A Look Ahead: Virginia Tech vs. Virginia

By Justin Cates

Editor's Note: Saturday will mark day 3,291 of Virginia Tech's continuous possession of the Commonwealth Cup.

Virginia Tech has lost three of it's last four, but with one final spin of the ACC "wheel of destiny" there's still a chance the Hokies can win the Coastal division.

Tech needs to beat Virginia and hope North Carolina can edge the surprising Duke Blue Devils.

That very well may happen, but the Hokies (7-4, 4-3 ACC)  have shown they're more than capable of losing to anybody and Duke can beat just about anyone after winning seven straight games.

The Cavaliers (2-9, 0-7 ACC) haven't won a game since beating VMI on September 21. They've played horribly, but there is certainly plenty of talent on the roster and funny things happen in rivalry games.

Junior Kevin Parks is a good running back who has gone over a hundred yards five times this season including the last two weeks at North Carolina and Miami.

The 'Hoos haven't been able to pass effectively, but stopping the run has been tough for opponents as Parks has 926 yards and 11 touchdowns.

As for that passing game, it hasn't been pretty.

Quarterback David Watford has eight touchdowns and 15 interceptions this season prompting coach Mike London to insert freshman Greyson Lambert in recent weeks.

Against Miami, Lambert completed 13-of-19 passes for 134 yards.

A marginal improvement, but Lambert gives the 'Hoos more of a threat through the air while Watford's strength is his athleticism on the ground. Both quarterbacks will play Saturday.

On defense the Cavaliers are paced by safety Anthony Harris who leads the nation with eight interceptions.

Harris will miss the first half against the Hokies after being ejected for targeting against Miami.

The Hokies are looking to beat Virginia for the 10th straight season.

All bias aside, Mike London is probably the worst football coach in the country. He's like a more hapless and hilarious version of Al Groh. He makes Will Muschamp look like Vince Lombardi.

How UVA has managed to go from George Welsh to knuckleheads like Al "NFL experience" Groh and Mike "I won the national championship with someone else's players" London is well beyond me.

With its academic profile and upper level facilities, Cavalier football is a sleeping giant. At present, that giant is comatose.

Point of fact, I myself am not currently an FBS head football coach, however it doesn't take one to see a bunch of underachievers.

"Yeah, yeah I KNOW! Just lay off until they fire me okay?"

That brings us back around to the Hokies.

This isn't a bad team. It's not a good team either. Not much was expected with a new offensive coaching staff, but this group was close to so much more than 7-4.

That being said, the Hokies could still win nine or—theoretically at least—ten games this season. With a win and some help from the Tar Heels, Tech could make it to Charlotte to play for the ACC title game.

Had you offered that deal to Frank Beamer in August he would have called you a liar and promptly taken the deal.

The point is, there's still a lot on the table for Virginia Tech football this season.

Everything else aside, it's always satisfying to beat UVA in anything.

Plus I may or may not have a large sum of money invested in, "Virginia Tech Football: A Decade of Dominance in the Commonwealth" T-shirts.

We'll see if the Hokies can make it a reality Saturday.

A Look Ahead: Virginia Tech vs. Maryland

By Justin Cates

Things finally came together on offense in the Hokies 42-24 upset win over the Miami Hurricanes.

After turning the ball over eight times in the previous two games, quarterback Logan Thomas was nearly flawless in Miami Gardens completing 25-of-31 passes for 366 yards and two touchdowns.

Thomas added another 42 yards on the ground, but for one of the few times this season he wasn't the Hokies' primary running threat.

Redshirt freshman Trey Edmunds exploded with 14 carries for 74 yards and four touchdowns while sophomore J.C. Coleman tallied 22 carries for 68 yards.

Tech also has two breakout receivers in Willie Byrn and Josh Stanford.

Byrn has impressed with his toughness and speed all season, but the light didn't fully come one for Stanford until the last two games.

Against Boston College Stanford finished with 171 yards and the 'Canes were burned for 107 including a magnificent tackle-breaking run on a 32-yard touchdown.

