Your Old Dominion Virginia Tech football preview!

 #96 R.P.I. Old Dominion#26 R.P.I. Virginia Tech:

Virginia Tech returns home after a pretty deflating and 5-point favorite upsetting botched ascent via Chestnut Hill up in Beantowne, Mass. last weekend.

The Hokies now get a homesteading shot at high-noon on ESPNU in what could very well be the upset of the 2010’s-decade rematch. VT-28 is your betting line, and this segues us effortlessly into this today’s word of the day…

Today’s word of the day is… composure

com·po·sure
/kəmˈpōZHər/

noun. Old English (16th century)

  1. A calm or tranquil state of mind; self-possession. Tranquility; serenity.
  2. 2019: Boston College >>> Virginia Tech
  3. 2018: O.d.u. >>> Virginia Tech
  4. the rest of 2019=???

Head Coach:  Robert S. “Bobby” Wilderage=55,
(1-o year; 77-45 overall, 32-24 in the 7-5-7); has a rep’ for offense and Qb’s in particular.
$650,000.oo per.

The Friday Night Lights Billy Bob Thorton of C-U.S.A.

Baller Wilder grew up in Madison, Maine and attended Madison Area Memorial High School, where he graduated in 1982. A highly recruited quarterback, Wilder opted to play his college ball close to home. Wilder captained the Black Bears to the Yankee Conference Championship his senior year. An All-New England quarterback in 1985, he left Maine as the school’s all-time leading passer with 4,493 yards and with a degree in physical education.

Coach Wilder began as a graduate assistant coach for two seasons under Jack Bicknell at Boston College, where he earned his master’s degree in educational administration in 1990.

Hired in 2oo7, Coach Wilder spent the first two years recruiting and starting-up the program before officially opening for competing business in 2oo9. Prior to this Wilder coached about anything you can name for 16 seasons on the offensive side of the ball for his alma mater of the Maine Bears. He is married and has two sons: Bobby and Derek.

Wilder’s “Aim High” philosophy: “Our goal is simple with our football program – develop future leaders of our country, strive to be Dean’s List Students, & win championships.”

Yes, I’d say that counts, refreshing to see the ODU.edu blast as yes sporting America, you can always class it up while holding A+++ court.

He and his wife Pam have two sons, Derek and Drew. They reside in Norfolk.
Good on Coach Wilder, God Bless.

Old Dominion 2018 record:  4 up and 8 down, 2-6 in Conference USA; 6th in East Division.

O.D.U. Defense: (starters back=4)

  • New ex-E.c.u. Pirate David Blackwell takes over coordinating here. Has a pretty legit coaching rep’ for halt-unit acumen to boot. Quite a bit of a good rep’, mind yah!
  • 10 JuCo starters were brought in to attempt to provide immediate defensive relief.
  • O.d.u. could start NO seniors on D. So the 2019 D is really the 2020 D pro’-temp’.
  • Kinda, sorta, a thirty-three base set: with a robber/rover Nickle type ‘tweener.
  • 40th in Total D.
  • 29th vs. the run.
  • 62nd vs. the throw.
  • 31st in 3rd Down defense.
  • 97th in 3rd Down defense!
  • 79th in Pass Efficiency defense.
  • 71st in Red Zone D.
  • 56th in Qb’s sacked.
  • 36th in Tackles for a Loss (TFL) inflicted.
  • TBA in dLine Havoc. 5 of O.d.u.’s Top-7 dLinemen from 2018 have moved on. Tho’ Dt is much deeper than De. 2 guys with game experience and so-so to reasonable numbers return on the inside. Dt Jeremy Meiser is their Hewitt and Dt Juwan Ross (~255 lbs.) is their mighty-mite.
  • TBA in Linebacking Havoc. Strength of the D as the Monarchs Top-4 returns intact here. Mike-Lb Lawrence Garner is their scrapper guy. He plays north-south and he’s as close to all-conference as this halt-unit has got.
  • TBA in Secondary Havoc. 3 guys 5′10″ or less ball here. Not a very vertical looking hind-5, more parts lay-ups and less parts, dunk. Three guys are underclassmen and they just so happen to be the shortest of this full-time Nickle/hybrid look and well, there you go! Additionally, only O.d.u.’s S5 returns from 2018. As their Top-4 Safties’ are all departed although their Top-3 Cb’s do return. Cb Joe-Joe Headen is the beta+ here (i.e. they lack a legit defensive backfield alpha).

