Hokies Week 9 Blog - UNC's Spooky Defense

Before we get started, Happy Halloween!!! Carve up a pumpkin and get your costumes ready, it’s the Halloween Hokies Blog!


No reference needed, I'm that good.

If you need a last minute college football costume idea, I’m here for you. Pat Forde also did this, but I promise I was giving these ideas out before his article hit ESPN. The only overlap was an SEC official and the Tebow one (but mine’s a little more offensive). So if you haven’t found a costume yet here’s what I suggest. My favorite is Lou Holtz. Dress up in ND gear, big, thick glasses, say the most ridiculous semi-related-to-football-but-not-at-all sayings like “the key to winning in college football is surrounding yourself with people that love you,” and spit on people all night. “Thhwick or Thweat” just rolls off the tongue and dribbles down the chin. I do like the SEC ref one (ref outfit, Florida shirt underneath, throw flags at people behaving well), but since Forde beat me too it (like I compete with him for readers…), I’ll let him have it. But unlike his Tebow idea (ice pack, bruised up, and halo), I say go all out! The Gator of God, Jesus Tebow! This could get offensive fast, so I’ll leave it up to your imagination and let you do this at your own discretion. But if you want to be a little more PC, you could go with Nun Tebow which my roommate just suggested. The Cody Grimm Reaper, LaGarrette Blount, Joe Paterno, Charlie Weis, and Ralph Friedgen are all fun, easy options as well. Or you could be Cavman. Wear an orange and navy jump suit with a cape and goofy hat, get a saber, but most importantly you need a horse on a stick and put your arm in a sling and tell people all night how football isn’t important to you and that education, wearing suits, and drinking cosmos are. Silly Virginia Tech serfs, let them have their football.


http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?p=4377082

This has been a scary year in college football. And just for in time for Halloween, here are the scariest things so far: the Darren Evan pre-season injury, the Hokies strength of schedule, the chaos that will ensue after the final BCS standings when you have 6 undefeated teams left, the fact that regardless of who goes to the national championship game 95% of the people who watch college football will think it’s the wrong choice, that there are 3 teams in the ACC coastal that could win the Big 10, but the ACC is still regarded as the worst conference, the hype Tebow and McCoy are still getting for the Heisman even though they have been far from outstanding, Dr. Lou, Notre Dame and Ohio State/Penn State could get undeserved at large BCS bids over teams like TCU and Boise State, horrible, horrible officiating especially in the biggest SEC games, the complete mediocrity of even the best teams this year, how bad preseason rankings are and how much weight they carry to this point, teaching your players illegal blocking then mouthing off to the classiest coach in college football who brought it up as a safety issue (I said it!), the same intro songs all season featuring Dave Matthews, the fat Mitch Hedberg looking guy who does the ACC one, and every country music singer, the fact that the Hokies are relying on two teams from North Carolina to upset GT and spring us to the ACC Championship game, Tyrod Taylor has the 4th best passer rating in the country, announcers across the country, and Holly Rowe.

But here’s something I’m not scared of at all: losing to UNC tomorrow night!

The defense is actually pretty scary. They are very talented upfront and at linebacker, and the secondary is pretty good too. They are the best defensive line as a whole the Hokies have faced. They don’t have freaks on the line such as Terrence Cody, Ndemakong Suh, Derrick Morgan, or any of the other outstanding linemen the Hokies O-line has battled, but top to bottom they are stacked. They are all big and fast. And they’re led by outstanding defensive end, Robert Quinn. This kid really gets after the QB. He has 30 tackles, 11 for a loss, which includes 7 sacks. He also has 5 hurries and 3 forced fumbles. The linebackers are just as good with Quan Sturdivant being the anchor of the entire D. He leads the team in tackles with 48, has 8.5 tackles for a loss, 2 forced fumbles and returned one for a TD. He’ll be playing for big time money soon.

This means that UNC is poised to stop the run. I’m not saying they will, but they have the personnel to do it for sure. However, they have been giving up big plays in the passing game all year. In their game against Florida State a week ago, UNC gave up 395 yards in the air to Ponder and couldn’t stop an 18 point comeback that started midway through the 3rd quarter. And so far this season Tyrod has been great! He’s 4th in the country in passer rating at 159.9. You take away the batted ball interception and hail marry against GT and he’s probably 2nd or 3rd. And he’s a QB at VT! So far this season, he has the highest rating a VT QB has had since Jon Strock. Also, our receivers are raw and the UNC secondary will be overmatched. I’m not saying we are going to light up the scoreboard, but we will get our touchdowns!

So let’s take a look at the matchup between UNC’s offense and our defense. If UNC’s defense is scary, their offense is like Casper. Coming into this year everyone was hyping how good their passing attack would be with Yates, Little, and their freshman WR weapon, Highsmith. They also have a great 1-2 punch in the backfield with Draughn and Houston. But here’s the thing, their offensive line sucks! It’s absolutely atrocious. Think back the last few years at the Hokies offensive lines and how bad they were. This one is so much worse! Because of this, their running backs aren’t pounding it on the round game, and Yates simply doesn’t have time to find his open receivers. This has led to 8 interceptions with 7 TDs, and they are giving up 2.5 sacks a game.