The Hokie offense presented a balanced attack that both exposed weaknesses in the Miami defense and showed what the Tech unit is capable of when not turning the ball over. The trick is maintaining the momentum.

It won't be easy with major questions surrounding Tech's already shaky kicking game.

Kicker Cody Journell was dismissed from the team this week ending his bizarre four and a half year odyssey of occasional on field brilliance and off field stupidity.

That leaves the Hokies (7-3, 4-2 ACC) with no kickers on the roster who have made a field goal in a college game. Ethan Keyserling kicked against Marshall earlier this season but missed three kicks in the rain.

He'll likely get the start but Michael Branthover, Mitchell Ludwig and freshman walk-on Eric Kristensen all got a look in practice this week.

Senior day in Blacksburg will see Tech's senior corners on the sidelines as both Kyle Fuller (groin) and Antone Exum (ankle) won't dress Saturday.

Thankfully for the Hokies, corner is the deepest spot on the team and freshmen Kendall Fuller and Brandon Facyson will start in their places.

They will face a Maryland (5-4, 1-4 ACC) team that has hit a major wall in the second half of this season.

After starting 4-0, the Terrapins have dropped four of the last five with only a one point win over Virginia in that span.

Talented quarterback R.J. Brown just hasn't been the same since suffering a concussion in a 63-0 loss at Florida State, but there aren't many healthy bodies to throw to right now.

Five wide receivers are out for this game including leading receivers Stefon Diggs and Deon Long.

That makes it tempting to lean on the running game and tailback Brandon Ross, but it's a tall order against a Tech run defense currently ranked fourth in the nation.

The Hokies have to win out if they want a chance to make it to the ACC Championship game in Charlotte. They need help too, but a loss to Maryland or Virginia will spell disaster.

An early season match up between these two teams would have looked a lot different. A healthy Maryland offense would have presented an interesting challenge for the Hokies.

As it stands now, it should be a happy senior day in Lane Stadium.

A Look Ahead: Virginia Tech vs. Miami

By Justin Cates

Maybe it's my fault.

It certainly appears ominous now that I left the Duke preview hovering at the top of the page this past week.

After that miserable 13-10 loss, the Hokies looked to rebound against Boston College. The folks from Chestnut Hill did not cooperate.

For the second consecutive week, Tech put up some big numbers and largely dominated the stat sheet but also once again made far too many mistakes to win.

The Hokies racked up 446 yards of total offense to BC's 289 but lost by seven thanks largely to four turnovers by quarterback Logan Thomas.

Thomas threw for 391 yards and two touchdowns becoming Tech's all time leader in total offense, but also lost two fumbles and tossed two interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown.

That makes eight turnovers for Logan in the two losses. Whatever happened during the Hokies' bye week has had disastrous consequences for the senior signal caller.

The only real bright spot on offense Saturday came from receiver Joshua Stanford. The redshirt freshman had a breakout game with six catches for 171 yards. He's shown a great deal of improvement over the season and continues to make tough catches when needed.

Demitri Knowles on the other hand is a puzzling case.

The redshirt sophomore has shown tremendous potential but has struggled at times this season. His kick returns have been terrible—an area where he excelled as a freshman—and he seems reluctant to make tough catches over the middle.

Against BC he blew a wide open catch when it appeared he didn't look for the ball, instead flailing his arms at the last second and knocking the pass in the air for a defender to grab for an interception.

It's easy to blame Thomas for everything—and he's playing really poorly at present—but the supporting cast continues to have its issues.

The defense played as one would expect, though one could argue it was an off day. Subtracting the pick six, the Hokie defense gave up 27 points and got run all over by the Eagles' outstanding senior tailback Andre Williams.

The Hokies will be glad to see Andre Williams graduate. I sure as Hell will.

Williams finished with 33 carries for 166 yards and two touchdowns.

That took all the pressure off quarterback Chase Rettig and allowed him to simply manage the game. Rettig completed 11-of-14 passes for 93 yards and a touchdown.

Virginia Tech (6-3, 3-2 ACC) is now tasked with taking down Coastal Division leader Miami (7-1, 3-1 ACC).

The rival Hurricanes are coming off a tough loss to Florida State, a result made worse by a key injury against the Seminoles.

