Easy Win Against the 'Hoos

Everyone knew going into this game that the Hokies are on a roll and the Wahoos are struggling this season.  Virginia's new coach, Mike London, shows some promise but can't turn around a program in one season.  Tyrod Taylor and VT's 3 running backs proved to be too much for UVA's weak defense and secondary.  Taylor got the job done with 176 passing yards and 1 TD, while David Wilson and Darren Evans ran for 83 and 70 yards, respectively.  Ryan Williams also scored 2 TDs on the day.  The big difference in this game was rushing and turnovers, as UVA's QB threw an interception and VTs running backs almost ran for 3x as many yards as Virginia's running backs.  This makes 10 straight wins for the Hokies and sets the Hokies up with an ACC Championship game against the Seminoles next week.  Should be an exciting game.  The Seminoles are similar to Miami, with great talent all over the field, especially at running back, but they also have a NFL calibre QB with Christian Ponder to make them extra challenging.  There is no reason VT can't beat Florida State if they play consistently like the past 10 weeks. 

Exciting Weekend for College Football

This past weekend, including Friday, had to be the most exciting weekend of this college football season.  Friday especially, was great.  First, we saw Auburn play Alabama in Tuscaloosa.  Auburn was down by 21 points in the 2nd quarter, but somehow came back to win 28-27 after halftime.  It is amazing how Auburn can be losing so badly at halftime, but come back to win the game in the second half.  That says something great about AU's coaching staff. 

That evening, we saw Oregon play Arizona.  Much like Auburn, Oregon came out slow and looked like Arizona could pull off the upset.  However, Oregon found their stride in the second half as well, and ended up scoring over 50 points on Arizona.  Even though Arizona lost, you have to give some credit to quarterback Nick Foles, who showed great command and leadership of his football team even though they faced defeat late in the game.  He could very well have a future in the NFL. 

The most exciting news from Friday was Boise State's loss against the Nevada Wolfpack.  Some people said that Nevada was a little underrated and Boise a little overrated, and this proved to be true on Friday.  The Broncos should have actually won, but kicker Kyle Brontzman missed two crucial kicks at the end of regulation and in overtime.  This opened the door for Nevada to kick their own game-winning field goal which they made, sending the Broncos' 24 game winning streak and national championship hopes down the drain.  Boise was bound to lose sooner or later, but I really never thought it would be against Nevada.  I still think Nevada is overrated, but Boise happened to have an inconsistent night and gave Nevada the win. 

Comparison of Running Quarterbacks

What team wouldn't want a running quarterback?  When you think of a college that produces and recruits running QBs, Virginia Tech comes to mind first.  But my question is, are we seeing a shift from a smaller running QB like Michael Vick, Tyrod Taylor, Denard Robinson, to larger and more powerful running QBs such as Tim Tebow, Cameron Newton, and even Logan Thomas for the Hokies next year?

I think most teams would be happy to have a successful running quarterback whether he's small like Denard Robinson or large and powerful like Tim Tebow/Cam Newton.  There's a big difference though: smaller QBs get hurt often, while larger quarterbacks like Tebow and Newton get hit all the time and even deliver big hits to defenders, and are able to play the rest of the season.  Denard Robinson has been hurt maybe 5 or 6 times already this year, and Michael Vick seems to get hurt every season in the NFL.  These guys are fast and not built like running backs, but they still act like running backs.  In comparison, Tebow and Newton are built like linebackers and can take big hits and keep going.  We see this also with Tyrod Taylor; he's one of the smaller guys on the field, and even though he is extremely effective at running and making defenders miss, he gets hurt often because he is a smaller quarterback and puts himself in bad situtations. 

While both types of quarterback, large and small, are very effective in college football, NFL teams don't seem to care about size and draft these guys regardless of their durability and size.  Vick has been more successful than any running QB in the NFL so far, and he is undersized.  Tebow has barely played yet and could turn out to be a flop.  It will be interesting to see what happens with Cam Newton and Tyrod Taylor in this coming year's draft, and with guys like Denard Robinson 2-3 years down the road. 

What We Learned About the 'Canes

Miami started out very strong against VT.  Most of VT's games start this way, but Miami's defense looked great and the offense was running all over the place.  Here's some other things I noticed about Miami on Saturday against the Hokies:

1)  4th String QB Stephen Morris has a bright future in Miami.  He was calm and did not get too worked up when he threw his interceptions.  He also made alot of big time throws that were impressive for a true freshman. 

