I woke up this morning with teeth gritted, brain throbbing, and my heart aching. The Hokies played their collective asses off last night, and for the outcome to be what it was just makes you sick to your stomach for those kids. The defensive line, perhaps for the first time since the injury to Antoine Hopkins, completely dominated the line of scrimmage. The Hokie secondary (after a couple of hickups early) was a ballhawking unit. The linebackers did all that was asked to make Denard Robinson look like a freshman without a clue. Logan Thomas and his receivers had an outstanding game.

Well folks, our long journey has brought us full circle. The Hokies arrive in Charlotte prepared to face a Clemson team which dominated them in Blacksburg several months ago. The Hokies have improved their level of play since that loss, as several key receivers have returned to health, Logan Thomas has gone from a question mark to THE ANSWER, and the defense has seen growth from their young players standing in for injured defensive stalwarts. Clemson however, stumbles into this game as losers of 3 of their last 4, including being dominated at the hands of South Carolina (who was without several top offensive weapons including Marcus Lattimore.) Vegas has established the Hokies as solid favorites, despite Clemson's win in Blacksburg.

Here it is. One big game that has implications on Commonwealth bragging rights, recruiting supremacy, an ACC championship, a BCS bowl, and a long shot at playing for a national championship. Any Hokie football player, whose focus is not 100% on not only winning in Charlottesville on Saturday, but making an emphatic statement of dominance, should be punched right in the dick.

From a matchup perspective, UNC provides Virginia Tech with a pretty good "scout team" look for what UVA does and does not do. UVA uses a multiple pro-set offense and a base 4-3 defense, both very similar to what we saw from UNC. I have only watched one UVA game this season (the debacle against Florida State) and I saw the following tendencies.

Happy Monday everyone. I have reviewed the full film, and I had completely reviewed the 2nd half for both the Hokies O and D. Unfortunately, I lost my first draft and rather than re-watch the play by play for the full second half, I will just focus on the offense. Some quick notes on the defense first.