All-ACC tailback Duke Johnson suffered a broken ankle late in the game and will be lost for the rest of the season. That puts backup Dallas Crawford in the starting role.

Crawford played exceptionally well when Johnson was injured against North Carolina putting together 33 carries for 137 yards and two touchdowns.

Crawford is very good, but not nearly at the level of Johnson.

The injury hurts, but the 'Canes will win or lose based on the play of quarterback Stephen Morris.
 
Morris and Logan Thomas are basically the same person. Both are talented, athletic passers responsible for many great plays and victories. They also both make bonehead plays and ill-advised throws that hurt their teams.

Morris has 12 touchdowns and 10 interceptions on the season. Thomas now has 11 touchdowns and 12 picks.

Which Stephen Morris will show up Saturday? Definitely the one with this awful tattoo.

You get the idea.

These are two strong defenses so whichever team can get better quarterback play stands the best chance to win.

I have absolutely no idea who that will be and expect it to vary from quarter to quarter or even drive to drive.

For the second straight year Miami plays this one at home in prime time. That may well be the advantage that puts them over the top.

No. 14 Miami hosts Virginia Tech at 7 PM Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida. The game will be shown on ESPN.

Back on the Air With The New ACC

Editor's Note: My apologies for the weird font issue in the final section. I hate Blogger with a violent passion and will be moving to a new service as soon as I find one that suits our needs. Also, we just went over 100,000 page views all time despite our recent bout of woeful inactivity. Thanks for stopping by.

By Justin Cates

There's been a significant blackout here on the blog for the month of June. I apologize and will explain in due course. For now though, I'd like to extend a fairly warm welcome to the three new members of the Atlantic Coast Conference: Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame.

Their membership formally kicks into effect today and brings the number of conference members to 14.5 as Notre Dame is only partially in for football because, well, they can I guess.

Despite being driven by the ever-changing landscape of college football, the move really serves to solidify the ACC as the best basketball conference in the nation.

As such, given the current toxic nature of the Virginia Tech basketball program, I don't expect to see the Hokies compete any time soon even though the conference may well be an eight bid league come the big tournament in March.

It will be interesting to see how these programs evolve in the two biggest sports, football and basketball. I'm particularly curious to see how these hoops squads evolve from the physical post play of the Big East to the fast-pace style employed by the bulk of the ACC.

These schools have three of the finest coaches in college hoops so they shouldn't have a problem, still it's a vastly different style. Also, we call fouls.

I'm particularly excited for Syracuse to make only their second ever trip to Cassell Coliseum. It marks the only time since 1978 when the Hokies upset the No. 10 Orange by 17-points likely inducing a number of facial cringes in Jim Boeheim.

Syracuse was the only one of these new schools not to come to Blacksburg during Tech's brief stay in the Big East, likely because they are special.

They will fit in well with the Carolina schools who as all new members will quickly find feel entitled to things which they are not.  

But enough negativity, welcome friends! Try the barbecue and don't get too comfortable.


Erick Green Drafted in NBA's Second Round 

ACC Player of the Year Erick Green was selected by the Utah Jazz last week with the 16th pick of the second round (46th overall). He was promptly traded to the Denver Nuggets for their first round selection Rudy Gobert (27th pick) and cash.

Denver thinks very highly of Green who led the nation in scoring this past season. If he makes the squad, he figures to help a lack of depth in Denver's backcourt. They are led by former North Carolina star Ty Lawson at point guard with veterans Andre Miller and Andre Iguodala the other major guards.

Iguodala has already met with the Detroit Pistons so he may be on his way out. That would leave Denver perilously thin at the guard spots. If Green has a good summer league, it wouldn't surprise me at all to see him suit up in the NBA next season.


Hokie Baseball Coach Pete Hughes Heads to Oklahoma

Virginia Tech is fresh off hosting their first NCAA baseball regional and posting 40-22 record, but they'll have to follow it up with a different head coach.

Pete Hughes decided to take the top job at Oklahoma last week after Sooners' coach Sunny Golloway left for Auburn.