2)  Coach Randy Shannon does not belong in Miami.  He is a great mentor, but is not getting the full potential out of the 'Canes.  The Hurricanes should have a much better record with all their talent, but there is some serious disconnect between the coaching and players in Miami.  

3)  Miami's stadium never seems to be full.  For such a serious football school, I would expect their stadium to be filled every Saturday.  Especially in a place like Miami where there are SO many people to watch the games.  This may indicate the the Hurricanes are not very exciting and are underachieving lately so the fans don't care to watch.  On Saturday the announcer said, "The fans do a great job of dressing up as empty seats!"   

4)  Jacory Harris still wants to be the leader of the team, and he should not be their leader.  He throws way too many interceptions, is not a durable quarterback, and was outshined by Stephen Morris this past Saturday.  It's sad that Morris threw a couple interceptions and is only a freshman, and showed more promise than Jacory Harris (who is already planned to start this coming weekend). 

5)  Leonard Hankerson is another great offensive player in Miami.  He is tall and has good size for a tight end.  He is big, but not too big and has the speed to outrun the defensive backfield if he gains a few steps on the defenders.  He will definitely go to the NFL and any team who picks him up will be lucky. 

6)  The Offensive line averages 6'6" tall and 313 pounds.  They are huge and provide great protection for the quarterback and huge gaps for the running backs.  With such big guys on the line and such poor QB play, you would think Miami would run more with their FOUR starting running backs.  Why would Randy Shannon put the pressure on Stephen Morris on so many plays Saturday?  Just run the ball! 

7)  Miami's receivers drop alot of passes.  As a Virginia Tech fan, I can think of 2 or 3 major pass drops in the past from Miami receivers that could have dramatically effected the outcome of the VT/Miami game.  In this game, Miami receiver Travis Benjamin could have had 2 big receptions for TDs in the 4th quarter during the same series, but he dropped them both.    Again, they have tons of talent, but it seems the receivers are not well-coached. 

3 Things Wrong With College Football

With all of the great things going on in college football today, there are still some actions from fans, coaches, and even the BCS that really become annoying over time.  Here's my top 3 annoying things that college football needs to change one day:

1)  Icing the Kicker. 

The kicker has a hard enough time as it is.  He is looked down upon by his teammates, is usually much smaller and weaker then his teammates, and everyone hates him even when a less-important kick is missed during a game.  To make it worse, when he has a very important game winning kick lined up, at the very last second a head coach will call timeout just to psyche him out.  I guess the thinking behind this is that if the kicker is in the zone and ready to kick, and all of a sudden you call time out, you are making him think twice and taking him out of his comfort zone before the big kick.  That seems pretty cheap to me.  If the game comes down to a last second kick, then good, it should be that way.  The other team probably did not play well enough to stop the team from kicking a last second, game-winning field goal.  The NCAA needs to create a penalty for calling a time out to ice the kicker.  This action is ridiculous and shows awful sportsmanship. 

2)  Fans Booing their Own Team

So lets say you're a die-hard Virginia Tech fan.  You go to a game a Lane Stadium and VT is not playing up to their capabilities.  Do you start booing?  No way.  Even when indecisive Sean Glennon was playing QB last year and the year before, he would throw several interceptions and you would never hear the whole stadium booing.  At Miami's game last night versus VT, the Miami fans were booing their own team constantly, even their freshman QB who has been doing pretty well (better than Jacory Harris) until he played the Hokies.  You hear it in the NFL all the time too.  This shows bad sportsmanship as well, from the fans.  Booing your own team is not going to make them play better.  They're probably playing bad for a reason, whether it be an injured crucial player or a bad offensive play caller, and your boos are only going to make it worse.  Do you think Sean Glennon wanted to go out and play harder when he was being booed by his home crowd?  My guess is that he wanted to disappear and tell the fans to get lost.  Football games won't always go your way, and that's something that most fans cannot accept.  However, think about how rude you are being next time you boo your own team and what kind of message you are sending your team's players. 


