2010

Your sights and sounds of Blacksburg or wherever Hokie Nation is headed.

I hope at some point, someone was wearing that pumpkin on their head.

via: @Slicktrip

Enter Sandman from the North Endzone, aka the happiest place on Earth.

@vtbeach

Your sights and sounds of Blacksburg or wherever Hokie Nation is headed.

Enter Sandman and pictures of the homecoming parade are courtesy of the man, the myth, the legend, the @HokieTrooper.

"Sorry y'all, I was runnin' late." – '10 Offense

Yesterday our much ballyhooed offense, that we all expected to show up in the District, finally made good on the preseason hype.

• 605 yards of total offense
• 35 1st Downs (12 of 17 on 3rd downs)
• 7.2 yards per play
• Possessed the ball for 69% of the game.

We're slowly evolving into the most conservative spread offense in the country. Each week Stinepring seems to put his foot farther into the pool and realizes that it's not too bad in there. Our philosophy and play calling over the last few games reminds me Ohio State circa 2007. We're spreading the field and getting the ball to our playmakers in space, but then lining up tight and grinding out yards with a powerful rushing attack. It works. We aren't perfect though. David Wilson carrying the ball on a failed 4th and 1 conversion could have been more costly in a bigger spot. Why wasn't Evans carry the rock? Tyrod needs to throw the ball away instead of losing yards running out of bounds with it. CAN WE WORK ON THAT PLEASE O'CAIN?

The positives overshadow the negatives and no one can argue against that. Logan Thomas' touchdown catch was a thing of beauty. I'd like to take him apple picking with me. Watching the STRAIGHT BURNER go ham was way overdue. The roar in the bar after Danny Coale knocked that defender on his ass captured the spirit of Lane. I don't know how it holds up statistically, but I'll say that was Tyrod's best game throwing the ball. He was surgically accurate and decisive. He progressed through his reads and used his legs as a last resort. A dominating performance by the offensive line afforded him the time to do so.

Let's splash some cold water on our face. Wake's defense is awful. They've allowed an average of 37.7 points a game (111th). Only after we play Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Miami will we know how much our offense has improved since the beginning of the season.

Any you've met at some point, "What's a Hokie?".
"I am", Hoda Kotb.

Here's another question, "What's a Demon Deacon?", or better yet, "What's a Wake Forest?" Oh, it's a city... meh.

/anagram-ed

Set For Wake

...Are you? I'm pumped. Central Michigan was a welcomed breather from ACC play, but I'm looking forward to getting back to the chase for another championship. The last time Wake traveled to Blacksburg was 1983. Al Groh was the coach, I was in the womb, Thriller topped the charts–predictably Wake lost.

So Frat Week

I won't be making the trek down I-81 for homecoming. Scheduling homecoming for anything other than the most anticipated home game just doesn't jive with me. What's the point? We sell out every game. We did keep that streak alive right? So why not put on a show for all the Hokies coming back to campus. I'm not boycotting the game or anything, I have friends visiting, friends who brought me delicious Wachusett Blueberry Ale. If I was going to Blacksburg, in no particular order, I'd do the following:

• Drink a rail.
• Visit the 4/16 memorial.
• Eat a number 5 with American cheese, on white bread, all the way, sans tomato, with mayo, and pickles on the side.
• Buy a student a beer.
• Tailgate.
• Frat lap around the drill field.

Ow. Farts. Eek.

Greg Nosal isn't going to be asking anyone to pull that finger for quite some time. In summary, he lost all the flesh surrounding the nail of his pinky after it got caught in a Directional Michigan facemask. Keeping things in perspective he finished playing the game, the outcome all but determined, and at 6'6" his pinky is bigger than your thumb. The Nub will be ready to go tomorrow, making me feel like a giant va-jay-jay for ever complaining about a paper cut.

Softer Wake

Since going 11-3 and winning the ACC in '06 Wake has finished 9-4, 8-5 and 5-7. As Patrick Stevens notes, in games decided by 4 points or less Wake are losers of 9 straight. It seems they're not playing gritty when it counts. More importantly they're not experienced. There are three new starters along the offensive line protecting freshman quarterback Tanner Price who will be handing off to running back Josh Harris who's making his first career start. Wake tried implementing (reverting) to an option offense, but Skylar Jones couldn't cut the mustard.