Hughes spent 7 seasons in Blacksburg, rejuvenating a program that had languished at the end of legendary head coach Chuck Hartman's tenure. 

As has become his custom, Tech athletic director Jim Weaver quickly hired Hughes' top assistant, pitching coach Patrick Mason.

Mason has himself led a turnaround during his three seasons in Blacksburg vastly improving Tech's pitching staff. He announced at his introductory press conference that assistant Mike Kunagonis would also be staying with the program as associate head coach.   


     

Logan Thomas and the Hokies Need a New Mindset

Quarterback Logan Thomas was visibly upset in the waning moments of Virginia Tech's disheartening 30-12 loss to the Miami Hurricanes Thursday in Miami Gardens.

The frustration was understandable given how Logan played and the number of blown opportunities by the Tech offense.

For his part, Thomas threw for 199 yards and added 124 yards on the ground that included a lumbering 73-yard touchdown straight up the middle on a busted play. 

The problem for Thomas were his two interceptions and a fumble on the Miami goal line. He also overthrew a wide open fullback on a 4th and 1 play that was an excellent call that simply lacked execution from the QB.

Something has been off for Thomas all season, and I've come to think that a big part of it is he's putting too much pressure on himself. 

Granted, the entire weight of the Hokie offense is on his shoulders because there simply aren't enough playmakers out there, but LT needs to relax a bit.

Logan Thomas can still change games and the season with plays like this one.

It's never fun when you're losing, but it's hard to win when you aren't having some fun.

Smiling doesn't  have to mean you're happy, but it does speak to a better overall mindset.

Sometimes, there's not much you can do but laugh and move on when things aren't going your way. It's a heckuva lot better than sulking and getting down on yourself.

While I generally dislike cross-sport comparisons, a golf contrast works here as does baseball. Great golfers and pitchers have short memories and quickly get over mistakes. You can let a bad performance stick with you and motivate you after the fact, but in the moment there's no room for dwelling on mistakes.

Logan is a very young QB and just as his mechanics and ability to read defenses will likely improve, so too will his maturity and leadership abilities.

It may not be an enormous deal that Thomas declined to talk to the media after the Miami loss, but just think of the uproar had former Tech quarterback Sean Glennon done that a few years ago.

Glennon was one of the most criticized athletes in Hokie history, but time and time again he went out under the glare of the media lights and addressed those critics regardless of his performance.

Logan will learn from this experience both on and off the field.

This is Frank Beamer's most trying season in 20 years so it's no surprise that his players have struggled at times with processing what's happening.

Despite Tech's 4-5 overall record and a 2-3 ACC mark, there are still things to play for.

This group will go down either as a underachieving bunch that completely collapsed during a lost season, or as a team that struggled a great deal but finally made a push toward respectability in the final stretch.

It will be a tall order, but it's possible with better execution and a little more energy.

Who knows, they might even have fun doing it.   

Editor's Note: I'll have some stuff about Notre Dame's big win tomorrow since I assume Brian's media blackout is still in effect. 

Hokies Smashed by Pittsburgh, But Not "Upset"

Virginia Tech was absolutely dominated by the Pittsburgh Panthers Saturday, a team that entered the game with an 0-2 record that included a loss to Youngstown State of the FCS.

To say the No. 13 Hokies were upset would be incorrect. That implies that the result is unexpected or even unprecedented, neither of which is true.

Losing football games to "inferior" opponents has become an unnervingly consistent part of Virginia Tech football. If it isn't Pittsburgh, it's James Madison or East Carolina upending Tech in early season match ups.

True there's still the ACC title to aim for as these are almost always non-conference missteps, but after seeing the Hokies completely outclassed on both sides of the line of scrimmage against Pitt, one can't help but be pessimistic about the odds of Tech beating Florida State or Clemson.

The Hokies currently have no offensive identity whatsoever. The much ballyhooed pistol formation has been a total flop. The running game has been completely nonexistent and each game has been a blur of formations and personnel swaps.

No one has rushed for more than 54 yards in a game—Michael Holmes in the opener against Georgia Tech—and the last two games have seen the leading rusher come in the form of a wide receiver and a quarterback.

