With Barno opting out adding to a list, let's look at the impact on the bowl game.
Keeping tabs on who won't be available in the bowl game for the #Hokies:Opted out: Barno, WR Tre Turner, DT Jordan WilliamsTransfer portal: WR Tayvion Robinson, QB Knox Kadum— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) December 6, 2021
Perhaps no player has a bigger opportunity to make himself a headliner than Jaylon Jones. Jones has one memorable catch this season, but with no Tre Turner and no Tayvion Robinson, Jones has an opportunity to stamp himself as the Hokies top receiver against Maryland.
Defensive tackle is a problem, especially if Mario Kendricks can't play. The Hokies were down to four defensive tackles on scholarship by the end of the season. One, Wilfred Pene, was a tight end then a defensive end. Pene impressed under the circumstances but is still very undersized. Will the defense go to some junk formations to compensate, and do they have enough ends to do that?
In the case of Barno, I expect a lot of work for CJ McCray. McCray got some pass rush pressure in his action against Middle Tennessee State and has been adjusting to a defensive end role. Cole Nelson will get more snaps, but I expect McCray to get some creative usage. That said, I will be real interested to see if McCray stays at end or moves back to a boundary inside linebacker or a field outside linebacker/whip role under Pry.
While there hasn't been any movement at linebacker, with Hollifield/Tisdale/Artis basically the only linebackers playing down the stretch, I will be really interested to see if Coach Pry asks the current staff to showcase some of the other young linebackers. Jaden Keller's fit in the new scheme, perhaps as the boundary linebacker spot Micah Parson's excelled in, would be interesting to see.
Who are your "show me" players in the Pinstripe Bowl?
Comments
I want to see the O-line and RBs really seize the opportunity to be responsibile for a Hokie win in the bowl game. With Turner and Robinson gone, the success of the run game is going to dictate whether VT struggles to keep up, is battling to the end, or literally runs away with a victory.
It's nothing new/groundbreaking, but a successful running attack opens up the receivers, rests the defense, and wears the opponent out.
I watched Maryland opening week and their passing game looked dynamic. Their best WR is out for the year (Demus), but the TE (Chigoziem Okonkwo) and reciever Rakeem Jarrett are good players. Tua's brother can move around but gets sacked a lot, so he has barely netted positive yardage. Running backs are eh. If they are running the football well vs VT, could be a long day. I don't think their passing game is as good as UVA, but they have some very explosive guys. Limit them.
The Demus injury is probably the most brutal injury I saw live since Willis McGahee in the National Championship
Worst for me was Tim Krumnie. I vomited and I was just 11.
So there was cheese involved?
Dak Prescott and the kid for Georgia were the worst that I've seen live. I believe they were back to back weekends last year.
I don't know. Tyrone Proto's leg snapping like a twig is probably up there for me.
Trigger warning: This link takes you to a 7 second video of the worst one I've seen live. Houston receiver breaking leg on a metal cart behind the endzone.
Yeah - I think Ima just take your word for it.
If you're on the fence just go with dzilla's route. I regret that click.
I want to see the young receivers: Lofton, Jones
I want to see the young RBs see what they can do
I want to see Lakeem Rudolph
I read this and my eyes told my brain "James Lofton." What a great player he was. One of my favorites as a kid Bills fan.
i literally just wanna see a tech game in person it's been so long 😭
If enough people keep opting out how does playing in one sound? Can you cover or catch the ball by chance?
I am not very strong, but I make up for it by being slow.
I'm the 1st one in the office. Last to leave. Boss's son. Real heady, been making budget for 20+ years.
Sign me up.
I bring all of this to the table, in addition to a glaring lack of football IQ. What's the opposite of cerebral? Me. Therefore I am opting out of the bowl game and will pursue my career as a chemist at the next level. Respect my decision! 🦃🧡🙏
I think I'd like to see more from the TEs. Win more battles at the line and get some balls thrown their way for some YAC.
Is Lofton going to be our PR? I feel like it's his day to really show what his potential is. He has had a few great flashes of talent, but with Tre and Tay gone, he has a chance to show that he is THE guy.
