VT Preview

Been out of pocket due to the holiday break, but managed to find a few free moments to drop in. Seems like everyone else has likewise taken a brief posting hiatus. However, tomorrow night we will close the chapter on a rather odd and bitter sweet season. This has truly been a season of turmoil, a season with understandable losses and jaw dropping defeats. Fortunately, we rallied at a point I hope will carryover to our bowl game.

As a side bar, in my early youth, while contemplating a career in medicine, I attended UVA for one lonnnnnnnnnnnng year! While I never truly adopted the wahoo ways; I just couldn't wear orange, I did develop a healthy dislike of all things Hokie! For me and many of my family that still resides in the Commonwealth, tomorrow night is a must WIN! A win will set the foundation to build next season. Which, consequently should mirror this season in many ways!!! We need to win for the returning starters and those that redshirted. We need to win to perhaps convince a few recruiting hold outs that UGA is the university of choice. Most importantly, we need to win because this team has fought through a season of adversity, developed chemistry and STILL have to prove we belong in the ranking!

That being said, I found the below c&p from the Anti-Orange site. It is a well written peice that breaksdown our opponent. I expect a low scoring game that breaks on field position and special teams.

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2006 Game Thirteen - Virginia Tech Preview
Posted by: Jody_Yarbrough on Dec 29, 2006 - 01:14 PM

I’m not exactly sure what happened although I feel comfortable saying this is one of the oddest seasons I can remember. Coming from the depths of despair that were the remnants of our defeat in Lexington, who would have though we would rally to close the season with consecutive wins over two tough teams in Auburn and a surprising Georgia Tech? Well, ok, maybe the Tech win was a little expected (kinda like us and Florida at this point), but still, this winning thing sure seems sweeter when it’s unexpected.

So now, when all seemed completely lost, we’re getting ready to face a top 15 opponent in one of the plum bowl games out there, in the cozy confines of our own state capital. With the better bowl games come the better opponents, so we’ll be facing a tough, 2-loss Virginia Tech team that except for back-to-back losses in the middle of the season, played as well as just about anyone in the country this year. Well, before we get to carried away with VT, let’s take a look back at the last time we faced a Tech…

Looking Back at GT

Wow, I really should have done this back when I watched that game…as it stands, I’m trying to go back a month and remember stuff, so forgive me if this is a little sketchy.

The good: Tony Taylor capped his stellar senior season with an improbable scoop and score that was equal parts luck, smarts and good officiating (I rip the officials enough as it is, so they deserve some credit when they get a call right when given ample opportunities to completely screw it up). Stafford calmly had an amazing performance…no INTs, no fumbles, looked as poised as a 4th-year senior on the game winning drive. Paul Oliver played extremely well locked up on Calvin Johnson. That was a statement game for him.

The bad: Really not that much. Inman had a few penalties in his final home performance.

The indifferent: While Oliver’s play on Johnson was amazing in the endzone and along the sidelines, he got beat badly on a couple of long balls that if not for who was throwing them would have been TDs. Our defense looked great all day and then just folded on GT’s TD drive, allowing Choice to gash us for 10 yards a clip.

VT Offense

The VT offense isn’t that great. Without a Vick or Randall type under center this offense isn’t quite as imposing. They basically have a decent running game and a plethora of decent receivers but no real gamebreaker (sound familiar?). They struggled to score points late in the year against a weak Kent St team and in the season finale against a reeling Virginia team. They key off their defense and special teams which covers lots of their scoring struggles and aids their point totals.

At QB, Sean Glennon has started every game and played moderately well. He’s completing over 55% of his passes and his 11 TDs to 8 INTs is Manning-esque compared to our problems there this season. He’s averaging about 5 carries a game with about half of those being sacks, so don’t look for him to be much of a ground threat (a big change from the Vick-Randall-Vick days of QB at VT).

TB Brandon Ore was a 1st team all-ACC selection after rushing for over 1,100 yards despite missing a game. He’s a powerful runner with the speed to break away. He sports a 5 ypc average and his 14 TDs are impressive as well. He missed the season finale against UVA with an injury but is expected to be fine.