Here’s a quick look at how their offense has done against teams that get a BCS bid. This eliminates the routes of the Citadel, East Carolina, and Georgia Southern (which I thought was an energy provider…). The games you are left with are a win over UCONN, and losses to GT, UVA, and FSU. In the UCONN game, UNC scored a whopping 12 points on 268 yards in a game they somehow won (holding penalty in the endzone for the safety for the final score). Against GT they scored 7 points on 154 yards. Against UVA, 3 points with 174 yards. They did have a somewhat respectable game against FSU scoring 27 points with 333 yards. But that’s actually one of the better defensive performances FSU has had all season. That’s an average of 12 points and 232 total yards a game. If you throw in their garbage games, they’re still averaging less than 300 yards a game and are ranked 114th in total offense! There is only one BCS conference team below them. Any guesses? It’s UVA. Go ACC! Moral of the story: they are terrible. And we are the best defense they will face this season.

Just one last note before moving on. I rarely talk about special teams, but I wanted to point out that Dyrell Roberts is #1 in the nation in kick return average with over 40 yards per return. Suck on that C.J. Spiller. On to the Recipe for Success!

Recipe for Success:

1) No turnovers – So far this season we have been good about not giving the ball up, and UNC has been bad at forcing turnovers (and great at giving it away), but turnovers hurt in our last game, and they are the only way UNC has a chance in this game.

2) Limit the penalties – This is something we have been pretty bad at the last few games. They need to play smarter on both sides of the ball and quit getting in a bad position because of a foolish penalty.

3) Make Yates throw on us – Their pass game has been just dreadful this season, so shut down Draughn and Houston early and make them throw it. It’ll lead to turnovers and three-and-outs.

4) Protect Tyrod – UNC has a great front 7, so the offensive line and other blockers really need to step it up and protect our QB. And if they can do this it will lead to…

5) Big plays from Tyrod – They are going to stack the box and in all likelyhood they will shut down Williams to a larger extent than any game leading into this one. Taylor will need to make big plays with his arm and feet in this game to win.

Prediction:

UNC is just bad on offense… Couple that with the fact that this is the only night game in Blacksburg, we destroy people any time of day there, we’ve had an extra week to prepare, we’re out for blood after the GT game, Virgil, Williams, Graves (who was literally chopped down at the ankle against GT), and everyone else has had more time to recover, we’ve always owned Butch Davis, this is the best offense VT has had in years, we own Thursday nights, and Brent Bowden is going to pump up the crowd by playing Enter Sandman then the entire game could play out like the first half against BC. But I’ll give credit to their defense.

Hokies win 27-10. I’m about 90% sure the player of the game will be Tyrod Taylor in this one. It’ll be too hard to come by rush yards. I guess Worilds could get like 4 sacks, but I still like Tyrod.

Hokies Week 8 Blog – Tebow already awarded Heisman?

With the Hokies off this week, I thought I would take the opportunity to go through the players I think deserve the Heisman. Plus I don’t really want to get into how GT outcoached, outplayed, outpayed the refs, and demoralized us.

The Heisman trophy is awarded to “the most outstanding player in collegiate football.” I assume when they originally decided on giving out this award they meant outstanding as in “standing out among others of its kind,” “prominent,” and “superior.” But with the hype so far this season for the same old faces of McCoy, Tebow, and Bradford (not as much anymore with the shoulder injury), maybe they mean outstanding as in “still in existence” or “unresolved.” How about the voters forget the hype of preseason and performances of last year and pick from the players that are setting themselves apart this year! Where is the mention of Dion Lewis, Mark Ingram, the amazing Ryan Williams, Ryan Matthews, or A.J. Green? Or any defenders like Ndemkong Suh, Relondo McClain, Gerald McCoy, Jerry Hughes, Adrian Clayborn, or Tyler Sash? Actually where is the mention of any non-SEC/Big12 QB? When did this become the best QB in college football award? And the way things are going why not just hand it out preseason?

Oh wait. They did? They already handed it out? Don't they know there's 6 weeks to play? Ladies and gentlemen, everyone congratulate the 2009 Heisman winner, Tim "the Second Coming" Tebow! Don't worry that's not blasphemous, because it's his second Heisman. That's what I was going for... They said the same about Archie Griffin I'm pretty sure.


