Recent Comments
We could totally change the background to Lane Stadium North, and make Beamer say "I don't have a ticket, I've been winning here forever."
That's funny. I had just told my wife I was reading one of French's articles and she asked me how many times I had had to read it. For the first time ever, I told her I got it all the first time through.
Snyder moves were always at the beginning of free agency, bringing in players past their prime
So jumping to overpay him 20 seconds after he was made a free agent is better than jumping and overpaying at the immediate open of Free Agency? Look, I'll give you that Norman is in his prime right now, but I don't think he's on the upswing anymore.
Regardless, 5 years at $15m a year and $50m guaranteed for a 28 year old guy who has shown he cannot effectively and routinely play man to man when the previous team was willing to cut ties with him without getting anything in return after having benched said player for routinely being in the coaching staff's doghouse... Yeesh, I just don't see this ending well. Personally, I don't think he's a legitimate lockdown corner. He eliminated half the field in Carolina, but that was him being in the perfect situation in the perfect system to showcase his abilities. But man, when he was asked to cover a guy in man, things got ugly fast. Without the front 7 Carolina has, with their ability to force errant throws, I don't think it'll suit him nearly as much. He's not the kind of guy who is going to be out there forcing coverage sacks. I do think he'll help the Washington defense, but I don't think he'll be nearly the answer that Washington thinks he will be.
I think both schools are using the same philosophy but trying to use different strategies to get there.
From the VT perspective, we invest in football and men's basketball because they're the primary revenue generators and by leveraging those two sports, we can support the rest of our non-revenue sports. In both cases, it is extremely difficult to produce a winner because those two sports get most of the attention among our peer institutions, but the revenue will be there to support the rest of the athletic department.
LOLUVA is taking a similar approach, but with a different goal. They've focused on sports like baseball and basketball because those take a much smaller capital investment than football does and they try to find ways to make those sports into winners (note, they've been pretty successful with them).
So in both cases, I think the schools are using the 'rising tide raises all boats' approach, and we've tried to prioritize revenue generation while LOLUVA has tried to prioritize winning where they are most competitive.
Fuente's offense doesn't feature many formations.
My Hokie heart just jumped for joy and sighed in relief
I'll take 6k behind Clemson after a 7-6 season when they are heading into the season with more preseason hype than they have ever had. That's really awesome.
This is exactly what I said was going to happen. WBB gets hammered. FB gets a slap in the wrist. MBB/Roy gets completely off.
NCAA should just stop trying. Just become a for profit corporation that runs the playoffs. The vail of "enforcement" is such a joke.
The biggest difference is that in the Bama-Auburn and Michigan-MSU rivalries, both schools not only despise each other, but have very strong and rabid football fanbases and an athletics department committed to the sport. UVa football support is pathetic. There is such a cultural difference between the UVa and VT football programs that it really diminishes the magnitude of the game. Sure, UVa has their fans with no connection to the school or program who think football is a huge deal, but most of the students and alumni could probably care less about the program to be honest.
You got a really good picture of notable option cornerback Tyrod Taylor.
So, are we all prepared for an entire season of teasing us until they leave us with a hint at what happened to Jon during the final episode?
Mine as well, but then we have examples like Auburn and Michigan State as counterexamples.
The best case scenario is that UVA goes 11-1 every year after losing to us.
Concur
You must not have heard: we're an offensive team now. We have absolutely nothing new on defense this year. No one we play needs to worry about Bud anymore. They would be wasting time if they did.
Then I hope Evans does too because I don't see how a nicely timed backshoulder to Bucky could be stopped
...so was hiring London.
Paxton Lynch just really loves that back shoulder. They bring it up in his Gruden interview (which has a few Fuente tidbits btw)
Completely agree with your assessment of the RB situation. It was hard to really get a grasp on where Fuente stands with them. I agree about Rogers. Absolutely love the guy, and he is a true leader on the field, but his running style isn't exactly going to play to the strengths of this offense. Would much rather see him in the H-Back role and occasionally lining up in the slot. Perhaps Fuente was trying to give Peoples and Durkin more reps there since Rogers is a known quantity. Peoples is definitely a heck of a football player, and I think Durkin also needs to see the field a lot this year as well with his raw talent.
We obviously also know what we have in McMillian at RB, and it looks like McKenzie is finally getting back to his old self. Was very impressed with Reid as well - great blend of power, size, and speed.
I just see 2 programs on 2 completely different paths, with one growing such a tremendous head start that if this continues much longer, not sure the other will truly catch back up.
this is my sincere hope
French, in your breakdown of the Memohis offense what kind of commitment to option packages do you expect from the offense this season? It sounds like we finally have a QB in Evans that can effectively influence the defense with his mesh points. Haven't really seen a lot of that since Randall in 2004 IMO.
The problem is... I really just don't think they care, and as long as baseball or basketball is continuing to play at a high level, I don't think they will truly care. They've made the call to double down on the sports they are good at while just resigning to the fact they probably won't be good at football, and that is ok for them. I don't think they truly have aspirations to ever contend for the ACC title or play for a National Championship. Really, for them a successful season is a bowl game, and a win over us would be something they would celebrate for decades to come.
All of this while VT is doubling down on the investment into football and ensuring we continue to have a road map towards national relevance. I just see 2 programs on 2 completely different paths, with one growing such a tremendous head start that if this continues much longer, not sure the other will truly catch back up.
Did you notice any new defensive fronts that we havent seen? Any new wrinkles/disguises Bud may have tried to work in this Spring?
No. They pinned nearly everything on nearly everything. The one single finding related specifically to WBB was a self-reported finding...what was the NCAA supposed to do? Not report it?
Now this may very well be more of nothing, but on the surface this is 5 more severe allegations. I can't tell my sources (let's just say I do a lot of university compliance related work at various schools - albeit non-athletic compliance - and I might be doing work right now at a certain university in a state south of VA), but FWIW I had 2nd hand sources tell me last night that the poobahs at UNC met yesterday and are concerned.
Games.. how does he even know what those are don't they only have festivals?
Said someone in every "Redskins sign..." thread ever. :)