Nationally Wake is rated 101st against the rush, but hat might be skewed a bit considering they've played both Navy and Georgia Tech already (473 combined yards).

For We Skate

Because we're playing with confidence. Slowly but surely we're developing an identity on offense. It's our same identity, but better looking–run the ball, then go over the top. But we're working in some subtle packages. Andre Smith is getting more balls thrown his way, especially in the red zone, which SURPRISE works like a champ. The speed option and zone read has produced our longest rushes. And in Bud we trust, Foster will have no problem confusing a young quarterback.

Enjoy homecoming everyone.

http://wordsmith.org/anagram/anagram.cgi?anagram=wake+forest&t=2000&a=n

The Surgeon General is unable to conclude if the mascot mock causes four game winning streaks.

Here are the cutouts (1, 2).

The biggest negative from yesterday's win was our oh-for on third downs. I don't like taking statistics at face value so I decided to breakdown each play.

1st Quarter

3rd and 4

Both Andre Smith and Dyrell Roberts run 5-yard routes past the line to gain, a curl and out respectively. Smith was open with a 2-yard cushion and drops, not a perfect, but catchable ball. Even if he made the catch the Hokies were flagged for an illegal shift.

3rd and 5

From what I can see on the ESPN U film (H/T @vtphreak4evr) this looks like this is a much more aggressive play call by Stinespring. The receivers are running routes well past the first down and both Andre Smith and David Wilson are tasked as blockers (Wilson leaks out of the backfield when no blitz comes). Tyrod puts a ball right on D.J. Coles' hands and it's dropped. Having a receiving option underneath for just the necessary 5 yards would have been wise, but Coles has to make that catch.

Your sights and sounds of Blacksburg or wherever Hokie Nation is headed.

...and delicious turkey legs. via @hokieshawn

Lane Stadium is gorgeous during the day, but sexy at night. via @jmrgn

Planes! via @mrh61988

Victory. HT: Box

Was that good for you too? OK... it wasn't a blowout, but a route was extremely satisfying. That's four wins in a row, the next better than the last. Fundamentally, we're tackling better, and blocking better. Stinespring called a sensible, dare I say intelligent game today, and it really showed when we had the football, even though we were 0-8 on 3rd down. I really like that we're developing a nice little read and speed option game. We need to continue to integrate the option more and have it become a bigger part of our offense. Defensive tackles and ends really respect Tyrod's speed and and athleticism and give him all the attention on the read zone play. That creates space inside the box and provides enough room for the running back to take the ball and get up the field. On Tyrod's marathon 72-yard TD run we saw just how dangerous he is running the speed option. In the passing game Tyrod bounced back from all the inaccurate throws last week and really put the ball on the money today. He was only 13/23 161 yards and one touchdown, but his first three incompletions were catchable dropped balls. Word on the street in Blacksburg is Chick-fil-A is preparing to open tomorrow to serve David Wilson, because when you house 68-yard runs you eat there any day you want and are given handfuls of BBQ and Polynesian sauce.

For all intents and purposes, we held CMU to 10 points. Their first touchdown was legit and more often than not kickers nail a 32-yard field goal. The two late touchdowns came after we were up 31 points. So in my opinion, overall the defense played a great game. The defensive line really got after quarterback Ryan Radcliff. J.R. Collins had a pair of sacks and Antoine Hopkins, who the coaches routinely called lazy before the season, was all over the field catching ball carriers from behind. Rock dropped a couple of gimme interceptions, and on the Radcliff touchdown pass G.W. gave a weak bump at the line on Jerry Harris, but as a unit you have to be impressed with how the defense is maturing.

That was an encouraging win and another stepping stone towards an ACC Championship.

Contrary to popular belief, there's no statistical evidence that proves mocking mascots equals winning. Oh, by the way, the mascot mock is now 3-0 on the season.

As jmichons pointed out it would be in bad taste to mock the Chippewa. So we are all going to have to step our game up and take it to the "Flying C".

It's not as clever as Admiral Ackbar for Ole Miss, and without tooting my own horn it borders on flattering, but if Central Michigan is in need of a mascot...

Here's the cutout.