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If I were a voter, I would actually evaluate each player and breakdown why they should be awarded this most prestigious of awards. To do this, I would look at each player from three angles:

1) Is this player replaceable? – To be the most outstanding player you have to be one of a kind. How would his team do without him? For example, I think Colt McCoy is a great QB, but so far this season I think Texas is still undefeated without him. Texas is winning on defense this year and just getting it done on offense. Maybe Sergio Kindle, Sam Acho, and Earl Thomas should get more love from the Heisman voters as they have been just as important as McCoy in Texas’ success so far.
2) Are the stats impressive? – While they can be misleading, stats are still a good way to help gauge a player’s outstandingness. The likes of Colt Brennan and any Texas Tech quarterback in recent history have put up outstanding statistics, but a lot of that is the team’s scheme. Also, do the big games come in garbage games? Some stats are more impressive than others.
3) Would I want this player at the next level? – This question I would weigh less than the other two, but to put it frankly would I want the Tennessee Titans to take this player #1 overall next year? (If you saw the game against the Patriots where the two Titans QBs put up a performance of 2/14 for -7 yards, 3 INTs, and 3 fumbles in a 59-0 blowout, you’d agree they’ll pick at least in the top 3). And you do have to take this with a grain of salt since the NFL values raw and physical talent, but still would you say Troy Smith is more outstanding than Darren McFadden, Steve Slaton, Ray Rice, or Calvin Johnson? Because he won the Heisman by a landslide.

So with these three questions in mind who would I vote for? Heisman voters get three votes, but I need way more than that. But keep in mind, my ballot would only list my top 3. But for your reading pleasure I’ve listed the top 10 most outstanding players in the country.

1) Jimmy Clausen (Notre Dame) – I really hate to say anything good about Notre Dame, but Clausen meets all my criteria. He is absolutely irreplaceable. ND probably wouldn’t even make a bowl game without him, and they could win 10 games and go to a BCS game this year. He is statistically the best QB I’m considering with 1804 yards, 65% completion, 14 TD, and only 2 INT with a QB rating of 166.4. And I think he could play well at the next level. Plus, he’s doing this against decent teams.

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2) Mark Ingram (Alabama) – With McElroy being relatively quiet in Alabama’s big games, Mark Ingram has carried the load. In games against VT and SEC opponents, Ingram has rushed for more than 140 yards and at least 1 TD in every game except the win over Arkansas. He was held in check that game but still found the end zone twice. He is currently 3rd in rush yards with 906, is averaging 6.7 yards per carry and has 8 TDs. While the defense for the Tide is carrying the team, without Ingram they could be a two loss team.
3) Ndamukong Suh (Nebraska) – There are a couple reasons I’m putting Suh here: I don’t like how the Heisman is never a defensive player, Suh is a one man wrecking ball, and I don’t want Tebow in my top 3. Nebraska isn’t nearly the defense it is without Suh. He stops the run up the middle (36 tackles, 7.5 for a loss), gets after the QB (3 sacks, 5 hurries), and bats the ball down (7 pass deflections and 1 INT). And all from the nose tackle! Bottom line, there isn’t a single other player like Suh, he is truly one of a kind.
4) Tim Tebow (Florida) – Tebow is a really good college football player and will probably win the Heisman if Florida goes undefeated. Like Suh he is one of a kind. Without Percy Harvin and Louis Murphy, the offense is solely on Tebow. And so far he has produced. By produced I mean squeaked by Tennessee, Arkansas, and LSU. Since when has just getting the job done been so outstanding? But, he has completed 65.6% of his passes, has 8 passing TDs, only 2 INTs, and a QB rating of 164.6. He also has 63 yards per game rushing with 5 TD. But I think if Florida goes undefeated, it will be because of their #1 defense in the country. Slow dual threat QBs don’t typically do well at the next level either. Just ask the Hefty Lefty Jared Lorenzen.

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5) Ryan Williams (Virginia Tech) – When Darren Evans went down, everyone thought that VT’s running game was in trouble. Not me! I knew Ryan Williams would be a stud. Through 7 games, Williams has 999 total yards and is averaging 6 yards per carry. He also has 11 TDs and has opened up the passing game for Tyrod Taylor, something Evans couldn’t do last year.
6) Ryan Matthews (Fresno St) – With 974 rushing yards, Ryan Matthews is leading the country, and he hasn’t been held below 100 yards yet. Take him out of the offense and Fresno State isn’t competing with the likes of Boise State, Wisconsisn, and Cincinnati. Matthews is averaging a ridiculous 7.4 yards per carry, and ran for 234 yards and 3 TD with an average of 12.3 per rush against the same Boise State team that held LeGarrette Blount to -5 yards.
7) Tony Pike (Cincinnati) – Cincinnati has come out firing, and is surprisingly undefeated. Tony Pike has carried his team on his back with victories over Rutgers, Oregon State, Fresno State, and South Florida. Pike has completed 64.3% of his passes for 1633 yards, 15 TDs, and only 3 INT. He has a passer rating of 155.1, but his value to his team could be revealed in the next few games if his wrist doesn’t heal in a hurry.
8) Case Keenum (Houston) – Keenum is leading the country in yards (2462) and TDs (19) by a decent margin. He is also leading Houston to a great season with wins over Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, and Mississippi State. Even in Houston’s lone loss to UTEP, Keenum threw for 536 yards and 5 TD. He’s likely to throw for over 5000 yards and 40 TDs again this season, but the competition just isn’t there.
9) Dion Lewis (Pitt) – Freshman running back Dion Lewis has already racked up 918 yards this season (2nd in the country). He also has 10 TDs and has carried Pitt to a 6-1 start. The running could get a little tougher with USF, WVU, and Cincinnati still to come.
10) Jacory Harris (Miami) – Jacory Harris has led Miami to the Top 10 for the first time in a long time. Without him, Miami is probably 2-4. The reason he isn’t higher than 10 is that his stats aren’t overly flashy: 1518 yards, 11 TD, 7 INTs, with a rating of 157.3. But with the remaining schedule for Miami, Harris has the best chance to put up good numbers and climb up the Heisman rankings.

