It wasn’t always pretty (especially the weather in the 2nd half), but the Hokies improved to 7-1 with a 24-3 win over dook. We arrived at our spot at 9:40-ish, and we were pretty much the first people in the lot…VERY light tailgate crowd all day, as most fans appeared to be scared off by the weather and/or just taking a week off against an opponent that doesn’t inspire much emotion one way or the other. Speaking of the weather, it was actually a very nice day for tailgating, though there was enough wind that we had to get creative with some rocks in order to anchor out tents to the ground. BRNM brought the awesome with a half bushel of fresh oysters, which we enjoyed both roasted (with bacon and cheddar) and also on the half shell. Mad props to him for slaving over the grill and the shucking table all day long. Gradually more and more people trickled into the lot, and we recruited a bunch of people from nearby tailgates to fill out the big beer game, which was about 20 people this week. Brad did NOT draw the joker for the first time in 3 games, but his tailgate cohort Chris DID. At least, I think he did…it was a long day of tailgating and its possible things were a little fuzzy at that point :-). Anyway, the PBR was (not surprisingly) challenged, and we had another first time loser!
As far as the football game itself, the crowd that did show up was loud and into it, even moreso once it started raining (pouring) in the second half. I probably should have known that the weather would turn disastrous, as our Charleston friends Eric and Maggie were in town for the game, and severe weather seems to follow them around like a puppy. Fuente sounded like he was pretty amused by how much fun the crowd was having:
“Obviously, it got progressively more challenging out there as the game went along,” said head coach Justin Fuente. “I thought our fans were more into it as the elements got worse, which is pretty cool, a pretty cool thing.”
And once it was over, the players were having a great time with the rain as well:
The defense turned in another fantastic outing, holding dook to just 10 first downs, 183 yards of offense, and 3 points. VT now ranks in the top 15 nationally in pass defense (14th), rush defense (13th), TFLs (10th), total defense (9th), pass efficiency defense (7th), first downs allowed (5th), 3rd down stop rate (3rd), and scoring defense (2nd, behind only the mighty Alabama). And that’s your BDG Sneaky Stat of the Week ™.
Recap of our conference mates/season opponents in week 8:
++ As expected/predicted, NCState fell to Notre Dame 14-35 in the only ACC out of conference game this week. The ACC is now 30-12 OOC, and just 5-11 against Power 5 opponents (including Notre Dame). This week, Wake travels to South Bend to take on #5 Notre Dame, and I don’t expect that to go well either.
++ Our regular season opponents went a horrendous 4-7 this weekend, and now sport a cumulative record of just 51-47 (14-18 combined record for OOC foes WVU, delaware, ECU, and ODU). uva, they of the 5-1 start and overly inflated opinions of themselves, continued to face the reality of who they really are as they fell on the road to Pitt 14-31. BC continued their resurgence (and FSUs embarassing season) with a 35-3 beatdown on Friday night. Since losing to VT 23-10 three weeks ago, BC has proceeded to beat Louisville (45-42), uva (41-10), and FSU (35-3) while scoring an average of over 40 pts per game. Maybe that defensive performance was even better than we thought…
Coming Up
VT travels to Coral Gables FL to take on the Hurricanes of Miami. Da U. Our old Big East rivals. Annual candidates for the “We’re back, baby!” award.
Are they finally, actually, “back”? The pollsters seem to think so, as 7-0 Miami comes in ranked 9th in the AP poll and 6th in the coaches poll. But as weak as our schedule has been (see the aforementioned 51-47 cumulative record of our foes, which includes just 31-36 for teams already played), Miami’s competition has been arguably worse at 26-30. Each team has a 7-1 opponent propping up their schedule…the difference is that our 7-1 opponent is Clemson and theirs is Toledo. Their best wins are arguably a 1 pt last-second win over 4-3 GT and a 2 pt last-second win against 2-5 FSU. Miami has built their record on a strong defense (3rd nationally in pass efficiency defense, 3rd in sacks, 4th in TFLs), winning the turnover battle (6th nationally with a +10 turnover margin), and the occasional explosive play on offense (13 scrimmage plays of 40+ yards in just 7 games). Actually, that sounds a lot like a certain orange and maroon team I follow. The game kicks off at 8pm on ABC, and VT is currently favored by 2.5 pts on the road.
Also, if anyone was concerned about how Jack would survive without his snuggle buddy Jimmy, rest assured that he was able to find a new snuggle buddy this week.
Big Beer Game 