Virginia Tech=48, Duke=17
Virginia Tech football -which honestly did look about ½-flat- just got back on track! “That’s a fact, Jack!”
The Hokies won a sharp-looking one vs. a rather dull-looking Duke. Granted. Mea culpa. Tru dat. They ain’t exactly revenue sport preemptive world-beaters for the Coach K farewell, tour. Right? Fair-play. This may have been a Selsun Blue scalp to take. Tho’ this team coulda gone Coach herm.Melville and started taking dictation itself. As lesser more passive men woulda ate Moby’s dick here. So, three cheers and Fu’ and Company for their downright therefore shrewd use of parting is such sweet sorrow, foreplay in this one. As one could deign to type that our seX’s and big-O’s manhood was finally fu’lly fu’nctional indeed.
Pre-game:
pre-game:
Game Duration:
Do wanna give Coach Cut’ a farewell shoutout here…
…as he went out on his falling-apart tower-shield which was buckling under so much arrow-stopping strain. 
What with trickeration, going for it on 4th, and all kinda Qb dings/dents in tow to boot.
As this old salt deserves mo’ than all this pepper right in his face.
St.David bless!!!
1Q 4:35 remaining:
Sounds like someone read someone’s preview… rights?
Shout-out “THX” @ESPN/A.c.c.Network!
1Q 8:55 remaining:
Man-o-man!
What is it with all these 3rd-base or Indiana Bones grabs this year?!?
Film-room roaring with “LOL” grief insert (______) here!
2Q 8:15 remaining:
N.Peoples gets dinged-up here on the helter-skelter looking flubbed-up r.Leo’ mad-lib Qb2 keeper with a fumble to boot at the end. As this is what it looks like when a Cb4 does not win the Qb2, hit.
Eye guess you could call this helmet-to-helmet the other way?
Then Tis’ lands on power to the Peoples for bad, measure.
(St.Catherine bless!)
2Q 7:34 remaining:
Yes, Eye know… only our 3rd steal of the year you say?
You’re not ‘rong…
…tho’ this kick-coverage I.C.B.M. A.W.A. Lariat hit woulda made even big-Stan Hansen puke!
This one (in modern rule-book parlance) shoulda been at least 15-yards.
Maybe 60-minutes on the auto-ejection sit?
As #42 Cole Blaker our Te5, nearly killed #48 of Duke here.
(pretty dang Kyle Kadum of w.v.u. impressive that #48 got up, too!)
2Q 4:56 and :14 remaining:
Dang*2… as poor Smitty pass-pro’ hyperextends his planted left-knee once; going backward.
Then on the penultimate Hail-Mary, Mister Moore (#68) gets right-leg-whipped trucking downfield to try to back the BAX scramble up. (St.Nikon & St.Culbreth bless!)
Some tough pre-Thanksgiving sledding this Terminal Contact Sport.
3Q 12:oo remaining:
…dang if this is not a screwy raised to the outlying oddball one sports fans.
As it has been years since I’ve seen this upon breaking tape…
…as the left-knee of the pursuing and ultimately tacking Duke ILb accidentally knees po’ m.Thomas right in the back of the very same (Dukie’s left-knee vs. behind MT’s left-knee). In what old-schoolers call a: “Charley-horse.” Hopefully, this does not test super bad… tho’ you can have some super-bad can barely walk days -quite plural- here until it lets go. As these, turf-toes and hammies are all in the range of moderate to bad to who knows?!?
St.Thomas & St.Nikon bless!
3Q game/season duration:
…po’ BAX… as even Eye have L count here?
As this is reaching near umpossible JAX @Georgia Tech and @Miami standards…
…then on top of all of ^^^datS^^^ his boy and bunkie takes him sideline spark-out!
3Q 4:31 remaining:
This here however is not: ‘controlled-aggression”.
This is a punch to the face… and this too is supposed to be a Cougar and Maverick or: an auto-eject-eject-eject.
