It's the defense stupid. That's the main reason for Michigan's turnaround in 2011. You can see the trend quickly in chart form courtesy of /r/cfb. If you'd prefer long-ish form Andy Bitter has you covered.

Oft-criticized defensive coordinator Greg Robinson had never run the 3-3-5 scheme former coach Rich Rodriguez preferred and was forced to work with many of the assistants Rodriguez brought with him in 2009-10. The Wolverines' defense, which had always been stout under ex-coach Lloyd Carr, dropped from 24th nationally in Carr's final season to 82nd, 67th and 110th in Rodriguez's three years.

Enter Mattison, who used to coach at Michigan, Notre Dame and, most recently, the NFL's Baltimore Ravens from 2008-10.

A proponent of the 4-3 defense, Mattison's scheme better suited Michigan's personnel, with defensive lineman Mike Martin (54 tackles, 5.5 TFLs, 3 sacks) and Ryan Van Bergen (41 tackles, 12 TFls, 5 sacks) starring up front.

I combed through the game notes from HokieSports.com so you wouldn't have to. (But if you do, leave any interesting observations in the comments.)

Tech won 11 games in 1999, 2000, 2005, 2007 and 2010. A win in the Sugar Bowl would be the program's first 12 win season ever. The seniors would be 43-12 over the last four years, a new record for wins by a senior class.

Bruce Arians, the offensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers, holds the school record for rushing touchdowns in a season by a quarterback with 11. Logan Thomas sits at 10. In case you're wondering, Michael Vick sped into the endzone 17 times in his career. Nine scores in '99 eight in 2000.

I wonder if Chase Williams is just staying at his parents house?

David Wilson (1,627) needs 29 yards to break Ryan Williams' Tech single-season rushing yard record (1,655). With a stellar game, Logan Thomas has a chance to set Tech's single-season total offense record. Tyrod Taylor put up 3,402 yards in 2010, Logan has 3,215 yards this season.

Tech is 1-0 against B1G Ten.

Blake DeChristopher (125) and Greg Nosal (111) have over 100 knockdown blocks in 2011. That's an average of more than 9 and 8 per game respectively. Miller, Brooks and Lanier have 57, 56 and 36 knockdowns a piece.

I don't didn't intend to publish this. I'm I was writing for my own benefit. Sometimes you're alone with your thoughts because you stepped away from the table on Christmas Eve. It's healthy to get them out, I guess. Right now I'm writing along with the Eagles. Hotel California is one of those albums you should dedicate 40 minutes to listen to before you die. It's contiguous, not many albums today are. Don't get me wrong, there are timeless tracks that stand the test of time alone: Life in the Fast Lane, Try and Love Again and the title track, but together they're something else, in this case a classic.

I won't let go of the 2003 Miami game. If you've been hanging out here for a while you know I've written about it before. It's the most "Virginia Tech game" I've ever been to. It was a classic. Lane was bonkers, we ran the ball, we played defense, we forced turnovers, we stormed the field, we beat Miami. We should have won the national championship that year. We had the rep, we had the schedule, we had the team. If we played every game as hard, as tough, if we wanted every game that year as much as we wanted to beat Miami, fans and team alike, we would have been undefeated.

Hopefully, everyone is enjoying a little rest, relaxation, time with their family and their favorite bottle of brown. Unless something absolutely unexpected happens, like one of our players committing [INSERT SILLY CRIME HERE] or the Frankinator retiring from his post to peruse his lifelong dream of being a marshall at Pinehurst, we won't have anything new for you until Monday. Until then, if you got something on your mind, drop it in the forums or comments.

Of course the original is from Awkward Family Photos.

"DAD!"

"Brian, leave Shane's Let's Rock Elmo alone, go play with your Hot Wheel Wall Tracks."

"But... Dad, it's broken. The car never get's up the loop."

"Don't do anything fancy now... Bud, how's dinner coming?"

