Since the last time was so much fun, let's bet fake Internet bucks again. On June 13th the Golden Nugget released lines on 200 college football games—"Games of the Year". Seven Virginia Tech games are on the opening board. It's not even July yet, so these lines are sure to move between now and the end of August, as well as throughout the season. For the purposes of a work break and discussion starter, let's use these lines and I'm going to gift everyone 35 fake Internet dollars. (For anyone curious, as of noon today, one fake Internet dollar is approximately .035 turkey legs according to Thekeyplay.com's fake money exchange.) Bet as much or as little on each game as you'd like.
9/6 – Virginia Tech at Ohio St (-18)
As of right now, I'm struggling to envision a realistic winning scenario for Virginia Tech. Ultimately it would take the offense kicking it into high gear with only a single warmup game under its belt. While I think Loeffler's unit will eventually settle into an effective rhythm in 2014, a green quarterback and new blocking scheme are major hurdles to clear right out of the gate. Phil Steele rated Ohio State's d-line tops in the country, and for good reason, Ohio State returns its entire three-deep. This is Ohio State's home opener so Ohio Stadium will be juiced, and that could make tough for an inexperienced QB and new-look o-line to communicate.
Tech keeping it within 18 points is much more plausible. For as deep as the Buckeyes' d-line is, the offensive line is inexperienced, and while Braxton Miller is a terrific runner on designed plays, he isn't as dangerous a downfield passer. Those a favorable match ups for the Hokies. Tech's fast attacking defensive line should give Ohio State fits, and Torrian Gray's secondary should be among the nation's best. Also, Bud Foster has some experience defending a single-wing spread by virtue of playing Clemson.
The bet: $0. I won't have a beat on the type of team Tech is until after this game.
9/20 – Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech (-7)
The last couple of years Virginia Tech has been on the winning side of closely contested Techmo Bowls. Logan Thomas engaging beast mode and grinding out tough yards between the tackles was a difference maker for the Hokies. Logan converting on 3rd-and-Logan allowed the Hokies to sustain drives, keep pace offensively, and limit Georgia Tech's time of possession. Who's going to pickup a tough three yards when it matters?
The bet: $5 on Virginia Tech. The game's in Lane, Bud has CPJ figured out, and between Edmunds, Williams, Caleb, and perhaps even McKenzie four games into the season Tech will identify a dependable rushing attack.
10/4 – Virginia Tech at North Carolina (-10)
Covering 10 points, even at home, seems like a tall order for a team that finished 7-6 last season. Oh, six of those wins occurred during UNC's last seven games, it's more clear why folks are hopping on the bandwagon.
The strong finish was aided by a soft second-half schedule, but more importantly UNC started to live up to its potential. Eric Ebron is gone, but dual-threat QB Marquise Williams is on the verge of a breakout campaign.
The bet: $7 on Virginia Tech. I think UNC wins this one, but it'll be close. Tech's fast and athletic d-line should hound Williams and Kendall and the gang will capitalize on any mistakes. UNC's defense was slightly better than average last year (49th F/+), and will be without defensive end Kareem Martin who made the other 10 defenders' jobs easier. Even so, without seeing the Heels play my gut feeling has the gabble, and matching UNC's offensive output will be tough because I expect them to light it up. Punt returner Ryan Switzer (20.9 yards per return, 5 TDs) could be the x-factor.
10/16 – Virginia Tech at Pittsburgh (-1)
The bet: $0. Last season was the first time in a while things went as expected against Pitt. Virginia Tech was the better team on paper and they won convincingly. This is the exception to the rule, logic cannot be applied to Virginia Tech-Pitt, so I won't try. In matters of football, Pitt owns my psyche, so I'm staying away.
10/23 – Miami, Fl at Virginia Tech (-1)
Here's an except of Bill Connelly's conclusion from his Miami preview.
No matter how hard I try, no matter how much I balk at the names on the quarterbacks list, I just cannot be worried about the Miami offense. There's too much proven talent at the skill positions, and the line should still be solid, if not quite as good as last year. The offense will score.
But as they say, defense travels. And considering most of Miami's bigger games are on the road in 2014 -- Louisville, Nebraska, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech -- the Hurricanes' fortunes in 2014 will probably be tied to defensive competence. There just wasn't enough of it in 2013. The line wasn't talented enough, and the secondary suffered a glitch for every good play. The front of the defense gets some new blood, and the back is far more experienced, but there's a very good chance that defense will hold the Hurricanes back again this fall. The question is how much.