    33 base set:
  • Film-study: All kinda variables and combinations ball out here. Neat neat D to break the tape on accordingly. As O.d.u. elevators the intensity of their coverages literally all over the field. From tight-man on the Sam or short-side to soft-man on the field or wide-side with every possible coverage intensity variation from the Lb’s and S’s in between Saw me 2 very old-school 2-point stance stand-up OLb/De’s slanting inwards at times with a 4-point nearly 1-technique Ng and a 3-point stance Dt beside him. Which does give this D something of a run-heavy even 50-front. Looottta moving parts to get down pat in just 5 workdays gents. Did seem to favor the run if not quite selling-out to stop the same as the hind-4 or hind-5 cheats up pre-snap in run-favorable situational circumstances. Nor.State burned them on quick-hitting angular routing later in the day for it too. Not a great tacking team as they sure try to get a hand on the ball which expenses them 1-arm on any strip attempt that does not defrock. Did not see a lotta recovery speed in this secondary as well, Safties’, in particular, look stiff/starchy on tape to me. Accordingly, Nor.State did better via horizontally pressuring the Monarchs D and making them chug the whole 53.33 yards east-west. That said, it would appear that coach D.Black’ wants to spill everything to the edge and use the boundary itself as something of a 12th defender. As he sure tries to get that internal work check-marked; first.
  • D overall: D will strip the rock and play the ball (not the man) in coverage(s) trying for takeaways max’. They have an odd-looking base set with a floater of an OLb combo’ player their nomenclature deigns to call a: “bandit”. Sometimes on the LOS (line-of-scrimmage) for an even look | sometimes backing off into more of a Will look. Coach Blackwell has an attacking nametag affixed tactically. Even reckless attacking. Like 8 to 9-man sell-out blitzing. He will give up a few HR hitting big-plays for it when his attackers do not arrive in time. Roll the pocket and get the hell away from this and break contain laterally if at all possible. As Ry’ (or Qb2 or Qb3) could be getting their O&M pants Worsham Field green here if they are not entirely careful.
  • ∑ (summary): 62% production does return, there are potential JuCo plug-ins at De and at S. Coaching has upgraded (including the guy who introduced Fu’ to his wifey (G.Scott)).
    Beyond that, and beyond any schematic betterments? You could argue that this is at best a personnel equilibrium or break-even on talent vis-à-vis last year. Again; that’s at best.

Defensive letter-grade:

O.D.U. Offense: (returning starters=4)

  • 1o6th in Total O.
  • 80th in ground O.
  • 1o3rd in aerial O.
  • 103rd in passing efficiency.
  • 106th in yards/catch.
  • Tho’ 29th in completion percentage (71%, shorties).
  • 75th in Red Zone O.
  • 29th in sacks allowed | 93rd in TFL allowed.
  • O overall: Of the five skill corps members with at least 75 intended touches (carries and pass targets) last year, only one returns: Rb Kesean Strong.
    Qb: Newbie Qb1 and perky All-American JuCo transfer Stone Smartt is a 6′4″, 220 lb., Jr. Last year Stoney completed 177 of-277 passes for 2754 yards, 31 TD’s and 3 INT’s at Riverside City (Cali.) where he also rushed for 583-yards and 9 TD’s. Pretty efficacious production for a younger dual-threat Qb if you ask me. In high school terms, Mr. Smartt only led Del Oro to back-to-back state championships. And he only won Offensive Player of the Year and California State Offensive Player of the Year. Stony also broke his school’s record for most completions in a season, highest completion percentage, most passing yards in a season and career, and most TD passes in a quarter. Del Oro is a mini-me Cali’ football factory that only sports its very own football TeeVee channel! That’s, all… so seeing Stony at O.d.u. is frankly a bit of a surprise. Wr’s and Te’s? Don’t know? Could not find a single one. Or at least not one that I care to cover in this section. Although I may have something to say about these cucks down below.  Tho’ I will add that Wr #83 has diarrhea of the mouf. Truly, this is potty-mouf extraordinaire. Rb’s: r-Fr., Elijah “Lala” Davis is just a dang tough runner.