Runners up: Tyler Sash or Adrian Clayborn (Iowa, DB or DE), A.J. Green (Georgia, WR), Toby Gerhart (Stanford, RB), Ryan Mallet (Arkansas, QB), Jerry Hughes (TCU, DL). No, Colt McCoy isn’t in my top 15…

Hokies Week 7 Blog - Option Offense, Optional Defense

To begin, last week was the most complete game I have seen VT play in years. The Hokies handed it to the Boston College (finally) in every facet of the game. It was a beautiful thing to watch once I woke up, I still had sleep my eyes for a noon kickoff. How are you supposed to get a reasonable tailgate in before noon?!?! Anyway, I won’t go too much into the game since it was so one-sided but here are a few highlights: We put up 441 yards on a decent defense (a better defense than we’ll see this week, oh snap!). BC had a total of 3 yards in the first half. 3!!! That’s 5 inches per play. Ryan Williams (182 yards, 1 TD) and Tyrod Taylor (7/10, 126 yards, 2 TD) both had great days and were rewarded with an early exit in the 3rd quarter once we were up by three dozen points. Ju Ju Clayton competed his first career pass, an 80 yard bomb to Marcus Davis (who caught his first career pass, an 80 yard bomb from Ju Ju Clayton). By the way, that gives Clayton a QB rating of 220.4 for his college career. David Wilson found the endzone for the first time since the Marshall explosion. We got 3 takeaways with Carmichael grabbing an INT and going 22 yards for a TD. We held their starting QB, Old Man Shinskie to 1/12 for 4 yards with 2 INTs. (Also I missed in the drinking game any baseball reference towards Shinskie by the announcers such as “high heat,” thanks to Andy for that one). So yes, a complete game! After all these years! It feels so good, that I don’t want to look forward to next week.

And why wouldn’t I want to do that? Because last game was so good, let’s just enjoy it for a little while. Because either way, me or the Fabulous and Wonderful Little Lady (who graciously proof reads these, and I left a few editorial notes in for this one) will be angry after the game is over. And because Georgia Tech runs the triple option which is a slightly gimmicky offense, but it is very effective. It’s actually a pretty old offense, but the teams that ran it decades before didn’t have QBs as good as Nesbitt or WRs as good as Demaryius “Bay-Bay” Thomas. Seriously, back to back y-i in your name? Nice… The problem is there isn’t too much you can do to prepare for it. You just need all your defenders to play their role and cover their man. And because of this, whoever ends up with the ball for GT will have basically a 1 on 1 battle with a defender to make a big play. That is if Paul Johnson’s guys up front for GT can effectively chop block the line without it being called for a penalty. Expect GT to hand out chop blocks left and right, but if you can’t get one, you can buy one online at ramblinwreckstore.com “where we celebrate cheating, potentially career ending blocking”:


http://images.footballfanatics.com/productImages/_361000/FF_361565_l.jpg

(LL editorial note 1: We learned our cheating ways from UGA. If you don’t cheat a little against them then they’ll definitely win. Also at least we don’t purposefully step on people like a QB did at lesser technical school…)

With this system, you can see how GT is averaging 277 rush yards a game (4th in the nation). But unlike last season, GT has been able to make some big passes off play action. Thomas already has 620 yards and 4 TDs, and that’s only off 26 receptions. This has made GT’s offense that much more potent this season. In their last two games, GT has scored 42 and 49 points against Mississippi State and Florida State. And in those two games they have averaged around 500 yards. They didn’t even have to punt against FSU! It doesn’t matter how good of a defense they are going against, they are going to make a few big plays and score TDs. They have too many skill players not too. Dwyer, Nesbitt, Thomas, Allen, and even Hill who has been mostly quiet this season all have the ability to take the ball 30+ yards and score. And they’re going up against a defense that so far has been inconsistent and has given up big plays on the ground and through the air.

So if they are going to score a lot against us what can we do? Well we’ll just have to score more! Remember when I said GT has put up around 500 yards per game the last 2 games against MSU and FSU? Well MSU and FSU have put up an average of 515 yards against GT! They didn’t stop the run or pass in either game with both MSU and FSU going for more than 200 yards in each category. Aside from UNC and a Periloux-less Jacksonville State, they haven’t stopped anything. Well, Derrick Morgan has stopped to take a breather quite a bit. And everyone is stopping UNC these days. The secondary was supposed to be the strength of the defense this season with Butler and Burnett, but they have given up big plays throughout the year. Derrick “Give me some oxygen” Morgan has gotten a lot of sacks, but hasn’t made the line as strong as expected. The defense is good as creating turnovers, but that’s about it so far. Duke might have a better defense. Duke!