That leaves the Hokies currently ranked 96th in the nation in rushing offense. Bad news for a program known for running the football.

Pitt freshman Rushel Shell (4) gashed Tech for 157 rushing yards

This is bad, but even worse given the total regression of quarterback Logan Thomas.

Thomas has struggled this season save for his fourth quarter performance against Georgia Tech. The Pitt game however was his worst game as a starter, missing basic throws, open receivers and getting rattled in a half-empty stadium.

One has to wonder exactly what if any tinkering went on at quarterback "guru" George Whitfield's passing workouts this past spring, but Thomas is just not the same QB from last season.

His throws are consistently missing high not surprisingly his completion percentage has dropped and two of his career-high interceptions against the Panthers were not even close to receivers.

The pressure of being a pre-season Heisman candidate and having to carry the entire offense may well be a factor, but something seems a bit off in his mechanics.

So time for solutions.

Tech needs to simplify on offense. They're trying to do too many things without perfecting any. The pistol formation was supposed to signify the Hokies modernizing the offense, but the philosophy remained the same.

The Frank Beamer recipe for success is simple, control the clock by holding the ball on offense, don't make mistakes on special teams, score what you can and play suffocating defense to eek out victories.

This works well, but Tech can't control the clock. Currently, they rank 111th in time of possession and 70th in turnover margin with a mark of -.33.

The pass protection has been pretty solid so keep throwing, but the Hokies need fewer formations.

Tech almost always looks great in the two-minute offense because it limits the play-calling to the top handful of plays. Expand on that a bit and toss the rest. Just because you have a ton of plays and looks doesn't mean the defense will be confused by your "complicated" offense.

The Hokies need to start Martin Scales at tailback because he is the most decisive runner and most likely to hit the holes in Tech's zone blocking scheme.

The lack of depth on defense was exposed against Pittsburgh after injuries forced a major shuffle in the secondary.

There's not much you can do about that, but I suspect Bud Foster has more than just injuries to deal with after his defense allowed 537 yards of total offense to a Pitt squad that scored more points against the Hokies (35) than they did against Cincinnati and Youngstown State combined (27).

In one more negative sidebar, it occurred to me after Saturday's thumping at Heinz Field that Tech seems to lose an awful lot in professional stadiums.

I did some digging and sure enough, since 2000, the Hokies are just 9-15 in such games.

I don't think there's a particular trend to read into there but it is slightly worrisome for a team poised to face a game Cincinnati club at FedEx Field in two weeks, a place where Tech is 0-2.

The good news getting back to my original point is this is nothing new for the Hokies. They've lost early in the season many times, including the last FedEx game against Boise State and the ensuing disaster of James Madison.

Tech usually rallies and finishes strong, but this season may be the biggest challenge yet.

Notre Dame Joins ACC...Sort Of

In typical Notre Dame fashion, they've finally elected to join the ACC solely for football reasons and managed to not actually join the conference fully for football.

It's classic hypocrisy as only the Irish can muster. They'll play five games a season against ACC competition meaning they can have their cake and eat it too.

They'll get to pick and choose which rivalries they keep and which become rarer than an ND bowl win.

They'll no doubt get special treatment and not have to paint the ACC logo on their historic and soon to be synthetic field. Perhaps the Irish will have gold-embossed portable logos for the weeks they're part of the conference that can be easily removed the rest of the time.

I'm certain there will be equal revenue sharing amongst all 15 (yikes!) ACC programs even though Notre Dame will continue to hold onto their unique television deal with NBC without sharing.

The only thing ACC commissioner John Swofford managed to leverage in favor of the existing conference members is that the Irish won't be eligible for the ACC Championship game.

It's outrageous that the ACC cowed to the demands of a prospective member like this. It shows once again that greedheads like Swofford care nothing about "student-athletes" or the integrity of their organization and only about the almighty dollar.

As Notre Dame's president, the Rev. John I. Jenkins said of the ACC's arrangement, "I don't think there's out there a better situation than the one we have."

Yeah, no crap.

As my dear friend Eric succinctly put it earlier, "I wish we weren't humoring their [Notre Dame] laughably pompous and misguided exceptionalism."

