving Coach-Cut’ 12 days prep’ for us?
Is a bad idea. Possibly a terminally bad idea at that.

Projected S&P+: 65th.
Projected S&P wins: 5.4 W’s.

oOo

As you can see above… there is pretty much a 100% forecast that the ESPN Suits will be favored with a pretty close to a right down to the wire gridiron contest here. As this one has left me fenced, pushed, even, and pretty dang split overall.

Eye do not feel that Duke fields superior talent(s) so much as I am sure that their schemes are gonna be a tough out for us. To put that another way… I’d prolly favor Duke if they were at home down on Tobacco Road.

Forturnly for us this one is on Beamer Way over in the New River Valley where (hopefully) we will enjoy a decent enough homecourt advantage. Nevertheless, is that enough?

As we all know an apology sans an actual change is no better than an… manipulation.

So, Coach God and St.William and St.Christopher and coaches who combined for 22 state Titles -including the Pa. all-time wins leader- have undeservedly blessed me to do this for a long time.

That praise rightfully bestowed, about 10% of the time today happens.

As 90% of the time methinks I did my homework A+++, no matter how well or how not I score in the final-OPT-Exam itself.

The other 10% of the time breaks down like this… 5% of the time I just never find a quality OPT peg upon which to hang my OPT digits. Whatever it is… me and “mighty” Casey just went “whiff” and struck out.

The remaining 5% of the time breaks down like this… 1% is homogeneity… think service academy on service academy crime. (both play the same style of ball and are isomers of each other). The other 4% of that aforementioned 5% is canceling effects extraordinaire. Which is why I am at least forecasting an extraordinary game; possibly a buzzer-beater, if you will pardon the departed mixing of sporting-metaphor.


Accordingly… Eye foresee the following cancelers taking effect…

  • Really like Duke’s line play on both sides of the LOS (line-of-scrimmage). They ain’t kick your dang buttock S.e.c. maulers. They are however vastly less mistake-prone than our youngsters have shown to be in 12 Q’s of Fu’tball thus far.
  • Prety well like the Duke dual-threat Qb vs. the single-gap spiling/funneling Bud Bøck stop-unit. Which does not individually account/or assign “who’s got Qb” via schematic definition.
  • Really like the Duke oddball defensive set itself. Their 4-2-5 or fulltime Nickle variant is similar to what ‘Cuse did to Fu’ up in Will’s Jiffy-Pop dome in broad-brush generic terms. Albeit a bit more complex and variable to boot.
  • On the other O&M hand… VeeTee has noticeable advantages in raw, pure, skill-position “twitch” or “burst” type Human Genome Project ballers. Our D.n.a. can go beat their D.n.a. if you R.n.a. will.
  • Like our home court advantage… whatever that 2019 currently is?
  • Like Fu’ in this spot as well. This is just where his signature did not see you walk by intellectual turtling routine can actually pay dividends. This is just his kinda national telly spotlight game; with some peeps who are picking against him to boot.

And the only thing I know about canceling effects games you ask? Is that I don’t know anything about canceling effects games. As they tend to Who pinball wizard blow-up and scoreboard spinout or they tend to be very fugly nights where betting the under should send your purse-strings over-and-out. Therefore, ergo, to wit… methinks this one is a race to 20. The first team there, wins!

Game recognizes game.
Playars… play, and speed is the charisma of kinetics.

Or in other words… I may not even bother to write the @Miami preview…

Because the Duke outcome -be that either way- is gonna authoür that for me.

As we sweep or we get swept here, men. 2-o or o-2. .5oo need not apply.

Electrolux, Shop-Vac, and Hoover here we come…
…”stay frosty kittens.
–Starbuck
👊

upset Index=42%.

#wimps!

Virginia Tech=2o, Duke=16

LETS GO!

HOKIES!

bourbonstreet**

28 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. Be nice If our OC woke up one day and called a game to fit the QB and our sucking OL, not to mention our under weight RBs. Be real nice if this Kill fellow earned some pay this Friday , since We Need him on the Pay Roll.. Are there any Coaches in the South or East Coast that relates..

    1. That Eye don’t know?

      Can Kill really inflict any near or longterm 2019 terminal changes?
      (or just he just tinker-n-putter and tweak here-n-there???)

      b.street

  2. Nice McEnroe analogy 🎾👍 . I hope our players have his mental toughness and confidence

    1. He sure grew into a UBER/MEGA competitive freak.
      Nearly a nutbag one at that.

      agry,
      b.street

  3. I don’t know what cookies are being used, but “You Had Already Voted For This Poll. Poll ID #571” when no, no I had not already voted. This is happening in all but one of your 2019 articles so far.