∼4Q 3:oo remaining:
Hate seein’ this -for both sides- as Duke’s right-Ot knee-bends the ‘rong way, the Duke Qb3 looked like he broke all limber/flexibility records if he did not nuke his poor left-knee getting his foot caught in the Worsham Field turf. Then our very own #31, Cb4 (Nasir Peoples) a-g-a-i-n, gets dinged up; as this time it is his left knee not looking alright up on the sideline slide in pursuit of the now gimpy Qb3 scramble.
…as this Gridiron is a torturous instrument indeed, in… spades!
Time To Throw (TTT)©:
Virginia Tech:
Qb pressured=9 (1 TD!)
Qb hurried=nadda.
Qb hits=11
Sacked=nil.
Duke:
Qb pressured=24!!
Qb hurried=2
Qb hits=39!!! (1 TD, 1 fumble)
Sacked=4
Time To Throw Analysis:
…well, here we see that… mommas don’t let your boyz grow up to be Duke Qb’s!!!
I mean, need Eye say mo’?
I mean… those digits, no matter how skewed via (necessary) broken offensive-shape pocket (attempted) escapes from the Duke Qb2 to Qb3 to a near Qb4 appearance back to a dinged-up Qb2 and then again back to a nearly got knee-nuked (St.Culbreth & St.Nikon help) Qb3… well, they sure read like a shellacking of an azz-kicking to me.
“The other team’s Korterback must go down and he must go down, hard!”
—the Godfather of Jumpsuits, Al Davis of Oaktown Rader fame
Yah; no S on dat yo’! As man-o-man… Eye felt sympathetic -then stick to my stomach on the knee-twisting- for the Duke Qb’s in this one. As this much A&B gets you a few weeks lock-up on lock-down in the downtown Blacksburg, Va. hoose·gow if you do this to a civilian outside the rather unfriendly realms of Lane Stadium itself.
(o) (o)
V
Blocking Analysis:
Only 3 TFL (tackles for a loss) were allowed and the scorekeeper’s grade of o-Sacks-allowed tallied up well enough to be fair. (Eye had one graded as a BAX-sack).
However, and overall, the V-shaped VeeTee passing-cup has patched-up a Fu’ leaks in the past fortnight of weeks. NOT epic pass-pro’… tho’… trending in the betterment direction. NTTAWWT, right?
The oddball part was the number of Swiss or natural graded plays in the first 3-VeeTee-possessions. As in after that, Corny and Vice in-game adjusted and suddenly caught up to all the Dukie twists/loops and stunting upfront smartly enough. Which is actually fair-to-middling work; what with our near all-conference caliber C1 blocking in civis over on the Hokie sideline and additionally wearing an air-boot (left-ankle; St.Philip bless!) to boot.
Which is to say… the savvy among you will have already observed that all 3-categories swelled a bit this week. The caveat is… our positive or better blocking plays were more downhill this week than last. And if the Vice Squad could just win a few more neutral or Swiss chicken-fighting stand-off battles… this O could be at least a few parts road-grader indeed. As just one crack gone hole gone seam and one or two of those neutrals could really go places.
(Ditto BAX and his best opening quicks not getting kicked in-game).
…or in other words, the Top-3 Hokie ground-gainers gobbled up at least ≈8 ypc, and one (k.King) actually did average a full 1st-down per/touch. Along the way to a mere
9′ short of a tricentennial rushing day for dear ole V.P.I.
As the overall O averaged 97.1% of a 1st-down on the day per play!
Longfield Management (Lo.FM)©:
Virginia Tech:
positive: |||| |||| | (1 VT penalty, 1 Duke flag)
Swiss (neutral): ||||
negative: |||| |||| |||| (1 TD! 2 VT penalties, 1 VT TD!!!)
Duke:
positive: |||| | (2 VT penalties)
Swiss (neutral): |||| ||
negative: |||| |||| |||| ||| (1 INT! 6 Duke flags)
Lo.FM Analysis:
…well here we see that… after a kinda-sorta soggy looking -or at least- soggy/sorry executed opening script… this Fu’fesne suddenly sparked up and went post-script Broadway Joe or All the world’s a stage B+++ or better thespian on the Dukie D.