Indeed.

Here come the Irish...to the Atlantic Coast.

It's not all bad of course. People are talking about ACC football in a slightly less sarcastic way than normal which has always been a problem.

It will open ACC football to a Notre Dame fan base that is only intimately familiar with the bottom-dwellers of the league.

Most importantly, Notre Dame will finally have to take on opponents like Virginia Tech, Florida State, Clemson and Miami without being able to dictate the terms of when and where they play.

The Irish are notoriously difficult to schedule because of their insistence to make non-rival opponents play multiple games in South Bend in exchange for only one game on their own campus.

That will now only be an issue for the "non-conference" opponents, whatever that means to the Irish.

Now Notre Dame will dig into their bottomless pockets to pay what is sure to be a hefty exit fee from the Big East. They will join their new conference members on unequal footing, but what else is new?

Oh yeah, welcome to the ACC.

2012 Virginia Tech Football: Death, Taxes and 10-win Seasons

There are few certainties in life (and 10-win seasons aren't really one of them) but Virginia Tech football's winning tradition has become about as steady as it gets.

Gush about Clemson and Florida State all you want, but the road to the ACC Championship still runs through Blacksburg. 

Even during Clemson's resurgence last season, they still had to beat the Hokies twice to claim the title. Expect more of the same this time around. 

Folks will point to Clemson as the biggest game of the season, but it still starts with the battle of the Tech's Sept. 3 in Lane Stadium.

As previously mentioned in this space, the winner of the Georgia Tech-Virginia Tech match-up has represented the coastal division in the ACC championship game every season since the Hokies joined the league in 2004. 

This year will be no different as the Tigers and Seminoles battle for the top spot in the Atlantic division.

Questions surround the Tech offense as they have to replace most of the offensive line, the wide receivers and a first-round draft pick in the form of running back David Wilson.

Michael Holmes will lead Tech's rushing attack this season.

Fortunately, tailback is never a position of any real concern at Virginia Tech. Running backs coach Shane Beamer will turn to redshirt freshman Michael Holmes who is the clear leader of a talented, but unproven group of backs.

Holmes may not be as flashy as David Wilson (who is?) but it appears he will be a steady presence this season with enough sizzle to break off some big runs. 

Redshirt senior Martin Scales is a converted fullback who at 5'11", 222 pounds is a bruiser who could see plenty of goal line carries.

Also keep an eye out for true freshman J.C. Coleman. He has plenty of big play ability and enrolled early at Tech in January to play spring ball.

Despite losing two of Tech's most prolific receivers—Danny Coale and Jarrett Boykin—The Hokies have a potentially explosive group of wideouts led by Marcus Davis and the return of Dyrell Roberts. 

Marcus Davis pulls away from North Carolina defenders.

The 6'4", 232-pound Davis is a physical freak who gained over 500 yards receiving last season in an offense dominated by Coale and Boykin, and still hasn't truly shown people what he can do. 

Roberts is a redshirt senior after being granted a medical hardship waiver and he's joined by fellow senior D.J. Coles who also was just shy of 500 yards receiving last season. The group gives Tech great size and speed as well as a veteran presence for Logan Thomas after losing some crucial veteran targets.

The offensive line worries are being overblown by a national media that has conveniently glossed over the fact that the majority of the "new" starters have seen significant snaps filling in during past injuries.  

This line will be no worse than any recent group, and has the potential to be quite good by the time the stretch run comes around. 

Defensively, Tech has loads of talent and as I say every season, just trust Bud Foster to whip everyone into shape. 

Kyle Fuller is the most recent in a long line great Hokie cornerbacks.

All-ACC cornerback Kyle Fuller is a serious playmaker who leads a defense filled with them. 

That doesn't mean there aren't changes as several players shuffled positions. 

Detrick Bonner was pressed into starting duty last season at cornerback and whip linebacker. This season he makes a move to free safety while safety Antone Exum moves over to cornerback. 

The defensive line looks stout and defensive end James Gayle is a stud. He totaled 12.5 tackles for loss and 7 sacks a year ago and will look to improve upon those numbers. Tech hasn't had very impressive individual sack numbers in recent years, but Gayle may just be the guy to change that.