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Cody Journell was hiding in some shrubbery outside of Dorenzo Hudson and Sean Allen's home after dark on Wednesday night. One of Journell's associates was standing outside of the door holding a pizza box¹ that was concealing what looked like an Airsoft handgun (which, if you don't know, are realistic looking. Another cohort was chilling² in the bushes. This was the opening scene to a perfectly asinine college caper destined to go wrong.

Mr. Mackey wasn't bullshitting, drugs are bad. People do a lot of dumb shit over drugs...

Below, Brian from MGoBlog gives MAN ANSWERS to my questions. Our answers to his questions are here (French took 1-8, I took 9-12).

1. Denard, Denard, Denard... I think most Hokies know about the freak-of-an-athlete you guys having running around the field at quarterback. How would you go about designing a game plan to contain him, and who's the second guy on offense VT's going to have to worry about stopping?

I would come after him and play a lot of robber zone stuff to take away intermediate routes when you do. Denard has been mistake-prone when pressured but when left to set his feet and throw he's been pretty accurate lately. You do put yourself at risk of Denard busting past your blitzers and giving up a big play, but that's somewhat offset by the chance he chucks an ugly interception.

The second guy to worry about is Fitzgerald Toussaint, Michigan's primary running back. He's a smallish, darting runner with the ability to juke in a phone booth and very good (but not great) top end speed. He cracked 1000 yards on the season with a late surge.

Who: Virginia Tech Hokies (9-3) vs Eastern Michigan Eagles (5-6)

When: Thursday, December 22 @ 7:00 p.m.

TV: ESPN3 (Quint Kessenich and Glenn Consor)

Where: Cassell Coliseum (9,847), Blacksburg, VA

The Opponent: The Hokies welcome Eastern Michigan to the Cassell on Thursday evening to wrap up their 2011 home slate. The Eagles are coming off a hard-fought 52-48 win at Radford on Tuesday that snapped a five-game losing streak. Under first year head coach Rob Murphy, EMU has battled the likes of Syracuse (lost by 36), Michigan State (lost by 32), and Purdue (lost by 25) this season.

The Eagles rank near 200 in the RPI and their best win came against IUPUI, which sits at #238 in the early season rankings. Here’s a look at their starting lineup:

Hopefully in New Orleans these will be more than just pixels on a computer screen. Created with Clark Ruhland's uniform builder.

I've been struggling to write this post for the last couple of days. I've been going back-and-forth in my head, trying to put my finger on why we want to see the Hokies decked out head-to-toe in all-maroon. It's undeniable they're sharp as hell. Stare at them for just a couple of seconds and they snarl and bite at you. They clock a 4-4 forty, they got heart. They're as "Virginia Tech" as the Hokie Stone that watches students get stung by the wind as they walk across the drillfield in the winter. They're simple, not overstated, perfect for a team that carries a lunchpail to work.

There's no mention of pants. Of course not, that Tweet ran out of characters, and it's not worth noting we'll wear the same old white pants. That was me being logical. However, my initial conclusion was presuming and irrational: @VT_Football neglected the pants because they want the all-maroon uniforms to be a surprise. That's what I want to believe.

After finishing up semester exams, Tech men's basketball team returned to the court Saturday to face a feisty Campbell squad that had already won at Iowa earlier in the season. The Hokies showed a bit of rust in the first half, shooting just 37 percent from the field, but opened things up with a 15-0 run to start the second half.

Tech went on to shoot 73 percent in the final 20 minutes, and coasted to a 85-60 victory over the Camels. The game showcased the reemergence of senior leaders Victor Davila and Dorenzo Hudson. Davila finished with 15 points, all in the second half, and connected on six of his nine buckets. Hudson tied for the team lead in scoring with 15, snapping a string of six consecutive games in which he failed to reach double digits. The Hokies' other three starters, Erick Green, Jarell Eddie, and Dorian Finney-Smith all reached double figures as well, adding 12, 11, and 10 respectively.

The Hokies forced 15 Campbell turnovers on the afternoon, converting them into 23 points. Tech also did a better job of getting in transition, notching 20 fast break points to the Camels' 8. The win was Tech's third in a row, moving its record to 8-3 while Campbell fell to 8-3 on the season.