So what does Virginia Tech need to do to win the game? On offense, they just need to keep doing what they’re doing. Since the miracle pass to Coale in the Nebraska game, the Hokies offense has been on fire. They have been running and passing all over the competition, and have shown that even if you can shut out Ryan Williams and the running game for 3 quarters, Tyrod will pass all over you and eventually the running game will wear you out. Another key is that we have to continue to hold onto the ball and not turn it over. We’ve done great so far this year, but you can’t afford turnovers to a team like GT.

On defense, they simply need to play assignment football and wrap up the ball carriers. GT will probably have some big plays. I mean, I can already see Chancellor biting on the run and getting burned deep a few times, but hopefully Carmichael will be in Thomas’ pocket all game. I can also see Chancellor biting on the run, but the wrong one… And I can say the same for our interior LBs Barquell Rivers and Jake Johnson. But there is good news! All three of our “give up the big play” defenders are way better at stopping the run than pass. And that’s the key to beating GT. Plus, even if they do misplay a few downs, you know Cody Grimm “the Reaper” will be there to clean up the mess. He could end up with 20+ tackles this game! And even with Thomas at WR, Nesbitt is still an iffy passer at best. He’s pulling a Reggie Ball and just heaving it towards Thomas hoping he makes the play. And occasionally he’s heaving it to the defense or 20 yards past his receiver. Dude is only completing 50% of his passes and most of those are the screens they run. Actually 3.4% of his passes are going to the defense, compared to 0.9% for Tyrod. (LL editorial note 2: He’s a thousand times better than Ball…I hate that guy.) Miami shut down GT’s offense with their speed. Clemson shut out GT for 3 quarters. It can be done! And I’m not saying we will, but VT has the personnel to do it. Our line is quick and nasty, our linebackers and safeties specialize in stopping the run, and our corners are good tacklers. It just comes down to winning each 1 on 1 battle. And that brings us to the Recipe for Success! Also, I have a sweet recipe for Apple BBQ Pork Tenderloin at the end of this if you’re interested. Because I’ve discovered a new hobby – brining.

Recipe for Success:

1) Keep it up Stiney! – for the 2nd week in a row, my recipe for offense success is to keep doing what it’s doing. If Stiney can dial up another good game plan, GT will be unlikely to stop the run or pass based on how both teams have played the last few games.
2) No Turnovers – We absolutely can not afford to turn the ball over against GT, they are good at taking the ball away and are good at making the team pay for it.
3) Get up early – Miami won because GT got down 2 scores and had to start throwing the ball. While Thomas is a playmaker, GT doesn’t want to throw the ball often.
4) Win your 1 on 1 battle – the key to stopping this team flat out is stopping the man you’re assigned. And if that man has the ball you must take him down because you might not have another line of defense.
5) Cover Thomas deep – Carmichael will have his hands full this weekend, as I think Thomas might be the best receiver we play this year (maybe 2nd to Julio). He is certainly the best in the ACC. And at a triple option GT, weird right? Also, Thomas has 26 of 37 catches for the team, so I wouldn’t worry about them throwing to anyone else.

Final score: 38 - 24 VT. Player of the game: Cody Grimm with 39 tackles, 12 tackles for a loss, 2 FF, and 1 FR. Or maybe I should just go with Ryan Williams again… It has been the safest bet of the year. Nah! Give me the REAPER!

There is no more football talk from here.

Recipe for Apple BBQ Pork Loin:

Get a nice tasty pork loin. It is very important to rinse it and pat it dry if you plan on brining. Then put it in a storage bag.

Brine:
1 cup Apple juice (could also do ½ cranberry and 1 cup water for first 2 ingredients if you prefer)
½ cup water
1 tbsp Worchestershire
1 ½ tbsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp paprika
½ tbsp chili powder
½ tbsp dry mustar
½ tbsp pepper
1 tbsp Old Bay
½ tsp ginger

Heat liquids in a small pot and add all the dry ingredients. Once they are all dissolved and mixed in take the liquid off heat and let it cool (add some ice to speed the process). Be sure the liquid is about room temperature before adding it to a storage bag with your pork loin so it doesn’t start the cooking process. Let the pork loin soak up the deliciousness of this magic concoction for 10-12 hours. Make sure the pork is submerged in the brine, if not add a little water and salt. You should add 1 tbsp of salt per cup of water, so if you just ad a splash of water add a pinch of salt. You can brine for up to 24 hours, but if you leave it in the brine too long the meat will turn to mush. I’d say 18 hours or less to say safe. And this only applies to pork, each animal has different brining times.

Dry Rub:
1 tbsp coarse Salt
1 tbsp pepper
1 tbsp garlic powder
Rinse the brine off the pork loin (you probably don’t want to go straight into cooking it with this mixture as it will be very salty). Mix ingredients or just eyeball them and sprinkle them on and rub into meat.

