Saturday is almost here,
The wait is over,
The butterflies and anxiousness is at an apex,
I'm hopeful at a better year than last,
With that being said, what are your score predictions for this first game?
I say 31-14 VT, what say you?
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17-14 VT
VT wins 30-10, scoring the most points ever in the Brent Pry era.
We leave the game with a convincing win, but a lot to work on.
The optimists will point to a vanilla game plan with limited variety and maintain hope that the offense can be effective. The pessimists will be convinced it's time to replace Bowen. The rest of us will want a larger sample size. Every fan will be overconfident in our defense.
This feels way to real for me.
This is my take. But, I don't know if ODU gets a special teams or defensive touchdown unless VT gives them a complete gift like last year.
Can the Fordham OC transfer the Fordham offensive success to FBS? Fordham's offense was up tempo with 70+ plays a game, which dramatically affected their defense (gave up a ton of points). With ODU's lack of talent, I don't see that being a recipe for success against VT's deep defensive line and so it'll be interesting to see how that will play out. If they do try to go up tempo, I think VT will win big here, resulting in more opportunities for VT's skilled players to make plays on both offense and defense.
VT wins 38 - 3, getting fans hyped. It will all be a façade due to ODU being atrociously bad.
I believe this will absolutely happen.
We found Brent Pry's sleeper account.
Confirmed
You're never going to let us forget that are you? As you should never let us forget.
Nope! At least not as long as Pry is in our good graces. If he gets close to being fired one day I'll stop bringing it up.
where have I seen this before?
I don't see ODU scoring much at all. I'll say they get a fg each half. We'll score just by pure possession time but still an underwhelming amount considering how poorly ODU plays on offense.
Give me 20-6
I'm going with a 30-6 victory.
I think we'll start off a bit slow on offense, but I think the Tuten/Thomas combo will be rolling before halftime. That will help loosen things up for the offense and I think we'll see a couple big plays in the passing game.
As stated above, I'm not sure ODU does much of anything on offense. The QB will be under pressure all day and I think we'll get into his head early - even though I think he'll complete a few short passes in the first couple of drives.
VT wins going away Fam.
17-10 Hokies
Three Southern Pines Man of Law IPAs out of a Tech Tervis or if it's going badly, a New Riff Manhattan.
Also 28-13
I don't know, a New Riff Manhattan could be celebratory as well
That is very true. Timing of when the drink is poured is everything
Where are you getting your hands on New Riff? I didn't realize they were distributing much outside of Ohio/KY.
Pretty regularly available in PA and DE
I haven't checked VA, but I see it all the time in MD as well.
I didn't realize their reach had grown so much. I grabbed a bottle of their single barrel from the distillery when they first started selling and was pretty impressed with it.
They've expanded quite a bit over the last few years. Plus if Seelbach's or SharedPour can ship to you, they often have single barrels available.
24-7
I could see us getting a quick score but then a slog through the rest of the game. Would love to see TDs come from explosive plays, like a Tuten 50 yard score and Jennings deep ball. Halftime could be 7-7. I also predict at least 2 punts from our own side of the field
34-10 for the good guys. Go Hokies!
VT's defense plays well to very well. ODU tries to go with the 15 play drive approach early, but our defense makes plays. VT's offense will string 3 good plays together where everyone blocks who they are supposed to block, then has a false start etc. VT stuggles to score TD's as opposed to FGs. VT 20 ODU 17
I may be eating crow here, but I don't think ODU snuffs a TD until late when the game is over. As I keep saying, I don't think people understand just how bad this team is, particularly the offense. There's not a chance they put up 17 unless Wells is throwing their TD passes.
How good were they on offense the year they threw it 60 times right over Bryce Watt's head?
So many things to say regarding this statement, not least of which is the fact that Bryce Watts was not a P5 player, or G5 player for that matter. I digress...
To keep this short, ODU won last year because we turned the ball over 5 times and they completed a late Hail Mary pass... We completely imploded in every single phase of the game. and ODU won by 3 points. Yes, 3 points...
Coach Pry turned over almost 50% of the roster between that game and the one coming up on Saturday, and all of is appears to be significant upgrades where there were holes. ODU turned over 41% of its roster and most of it appears to be downgrades, not least of which was the QB position where they have a backup FCS transfer. Their OL was a sieve last year (including against us) and it's worse this year. They lost every single playmaker on offense and most everyone of note on defense.
To add, they have a new offensive coordinator. Breaking in a new scheme is challenging, especially when you don't even have G5 talent on the roster.