3)  Bad Teams in the BCS

Certain conferences have an automatic bid into one of the largest Bowl games at the end of the season - the BCS bowls.  For example, the Big East, which is a very weak conference this year, gets an automatic bid into a BCS bowl.  So a team like Pitt, who will probably go 8-4, a decent record but not a championship-type record, will end up in a BCS bowl, and not really deserve to be there.  Meanwhile, the whole top-25 is filled with 1 and 2-loss teams who will not make it to one of the big bowls this year.  This definitely needs to change NOW.  If Pitt gets into a bowl over a great team like Ohio State, Michigan State, LSU, Auburn , Alabama, etc., there is something wrong.  The BCS needs to realize that since Miami and VT left the Big East several years ago, the conference is weak.  Until the Big East can land some solid teams to improve their conference's image, take away their automatic bid to a BCS bowl game.  Really, who is going to watch a team like Pitt in a championship bowl game against a team like Wisconsin?  This will be totally unfair, Pitt won't have a chance to win, and the TV ratings will be awful.

Tyrod Taylor for ACC Player of the Year

It's hard to argue that there is a player who is more important to their ACC team this year than Tyrod Taylor.  He has become a true senior leader and has led the Hokies to many wins this season through his own talent.  Taylor has passed for 1988 yards, 18 TDs, and 4 INTs this year, while running for another 581 yards and 3 TDs.  It's hard to think of another ACC player who has carried their team and won so many games like VT's Taylor has this year.  A few names come to mind for comparison: Russell Wilson of NC State, Christian Ponder of FSU, and Montell Harris of Boston College.  However, Ponder only has 1644 passing yards with 16 TDs and no rushing attack.  Russell Wilson has a bunch more passing yards and TDs than Taylor, but less rushing yards and more ACC losses than Tyrod Taylor.  Montell Harris has 1129 rush yards, but only 7 TDs and these stats are pretty weak compared to last years numbers for him and other ACC running backs.  I think it really comes down to Taylor and Wilson for the ACC player of the year, but Taylor has to have the edge with his running game and solid wins, including a win over NC State. 

Is Cameron Newton Really in Trouble?

Every day there seems to be someone new from Mississippi who has new information on Cameron Newton asking for money before playing at a certain school.  Now we hear that there are text messages and witnesses mentioning Cameron Newton's family asking for $180,000 for Newton to play at certain SEC schools, which the whole Newton family and Auburn football team deny.  Newton's lawyer even stepped forward and made a public statement saying he's "1 million percent sure" that Newton's Cameron Newton did not accept money to play football anywhere.  Now you can interpret this how you want since the lawyer does not specifically mention Cameron's father not asking for money, but it seems that for the time being Cameron is in the clear to win the Heisman and possibly play in the National Championship game if the Tigers can beat Alabama next week.  He will likely finish the season before any possible sanctions are placed on Newton by the NCAA, FBI, etc.  However, if he is found guilty in the future, we will see a Reggie Bush type situation where he will have to give the trophy back, assuming he wins, and gain some serious, negative national attention.  We'll see what happens over the next couple of months.  The fair thing to do is assume he's innocent until proven guilty, especially since he is chosing to play all of the remaining games this season despite being under the microscope and risking his team having every win revoked from this season if he is found guilty.   

Virginia Tech Rivalry Tshirts on ebay

Looking for one of those rare, black VT rivalry shirts or Jerseys like the Hokies wore when they played Boise to start the year?  Bad news... they're not being made anymore.  However, if you really really want one, you can spend an unreal amount of money to get one on ebay.  Currently, there's a XL t-shirt for about 80 bucks and jerseys for well over 150 dollars.  Maybe Nike could make these shirts a regular item for all the Hokie fans that still want a shirt or jersey.  Seems like they could make a lot of money off their unique rivalry designs. 

Even though the black Rivalry uniforms are extremely hard to find, there's always next year.  The Hokies usually wear a Pro-Combat Rivalry uniform every year, so be sure to get your shirt or jersey next year. 

TCU in the National Championship?

TCU dominated a very good Utah team a few weeks ago and the Horned Frogs were rightfully bumped up to #3 in the BCS standings ahead of Boise State.  There's a lot of guessing lately as to whether Oregon can finish out their season undefeated and wheter Auburn can beat Alabama next weekend in Tuscaloosa.  Both teams should be able to go undefeated, but anything can happen.  The question is, if either Auburn or Oregon lose a game and Boise or TCU are allowed into the National Championship game, which team should it be?  As much as I don't like to see teams with weaker schedules playing in a National Championship game, I feel that Boise would have the best chance.  TCU has some solid wins, but the season is pretty much over already, while Boise has 3 games left, and one of the games is against a ranked Nevada next week.  I really feel that TCU is a stronger team and deserves a championship title more, but Boise is in a better spot to make it happen.  So, unless BOTH Auburn and Oregon lose (not likely), TCU probably won't be seeing the championship game this year.  Sorry, Horned Frogs. 