Apple BBQ Sauce:
2 cups of apple sauce or smashed up apples
1-2 tbsp oil
¼ diced onion
3 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp pepper
2 tbsp brown sugar
½ cup ketchup
¼ cup water
¼ cup honey
¼ cup apricot preserves (or peach, apple, whatever)
¼ cup red wine vinegar
1 tbsp mustard
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp chili sauce (I love Chili Garlic Sauce by Huy Fong)


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Pre-heat oven to 350. Put oil in a pan on med-low heat and add onion. Simmer for 4 min and add garlic and apples (if using applesauce add them with other wet ingredients). Cook for another 2-3 minutes till onions are soft, and add all the remaining ingredients stirring constantly. Simmer for 15 minutes. Put pork loins in lightly greased aluminum foil and poor BBQ sauce over them. I double wrapped them in foil and put them in a big dish to be safe. Cook at 350 for 1 hour. Let sit for 10 min, unwrap, cut, and serve! You could also grill it for the last 10, but I can’t. Regardless it’s so good…


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Not mine, but pictures are fun.

Hokies Week 6 Blog – BC addition

I didn’t do a preview of our game last week, but maybe I should have. Although it would have been completely wrong. To my credit though, I was telling people all week that Duke is better than people think. They have a pretty good defense and a playmaker at QB. That said it’s still Duke! I am still shocked how they were able to shut down the running game 3 quarters, and I’m even more shocked that Tyrod went 17-22 for 327 yards! What a game for the young man. But a win’s a win, and you should be happy with it regardless of your opponent. Just ask Houston and Michigan. You should play better after I hype you up Houston. I’m very disappointed in you.

So what can we expect this week against BC? To be honest, I really don’t know. On paper they’re good, but I really don’t see the talent, and the jury is still out on how good any of the teams they played are. They have 2 noteworthy wins against Wake Forest (in OT) and Florida State. But Wake Forest lost to Baylor, who doesn’t have another convincing win, but beat NCST and Stanford who I think are both decent teams. Wake even put up around 500 yards in their OT loss to BC, but turnovers hurt them throughout. And don’t even get me started on FSU. I think they’re a good team, and this is a good win for BC, but FSU could win out or lose out, and I wouldn’t be surprised either way (except for the beating Florida part). And then BC loses to Clemson? A team, that despite having one of the best playmakers in the country, has no offense. Clemson lost to Maryland! Maryland!

So yeah, who knows what BC brings to Blacksburg? Me, of course!

We will start with their offense. The offense is lead by Uncle Dave Shinskie who after 6 years of minor league baseball decided to go play QB at BC as a 25 year old freshman. He’ll graduate at age 28 and plans to teach and coach elementary school. He is a very atypical college player and has shown a lot of poise so far, and now that he knows the playbook he is playing well and winning games. He only played for a small part of the Clemson game going 1/1 for 2 yards, but in the last two games against Wake and FSU, he has gone 30/50 for 231 yards, 5 TDs, and 1 INT. He is a true pocket passer that won’t make too many plays with his legs, but the line has been sturdy for him so far. This is a good time to point out that the offensive line is the strength of the team. The other weapon BC has at its disposal is sophomore running back Montel Harris. Harris was held in check against Wake averaging 3.0 yards per carry, but bounced back for a career day against FSU running for 179 yards and 2 TDs on 25 carries (7.2 average). With runs of 42 and 48 this season, Harris has big play ability against a team that has given up big plays. And did I mention he’s running behind the strength of this strength of the team, offensive line. This is a good offense, but the Hokies have already faced 3 better offenses against the likes of Alabama, Nebraska, and Miami. You could also make the argument that Duke has a better QB, but we’ll settle with the previous statement. I know Shinskie was out against the Clemson game, but how many total yards do you think BC’s offense got that game? You’ll never guess it, and now I’m going to make you wait till later in the article.

The defense for Boston College has performed pretty well so far this season holding its 3 ACC opponents to 21-25 points each. The loss of last years ACC defensive player of the year, linebacker Mark Herzlich, has certainly hurt the Eagles, but the team has stepped up in his absence. That said, this is not the same defense that was #1 in the country last year with the likes of LB Herzlich, DT Raji, DT Brace, and LB Toal all missing from the lineup. The secondary might be the strength of the team, but they have given up 300+ pass yards in the last two games. Also, Clemson and Wake ran for 140+ yards. I said VT has faced 3 better offenses than BC, they’ve probably faced 3 better defenses as well.

Small aside. Good news on Herzlich, he announced on some radio show that he is 99.9% free of cancer and has been able to start hanging out with the team on the sidelines. Also, VT is planning on presenting Herzlich with a check for $9,400 (he’s #94) to help with the treatment costs at halftime of the game. I think that’s pretty neat. Oh and that’s twice what Clemson did, so hopefully we beat them twice as bad?