We all know the shitshow that has been VT football for the past 5 seasons, and last year was the bottom. It's a game so to your point, anything can happen. However, The culture appears to be very different right now. I understand that we all need to have a "wait and see" posture, however I do think there is a lot of energy and optimism surrounding the program. I have no idea how many wins this translates into, but I'm taking the -16 all day long on this one.
I don't think ODU scores a TD, unless it's in garbage time. It's a prediction, so I could miss it. However, I'd be very surprised if my prediction doesn't ring true.
Ugly low scoring slugfest and slogfest. Inability of either offense to move the ball consistently. FGs instead of TDs as offenses bog down when they do get a drive. Do think VT comes out on top.
VT over ODU 23-13.
Please note, I am bullish on VT in the intermediate term. Hoping for 6-7 wins in 2024 coupled with a bowl win to get to 7-6 or 8-5. Then have a chance to be good (9-4 or better) in 2025. But don't expect that much improvement this year over last in terms of wins. Too many concerns on the OL and too many really young players that have some talent, but not the experience yet.
Hokies break 30 for the first time since November 13, 2021.
Tuten and Thomas each rush for a score and at least 75 yards each on fewer than 25 total carries
Wells hits Jennings and Felton for scores. Felton goes up and gets one in tight coverage, Jennings slips contain and gets behind the safety for the other.
Powell gets a couple of sacks and is a decidedly greater disruptive force on defense than we've seen in a few seasons.
Lane houses a punt return
Love goes 2 of 3, missing one of 45+, hitting one of 45+ and another in the 30s.
ODU doesn't get much going until the 4th quarter, as the Hokies have pulled a few starters.
41-10 VT.
Yardage: VT 210 rushing, 185 passing, ODU 275 total yards
Your first sentence is so fucking sad. Great call Whit for eliminating Bud and others because you would only consider an "offensive" head coach. Well your offense sucks Whit.
38-10 Hokies
24 - 0 at the Half - Drones has a rushing TD in goal line situation - VT rushes for 200+ and passes for 200+. Defense looks really good - 3 sacks, 1 INT.
MY GOD 400 yards of offense???? Is that a thing that teams do?
Why do you think I put us at 395
VT had 333 total yards last year against ODU! With Keshawn King as the leading rusher and Gallo as our leading receiver. I'll take 70 yards of offensive improvement easily.
Ali Jennings dropped 122 by himself on us.
45 -7
We're gonna win this game by like 10 or less (and a win is not near guaranteed). Still don't know that this team can score points, and ODU has a pretty decent defense. I could see low scoring like 24-13 or 30-20 with some defense/ST scores.
People picking VT to cover the spread are nuts to me. Not going off logic, but vibes alone, don't get greedy don't bet on VT to cover a spread against a team that will play them harder than anyone else this season.
I get the collective sentiment that a win isn't guaranteed and it never is. I saw a really good VT team lose to JMU also - nobody thought "we might lose" going into that game.
We have PTSD as a fanbase - logic says this has the chance to be a major statement game. The roster is completely turned over at multiple key positions. Young talent now has a year of experience in the system. Pry in year two after inheriting a dumpster fire. A terrible VT team generally dominated ODU last year outside of Ali Jennings, insane penalties, and key mistakes.
How does that not point to a shot at major improvement?
More people are here dwelling on the recent past than there are just following vibes.
if by "recent past" you're referring to the last 20 years, then yes, yes we are.
20 years?! From 2004 - 2017 VT averaged 9.4 wins per year. What are we doing?
Some teams don't win 9-10 games in a single season over a decade.
I can't even begin to count the number of games which VT underperformed in. That doesn't exclusively mean losing to teams we shouldn't (which we have done as you pointed out with JMU in 2010 which was, *checks notes*, 13 years ago). It also means not putting teams away that we should. We've had countless games against teams we should be blasting that ended 20-17 or something. So. Many. For as long as I've been watching VT, we've played poorly against inferior competition more often than not. VT won a lot of games between 2003 and 2013 that we easily could have lost. To teams that shouldn't have had any business even being close to us. ECU comes to mind several times. Marshall in like 2011 went to 3OT and we won, but it was very uncomfortable. Beating Duke by a single touchdown several times over. Close games with a bad GT team. DC's favorites (Pitt, BC) always beating us or nearly beating us with bad teams. For the last 20 years, VT has done a very poor job of really soundly beating teams that they should beat. Sometimes even losing.
Of course we do. Because, like I said, for the last 20 years we've "played down" to the talent level. We've lost games we shouldn't. We've narrowly escaped with slim victories over teams that we should be, on paper, blasting by 2+ scores. So recent history, aka, the last 20 years, suggests that even though we should be a lot better than ODU, we likely will come out looking flat/sleepy and they will hang around and the game will be much, much closer than it should be. Kinda like last year. And 2018.