VT, like UGA, doesn’t have that one threat at the WR position that you have to scheme for. They do have 4 guys with 20 or more catches on the season that also average over 25 yards per game. Josh Morgan leads the team in receiving TDs with 4 (one less than their defense has given up this year). None of the TEs are much of a threat from a receiving standpoint.

The VT OL is obviously doing something right considering they’ve blocked for Ore so well. They average about 306 across the starters, with the biggest guy being true freshman (and GA native) Sergio Render who mans the RG spot. Junior Duane Brown was named 2nd team all-ACC this year and will have his hands full with our DEs. Despite being more inclined to run the ball, VT has given up over 2 sacks a game on the year.

Bottom Line: VT’s offense isn’t the best we’ve faced all year by any means. They’re 83rd in rush offense and 78th in pass offense (that might be the first team all season that our offense is better than our opponents on both of those 2 stats). Like UGA’s occasionally sporadic offense, VT has benefited greatly from a stingy defense that forced short fields and turnovers and led to some cheap points. If Ore gets going, VT becomes much tougher to stop. In their two losses, he averaged a mere 65 yards and managed only 1 TD. If he’s healthy, he’ll be a large focus of their attack given our occasional struggles against the run. If we can get out front by a couple of scores early like we did against an equally impressive AU defense, VT isn’t really built to throw the ball around much.

Key Matchup to watch when they have the ball: The middle of our defense needs to play well. In last year’s Sugar Bowl disaster, we looked horrible up the middle as our DTs were shredded and our LBs were constantly out of position or when they were in position, they missed the tackle. We can’t afford that to happen this year. Yards should be at a premium in this contest, so we’ll have to be strong up the middle and make plays when given the opportunity.

VT Defense

Not much else you can say about VT’s defense other than they are really good. They play a very aggressive defense that they’ve used for years, keeping their safeties up near the line of scrimmage and banking on strong CB play to keep them from getting burned. They keep 9 in the box a lot and yet still sport the #1 Pass defense in the country. They’re 14th nationally against the run, which, coupled with their incredible pass defense, yields the #1 total defense in the country, allowing just over 220 ypg. They’ll be a challenge to say the least.

At DT, VT sports a pair of big, active guys in Brandon Booker and Carlton Powell. Booker is little longer and more of a rusher, but both have at least 1.5 sacks and 6.5 TFLs on the season, not bad at all. Size-wise their DEs really remind me of ours in that one is the long, lanky Moses to the other’s stockier, powerful Charles Johnson-build. Chris Ellis is the Moses figure and his 3.5 sacks are tied for the team lead. Noland Burchette is built more like a run stuffer, but his 6.5 tackles-for-loss, 2.5 sacks and team leading 17 QB hurries indicate he can penetrate if needed.

VT lists two ILBs (actually schematically that’s pretty much what we run with our MLB and WLB lined up between the tackles mostly…I digress). Both are very good players and were all-ACC selections. Vince Hall, a classic squatty MLB was a first team all-conference pick and leads the team in tackles (110) and TFLs (10). Placed alongside the incredibly athletic Xavier Adibi, they form a dynamic duo in the middle of the field. Adibi is everywhere, 2nd on the team in tackles with 78, 3 sacks, 3 INTs, 6 passes defensed, 3 forced fumbles, etc. Brenden Hill rounds out the LB corps and is a solid 5th year senior, ranking 4th on the team in tackles. Like our SLB, Hill’s stats suffer because of scheme requirements in coverage, but he’s a solid player.

The Hokie defense has had a string of good CBs in recent years with many ending up in ATL…DeAngelo Hall, Jimmy Williams, etc and this year is no different, where Sophomore Brandon Flowers is a 1st team All-ACC selection at CB. He’s excellent in coverage where his 3 INTs pale in comparison to his incredible 18 pass breakups and 21 passes defended (those are unreal numbers by the way…2nd most on VT are 6 and 8 respectively just for reference) prove his abilities, but his 7.5 TFLs and 3.5 sacks show he’s not scared to mix it up. Victor ‘Macho’ Harris leads the team in INTs (4) which likely stems from QBs looking to throw away from Flowers. VT puts their CBs on an island a lot, so look for us to test them. FS DJ Parker is solid as is ROV Aaron Rouse (who is 3rd on the team in tackles). Look for them to stay near the LOS a good bit of the night.