Special teams has been a problem in recent years much to the dismay of special teams guru and head coach Frank Beamer. The rest of the country caught up to the Hokies about a decade ago, and Tech hasn't really figured a way to get back on top. 

Beamer has also shifted from blocking kicks to primarily setting up returns, which to be fair has yielded fairly solid return numbers but the Hokies certainly miss the tectonic momentum shift caused by blocked field goals and punts.

As for Tech's kicking game, Cody Journell returns as the placekicker after meeting the terms of his reinstatement following an embarrassing Sugar Bowl suspension. Freshman A.J. Hughes appears likely to be the punter and sophomore Michael Branthover should handle the kickoff duties.

CONCLUSION

All in all, this is yet another talented team with a genuine superstar at quarterback and one of the more talented defenses in recent years. That's a potent mix that could yield fantastic results.

Most talking heads are touting Florida State as the likely ACC champion. FSU is certainly loaded with talent, but until they finally live up to expectations under Jimbo Fisher and prove it on the field, I'm not sure you can crown them anything but paper champions.

The rest of the conference has clearly closed the gap with the Hokies (see Clemson games). Georgia Tech may be a home game, but it's a tough test to start the season. Then there's the brutal stretch of games at Clemson, at Miami and Florida State at home. Strangely, all of those teams have a BYE in the weeks prior to facing the Hokies as do non-conference foes Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

It's a big challenge coming up for the Hokies, but with a little luck and some improved play in big games, it wouldn't surprise me at all to see the Hokies once again win the ACC and play in another BCS game. Hopefully this season the results are slightly better.

On a side note, Danny Coale still caught that touchdown against Michigan. 

General Musings About Football Season 2012

It's been painfully quiet around here lately. I return with a Hokie-centric look at the coming football season, pro and college.

First, Virginia Tech continues an unofficial quest to become the Oregon of the east coast when it comes to uniforms.

Tech will continue the now common practice of using multiple helmets throughout the season including this fairly tasteful camouflage helmet for Military Appreciation Day Saturday, September 22 against Bowling Green.

Then there are these controversial helmets for the White Out game Saturday, September 8 against Austin Peay.

Now they're only controversial insofar as they're ugly, but for a one-off they're tolerable. Gobbler tracks aren't remotely approaching the most offensive thing I've seen on football uniforms. 

Of course, most folks have been less forgiving of the new design, including starting quarterback Logan Thomas who chimed in on Twitter:

Indeed.

As for the action under the helmets, Virginia Tech is in Frank Beamer's favorite position. 

The Hokies are ranked fairly low, return a talented albeit somewhat unproven roster, and no one is really talking about them. Perfect.

On to the NFL (which sucks), and the myriad of Hokies on NFL rosters. That may thin out a bit as the teams make cuts, but I was surprised at the sheer numbers.

Some are no surprise as this season will mark the debuts of two of Tech's most exciting and successful running backs, second-year man Ryan Williams of the Arizona Cardinals and back-flipping rookie David Wilson of the Super Bowl Champion Giants.

Williams missed all of his rookie campaign with a significant knee injury, but appears to be back at full strength going into the preseason and the coaches in Arizona love him.

Praise has been equally high for Wilson in New York, where players and coaches alike have marveled at his maturity and athleticism. He demonstrated the latter in his first preseason game, nearly returning a kick-off for a touchdown.

The trick for the rabbit-catching phenom is to learn the playbook and continue to bulk up, while Williams needs to get some game contact to regain his confidence. 

Both appear poised to make an impact as complimentary backs—especially Williams because Beanie Wells is mediocre on a good day.

I guess the other main story no one has talked about regarding "the shield" is the fact that negotiations with game officials are still not settled and the NFL may use back-up referees into the regular season. 

Fans complain regardless, but given the number of competent, high-level football referees in this country, I think it's safe to say we'll see a drop-off in quality officiating the first few weeks.

Obviously, we'll have more detailed thoughts as the rapidly-approaching season nears. 