I just hope Coach Pry can convince him to stay. Texas kid, was very invested in Fuente and his vision. He showed some nice flashes. I think Jones is going to be more of the high volume guy, maybe not in this game but long term.
I don't like these opt outs. I can 100% self rationalize the logic in these decisions, but I don't like it. It just feels like a premature end to a career and quitting on your team. But I get it - there's no point is risking personal injury that could cost you millions for a game that has ZERO bearing on anything other than regional bragging rights.
But still, I don't like it.
I'm right there with you. I keep wondering if some of it might also be related to the coaching changes and knowing that a lot of them won't be around next year. How much might be the players being frustrated with the offensive coaching and production? This especially sucks because I really don't want to lose to Maryland, so would prefer keeping as much talent on the roster as possible, but I'll be cheering on the guys who take the field for us!
It doesn't bother me. This game is in essence extra practice and a scrimmage, with the new staff evaluating. I just wish the new staff could start to download some of the new concepts to get as much of a head start as possible. For the players who aren't going to be hear next year, the only reason to play in the bowl is the bag of free gifts. The threat of injury plus knowing your leaving, it just isn't worth it.
Honestly, if the playoff expands to 16 like it should (11 conference champs, 5 at large), I hope the bowls go away. The only reason they are holding on are because the networks need the content. The local communities don't benefit with the hotel bookings and restaurant uptick like they used to for most of the games because they are so poorly attended.
*psst* the wac no longer sponsors football at the FBS level
Live posting...
ACC
SEC
Big 10
Big 12
Pac 10
MWC
AAC
Sun Belt
Conference USA
MAC
You got me there. Revised to 10 automatic berths and 6 at large.
I would like to limit the at-larges to 1 per conference, but that's a personal thought
How about no at-larges? Eight team playoff.
The two lowest ranked conference champs play each other in a bowl.
Not happy? Win more games.
Or.
Or.
Random Draw for the 8.
One hopper with each conference represented, 1 entry per conference non-conference wins, FCS/Div 2 do not count.
Edit: Make it two hoppers, 1 P5 and 1 G5. Oh, and no Independents...nobody likes a conf-tease Notre Dame.
That would mean 12-1 Georgia doesn't make the playoff. I don't like that one slip-up means you're out.
but 1 slip up means you're out....if you're Cincy
Conference Championship Victory should absolutely be a requirement for making the playoff. But that makes far too much sense so it will never happen
Does a one loss, second place SEC team lose out on the chance to go to the playoffs in favor of a G5 conference champ?
Depends how you view the purpose of the playoff. If you think it should be about getting the 4 "best" teams to play each other where the definition of "best" is purely speculative and based on the popularity contest that is the current cfp, then no.
If you think the playoff should be a reward for the teams that did what was required to win their respective conference championships, then yes.
Put another way, two of the best teams (ostensibly) already played each other. Why on earth would anyone outside of Georgia fans want even the potential for those same two teams to play again?
I mean, I get it more if it's the 4 team playoff now, but if you expand to 8 or 16 teams, it seems more like they'd be trying to include all the teams who could potentially win it so there's no question about who the number 1 team is if there's an unbeaten team that didn't make it to the playoffs (like UCF in 2017). And if other conference champs and at-large bids can't beat the number 2 SEC team, they don't belong in the championship game either. And maybe the number 1 Big {whatever} team can beat the SEC #2, then great, they deserve to be in the championship.
I guess you mean if you're one of the favorites.
Because for anyone else, the margin is razor thin.
Am I OK with the Conference Championship having some meaning? Yes.
Just consider the Conference Championship game as the first round of the playoffs.
Then you're punishing people for being in a good conference. For the first round of the playoffs Georgia has to play Alabama meanwhile Louisiana gets to play App State. Not exactly apples to apples.
You're right about that. I don't love it, but unless you want to go larger (16 teams), the alternative is telling teams that win every single game on the schedule they never stood a chance.
And not that I'd be in favor of it, but while we're hypothetically punishing teams for playing in strong conferences: let's kick that can down the road a few kicks. You know what it would do? It would break up the P5 conferences into smaller, less concentrated conferences. This would be worth less money on a per conference basis, resulting in less money for the schools and networks, but probably increasing the quality of the sport through increased parity.