Which well-acted the part of the king’s fool or court jester.
Seriously… as in, -and Eye gotta hold my very own pet feets to my very own fire here- as Eye did not connect these late-night Friday dots… tho’ the Duke defense is one of two things…
- either, they are head-slow and just don’t know (how to play or belay coverage intensities). In particular with regard to moving forward and giving up massive chuck-yardage behind a bogusly placed northward thrust. (Like run-fill ovulating needy!)
- or, this could be viewed as nearly cowed to the point of being good-sport subversive. Like some anti-defensive staff version of aerial resistance treason.
As these are Duke.edu admission passes’ who have gone basic, entry-level fundamentally passive upon breaking tape.
Now, and although that is surely and clearly not Fu’ or Corny’s fault, Eye never ever thought I’d be questioning the pigskin I’s and Q’s of Durham, Nc., inductees?
As I could not figure out what they were coverage doing at times?
As there is user-friendly, there is submissive and then there is Duke.
Tho’ hats off to Fu’ and Corny… as this is the 2nd-time in three weeks
they did better in-game postscript, so to speak.
NOT epic, tho’ better than past-seasons, plural.
On the other side… the Fu’fense semi-stayed on schedule well enough or manufactured just enough plays to get by. At least a decent outing here… maybe a scosche north of that.
The amazing and kind sad part was the Duke O… 33.33% of their positive (+) Lo.FM’s were actually gimmies or negative plays from O&M eggs and j.Ham and Co.
As Duke just could not get outta Duke’s own way.
Leaving this one as something of a near comedic tragedy of errors each way… or something from the realm of Dr. Falco’s Theater of the Absurd.
(o) (o)
V
Tackling Analysis:
A staggering 22 different Hokies carved tackling notches in Duke’s belt late on Saturday afternoon. With 2.22% of our stops made by our Qb1 (BAX) his own freakin’ self!
That being said… while the game was still relatively meaningful early on?
Tackling was not ½-bad at all. Pretty much flirting with being outright great for the first 40-minutes or so give/take. Once the benches emptied technique and forming up itself emptied about half a clip into the Hokiebird as the revolving participation door and the helter-skelter nature of so many flushed Dukie Qb(s) rushers made for some oddball looks in Euclidean terms down in the fading to brown grass.
As DAXy was nice, and Tae Daley continued his one-man write-in-committee via silent ballot to win this year’s defensive Most Valuable Techster Award.
As tackling itself improved by just under ≅70% this week to last.
As stopping graded gracefully enough until it did not.
{sic: as in: until it did not really outcome matter any mo’}
(And this grades all the better when you see that Duke
won TOP time-of-possession by +6 mins.)
That all halt-unit said… with the preview mentioned fading Duke Rb1, and then on to two back-up Qb’s who really could not throw… this one was really a cold-cut Coach Cut’ O to coach against, n’est-ce pas?
I mean… we attacking forward (not very southward phobic of their throw-fits); and they STILL nearly cracked a bicentennial rushing afternoon… think about that one a little minute men…
…that’s the news-news, the good-news is… Miami=94th in rushing-O and uva=90th.
the takeaway...
…not totally sure what to be taken with here?
At least not out on the field of play itself.
As similar to @Georgia Tech and underachieving U.n.c., some of this was not on, us. And although that is not technically our fault, it must merit R.A.T.T. consideration.
What Eye did takeaway is that the team overall handled a metric ton of message-board bovine shikacus and H.R. B.S. like champs.
You gotta give them that round 10-8; prolly even 10-7.
As a team that is indeed (waaaaaaaay) more parts boxer became at least a Fu’ parts puncher.
Whereas the Referee and the Cutcliffe corner coulda honestly thrown the towel in here.