    O.d.u. base O:

    Checking in at 5’10” and a strapping good 2o5 lbs. this kid comes to work. Hardhat, blue-collar, thermos with hot liquids any time of the year work. Like this kid. Like his {sic: rushing} style. Might be a Hokie trapped inside this Monarch trying to get out. As Rivals had La-La as their no.97 Rb in the nation and he only rushed for 6,690 career scholastic yards and he only led America in rushing in high school terms in 2017 with a mere 61 rushing TD’s! That’s all… he sucks… cut him, now! (as there were Hokie Staffer(s) who really wanted this take). oLine: odd or left-side looks legit to me with two all-conference candidates at left-G and blindside-Ot; (Barnett and Wever respectively). They did not look great to me on breaking tape, tho’ they are 9 years into their collective careers downright solid. The rest is raw, young, inexperienced, did I mention they are greed-wood raw, yet? Right-side lacks seasoning. Even if two big ole behemoths (333+ lb.) kids live here. As five of the 2018 Top-7 oLinemen are gone. And yet 27 2018 starts outta 60 total starts did return due to 2018 injury/shuffling for coach Stiney.

  • Film-study: Saw me some Pistol looks married to a balanced or Jumbo 2-Te oLine. Although there is more than a little H-back in this O. In particular in the red-zone where O.d.u. tries some outside-zone plays with both G’s old-school trapping. (not the same side G+Ot as you see today). Excitable offensive team, especially in the endzone after scoring a major. Watch for this and our response to this should this non-goosegog shutout occur. O.d.u. also had quads with a single Hb set and in either style of O, they run a lotta RPO De reading looks. Qb will draw and take naked internal looks or anything off-T whenever he wants and Stoney does industrialize some scoots and some broken-field acceleration. This Qb1 really moves/darts well post-containment breaks. Better player than I expected; quite the Qb1 twitchy athlete actually and to his full credit. Talky as Foxtrot too! Stoney literally turned to talk shite to the Nor.State defenders, once he broke the edge upfield several times!
  • ∑ (summary): 64% production returned. However, the Monarchs have 5 offensive players and 6 guys who play offense. Seriously, and barring an improved defense muleing this team and humping hills? The drop to the bottom-6 is seventh place or less in Conference-USA this year to me.
  • 62% run:pass 38% mix. (very Frank-n-Stiney run heavy!)

Offensive letter-grade:

Monarchs Special Teams: (return)

O.D.U. is 61st in Net Punting and curiously enough so is their Punter, Bailey Cate. Bailey is a whopping 6′5″, 200 lb. final-year Punter from Orange Park, Fla. (so do aim higher on any block-attempt). Nick has a big ole howitzer type leg and has started every season as P1 for O.d.u. Cate routinely cannons 50+ punts and he has thick-leg all the way out to a 70-yard career-long! Coming outta sunshine state scholastic work, Nick was only rated a five-star (*****) punter by One-on-One Kicking. Nick was ranked the No. 1 punter in Florida and No. 17 punter in the country by Kohls Kicking. So, Nick is a pretty dang big recruiting get for little ole O.d.u. Accordingly, 21 punts >50 yards have prolly at least punched Nick’s Pro’ camper tix. Nick also has 2 FG-makes as the O.d.u. K2 and he did kickoff two years ago double-dipping on playing footsie Monarch style. 4.7 speed lives here and Nick -unlike most fondue dipping K’s- actually looks the weightroom athletic part.

  • 125th in Punt Returns | 72nd in KO returns.
  • 9th in punt coverage | and 21st in suicide-squad. Good coverage teams so far.
  • has blocked 0 kicks and allowed 0 kicks to be blocked.
  • has blocked 0 punts and allowed 0 punts to be blocked.

