Week 6 - Hey You!

To start, you should know that I probably only watched about 10 minutes of the game against NCST because of a wedding and reception. I listened to another 20 min or so on the radio. But in that time I somehow caught the Tyrod 70 yard run, Hosley’s first interception, the Boykin TD, Hosley’s 3rd interception, and the Evans touchdown to seal the deal. So from what I could tell, the Hokies were awesome! They were pressuring Russell Wilson, forcing turnovers, playing well in the secondary, running all over the NCST defense, and making plays when they needed. When I turned on the little lady's phone at the end of the wedding and we were already down 0-17, I thought we were doomed. Virginia Tech doesn’t come back. But then for the parts of the game I listened to and watching, I just didn’t understand. I mean we were crushing them! Apparently I singlehandedly swung momentum back to our side. And you can’t tell me otherwise because you weren’t there! Well except Theresa, Rob and Sheri…


But enough about how great of a fan I am… Let’s talk about the Hokies. I’ve been waiting for a replay of the game on Comcast Sports Net all week so that I could make points about why we went down early and stormed back. You know, so I could have something backing up what I put down here, but I haven’t seen it yet. So keeping with the theme so far, I’m going to make wild accusations and predictions for the whole blog this week! Why? Because once you start going down this path it’s hard to come back. Just ask CNN.


So I read on Kyle Tucker’s blog that one of the biggest motivating factors in Darren Evans amazing comeback is that he read all sorts of posts online from experts and even VT fans about him about things like Williams and Wilson would be better without him, he’ll be fat and slow after the long time off, that his dreads aren’t as cool as Williams’, and that he isn't athletic enough to do 10 backflips or catch a wild rabbit like Wilson. This is pretty fascinating to me, but it really shouldn’t be since I’d probably do the same. So this has inspired me to create a new section of my blog that may end up just running one week before I realize it’s dumb or I simply forget. It’s called “Hey _____, read my blog so you can get angry and motivated and come back like Darren Evans (and maybe tell your friends about my blog too).” Pretty catchy right? We can shorten it to H_RMBSYCGAAMACBLDE(AMTYFAMBT), if you’d like. And since this is the inaugural H_RMBSYCGAAMACBLDE(AMTYFAMBT), I’ll throw in a couple extra!







Hey _____, read my blog so you can get angry and motivated and come back like Darren Evans (and maybe tell your friends about my blog too):


Hey Jeron Gouveia-Winslow, I’ve typed your name so many times about how bad you are in pass coverage that I don’t have to look up how to spell it anymore! I did like your effort against BC... Let’s do that more often!


Hey Bryan Stinespring, what took you so long to figure out how to pass in the red zone? You can’t wait until reporters talk you into changing your play calling all the time!


Hey Frank Beamer, we’ve gotten down 17-0, 10-0, and 17-0 at the beginning of three games so far! That’s coaching! Motivate your players and let’s try starting out a little stronger next time.

Hey Jeron Hosley, we are 116th in the nation in punt returns average at 2.5 per return! We only 15 yards total, and 11 of them came from Danny Coale’s only return! Maybe quit focusing on defense with your most interceptions in the country AND most pass deflections and try and return a few punts. I’m kidding! I’m very impressed with Hosley so far this year, but 5 returns for 4 yards isn’t cutting it! Dyrell Roberts, you just missed the list for your kickoff returns… Where’s your #4 in the nation return average?!?


Hey Antone Exum, maybe turn your head and look up for the ball when it’s coming so you don’t get flagged for so many pass interferences. Kidding again. I heard the calls were questionable at best, but it couldn’t hurt right?


Now that I’ve been thoroughly mean and motivating, I’ll try and focus on some positives. I think our defensive line is continuing to improve. I may be wrong considering the parts of the game I missed, but what I saw and heard was encouraging. The starting 4 have been very good. Also, Hosley moly!! Three interceptions and four pass deflections? Leading both categories in the country (and he missed a game!)? Our secondary is just plain nasty. Speaking of nasty, Bruce Taylor is becoming a beast! Since those early hits out of bounds, he’s been solid. He already has 9.5 tackles for a loss, which is 6th in the country.


On offense, Tyrod continues to play great and keep us in games when we need him too as well as bring us back like on that 70 yard run (one of the most exciting radio calls I’ve ever heard, seemed like he was running all over the field for like 20 seconds!). But now he’s getting some help from the running backs. Evans has been on fire these last few games, and he looked really good against NCST. It was his best game since Maryland of 2008. Also, I’m still impressed with Jarrett “Sausage Fingers” Boykin’s playmaking ability. He’s 7th in the nation at 23.3 yards per reception and already has 4 TDs. And Andre Smith really made some plays against NCST. Been a while since we had a relevant TE (poor Boone had to block all last season). And finally, the play where they motioned Andrew Lanier, our LT, out wide then moved up a receiver to effectively be a lineman, which left Andre Smith as an eligible receiver even though he was in the LT position, that was a very creative and inspired play call. It was such a good play that it made me write a run-on sentence to describe it. So props for that one Stiney.


And the last positive is our schedule the next three weeks. Don’t get me wrong, there are no sure things any more after the JMU debacle. But the schedule is a bit forgiving for now. We have 3 games at home against Central Michigan, Duke, and Wake Forest. Central Michigan is good, and they like to spread the field and throw the ball around (like a poor man’s NCST, Boise St, ECU, ect…). So we’ve seen this before. They lost 11 starters from last season including their all-MAC QB Dan LaFevour. I think they even lost their coach. I expect the Hokies to play them like they did ECU in the 2nd half. So expect a lot of 30 formation and nickel on defense (meaning a lot of Antone Exum and not as much GW). If the Hokies stay focused to start the game, they should cruise in this one. They also should be able to run against CMU.


Prediction: 31-13 Hokies. Darren Evans and David Wilson will probably have a big game. Also, there’s a good chance of another 2 or 3 interception day for our defense.