Virginia Tech kicks off Labor Day night when they host Georgia Tech at 8 PM on ESPN.

The winner of that match-up has represented the Coastal division in the ACC Championship game every season since the Hokies joined the conference in 2004.

Notre Dame will begin their season whenever they find a quarterback, or September 1 when they take on Navy in Ireland, whichever comes first.

Also, that game appears to start at 9 AM here on the east coast. Those with big tailgating plans may want to save the bratwurst until at least halftime. 

Virginia Tech All But Locks Up ACC Coastal Division, Beats Georgia Tech 37-26

For the sixth consecutive season, the ACC Coastal Division crown was on the line when the conference's two Tech's met Thursday night in Atlanta.

Hokie quarterback Logan Thomas played brilliantly, completing 7 of 13 passes for 209 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing 18 times for 70 yards and two more touchdowns.

Two of those completions went to senior Danny Coale who turned them into 97 yards including a career-high 63-yard touchdown just prior to halftime.

Running back David Wilson was up to his usual tricks, carrying 23 times for a career-high 175 yards.

I simply cannot get over how dominant the Tech backfield is this season. Thomas runs over defenders with a power rarely seen in QBs and Wilson routinely demonstrates otherworldly balance, speed and power.

Wilson has been held under 100 yards rushing just once this season, and has now reeled off 7 consecutive 100+ yard games, the most by any player under Frank Beamer.

As for the Hokie defense, currently a veritable mash unit, they continue to impress even against the troublesome nonsense that is the triple option.

Despite shuffling guys along the defensive line, giving Jack Tyler his second career start at mike linebacker and being without several starters, the Hokie defense held Georgia Tech to 243 yards rushing. In three previous games against the Hokies, the Yellow Jackets averaged 311 rushing yards per game.

“We’ve got the best defensive coaching staff in the nation,” Tyler said. “They’re so good. We could plug in anybody and they’d be all right. They’re [the staff] just so good. They came up with a great scheme this week. Obviously, we’ve got people out of position, but they’re [the staff] just so good at what they do that it doesn’t matter.”

Man crushes on the defensive coaches aside (don't worry Jack I have one too) on the season, the Hokies' defense has now stopped the opponent for no gain or a loss on 275 of 590 plays (46.6 percent).

With the win Virginia Tech improves to 9-1 overall and 5-1 in ACC play while Georgia Tech falls to 7-3 overall and 4-3 in the ACC.

The Hokies all but wrapped up the Coastal division crown by eliminating the Yellow Jackets from contention. Barring a total collapse and losses in the final two regular season games against North Carolina and Virginia, the Hokies will find themselves defending last years ACC title in Charlotte with a likely rematch with Clemson (assuming they don't crap out which usually happens)

Tigers Tame Hokies 23-3

Saturday night in Blacksburg was cold, wet and depressing unless you happened to be a Clemson Tiger.

Clemson continued to prove they're the team to beat in the ACC's Atlantic Division and the Hokies showed they have work left to do before they can win another ACC championship.

Tech's offense laid an absolute egg under the bright lights of the national spotlight. The Hokies scored just three points and blew countless opportunities in Clemson territory, including a goal line try that turned into the made field goal after a false start penalty.

Logan Thomas finally looked like a first-year starter completing 15 of 27 passes for just 125 yards and an interception.

David Wilson once again paced the Tech offense. Despite an early fumble, finished with 20 carries for 123 yards. Among the carries was Tech's only highlight of the evening (seen below).



While Tech's offense was stagnant, the special teams unit was an unmitigated disaster. Scott Demler who has struggled with punting all season had a season high 8 punts Saturday for a season low 29.4 yards per kick.

Conditions were admittedly poor, but that doesn't excuse 11 yard punts.

Tech now looks to rebound next Saturday at home against the Miami Hurricanes at 3:30 on ESPN/ABC.

Making matters worse for the 4-1 Hokies is the loss of starting defensive tackle Antoine Hopkins for the rest of the season to a torn ACL.

In August Tech lost starting DT Kwamaine Battle to the same injury for the second straight season.

The only positive I could find from this past weekend was this photo taken of the stadium.