Well, we got through the bye week without taking a loss, which is more than can be said for 7 ranked teams that lost to underdog unranked teams, including 4 top 10 teams.  With the various losses by other teams, VT has now moved (back) up to #14 in both polls.

Recap of our conference mates/season opponents in week 7:

++ No out of conference games this past week, or this week coming up.

++ our regular season opponents went 5-7 on the week, and are now 40-36 for the season.  WVU had a nice comeback to beat 25^th ranked Texas Tech, and Delaware shut out W&M.  ECU and ODU are both terrible, and both got curbstomped (21-63 against UCF and 3-35 against Marshall, respectively).  Our OOC foes are now a combined 11-14 on the season.  In terms of our ACC opponents, BC had a nice bounceback from their loss to us, beating Louisville in a barnburner 45-42.  Miami broke out it’s lucky horseshoe for the second week in a row, winning on a last second field goal against GT (after winning on a last second TD against FSU last week).  They are living on the edge, but they are continuing to win and move up the rankings (currently 8^th).  GT drops to 3-2, despite having led or been tied for all but 4 seconds of second half play this year.  Their two losses have come by a combined 2 points, one in OT and one with 4 seconds left.  UNC fell to uva 20-14 to drop to 1-6, while uva improved to an unlikely 5-1.  I had them preseason predicted to be 2-4 at this point.  Pitt lost to NCSU, dook lost to FSU, and Clemson was shocked by Syracuse at the Dome of Evil on Friday night.

This weeks game:

The Dirty Rotten Cheating Tarheels of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (1-6, 0-4 ACC).  The game kicks off at 3:30 Saturday in Lane Stadium, and will be televised on ESPN2.  VT is a 22-point favorite.  I think that’s a little high personally, but I hope we beat them by twice that much.  UNC lost a lot of talent off of last years team, particularly on the offensive side of the ball, and those losses combined with a Karmic Cavalcade of injuries (I read that they have lost 16 players to season ending injuries) has resulted in them being…not very good.  Their lone win was a 53-23 win over ODU, whom we defeated by a similar margin (38-0).  They have lost to Cal by 5, UL by 12, dook by 10, GT by 26, ND by 23, and uva by 6.  Despite being known for their offensive prowess under Larry Fedora, they are struggling mightily on that side of the ball:  87^th in rush offense, 112^th in pass efficiency (thanks in large part to 9 ints thrown on the season), 99^th in total offense, and 97^th in scoring offense.  On the defensive side of the ball, they rank 115^th against the run*, 114^th in total defense, and 96^th in scoring defense.  They have given up 8 scrimmage plays of 60+ yards on the year, last in the nation.  And that’s your BDG Sneaky Stat of the Week.

* They gave up 403 yards rushing to GT (#3 rushing offense), and 341 to ND (#5 rushing offense)….otherwise they are averaging a more respectable 172.4 yards against, which would rank “just” 79^th.