Miami's stocked at the skill positions. However, I'm going to wager that pressure of Thursday night in Blacksburg gets to whichever inexperienced quarterback is under center.
The bet: $10 on Virginia Tech.
11/1 – Boston College at Virginia Tech (-16)
Phil Steele ranks Boston College as the second least experienced team in the country. That doesn't bode well for a program that recruits at about a 3-star level and is in the middle of a rebuild.
The bet: $5 on Boston College. Maybe I'm too impressed by Steve Addazio's commitment to the run and dude-ification of Boston College's roster.
I cringe thinking about Andre Williams leading the Eagles' man-ball ground attack. He's gone (I'm so happy the Giants nabbed him), but Addazio has a vision, and tough nosed football will eliminate gimme games against Boston College. I don't think the Eagles will pull off the upset on the road, but by November I think a young team will start to come around and Tech will win by 10-14, but not more than 16 points.
11/28 – Virginia at Virginia Tech (-14)
10: IF ($COACH == "MIKE LONDON") THEN
20: CALL BET("$8", "VIRGINIA TECH)
30: CALL LAUGH("LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL")
40: GOTO 30
50: ELSE
60: CALL SEARCH_COACH($UNREALISTIC_CANDIDATES)
70: END IF
80: END
Comments
Is there a way to complete the turkey leg to fake internet dollar exchange so I can make it a $38 bet against UVA?
Nice little outlook on the season. I'll be looking to LOLOLOLOLOL in loop come Black Friday.
I think you give a little too much credit (albeit via Phil Steele) to Ohio State's defense. They gave up plenty of points last year to lesser opponents. Not saying we will be able to score on them easily as that depends on our QB situation come fall, but I don't think their 'top returning d-line' deserves quite as much credit as is given.
Agreed, their defense was awful last season. They gave up at least 20 per game but the offense was another story. I'd put money on a close game at half-time that gets away late for the Hokies.
That UNC spread at 10 points just seems way too high. We might lose that game, but I can't see us losing by double digits. We're a better team than we were last year and we didn't exactly have to work our asses off to beat them
I'm going to agree that 10 points seems high but don't discount Williams at QB. If you remember, he came in half way through the game last year after injury took Renner out. Had he started that game, we could be looking at a different outcome. Yes their schedule was significantly easily on the backhalf but Ebron aside, Williams is a game changer I think that will keep them in every game just like TT5 did for us.
Edit by popular demand: I didn't do the research but for some reason I remember thinking Williams came into the game without being prepared at all. But by the end of the game, you could tell he was starting to get it and its fortunate it took him that long because the point deficit was too great.
I'm pretty sure Williams started the game. Looking at the game on hokiesports.com I don't see any mention of Renner. Williams took the first snap. I think he was ruled out a couple of days before the game. That still isn't a lot of prep time, but it's not like he was thrown into the fire without a game plan for him.
After a little more research, Renner definitely sat out against us with a foot injury.
Yep... Renner was out that game and Williams played the whole thing, and looked pretty darn pedestrian in the process. Then again, Bud Foster's defense will do that to a lot of guys, but I dunno.... I just don't see this massive 20 point swing that the bettors are predicting. We're a better team now than we were last year. I don't see Carolina being a 20 point swing overtop of the amount we've improved... I just don't see it.
My memory may be fuzzy, but I thought Williams looked pretty good.
I also seem to remember that UNC was saying Renner was going to start that game, forcing Foster to game-plan for the wrong QB. That, and the lack of film on Williams made for some nice plays from him.
Granted, we knew Renner was hurt and questionable, but my point is that were we able to game-plan mainly for Williams, there's a good chance he would have looked far worse than pedestrian.
The potential is there, but I don't accept this as a fact right now.
Yep, as of now we can't truthfully say that.
Renner was ruled out like 1 hour before the game started. They were just trying have us prepare for 2 different styles of play. I think they were successful in that regard, but unfortunately for them Bud Foster was not ruled out for that game either.
Williams' passing numbers were pretty pedestrian last year (except against ODU) against mostly below average teams. However, he was a decent threat on the ground (which can be kryptonite to a Bud Foster defense though).