🏈 👁️.Q. Award Winner:
…anyone and everyone that did anything to boost anyone up here!
11-pasty-lid Leadership Council, DAXy, Fu’, Hilgirth, et al.
As lessor men woulda acted the bitchy, scratchy, fu’rball cat-fight part, here!
Bra-vo!
Loading ...***
xxx‘s & ooo‘s
As every single Hokie grab-gang member exsanguinated the sucky Duke D for ≥18 yards/snag!
formulae football
Fu-fighters who are still clinging timidly to your pot-stirring #RenewFu Wham Reunion Tour thingy…
…have you noticed the uptick in yellow laundry in the last Fu’, games?
Not exactly a retention-savvy look, is it?
Duke Qb3… Jordan Moore!
As this po’ kid took a true shellacking.
Nearly going full M.O.A.B. on his left-knee, late!
As Duke got to 196 Total Rushing yards via; I’ma not really sure how they got to 196 rushing yards? Eye am sure they (literally) summoned a blood-n-guts lastest ditchiest effort that salvaged nearly ≅62% of their rushing total in the final 11-minutes-n-change of scrumming on Saturday afternoon over the in the cooling-off New River Valley.
As there were Duked-out bits and pieces of their carried-off O all over Worsham Field, literally.
(Vegas types file that one away for piecing Louisville up ‘next week’ future reference!)
“The Rest of the Story...“
The sportlight...
…here in the sportlight… we observed that forty-four that’s (44) Hokie scrubs got P.T., love!
Now, that’s either a very good sign, or a very bad sign. LOL!
Take thy pick.
All fingers point to that.
We also observed that of those 44 substitute O&M ballers, we did not even recognize the names of a staggering tweleveteen or 27.27% of ’em!
And frankly, that’s kinda neat… including the P.T. (playing-time) inclusion of one #35, or Cb11, r-senior year: Ko Keondré! Who does not even have a bio’ linked in the post-game participation publication from VeeTee. So, it is a “kinder gentler” thing that Fu’ did the right thing and emptied the senior and just barely able to make the “dress-squad” bench here.
Say what you will regarding his previous 83-games for Virginia Tech…
…though do say he ended his final Lane game like 27 credit hours per semester.
Or, he ended it with all class.
••• ——— •••
There are some very interesting Coach E.A. Poe type Tell-Tale signs here… rather unexpected ones. As the Tin-Man and Cowardly Lion suddenly went O&M yellow-brick road and
broke into the cardio-clinic!
As in... several players suddenly puttin' out who have been dog-housed!
Eye did not even predict dat.
Did you?
And Eye mean sleeping with Snoopy for a spell or an outright K9 while been dogging it.
’cause, if you meta-communicating watch/study the sideline, locker room, and ancillary elements to the Duke tape… several of ’em perked up this week…
…like a V.P.I. leaded-coffee I.V. gone
Automatic, drip!
To borrow the preview’s Word of the Day… there is no debating… that.
–oOo–
And as we say in boxing… “there is no such thing as a bad win.”
“Aye” it is true; @Georgia Tech and home for Duke may not be great wins, granted. As these jabronis were and are two pretty dang sloppy-Joe-looking teams. Nevertheless, and dead-cat bounces aside, Thanksgiving is coming and a Hokiebird has gotta eat.
“Burp”…
And actually, winning them both granted us a chance at two better finishing wins.
Or at least a chance against you know… hoo.
Fu–Fighters … show me love yah’ll… show me, #Love!!!
In point of fact… this was the 2nd time the four of us were really really proud of your boy.
(1st being his hellacious upset of hooVa last year which went. St.Lazarus rising from the dead).
As the now credibly visible fact of his caring, ⇒ they're trying!
As he recently seems so much mo’ “available” (to borrow last week’s Word of the Week).
So much more reachable…
…so much mo’, human.
…there is no debating that as well.
ψ🏈ψ
#wimps!
Virginia Tech=48, Duke=17
“LETS GO!”
“Hokies!”
bourbonstreet**