Bottom Line: VT has a stout defense. Given their aggressive, lots of folks in the box style, you’d expect them to be great against the run. You wouldn’t expect to see the numbers they’ve put up against the pass. This is a solid, balanced defense. They don’t put a whole lot of pressure on the QB though in terms of sacks and we’ve shown an ability to protect the QB if nothing else, so if our OL can give Stafford some time against man-to-man coverage, it will come down to our receivers getting open and being on the same page as our freshman gunslinger.

Key matchup to watch when we have the ball: Which Stafford shows up…the play-it-loose freshman that dazzles one play only to look like Ryan Leaf the next, or the amazingly poised big-game veteran (seemingly) that crushed Auburn and took the heart out of Tech? If Stafford connects on some passes with his WRs early like he did at AU, VT will have to give coverage help and that should open some running games.

The VT Game Overall

If there’s ever been a more Jekyl & Hyde UGA team I can’t remember it. We dismantled Auburn on the road and lost to Vandy at home. The thing is, the AU destruction was worse than the score indicated and the Vandy game was actually closer than it should’ve been. It’s just a weird year and I’m not even going to try and tell you what I think will happen in this game. OK, I’ll try but I reserve the right to deny anything you read from here on out (unless it unfolds this way).

They really do have a good defense, but they also haven’t really been tested. The best offensive team they played was Clemson (more of a run based team) and they completely shut them down. The next best offensive team they faced was probably GT…or Wake Forest...seriously. GT, Reggie Ball and all, was probably the top passing team they faced this year…seriously. Granted, UGA didn’t exactly face Marino’s Dolphins on defense this year either but we did shutout Carolina and managed to keep Tennessee under 50 (oops, scratch that). Basically this year has been really odd, so whatever you think will happen probably won’t. Hey look, a matchup of top 10 total defenses, should be low-scoring right? I wouldn’t bet on it.

Richt openly admitted that he made a mistake last year in giving the team too much time off after the SECCG and it reflected in our sluggish performance. He learned form that and changed his approach this year to bowl preparation. I’m not saying that means more than anything else, but a more focused and motivated coaching staff has to translate into a positive, especially when you realize the players they are trying to motivate are the very ones who got their butts handed to them on that very same field just a year ago.

Stafford will be the key (again). If he turns the ball over and gives VT a short field to work with, their offensive deficiencies will be more easily overcome. Points should be at a premium, so early game mistakes that lead to scores could be huge. They actually have the exact same number of takeaways (10 fumbles and 16 INTs) as we do, but they’ve done a better job of protecting the this season. In the final two games of the year, Stafford finally seemed to be understanding the whole concept of protecting the ball and the end result was an effective offense that played off the big-play ability of the defense to produce (arguably) our two biggest wins of the year.

One of my big questions about this game is to see how Bobo calls the plays. That’s right, Mike Bobo is now our playcaller and he’s already got one game under his belt. Against GT, he showed that he was more than willing to stick with the run even though we weren’t exactly tearing it up on the ground and allow Stafford to slowly get a feel for the game. The end result was a brutally efficient final drive that saw the running game that we had worked on all day finally pay off. It will be fun to see how Bobo approaches this one from the booth. Personally, given Richt’s philosophy of taking what the defense gives you, if VT decides to play man on the WRs and put a ton of folks in the box, look for us to throw the ball…maybe a lot. That sounds weird to say given that they have the #1 pass defense in the country, but I’ll say it again, they haven’t really faced a good passing team all year.

One final note is on special teams. Given the way our special teams have played since Coutu went down I’d rather not think of them at all, but with VT, you really have to. Under Beamer, VT has been a specials teams force, making blocked kicks an expected occurrence. We’ve really struggled to protect Ely-Kelso this year and if they block a kick, that’s the exact type of mistake I’m talking about that could change this game completely.

Positional Notes

With the suspension of Watts and Ian Smith for the bowl game, we’re looking at a situation where we only have 1 healthy backup…normally I’d be scared, but considering we’ve played this whole season under these circumstances, I don’t really expect much of a dropoff.

AJ Bryant is ready to go despite the never-ending groin injury. After Massaquoi’s breakout performance against GT, I think those two are poised to take over as the leading threats from the wideout spot next season.