Yep... that's pretty much how I thought of him last year. Decent threat on the ground... Force him to throw and UNC will struggle
I really don't think that people realize how much losing Eric Ebron will hurt their offense. I see their offense taking a big step back with Williams losing his safety valve.
Excluding the LOLUVA game, I split my money evenly between three games.
$12 VT covers vs Miami
$12 VT covers vs UNC
$11 BC covers vs VT
BC always plays us too close and I hate it
I would take UVA and the points. It seems they play us closer at Lane than in Charlottesville.
Yea I will just go ahead and put all 35 on tech over UVA. Money in the bank.
Gong to pick VT for $5 in the OSU game. The REAL Pryor will stand up and it won't be Richard, although he will be running around like his $@%$s are on fire. That'll put me at $40.
Put $10 on VT over GaT.
Put $1 on VT over UNC. 10 is a wonky number, so if I can buy it down a hook to 9.5 for anther $1, I'm in!
Put $9 on VT to win outright over Pitt. Bungholes. Hope we stomp them. This should put me up $25 at this point.....just sayin.
$5 to cover against Miami. They have whomever they want at QB.
$5 is "left" on our cover against BC. But, in reality, I would put everything I have on this game.
And then go all in against UVAlol....
$35 on Tech to uspet anOSU, please. #IBelieveThatWeWillWin
I think you have to do the "End" first before you can call "End IF" based on the way you've nested it.
correcting the syntax of the site admin...ballsy
If it does it'll buy you one heckuva pumpkin.
The "VIRGINIATECH" string also needs a close-quote.
Kudos, Joe, for including some geeky awesomeness.
That missing quote was a typo. The IF, ELSE, END IF block is fine, even though it's pseudo code and has no syntax requirements.
This is me trying to understand everyone's code speak...
Ah, I read it as call Laugh, then the next line is goto 30, so I thought I'd call Laugh again, at which point I'd goto 30 again, so it looked like I bet 8$ on VT then laughed forever.
$35 on us to cover against Ohio University or whatever that school is. You know that team with the mascot with the chocolate covered pumpkin head.
I will then take all the winnings and put it on us to cover the 200 point spread against UVa.
The winnings from that game will then be reinvested into opening a high-end chipotle closer to Joes house.
$5 VT covers the spread against anOSU - Bud makes good offenses look pedestrian early in the year. I think we keep it close
$15 VT beats Pitt outright, because screw them. I feel like the Spinal Tap drummer "It can't happen EVERY time, right?"
$5 VT covers the spread against UNC. Even if we do lose here (which I admit is a toss-up at this point), I think it'll be closer than 10.
$10 VT beats the Canes. They don't scare me. Haven't in years. Sucks to be U
I think Tech beats the spread against anOSU definitely.
$5 on VT to cover the anOSU game. I can see us being pumped for that one. I don't know if we'll win, but -18 is too big of a spread.
$5 for VT to cover the UNC game, maybe win outright. Either way, at this point I see this game coming down to no more than 3 points.
$10 on VT to cover the Miami game. I feel like we're going to be on the right side of a good old-fashioned stomping on that Thursday night. And that day is my birthday, so we have to win; it's the law.
$5 on BC to cover. I don't like the -16 line. VT wins it at home, but it's not by 16.
$10 on VT over UVA. VT will be going for 9-10 wins and UVA will be going...home.
You know, I'm going to, and please don't crucify me, put all the money on UVA to cover...nah just kidding. Put me down for $35 on VT vs anOSU. I like to live life on the edge.
I've never bet on sports before, but if anyone is interested here is a site that had good reviews: https://m.bovada.lv/#
But Skipper firing isnt always a safe bet!
3 of the past 4 years it has had a misfire or the lanyard/firing pin break!
When it comes to betting on VT, I only like to bet the moneyline when they're huge underdogs. I look at this way, if I have $100 to burn (I can save up by not going to bars, etc.), I'll put it all on VT. Let's make the OSU vs. VT game more fun. If they lose, so what, I would've wasted that money in degenerate fashion anyways. If they win, I'm happy because VT just upset a top-5 team and that $100 I bet just turned into $400 (or so).
So, with internet bucks, all $35 on the moneyline (even though we don't have the payout yet) for VT in the OSU game.
I'd like to bet one half of all my turkey legs on us beating Miami, and the other half on us beating Virginia. Thank you, and good night.