W&M Pregame Notes

Background
Being a W&M Alum, and caring more than your average TKP'er about the Tribe, I thought others might enjoy a few notes from the other side for Saturday's game.

What to expect from W&M

• Not much. Seriously. This isn't one of the generally tough, but over matched W&M teams of old. They were 2 - 9 (0-8 CAA) last season, with their only wins over a couple of teams you probably didn't even know had football squads (and no, I'm talking about UVa): Norfolk State + Bucknell. Ouch.
• Their head coach for the last 38 years, Jimmye Laycock, is retiring at the end of the season, and it's a pretty classic limping out of the office of someone that's been around maybe a few years too long. Great guy though - it's just time to move on.
• In terms of game planning, W&M is a 'run the ball and play defense team', and that ain't changing now. After watching the FSU game, this should bode very well for Bud; load the box and make the QB beat you in the air or with his legs. Much like VT last year, loses at key positions, plus their youth, made them one dimensional, and they averaged a 40 year worst ... 15 points per game.
• W&M's offensive line is new but not young. Week 1 was their first time together as a unit, and they did a solid job overall against an very non-threatening Bucknell D-line. Note: don't be surprised at the size of the O-line; given this is a run first team, it's bigger than you might expect:
• LT Mark Williamson (Jr., 6'5", 305 lbs)
• LGT Dan Evers (So., 6'5", 305 lbs)
• C Nick Wimmer (Jr., 6'2", 305 lbs)
• RG Brokos Norris (Jr., 6'4", 295 lbs)
• RT Garrett Best (Sr., 6'5", 291 lbs)

Key Players:

• QB Shon Mitchell - 6' 0" - from Chesapeake, VA (Oscar Smith HS) is a former 247Sports Composite 3 Star (.8132) dual threat quarterback. He started 3 games as true freshman last year, and won the starting the job this year. As the 'dual-threat' implies, he can make plays with this feet, but it's not what he wants to do.
• TE Nick Muse - 6' 5" - 240 lbs., a sophomore from Belmont, NC. He's big with good feet and hands. He'll be difficult to shut out, and should be good for a few catches every game this year. I suspect they'll try to target him heavily for short pick-ups to keep drives alive.
• WR DeVonte Dedmon - 5' 9" 198 lbs. - from Williamsburg, VA. A 5th year senior and former 247Sports Composite 2 star (.7667) wide receiver. He is the biggest offensive threat on the team, and was injured in first game of the season last year. Don't sleep on him, he can play, and they will be looking for as many was as possible to get the ball in his hands + hope he can pop something big.
• RB Albert Funderburke Jr. - 6' 0" 205 lbs - out of Monroe, NC. He's a Junior, but I don't know what that translates to football years since he spent the better part of 2 seasons recovering from a serious injury (torn ACL with damage to coronary ligament and IT band) that threatened his career, and left him wondering if he'd ever be able to walk normally again. He was a 247Sports Composite 3 star RB (.8333) coming out of HS, and appears finally ready show what he can do. He'll take most of the snaps at RB, but much like VT, you'll probably see 2 others sharing carries.

W&M Game 1 Highlights:

• W&M (1-0) won 14-7 win over Bucknell.
• QB Shon Mitchell:
• Passing - 21 of 32 for 267 yds (1 TD / 1 int)
• Rushing - 8 for -20 yds, and 1 TD
• Rushing Leaders:
• RB Albert Funderburke: 17 Carries for 61 yds
• RB Owen Wright: 8 Carries for 25 yds
• RB Nate Evans: 8 Carries for 15 yds
• Receiving Leaders:
• WR Dedmon: 3 recs + 125 yds (1 TD)
• WR Armstrong: 5 recs + 50 yds
• TE Muse: 5 recs + 48 yds

Game Expectations:
Laycocke is old, but his eyes still work. Any thoughts he had of stealing a victory against VT as a farewell gift are gone after Monday night. He's a 5 win season away from 250 career wins, and he's likely most concerned about coming out of this game with all his players healthy so he can have a strong finish to the season.

Per the first point, W&M is going to want to do everything they can to shorten the game. I expect a very safe game in terms of play calling on the W&M side, with a few shots thrown in for Dedmon to try and break something big to steal a few points. Hope you like watching that play clock burn.

The W&M defense will be better this year than last season - it has a lot of returning starters and should be smart enough to not make too many obvious mistakes. Plus, with the offense improving (hopefully), they should be on the field less than last year. The caveat in this game is that they shouldn't be able to match up physically with VT, and if VT executes, W&M will be annoying at best, but they simply won't be able to stop them.

Final Prediction:
It's no fun not making a prediction (*cough* French *cough*), right? So, with W&M heavily focused on trying to shorten the game, don't expect a lot of points. With VT coming into this on a short week after FSU, don't expect a lot of points. With Fuente being the strategic guy he is, and liking to keep things vanilla as much as possible, so as not to expose too much intel, again don't expect a lot of points. Translation ... offensive Ambien. I'd love it if the coaches told the starters they had 1 quarter to play, and to make the most of it before the second string comes in to see what they can do, but that's just me.

Final Score: VT 33 - 6* W&M.

*Disclaimer - I'm giving W&M 6 b/c it would double FSU's point total, and that makes me happy. That said, I really can't see how W&M is going to move the ball at all this game. Shutouts are hard to find, but if there's one to be had this season, this is it.