So like I was saying earlier, I am shocked by the Hokies performance against Duke last week for good and bad reasons. We’ll start with the good: our offense can throw the ball! Wait, what? Yep, Tyrod was putting the ball right where it needed to be and the receivers time after time went up and made big plays. And Ryan Williams got shut out through 3 quarters? I don’t understand… That’s a lie, I do. Duke put 8 in the box which explains both. But still! This is very un-Stinespring! To recognize what an opposing defense is doing, and then change up the game plan to take advantage. What!?!? Nothing about this season makes sense. And I can’t believe I’m going to say it. No I shouldn’t jinx it… But I want to give credit where it’s due. Hmm. I’m doing it. Since the Nebraska game, Stinespring has done a great job at play calling. I can’t believe I said it… Where was I? Right, our offense. Our offense has looked pretty solid the last 2 weeks, and we have shown the ability to run and pass. This is something we haven’t shown, umm, since I decided to go to VT in 2003. And since it’s only been the last 2 games, I should probably reel my hope and amazement back in. I’ve had my hopes crushed before (I’m looking at you Marcus), but right now things look good. I mean Tyrod threw for 327 yards! And Ryan Williams is the best RB we’ve had since Kevin Jones!

But now the bad… The defense continues to give up big plays (to Duke!). And now they are giving up long sustained drives (to Duke!). I am still completely impressed with how the defense (and especially the line) played against Miami. And I’m am a huge fan of Cody Grim “the Reaper” as he continues to make play after play. And the defense continues to lock down in the red zone (after the Alabama game we have only given up 2 TDs in the redzone). But 359 yards through the air to Duke! Unnecessary and costly penalties to extend scoring drives to Duke! Overall poor performance in the secondary to Duke! Also we have shown the inability to stop the run against Alabama and Nebraska. I’m not a fan of the inconsistency shown so far by the defense as a whole. So here’s my Recipe for Success!

Recipe for Succes:

1. Keep it up Stiney – I didn’t just say that… If we can continue to draw up good offensive game plans, we should have no problem scoring 30 on BC. And against BC, I think that means hand the ball off to our trio of backs as BC is soft up front, then pass over the top when they stack the box.
2. Stop Montel – The show and RB. Harris behind their O-line is probably BC’s biggest weapon. Make Shinskie throw on our secondary. Regardless of age he is still a freshman that hasn’t seen a defense as good as ours.
3. Pressure Shinskie – He hasn’t been pressured yet, but I think it’s about time. As good as their line is, they haven’t faced the likes of Jason Worilds (or Bud Foster).
4. Study the Clemson tape – I know it’s a different QB, but do whatever Clemson did to hold BC to 54 yards! See there’s the stat as promised. Reflect on that for a second. 54 yards throughout a whole game. Do you realize that’s less than a 1 yard per minute in the game?
5. No more big plays – Probably the most important factor for VT to win this game. We can not give up big plays. If we don’t, expect a score like we had against Miami, if we do, expect more of a score like Duke (hopefully with us being the winning team).
6. Get a turnover – I thought we lived on forcing turnovers. We are currently 92nd in the country averaging 1.4 takeaways a game. WTF Beamer Ball?

Prediction:

I really don’t know which way to go on this. The homer in me wants to look at the matchup and say our offense is better than their defense, and our defense is better than our offense, we should win big. But the pessimist in me says, I don’t know what to expect form our offense or defense and this is BC, and they always find a way to beat us or make a hard game out of it at least.

27-17 VT. 50% chance of showers, 95% chance of Ryan Williams getting 150 yards and 2 TDs and being the player of the game.


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And I must say I’m thrilled that Flutie quit working for ESPN and won’t be covering our game this year. I’m still pretty sure the ESPN2 announcing will enrage me with its Boston bias. I mean how many BC/VT games did Flutie cover? And how many times did they interview and show Matt Ryan? They gushed over him more last year than anyone on the field, actually more than all the players from both teams combined. If you’re playing at home and into this sort of thing, drink any time they say Flutie or Ryan. Chug the entire time they show a replay of Ryan’s winning pass or Flutie’s hail mary. We could make a game out of this… Drink any time they say how big Boykin’s hands are, say how “mature” Shinskie is, any time they praise Herzlich and mention cancer, any time they mention Tyrod’s scrambling ability, any time they say “Beamer Ball,” show the lunch pail dude in the stands, mention how well Frank Spaziani has done in his first year, mention how the Atlantic Division is up in the air, and how the ACC needs a national champion contender, and finish your beer if Herzlich cries at halftime. Yes the announcers are this predictable, and no you won’t be sober.

Hokies Week 5 Blog - Top 25

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I’ve decided that instead of writing a pregame for Duke I would share my view of the top 25 instead. It has been a long time dream of mine to be a voter in the AP poll. By long time, I mean since I started this blog, but still. And I’m also doing this because I do not like how group think does these polls currently. I’ve probably spent more time on this one meaningless poll than some people will spend on all of their polls for the whole season. And I especially hate how they have now made the coaches poll anonymous. That is the opposite of how these should work, you should be completely accountable and be able to defend why you put Ole Miss #4 when they haven’t shown you anything at all. Without further ado:

