It's football season again!

/drives to ABC and buys bourbon
//heads to Giant to replenish charcoal and supply of dead filleted and smoked farm animals
///purchases new 55" LCD television

For the next few weeks at least.

////sighs

This is the second edition of Springapalooza, our all too comprehensive spring preview. Check back next week to read about the defense. Throughout spring for Kevin will have practice updates. And after the Maroon and White Game the BCO will wrap everything up with a neat bow.

The Offense

Adios Amigos

Ralph Wiggum once stated, "Tyrod Taylor not Hokies quarterback, that's umpossible." It's unfortunate for us that's not accurate. Tyrod's graduating and taking his career 7,017 passing yards, 2,187 rushing yards and 67 touchdowns to the NFL where hopefully he'll get his shot at quarterback and not be slotted into some seven win team's Wildcat package. However, replacing Tyrod will prove umpossible. He did it right both on and off the field and he was all about winning, duh.

David Wilson DERPs sheriffs.

Be patient. Let the blocks develop. Burst through the funnel. That was too easy.

In what can easily be described as a microcosm of this season, the short-handed Hokies battled throughout but fell in the waning seconds to Wichita State 79-76 in the second round of the NIT. The loss finishes Tech's season at 22-12 and marks the end of the careers of Malcolm Delaney, Jeff Allen, Terrell Bell, and Paul Debnam. This senior class tied the 1985-86 class for the most victories by a class (87) in school history.

Neither team led by more than six the entire game, but things looked bleak as Jeff Allen fouled out with a little more than six minutes remaining in regulation. WSU went on a brief 4-0 run to open up a six-point lead at 63-57. Victor Davila picked up his fourth foul in the process and Paul Debnam checked in with 4:36 to go. Debnam's appearance during meaningful minutes sparked Tech, who went on a 7-0 run to take a 64-63 lead with 2:37 remaining.

With the game tied at 66, Manny Atkins sank a big time three-pointer, but was countered by J.T. Durley with 47 seconds left. After Terrell Bell missed a three-pointer, Joe Ragland missed a floater as time expired to send the game into overtime.

Who: Virginia Tech Hokies (22-11, 11-8 ACC) vs Wichita State Shockers (25-8, 14-4 MVC)

When: Sunday, March 20 @ 11:00 a.m.

TV: ESPN

Where: Cassell Coliseum, Blacksburg, VA

The Opponent: After knocking off Bethune-Cookman in the first round of the NIT, the Hokies face an experienced and deep Wichita State squad. The Shockers, out of the Missouri Valley Conference dominated Nebraska 76-49 Wednesday night to advance to the second round in Blacksburg.

The Shockers are 25-8 on the season and don’t have many bad losses. They lost to Connecticut in Maui by four, at San Diego State by 14, twice to Missouri State, and by one to Virginia Commonwealth in the BracketBusters game this year. WSU was shocked (no pun intended) in the MVC Tournament by Indiana State, the eventual tournament champion.

Here’s a look at their starting lineup:

"We're all so pissed about missing the tournament," Deege told me. "Four years in a row. We've been overlooked four years in a row. It's been tough, getting First Four Out four years in a row when teams like VCU and UAB get in with no right whatsoever."

via D.C. Sports Bog

If you missed Wednesday night's NIT game against Bethune-Cookman, all you need to know is that Paul Debnam played...with more than nine minutes to go...in the first half. The Hokies had no problem with the lowly Wildcats of the MEAC, coasting to a 79-54 victory in front of 2,982 at Cassell Coliseum. With the victory, Tech advanced to the second round of the NIT for the fourth consecutive year and will face Wichita State Sunday at 11 a.m. The Shockers dominated Nebraska 76-49 yesterday.

The Hokies hit 10 of their first 11 shots to jump out to a 23-9 lead seven minutes in. Tech would push that lead out to as many as 23 in the first half at 42-19. In all honesty, it wasn't even a fair fight and due to the lack of bench players the Hokies never could really take their starters out. Tech shot 61.3 percent from the field (19 of 31) in the first half.

The second half was much of the same as the Wildcats never got closer than 19 points. Tech eventually expanded its advantage to 32 at 69-37 halfway through the half and coasted down the stretch for the 25-point victory.

Tech ended up shooting 56 percent from the field, with eight of the nine players scoring. Five Hokies registered double figures with Jeff Allen leading the way with 19 points. Malcolm Delaney had 13, Manny Atkins recorded 12, while Erick Green and Terrell Bell accounted for 11 and 10, respectively.

If one wants to prove that chaos has a schedule, then my winter break routine could be used to attempt to make the argument. After my last exam I'd go hard and blow it out in Blacksburg. The venue was dependent on the year: dorm, apartment party or downtown, but the result was all the same. What looked like a long night would be cut short from overindulgence, libations and greasy-ass food, beers and whatever was cheap followed up usually by a 20-inch Gumby's pizza slathered in ranch dressing. I only rolled on twenties yo. The next morning I'd sell all my books, hop in the car, use the cash to finance my trip home, and haul it north. Once there it was a continuous rotation of eat, sleep, watch football and party. Rinse and repeat until I felt dirty. I'm sure the vast majority of undergrads did and do something similar.

David Wilson does not.

However, after the Orange Bowl David Wilson embarked on a well deserved break, some of which is documented here.

He first decided to visit France for a couple of days, because that's just what intelligent cultured people do. He traveled across Alsace, heard Emmanuel toll at Cathédrale Notre Dame and made his way to Paris.

Of course he just had to climb the Eiffel Tower. I mean, it was there and all. From the top he was able to get as good of a look at the world as the world had of him.

Who: Virginia Tech Hokies (21-11, 11-8 ACC) vs Bethune-Cookman Wildcats (21-12, 13-3 MEAC)

When: Wednesday, March 16 @ 8:00 p.m.

TV: ESPNU

Where: Cassell Coliseum, Blacksburg, VA

The Opponent: After a fourth straight year of disappointment on Selection Sunday, the Hokies start their NIT slate against the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats of the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference. Woo.

So, you may be asking just who the hell Bethune-Cookman is. Well, the Wildcats are from Daytona Beach, FL and won the regular season MEAC title, but lost to Morgan State in the semifinals of the MEAC tournament. All regular season champions who don’t win their tournament get an automatic bid, so that’s why B-CU is coming to Blacksburg Sunday.

The Wildcats challenged themselves in the out of conference slate by travelling to Arizona, Central Florida, and Baylor. They lost 33, 17, and 44, respectively. B-CU also played the likes of Edward Waters, Florida Christian College, Webber International, Carver Bible, and North Carolina Central. That accounted for six of their wins (they played NC Central twice).

Here’s a look at their starting lineup:

This is a little late, but yesterday we turned one.

I think over the past year The Key Play accomplished everything it initially set out to do, and more.

• Provide an in depth (un)-biased analysis of Hokie Football.
• Make jokes, mostly at our own expense.
• Overreact to every single Bryan Stinespring decision.
• Overload you with statistics.
• Have fun.
• Needle UVA.
• Breakdown film.

We broke a little bit of news, here, there and there and there and there.