    1. “You had already voted for this poll. Poll ID #571”, Also comes up every time I vote on your articles. And I have not voted before!
      134039 Hokie

    2. I’ve told them… Polls=like my prose…

      …hard to understand on TSL.com.

      ; )
      b.street

  4. This game is a must win for us. Not becuase we need it to save anybody’s job or because we need 5 more wins to make the Sun bowl. WE NEED this win to reverse the mojo/aurora around the football program as whole. The percepiton in CFB world is that VT is on life-support about to die for few years. In recuriting we are looked at like a school going no where. Without the abillty to pull even top 5-15 players from our own state. I think a Friday win can begin to send this ship in the right direction. A lose continuies the titanic sinking we all have been seeing the last 2 years.

    1. Oh yah… this could be our Post-Season determining game.
      That’s entirely possible and such a good point I’ma gonna add that one in (to the preview itself).

      thx!
      b.street

    1. Yup. NO OPT pick, yet.

      still thinking/ruminating here… (and we all know how dangerous that can be with me)…
      😉

      b.street

  5. Great write -up. I think this game will be close within one score. Biggest key for us to win is our ability to catch and tackle their QB. He is a good runner. If Dax doesn’t have the closing foot speed to catch him at the egdes we will lose. If he is getting by us early-I say Bud puts his love and loyalty for Dax aside and put in the faster option which is Tisdale.I know people are holding out hope Dax turns into Urlacher jr. or Keuhly jr. But in this game we need speed at all levels. i hope he is up to the task.

    1. You’re not ‘rong. Although Ashby is NOTICEABLY slower than DAX, FWIW.
      David is gonna stretch them both sideline-to-sideline.

      Tis’ may very well be the better Qb-match-up here.
      Agry.

      and thanks!
      b.sreet

  6. In other words, we don’t know alot at this point. What we have seen so far is cause for at least a raised eye brow. It’s time to get a solid win.

    I hope we get solid QB and running on O. Continued improvement on D. And the stands stay full until the end…

    Please give us the turnover battle. A Def touchdown would be so fun to see, again.

    I’d pay a good 25 cents to read a bit about what Krill’s assessment is. I suppose we won’t know until after the season when actions tell the story.

    1. In other words, we don’t know a lot at this point.”

      ^^^this^^^ times fiddy zillion!!!

      b.street

  7. In Duke, they run hard, play hard, tackle well and rally to the football. Kept Bama close for 2 Qs. If you believe our locker room then we should come out on fire this week.

    Duke is a good team, possibly a little better than BC. But we should be more dynamic in the run game this week and I am hoping for a 28-24 victory.

    1. I would not care to disagree, …yah; I’d prolly favor Duke over BeeCee today.
      Good look.

      b.street

  8. QB Magi…brilliant. Let’s face it, Dude in Blue is pure class & substance.

    That said, Football bounces both ways, it’s time for VT to have a complete game and take care of business Friday night. That means Special Teams win hidden yardage & field position battle. Defense tackles better and creates a turnover whilst our Offense explodes. Pressure turns coal to diamonds and regardless of HokieSpeak..wick has been turned up as the pressure is building in Merryman. Look for Hokie to get pressure from much needed returning DE allowing Bud to play his final chess match vs Coach Cut.

    Let’s Go…Hokies!!!
    Beat Duke!!

    1. You should see the ones Eye, turned; down…

      (however, those is SMARTY-cat’ girls… prolly make you and I some real live real-word buck$)

      b.street

  9. Just went on an hour long research tangent about the Borgia Map. The random references are a big part of why I enjoy your stuff. Thanks

    “The stag, when pressed by dogs, drinks water which it vomits upon
    them boiling”

  10. B’Street Thanks for the perspective. IMHO the real issue with VT football is there are so many questions that are being answered (possibly can only be) with questions. There seems to be nothing certain all is fluid. The Kill hire is this panic or will there be any improvement he can bring immediately. An offensive slow start this week will be a killer especially if Duke goes off early leaving behind more questions maybe even panic.

    1. Immediately?
      I’d be very shy about voting “yes” on that.
      He’s an elixir. Not a panacea no matter your timeline.

      b.street

  11. You pointed out that Cutliffe has 12 days to prep. I say it won’t matter. Sure he’s a QB Guru, but he’s also stubborn. They’ll come in and try to play press coverage and our guys on the outside will blow their doors off, and Ryan Willis will look like Dan Fouts out there. That’s your 10 point spread. Hokies reach the magical number 31 to the Dookies 20.

    Just like last year, Duke is getting the Hokies at the wrong time.

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