Like I say, I'm not in favor of that per se, but it may not be the worst thing that ever happened.
this. each conference getting a seat at the table means less pressure to consolidate in 24 team mega-conferences.
Long term, this would lay the groundwork for forcing a little more parity into college football. There is too much imbalance in the power dynamics and its not good for the sport. It's great for a select few- the ones holding all the Aces- but overall, it's detrimental. There needs to be a major structural change to the sport. Making conference championship victory a requirement is the first small step in that direction
Maybe there SHOULD be more parity around the NCAA. Maybe some more reasons to take your talent to a conference other than the SEC.
Is that less fair than letting one conference hoard all the TV and playoff money?
No amount of playoff spots will result in more parity in this sport. Talent distribution isn't changing because of playoff access. That isn't the main goal of elite high school talent, it's the NFL, and iron sharpens iron in practice via talent consolidation at top schools like Bama, Ohio State, UGA, etc.
And in the case of any kind of ties, a 3-legged sack race on alternating Sundays until a winner is determined.
One of the reasons why I wish half the bowl games would be eliminated. Make them special occurrences that mean something for top teams and not just participation trophies for 6-6 or 7-5 teams. Totally understand players on 6-6 or 7-5 teams opting out of lower bowl games. Heck, I can understand someone on a 9-3 team opting out of a pretty good bowl game. But suspect there would be a lot less of it if saying you won a bowl game really had meaning like a Fiesta or Orange Bowl does and not 10 bowls sponsored by companies I've never even heard of played in front of 20,000 people.
Apparently Bud doesn't care much for it either...
https://twitter.com/coachfostervt/status/1467938478348402690?s=21
Imagine going to a game, looking over and there's Coach Foster.
Buds Twitter is kind of awesome, retweeting ALL the Brent Pry recruiting stuff
Edit: Adding this bc it is AWESOME
I feel like this is one part of moneyball that not everyone is ready for. If the goal is the NFL, once you are high enough in the draft then no reason to play any more. In the past NFL teams looked down upon that, but now it's viewed as business and better for NFL teams to get players with less wear and tear.
I hope we get a lot of looks at Jaylen Jones, Da'Wain Lofton (please stay), and Dallan Wright, and any other young WR who is going to work hard to show out in these bowl practices so they have a chance to impress in the bowl game knowing there are spots up for grabs.
I also am interested to see some of those young LB bodies we brought in the last class. I can say with certainty that Jaden Keller definitely looks the part standing on the sideline in pads.
Dallan Wright please... he looked really dynamic on film. For a team lacking in game breakers, I thought he'd get the under 4 game RS treatment to see what he could do.
Here's to hoping Corn opts out, instead of anyone else.
Let's send Corny into the Portal.
I'd like to see more of Tenuta in the red zone passing game. UVA gave us the blueprint.
Maaan, you're outta whack!
Wondering if the opt outs have to do with schollie numbers, and the coaches are saying go, thanks for your time....🤔
I'm not opposed to it.
Gives the new staff plenty to work with getting transfers and new recruits.
It resets the clock giving more players 3-4 years of possible first team minutes with the new staff. We should have lots of sophomores and freshman.
Seems like Nizioliek is onto the same mindset you are
https://twitter.com/michaelniziolek/status/1468032159613001730?t=Ou2rWQ7...
With Kadum in the portal, do we see Bullock at all? Those are our only 2 QBs (Bullock and BB) until Orji gets here or we pick up someone from the portal, right?
Does Maryland try to abuse BB any way possible to force the issue?
Connor Blumrick
Ugh, can't believe I forgot him. But he's not ready to shoulder full-time QB duties if BB is injured though, right? I'd still like to see Bullock if possible.
What's the deal with Payoute? I haven't seen his name mentioned in the thread. He is the kid I would like to see get plenty of passes in the game.
He's been held up with duct tape and prayers since he got to Blacksburg. He got some snaps in this year, but otherwise been on the trainers table.
A new S&C coach should hopefully help with limiting injuries, and getting him on the field full time.
I want to see Jaden Keller play some just because he went to my high school and is only the second person ever to from there to play for the Hokies.