Your winning U.N.C. Eye in the Sky part II:

#4 Virginia Tech=24, North Carolina=21

The first half started out highly suspect, and the second-half nearly ended on a speed-dial to F.E.M.A. or in a O&M pigskin New River Valley disaster.

Bookends.

That’s my pet word for the day.
As that word described how and when U.N.C. actually played pretty doggone well.

In between Virginia Tech had the run of U.N.C. as they pleased and this one seemed comfortable enough with VT up 24-7 with just under 10 minutes to play. Then all hell broke loose and this one appeared to be on the verge of slipping away as VT suddenly needed to get a grip to close the show.

Right now VT has four wins by one full play (a TD) or less this year. In fact VT is 4-zip in close games which is about as good as it gets when you canvas the entire D-1 gridiron landscape year in and year out. That tells me that VT is a clutch football team when the sporting chips get big and blue. That is also most remarkable when you consider just how juvenile any given sophomoric football team does tend to be more often than not. That’s 4 dash oh in close games folks! Last time I checked that’s code for going 100% in the clutch.

That said, VT had to hold off a nearly clutch rally by U.N.C. on senior night 2011 at home inside of a downright frosty Lane Stadium last Thursday night on ESPN. VT did hold on, just barely; although you have to wonder what would have happened if U.N.C. had just made one of those two missed FGA’s and made this one a ~65 minute game.

3rd quarter, 13:41 remaining:
If this pass was from Magic to 7`2“ Kareem, yah, maybe it was catchable. As it would either take Kareem’s wingspan or Jordan’s hops to elevate all the way up to this L.T. overthrow; which is one of the few remaining foibles in L.T.’s ever improving pigskin arsenal. That high, tallish, skyscraping release-point will sail a throw from time-to-time as this is one of two things that needs post-season tutoring from Coach O’Cain come spring-time in the New River Valley. (elevator: going up)

3rd quarter, 9:32 remaining:
Ditto a couple of plays next play when VT gets away with another one on what was actually the 21st VT fumble of the season. Yikes! The other Coach Beamer may wanna gauntlet drill this one into his Tb’s heads; as they are extremely lucky that the other side has only recovered 6 of those 21 Hokie fumbles thus far. (Keith Jackson: “Fuuuummmmmbllllllle!”)

3rd quarter, 9:02 remaining:
“Talk to the hand!”

3rd quarter, 4:20 remaining:
Snap! When you steal somebody, best to not get caught with your hands in the cookie jar; though if you do get caught you might as well get your money’s worth and go ahead and lower the boom on the other guy. #36 Chase Williams made it back into the game, that’s the good news. The bad news is that he got caught stealing #31 for U.N.C. at the end of this Branthover punt-return right as rain. Not the biggest steal either which leaves one to say that Williams owes #31 a refund on this pitter pat modestly cheap-shot. (“cha-ching!”)

Game Duration:
Wanna give a shoutout to “skip” or #98 D.Hop who played one whale of a game on Thursday night vs. U.N.C. and likewise another stud game a week ago prior to that down in the ATL. This kid is just not getting the run in any media outlet he deserves for being the littlest giant up front; or the littlest giant still standing. 6 full tackles and one fumble-recovery is a huge game for any Bud Lite Dt in our 1-gap system and just like a summertime gnat, “ninety-eight” was ankle biting big-ole Houston of U.N.C. all the way down the line-of-scrimmage before Houston finally broke free at the 14 minute mark. Then “skip” ahead two plays and watch a hustling D.Hop singlehandedly lasso the Houston screen pass over along the VT sideline fighting through not one, two blockers to make the stop. If D.Hop had not dropped big ole Houston we would have had a problem indeed. Helluva an effort from a kid who has to be dog tired as the only downlineman that any opposing oLine is bothering to double-team sans older bro’ A.Hop and K.Battle. And if D.Hop is coming on this strong to close 2011, where will he be in November of o-twelve?

4th quarter, 11:25 remaining:
“Wide Open Spaces” may have been a semi-hit tune from the politically incorrect Dixie Chunks themselves way back when, it is also the name of the sky-blue crosshatched area I have encoded for you and for U.N.C. Qb B.Renner who for some reason throws an asinine 9-yard down-n-out route which would have come up a good 8 yards short on 3rd and 17. Never mind the fact that nobody from U.N.C. ran into the middle of the field to begin with which was basically unguarded by Bud Lite –try as we might, football still ain’t rocket-surgery men.

4th quarter, 7:45 remaining:
Lord in heaven have mercy! Don’t watch this if you have anything less than an Fe (chemistry symbol for Iron) constitution. Been a long long long time since I’ve seen a hyper-extension go this far the ‘rong way as #5 T.J. Thorpe’s right knee bows backwards against itself. Just look at the lack of linearity in the pic and draw an imaginary line from Thrope’s right-calf upwards. See what I mean? How is his calf that far behind his upper-leg and still attached? OUCH and God double Bless on this one.

Post-Miller game-duration:
#67 Michael Via’s report card:
Pass-blocking: A-, pretty fair job here, as Via has a mega edge with such a large and in charge wingspan at his disposal.
Fold-blocking: B-, solid, as Via is almost nimble looking to be playing on a damaged knee (M.C.L.)
Run-blocking: C or C-. take your pick. As Via still has some trouble in short yardage and with powerhouse 0-technique Ng’s; although his leverage and technique are much improved over when he started at Center in 2009.