Nick Rice -he of the flowing Tarzan hirsute canelolocks- is a 6′1″, 197 lb. third-year K from St.Pete’ FLA who was really coming on to close 2018. What with 11 straight makes and only 1 P.A.T. miss (blocked) last season. Nick enjoys collegiate range out to the high-40’s. That said… he has 30 FG-makes entering his third year as the starting Kicker for the Monarchs. And nearly 70% from 40-48 yards (his twice career-long) and pretty easy-peasy inside of that does a rather reliable FG-K make. That said, his kicking camp report says he has “one of the stronger legs in his class”, verbatim. So maybe he is keeping some leg in the bag? Nick was the tallest K in 2017 in college football. And he practices “A-ball” kicks (i.e. off the ground). So you know he’s gunning for $unday employment here. A legit 4.8 forty with nearly a 385 lb. squat for a Kicker says so! A good kicker here folks… you could do a lot worse than Mister Rice.

Special Teams letter-grade: pretty dang good… as two very quality and very experienced legs do punch the pigskin on ST’s. If O.d.u. improves punt-returns this is prolly
an A letter-grade kicking unit.

Unit Rankings:

  1. VT O.
  2. VT D.
  3. O.d.u. D.
  4. O.d.u. O.

X-factor(s):

  • motive: GOTTA be all Revanche Tech, right?!? I love the smell of Tidewater in the morning… EDGE=VT.
  • weather:
  • health/off-field: VeeTee is really dinged and dented up post @BeeCee. O.d.u. listed one injury (back-up Qb) on Monday to at least 14 for VeeTee Eye can tell you about. BIG EDGE=O.d.u.
  • penalties: V.Tech is up about ~40 spots to the good on O.d.u. here.  Although the Monarchs are average on yellow-laundry as opposed to outright bad. Despite a personal-foul here-n-there. EDGE=VT.
  • intangibles: O.d.u. plays pretty tight on ball-security Turnover Margin wise. And you have to think coach Wilder and Co. feels like they can upset VeeTee, as they just last year did. Also, did the upsetting L up on Chestnut Hill descend VeeTee’s jittery clinical-game any? EDGE=O.d.u.
  • fatigue: N/A.

Playing (seemingly) beatable O.d.u. @home on Saturday is all about what?

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Illation, conclusion(s) and OPT digits:

Number of Monarchs who could crown Tech=1 prolly even 2.

the takeaway:

The takeaway here is… o-1, then 1-1 and then 2-1 heading into Duke sure is gonna feel a whole lot different than an upbeat, up-tempo; hopefully “bang-bang” version of 3-zip cultural football would have felt.

Recall in the Eye in the Sky post-Boston College, someone called this a “cultural-punt” and not a “cultural fail.”

Well, gettin’ ruled by these dippy, mouthy, strutty, pracny Monarchs for the second time in 350 days would be a fail. A total one —a Fu’ is finished one. As that would actually really, truly, madly, deeply be well south of a: “cultural fail”. More like a cultural blocked-punt for a game-winning TD the ‘rong way whereby your Ray Guy punter shatters his leg on the block itself. (Tho’ there I go again… putting the cart in front of the horse).

***

Seems umpossible; right?

Well so did my very worst preview of all-time about this time last year.

And if I am ‘rong on calling O.d.u. vs. Virginia Tech non-rivalry football games back-to-back? I’ma gonna have to caucus with termites everywhere and get ready to digest so very much
Pulp Fiction indeed.

permutations:

  1. Δ1=20% V.Tech whoops Old Dominion.
  2. Δ2=30% V.Tech really whoops Old Dominion.
  3. Δ3=~50% V.Tech opens a case of whoop-ass on Old Dominion.
  4. Δ3a=.oo7% O.d.u. opens up a gross of whoop-ass on me and Fu’.%
the optics

From what I can see on tape? Maybe O.d.u. has come up a notch or three schematically over on D? Or maybe there is just precious little tape out there on what they are currently 2019 doing X’s and O’s wise as a stop-unit? Nevertheless, and either way; this is really code for what when you were 119th best in Total D last year? Gaining on being a centennial or 100th best in total defense this year?