We can go ahead and just count the number of times we've played Boston College and that'd be a good number to start the count at.
well there's at least 18 or 19 right there
though, in fairness, we did absolutely throttle them a couple of times. But a majority of them were closer than they should have been
Not gonna lie I didn't even read the rest of your above comment before posting then laughed when you mentioned BC.
They're always a pain and they're never good. We occasionally wiped the floor with them when we should have been doing it year in and year out since we joined the ACC.
I think he is referring to offensive production - or lack thereof - for the past 20 years and not wins. Agree with him on the offense and largely agree with you on the wins. But when you go 2004-2017 you are leaving out a pretty big chunk of the last 20 years.
Edit - whoops, okay, he was referring to lousy play against bad teams/choking, so yet a third thing. Oh well, I can agree with all 3 points about VT:
Lots of wins
Terrible-to mediocre offense being carried by the defense and special teams
Some real bad choke jobs against teams that are supposed to be vastly inferior to us
offense is absolutely a part of it. If not for Bud's elite defenses most of those years, we would have been a 6-to-8 win team most years. AT best.
But they weren't 6-8 win teams! They were regularly 9-10 win teams.
Are we really trying to act like VT isn't one of the best CFB programs over the last 25 years? Do I think they maximized their potential every year - not at all. Can I separate that from realizing they have still been really good - yes.
VT ranks 12th in wins over the last 25 years. Have we lost sight of how insanely good that is?
"The Patriots would have sucked without Tom Brady" type argument doesn't work because it didn't happen that way.
I think we're getting sidetracked here. You said people were "dwelling on the recent past" and I quipped that the recent past included the last 20 years. You also said that fans have PTSD as a fanbase.
My point is that for the last 20 years, our team has had a lot of games where they played poorly against lesser competition. That is the PTSD we have. We're conditioned to seeing our team look like crap against crap teams. It has been that way for a long time. Sometimes we beat those crap teams but we didn't do so convincingly. Sometimes we lost to those crap teams and those losses sting. A lot. Point is, we have PTSD because we have fairly regularly underperformed against inferior opponents for the better part of the last 20 years.
31-10 VT.
Some heartburn in the first half while the O starts to gel. First series is a 3 and out.
We're not going to cover. Period, end of discussion. Very high likelihood we're going to win.
I foresee us getting chunk yards in the ground game, Wells doing fine finding his first option but struggling to make the second read, weird sacks / false starts by the o-line, and the defense starting off strong but getting frustrated/tired. Ali Jennings makes 1-2 plays which justifies the hype. Tucker Holloway does damage on special teams.
23-13 Hokies. If I was a gambling man (and I am), I would parlay ODU covering with the under.
Predicting an injury to Jaylin Lane?
Oh, I missed that. Replace Tucker with Jaylin, same sentiment.
35-3. Tech surprises everybody with an offense that runs for over 250 yards and passes for 150+. Defense forces two turnovers and returns one.
Game with some highs and lulls. Enough to celebrate and feel ok about playing Purdue. Hopefully one defensive TD.
31-9
41-13
25-7 good guys win
VT wins 30-13
28-7, good guys.
A TD a quarter while we try and figure out a few things offensively.
As long as Wells is QB1, I have no fucking clue... This will sound stupid/silly, but he has no dog in him. Has nothing to play for. Not going to NFL, graduate student, already married... Throws 4 picks, and just gonna jump on his hot wife afterwards.
Also, first post as a Key Play member... missed you guys... Go Hokies!
Glad to have you back man.
ODU gets one of those explosive runs through miscommunication or error by the VT LB's.
I'm hoping the OL can learn to communicate and work together in a scheme that more fits their talents.
Better WR room doesn't drop everything.
We miss a FG. Gotta examine his foot long range dontcha know.
20-7.
14-10 overdose, they score no offensive touchdowns
52-7. VT wins big, shocking everyone, including myself.
Might as well dream big before my hopes get dashed on the cruel rocks of reality.
Prediction?
30-10 in a game that makes us feel way too good about the rest of the season.
23-10 to the good guys. Beautiful first drive of scripted plays for an easy looking TD. Get the ball in great field position on a 3 and out, and Jennings tips an interception to give them a field goal. Wells gets timid and our drives stall, but we win field position with a few chunk plays behind good defense to grind out long field goals to go in 13-3. Start the second trading punts until we get field position for a field goal in the second half. Bad turn over by the offense tightens it at 13-10 before we wear them down and break a long TD. Drones comes in to run and burn time, but misses every decent throw. Defense finally gets a turnover to stop deep drive. We run the clock out running the ball because we want another score instead of taking knee, but are afraid to throw it.