For VT to Win the ACC Coastal....

One thing needs to happen, and that is to beat Miami this weekend.  Virginia Tech has zero losses in the ACC so far, and would need to lose the final two games of the season in order to lose their #1 spot to Miami who currently has two losses.  If VT loses to Miami this weekend but still beats UVA next weekend, the Hokies will automatically play the Atlantic division winner (whoever that may be) in December for the ACC championship since they will only have one ACC loss for the year compared to Miami's 2 losses.  If VT loses to both Miami and UVA, then the Hokies are out of the ACC championship race and the Hurricanes will represent the Coastal division.  VT has a very good chance of beating the Hurricanes this weekend since Miami has a new quarterback who has only played in 3 games.  However, it will be Miami's intense defense that will give VT the most problems.  However, VT's offense has been rolling lately, so the odds are definitely in VT's favor. 

VT Wins Convincingly Over UNC

There was much speculation for the game between VT and UNC in Chapel Hill.  The Tar Heels have been very unpredictable this year, winning big games against teams like FSU, and losing to teams like Georgia Tech.  The big story of this game is the play of UNC quarterback TJ Yates, who went 18/33 with 0 TDs and 4 Interceptions.  The VT defense had their way with TJ Yates, but allowed their inexperienced tailback Anthony Elzy to make big runs and convert several first downs.  Elzy only picked up 82 yards and 1 TD, but it was similar to when Wake Forest's freshman tailback picked up over 200 yards.  It seems like VT is having trouble stopping the run, especially inexperienced runners for some reason.  Tyrod Taylor had an average day, going 13/28 with 249 yards and 2 TDs, and Darren Evans and Ryan Williams ran for 90 and 83 yards, respectively.  It was interesting to watch UNC's obvious strategy against Tyrod: sit back and rush only 3 guys, allow him to use his arm but not his legs.  This was effective at first, allowing 4 fields goals by VT kicker Chris Hazley, but that strategy only lasted for so long before Taylor's natural ability to run became apparent once again.  The best part of this game was watching VT's secondary terrorize TJ Yates.  Hosley had 2 interceptions again, and Morgan and Whitley also recorded 1 apiece.  Good game overall, and hopefully the momentum will carry into Saturday's game against Miami.  Should be interesting to see who wins this one since Miami's defense is one of the best in the nation, but their QB is young and inexperienced and VT loves to pick on inexperienced QBs. 

Battle of the Techs

Virginia Tech somehow beat Georgia Tech last Thursday night in Blacksburg.  Joshua Nesbitt started the first quarter strong, scoring 2 touchdowns and running one himself for over 70 yards.  The 1st quarter was pretty typical for the Hokies.... let the opposition score a lot of points, then show up and play some football.  I think Georgia Tech would have won this game pretty easily if their QB did not throw an interception, then let his adrenaline take over and make a stupid tackle on VT's intercepting defensive back.  Nesbitt slipped and tried to make a 1-arm tackle, allowing VT defender Davon Morgan to run through his arm, breaking his forearm.  Nesbitt (shown above), who is out for the season, had to leave immediately, allowing his inexperienced backup to come into the game and screw up GT's offensive timing.  Virginia Tech proceeded to score 21 points, allowed another TD by Georgia Tech, and had a tied game on their hands with over 2 minutes left to play.  The Yellow Jackets kicked the ball off after their TD, at which point David Wilson, who runs a 4.29-40 yard dash, returned the kick off 90 yards to put the Hokies up by 7.  The Jackets drove the field again thanks to Tevin Washington, but he made a crucial error at the end of the 4th quarter by throwing an INT in the endzone to end the game.  Overall, this was a lucky but great win for the Hokies.  Their offense needs to step up next week and play better against the Tar Heels than they did against the Yellow Jackets, or they could be looking at an upset against a very inconsistent UNC team.  David Wilson is already out for this game due to a case of Mono.