Coutu returns to kick and from what I’ve heard his leg is good from over 50 yards. He’s never lacked for confidence, and we certainly could use him back as the kicking has been quite…interesting in his absence.

Don’t be shocked if Mikey Henderson makes a few big plays this week. We haven’t really had a chance to get him the ball much as he’s battled hamstring injuries, but he’s healthy and could really provide that playmaking spark we’ve missed some.

Random Thoughts

Yeah, I know UF’s playing for the National Title in Urban’s 2nd year but pardon me if I don’t get caught up in the canonization of Saint Urban just yet. Get comfy, this might take a while. For one thing, it was his offense that was supposed to take over the league (and the world for that matter). It hasn’t by a long shot. They’re winning with defense. But even more importantly than that, Urban had the luck factor. He did the exact same thing in year 2 that Mark Richt did (suffer only 1 loss, win the SECC, beat Ark in the title game, etc) and did worse than Tommy Tubberville did two years ago (going undefeated, win the SECC, etc) and yet neither of those teams was allowed a shot to play for all the marbles. This year more than any other goes to show you how much luck goes into these things. Two years ago (the AU fiasco) showed you how much preseason rankings mean in the grand scheme of things (don’t even get me started there).

With that being said, I feel a little ashamed (as a UGA fan) to admit I started getting defensive when the national media started clamoring for a rematch between Ohio St and Michigan after UF won and USC lost. I actually found myself in the unenviable situation of wanting UF to play for the National Title. Look, the SEC is the toughest conference; no one even wants to debate that anymore with the incredible collapse of both the Big 12 and the ACC. With that said, why would anyone think a Michigan team that didn’t win their own conference, lost their final game (to their would-be opponent no-less), etc would be more deserving? Why?

Not sure who our OL coach is going to be. I’ve heard names mentioned as I’m sure most of you have as well, but I’m not really worried as to who we’re going to get because I’ve got faith in the guy doing the hiring. It’s like the opposite of how I felt after the whole Kevin Ramsey fiasco under Donnan.

The coaching search at Bama has certainly been interesting to watch. At this point, if Saban turns them down they really do look pretty silly. How long before they reach for Mike Price again?

Some of these bowl games are just bad. New Mexico was playing San Jose St the other day. I couldn’t even watch it. Even knowing I only have a few more chances to watch college football this year…I just couldn’t do it.

Bryant Gumble, or whichever Gumble that is on the NFL network working as the “play-by-play” guy, is horrible. I mean unwatchably bad. Watching those broadcasts are pretty brutal because there are these long pauses as the play goes on, followed by Gumble saying something like “good-looking run there”…I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I expected a little deeper insight from the NFL network. I mean, that’s all they do.

Yes, Matthew Stafford had a great game leading the game-winning drive over GT as a freshman, but he’s still got a ways to go if he’s going to have Reggie Ball’s impressive resume when it comes to UGA wins. Think about it. Ball ended 3 consecutive games in this series by (in order) forgetting how many downs he had played and turning the ball over, throwing an INT at the goal line and throwing an INT to a guy who had about 4 UGA defenders within an arm’s length. Yes, Matthew, you have a ways to go.

Poor Tech fans, I recently had one start working with me right before our annual tilt. After the game he came in and said “Well, Reggie Ball ruined Thanksgiving again.” I had to chuckle. Then, just one week later, following Ball’s abysmal performance in the ACCCG, he came in and said, “Well, Reggie ruined Christmas now.” Keep your head up Dave, there’s no way Reggie Ball can ruin New Year’s for you or any other holidays for that matter. Alas, he’s exhausted his eligibility while also managing to not make grades for his final game. Somehow appropriate.

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Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and plan for a safe and Happy New Year.


GO DAWGS..............GAT HOKIE A !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


DAWGS: 17
HOKIES: 13

NC_Dawg, I have been away for a while as well as I was traveling and then the holidays.
I did go in to the office for a bit on Friday and went to eat lunch at Sonny's. A caravan of VT fan's stopped in for lunch. Very cocky considering that my local Sonny's is in Dawg country.
I'd love to see their faces now.

Yeah, their faces are a little green now from the indigestion of the GEORGIA barbeque.