1. Alabama (4-0) – Of the unanimous top 3 everyone has, I think Alabama has done more to show why they belong. Completely controlling the game against our poor Hokies and a good Arkansas team show that the offense and especially the defense are first class. And McElroy is looking like a better QB than John Parker Wilson ever was.
2. Texas (4-0) – Was pretty much a coin flip with Florida, but they’ve beaten a good Texas Tech at home and still have a healthy Heisman hopeful. Next 4 games are Colorado, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Oklahoma St. Finally we’ll get some of these teams tested!
3. Florida (4-0) – I think Tennessee and Kentucky might be two of the worst teams in the SEC this year, but they are still SEC teams. And even if Florida struggled a bit moving the ball against Tennessee’s D, Florida hasn’t come close to getting a scare. But how will they respond with Tebow being out with a brain.
4. Virginia Tech (3-1) – Yes I’m a homer, but the Hokies have knocked off #9 Miami, #19 Nebraska, and led 3 quarters against Alabama. At this point they are the best of the 1 loss teams based on performance, and there is no arguing it.
5. Houston (3-0) – Back to back wins against good Big 12 (South even!) opponents. Not even Oklahoma and Texas can say that. Yet at least… They have been the most impressive of the BCS busters through 4 weeks.
6. Cincinnati (4-0) – Tony Pike has looked solid at QB and has led the Bearcats to a 4-0 start. They have good wins at Oregon State and against Fresno State at home.
7. Boise State (4-0) – Uggghhh. I hate to rank them so high, but they handed it to a weird, but still good, Oregon team week 1, and beat a decent Fresno State. Will any team be able to beat Boise State the rest of the way? On paper, I’d say no.
8. Iowa (4-0) – After a scare week 1 against Northern Iowa, Iowa has been impressive with wins over Arizona and Penn State in Happy Valley. Their defense and special teams has them ranked as the best team in the Big 10 so far.
9. TCU (3-0) – Wins on the road against two ACC schools. Sure one was UVA, but the Clemson one looks at least somewhat respectable. Still pretty meh on these guys though.
10. Oklahoma State (3-1) – The big win over Georgia will go a long way this year, but the loss to Houston hurt. Who knows what will happen with Big 12 play starting.
11. Oregon (3-1) – A ridiculous week 1 game and melee with Boise State somehow dropped Oregon off everyone’s radar. Three wins over good teams (Purdue, #18 Utah, #6 Cal) and people remember you.
12. LSU (4-0) – I am absolutely not impressed with how they’ve won against teams like Washington, Vanderbilt, and Mississippi State. Washington beating USC helps. But the fact remains, they are undefeated winning 3 games against SEC and Pac-10 teams. They could lose two games in the next three at Georgia, then Florida and Auburn at home though.
13. Miami (2-1) – Miami looked unstoppable on offense against FSU and GT, and shut down the Yellow Jackets run game completely. The U was back! Until it rained and they melted in Blacksburg. Huge matchup this weekend against a likely Bradfordless Oklahoma.
14. South Florida (4-0) – They are 4-0 and have won convincingly (the game at FSU wasn’t as close as the score). Who knows how good Florida State really is, but this win was still huge for the program.
15. Auburn (4-0) – Surprising start for Gene Chizik and the Tigers. The offense has looked great and Auburn already has two good wins against Miss St and WVU. And by good win against Miss St, I mean they won convincingly unlike a LSU team that scraped by. Haven’t played on the road yet though.
16. Georgia (3-1) – Only loss was a low scoring game against Oklahoma State (and here I thought they didn’t play defense in the Big 12), then won two shoot outs over USC and Arkansas (in the defensive SEC)?
17. USC (3-1) – Well they did beat Ohio State in the Horseshoe, but losing to Washington keeps USC rated so low. Do something on offense and I’ll move you back up.
18. BYU (3-1) – Impressive win over Oklahoma week 1, but got killed week 3 by a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde Florida State. How much of their opening win was due to a Heisman injury?
19. California (3-1) – Voters seem to have completely bailed on the Cal band wagon after the 42-3 shellacking Oregon handed to them. But Oregon is a good team, and Cal still beat a good Minnesota team. Cal/USC this weekend, tune in!
20. Georgia Tech (3-1) – Mediocre performance against Jacksonville St and most of the Clemson game, and a very poor showing in the loss to Miami, but GT bounced back well against #22 UNC.
21. Ohio State (3-1) – Tough loss to USC and ugly showing against Navy put Ohio State at 21. But they have rebounded with back to back shut outs against Toledo and Illinois and could climb to the top of the Big 10.
22. Oklahoma (2-1) – Has a better chance to get to the national championship than anyone outside the top 3, but show me something already, seriously… The game against Miami this Sat will go a long way for whoever wins.
23. Nebraska (3-1) – Totally putting Nebraska here to make the Hokies look better. So what? They’ve destroyed who they should have and hung tough in Blacksburg.
24. Penn State (3-1) – Maybe if you went out and played someone non-conference you’d be ready to take on a halfway decent team. Ranked 24 is generous from what Penn State has shown me.
25. Michigan (4-0) – The offense looks solid, but the only impressive win so far is against a Notre Dame team that really hasn’t shown how good it is. Schedule gets a little tougher in two weeks at Iowa, but at Michigan State next could be a trap game.

My apologies to Kansas (4-0), South Carolina (3-1), UCLA (3-0), and Wisconsin (4-0) who probably all 3 should beat out the likes of Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, and Michigan based on performance thus far.