4th quarter, 4:03 remaining:
Watch Referee Ron Cherry (who is a pretty good one) making the Penalty Declined hand-signal on Blake DeChristopher post-play for his involvement in extracurricular activities with the left-De #98 of U.N.C. #98 may have knee-dived Blake on his right-hand side. Tough one to be sure on either way, though you can be sure that #86 Eric Martin nailed #98 right in the left-hand side short-ribs for good measure with a not so accidental elbow–and then the Thanksgiving Day verbal greetings between all three fully ensued. Nice play by Ron Cherry to avoid a single penalty or offsetting penalties which would have interrupted the flow of the game while creatively disarming any escalation itself. </bravo!>

Who wins the 2016 running of the Kentucky Derby???

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Time To Throw (T3):©
Virginia Tech:
sacked= ||
Qb hits: rushing=|||| passing=|||| |||
Qb hurries= ||
Qb pressures= |||| ||
drops= |

North Carolina:
sacked= |
Qb hits: rushing= | passing= |||| |
Qb hurries= |
Qb pressures= ||||

The Time To Throw metric –just like the Lo.FM- predicted a nip-n-tuck contest and that is precisely what we got. Two immediate trends leap to mind…

First up, U.N.C. got about as much pressure on L.T. as anyone has this year. Notice that VT has allowed 4 sacks in VT’s previous two games. That’s 33.3% of all sacks allowed this season in just 8 quarters of play.

Secondly, and on the other hand, VT just held off no less than 5 future N.F.L.’ers in the U.N.C. front-7 on defense for 32:44 of game play as best they humanly could. If one were to synthesize a somewhat subjective Talent:TTT scratch mark ratio, it would undoubtedly show that VT did rather well up front all things professionally considered. In fact, I was told that this was the most talented front-7 that VT has faced in several years.

Note as well that the Qb Hits entry has now been split into rushing and passing hits. This was done to better illustrate how much contact Logan Thomas is not only taking, it also demonstrates how much contact this De looking Qb playing Pivot is delivering when he Mack Trucks his way downfield. L.T. is becoming a human battering-ram and precious few city walls can resist his assault. This kid is a physical game changer extraordinaire, the likes of which I’ve not seen carrying the O&M mail since the days of Mickey Fitzgerald back in the 1970’s. Right now xL (extra Logan or extra Large) is a bona fide hammerhead shark heading downfield and he basically holds the corporeal edge vs. each and every Linebacker and Secondary foe who dares to cross his path. L.T. is the sledgehammer and the given defender(s) are the nail. Do not underestimate what a punishing game-changer that L.T. truly is. He is the thunder to my boy (David Wilson’s) lightening –seek immediate shelter or head for the cellar when they appear in the greater Charlottesville area this Thanksgiving weekend, as this sleepy looking Commonwealth Cup rivalry is about to heat right on up!

french primer:
That said, I’ve already scouted hooVa this past Saturday nite and accordingly, I do have to congratulate them on their epic win in Tallahassee which has left Coach London -who I like as a Coach- well positioned for A.c.c. Coach of the Year honors after such a superlative turnaround 2011 regular season campaign.

france is better, don’t let O&M id, ego or 7 in a row super-ego get in the way of any of that. france is more physical, both along the offensive front-line and across the board on defense. france is also playing a much more verbally talky or audibly intimidating brand of football. france will have you believe that they are playing with more swag’ (swager) of late –I will say to you that VT had better mind their pigskin P’s and Q’s and remain focused on the task at hand … winning the Coastal Division. Should france and all their yappy smack-chat bait VT into a game of verbal (or physical) retaliation, the initiative will be seized, and the initiative will be theirs, not ours.

You are gonna see a whole lotta pent up wahoo frustration come boiling over in this one sports-fans, seven years worth by my count; and this tells me that Virginia Tech really must notch an A+ in sports-psych this weekend. As this game may very well be won between the ears every bit as much as it will be won bone-on-bone.

french rankings:

  • 40th in rushing offense
  • 42nd in total offense
  • 28th in rushing defense
  • 24th in passing efficiency defense
  • 25th in total defense
  • 16th in sacks allowed

As you can plainly see, this is a very well balanced football team that is playing basic, fundamentally sound meat-n-potatoes football. Nothing fancy, no frills; X’s and O’s play-calling smoke and mirrors need not apply. Coach London has taken france back  to the future as hooVa looks to play a highly physical brand of football. Beat you up, punch you in the mouth, and see if you spit the Coastal Division bit.

With a token nod to Chris Long’s senior campaign; for the very first time since 2003 VT really does need to be ready to go to war and fight from start to finish vs. a very combative looking uva football team on film. I did not see any back-down outta uva down at Florida State, not even when they were chasing, not even late in the game when if not for bad luck they would have had no luck at all. The white flags have all been burned, and more importantly that that, I caught a not so subtle whiff that uva actually believes they will win what is shaping up to be a truly epic Commonwealth clash.

According to the Bobby Jones book (Golf Is My Game) … the Scottish clansmen who invented Golf once said that: “there’s 18 shots in a bottle of whiskey, and after 18 shots the round is done.” For the first time in a very long time, VT is gonna have to dig deep, buckle up and be ready to slug it out toe-to-toe for the full 12 rounds vs. france. And don’t die of shock if this one is not decided until the championship rounds (10th-12th) or late in the fourth quarter when one team manhandles the other team out into the deep water and one team finally taps out.

“ALLONS -Y”

HOKIES!

Turkey Tracks Turkey Tracksb’street


1 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. Yikes!! Me thinks you’re correct on all aspects, Sir! This one has so many implications outside, and on the field; for years to come. Here’s to hoping for a final torpedo shot at the waterline, errr somewhere amidship. Followed by sinking of “le tower d’Eiffel”

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