31-17 Hokies. ODU covers and the game hits the over, with the most points scored in the Pry era.
Enough happens on offense and defense that we feel cautiously optimistic for the next few games to build something, but also some unforced errors to keep us grounded.
Kam's number in Seattle = 31
Kam's number in Blacksburg = 17
Name checks out
36-10. Keli Lawson begins his Heisman campaign with a 12 tackle, 2.5 sack, 1 Int TD performance.
This would be glorious
Prediction: Pry was serious that both quarterbacks are going to play. Drones lines up out wide and runs a jet sweep, first play. Then throws it for 40 yards. We continue to run the sweep motion all game long and ODU has to account for both quarterbacks.
Would be cool to see 😂
Idk, seeing "jet sweep" and "cool" in the same sentence just feels dirty to me....
I'm taking ODU and the under if I'm putting any money on the game.
VT moneyline, ODU to cover 16, and under 47.5
If you find an app that allows that, let me know.
Its on FanDuel, you just can't be in VA.
Their app allows same game parlays? cool thanks
Yep, same with DraftKings.
34-13 good guys
34 - 13 Hokies
Drink!
Someone brought in donuts for work today so I say we get a donut on Saturday. 24-0 to VT.
Thought you might go with 38-0 bro.
I'm feeling a 28-10, closer than the box score looks, uneasy type of game.
I have a feeling we go out and throttle ODU. Think the team is motivated and will be a great Saturday night crowd at lane. I think we are more talented and it will show. 45-10 VT.
At half time we should make a special presentation
Maintenance crew should all come out and present one of those huge ceremonial "Keys to the Elevator" to the ODU coaching staff.
23 - 10 HOKIES!
So far this thread, 36 predictions:
VT ODU Spread
Hi: 52 17 45
Avg: 30 10 20
Low: 14 0 3
can I also get quartiles and tertiles?
My prediction is VT football isn't allowed to have nice things (like convincing Week 1 wins) so we head into week 2 with as many questions to answer as we do right now.
37-3 VT. I just don't think ODU is going to be able to get anything going and our D will suffocate them, only allow one FG even tho they got the ball back on two turnovers. We owe them a beat-down and that's what they're going to get, at least as much of one as this team can muster.
However the crowd will be 100% on point, keeping seismographs for miles very busy.
ahem... for those of you (us) that like to partake in a little action... Gallo aint playing. if that influences your entertainment. No insider info here- but strong tea leaves.
This should probably feel like it's going to make a difference but I just don't feel like it is. I think we have two fairly matched back ups that can make up Gallo's on field presence. Wright is probably more of a pass catcher and st Germaine more of a blocker but both can do both things well enough to keep odu honest. You lose the on field leadership but I think you gain that back in other positions this year.
Gosnell looked good in the Spring Game. If he stays healthy I think he'll be the best TE we've had since LT3
I was going to respond to that post, but glad I didn't. This is way better than how I would have responded.
38-6 hokies
Hopefully we dominate in the first half because I have to leave at halftime. 31-0 at halftime. ODU gets some meaningless points against freshmen backups on defense, final 45-10.
I'm not good at predicting things. But between Vegas (-16, 47.5) and Phil Steele (14.5 point favorites by pure power ranking), I'm confident to go with:
VT 32 - ODU 16
I wish I could predict a comfortable VT margin of victory, or even feel confident about any win at all.
Unfortunately, as the offseason comes to an end, I can't objectively think of a reason to believe we'll be substantially better in 2023 than last season. Obviously I really hope I'm wrong, and I'd be thrilled to improve to even 5 or 6 wins.
If I have to make a prediction for Saturday, I'd say something along the lines of 19-13 with the field goal kickers having a busy day.
ODU has a ton of new players. Our oline will surprise by making holes and getting to the second level regularly. Our LBs and corners play lights out. We'll have a RB with over 100 and 2 TDs. Wells will be good enough with no turnovers.
We win 28-10 with all their points coming in the 4th. The win feels good but we go into week 2 with more questions about the offense and dline.
27-6, good guys. They get in FG range three times but go for it on 4th one of those times. We have way too many drives get derailed, but at least two of those are in FG range and we salvage points.
I predict I will be drinking Catoctin Creek Ragnarok at kickoff. Depending on the state of things at halftime, my drink will shift either to Blackened Wes Henderson edition or Knob Creek 12yr 100 proof.