The Monarchs offense looks like it has dropped at least as many notches as whatever the O.d.u. defense has improved. Or a net gain or a sporting negation deficit for it team-wide in my R.A.T.T. estimate. As I’d have to favor 2018 O.d.u. to beat 2019 O.d.u. by at least a ½ play. Maybe even by a full TD.

oOo

O.d.u. departs 30 2018 ballers and welcomes a staggering 46 Monarchial newcomers to campus for this campaign! Talk about your roster turnovers; wow!

And lest we forget, this was a very sorry 2018 version of anything monarchial indeed, as O.d.u. was Virginia Tech hyphen six (1-6) by the close of October business.

A mid 120’s S&P+ team through and through.

O.d.u. Projected 2019 S&P+: 119th.
O.d.u. Projected 2019 S&P wins: 4.1 W’s.

the skinny

Ex-V.Tech players #9 Kumah and #3 Cunningham are O.d.u.'s team, captains!?!

the call

ahhhhhhh, it’s pretty hairy in there. It’s Charlie’s Point!

Cue: 🎵Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries🎶

…warm up the TSL B.M.W. Huey helicopter…

Even at o-1… I’ll surf Slusher Beach!

I’m not afraid to surf this beach!

“How do you feel today DAXby?” “Like a mean mother-F’er Sir!!!”

So, and as nutty as this comes off? Sources’ say that O.d.u. was looking ahead to (rematching) with us last week vs. even dinkier than they are, Norfolk State!

In a backyard, Tidewater, 7-5-7 brawl for localized street-cred’?
LOL! Do what now?!?

As don’t they have enuff localized street cred’ after what they oh-so upsettingly did shamefaced us/Virginia Tech last year?

That all being said, and either way… if they beat us again?

I b.street will print out this preview and eat it live in the TSL.com studios for all to see. And do remember that Lt. Col. “wild” Bill Kilgore of Apocalypse Now fame and I both like our crow: “…rare yet warm.”

As Coach Ludwig van Beethoven and I would prefer not to 2018 (de)Composure anymo’.

WAR “Bobby don’t surf!!!

upset Index=7%

#wimps!

Virginia Tech=43, Old Dominion=13

LETS GO!

HOKIES!

bourbonstreet**

15 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. b. focused and ready. good stuff. still not sure what happened last year, but trusting lightning never strikes twice. just win baby.

  2. Great Apocalypse Now, Robert Duvall image pull! Makes you fun to read. In Hurricane land near Wilmington without power. Hope to get it back to watch game.
    Go Hokies!

  3. Base to B’St copter- We have a cookie problem. Last two articles I tried to vote in tell me I’ve already voted. No chads. No vote.

    1. Alrighty… sigh… the never not breaking TLS Poll widget strikes again.
      Eye will pass this along…

      thank you!
      b.street

  4. First, I must congratulate myself, for making it through a bourbonstreet article, whilst consuming no bourbon. The aspirin bottle remained untouched. Bravo, me!

    Seriously, guys. It’s torches and pitchforks for Fu and Bud, should the unthinkable happen again. ODWho is trying every trick they can before the game. They need a *SEVERE* *BEATING*! I mean a cryin’ home to momma whoopin’! One that makes them fold up their tent and give up football for good! (Somehow, the oblivious ones in Charlatanville keep trying. But that’s another story.)

    HOKIE HOKIE HOKIE HI 63,
    The apostate “monarchy” 2.

    (A kneeldown in our own end Zone as time expires, just to show some mercy.)

    If we have any 5th string players, even they will see action. The monarch butterflies will wish they would have stayed home to face Hurricane Dorian, which would be easier on them!

    #OBLITERATE-ODWHO!!!

    1. LOVE the enthusiasm!

      3 credit hours of b.speak hereby awarded to boot!
      PEACEout aspirin!!!

      b.street

    1. Oh no doubt!

      What pain is O.d.u. feeling after what they did last year?
      Bet the Under on that.

      b.street

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