Wow.  WOW!  WHAT.  A.  FINISH!  Bodies all over the field; tremendous hustle play by Floyd TO SAVE THE touchdown, and ultimately the game; guys leaving everything they had on the Lane Stadium turf;  Motu coming up HUGE in his last game at Lane, whilst wearing the #25…just outstanding, Storybook stuff. 

Great way to send the seniors out of Lane Stadium for the last time..  Someone on TSL snapped this picture of Senior center Eric Gallo, long after the game was over, reflecting on his career.  Really helps you appreciate how much it means to these guys.

Aside from likely (definitely?) the greatest finish I have ever witnessed at a VT game, there were some other things that happened too.  Travon McMillian was out with an injury, but Deshawn McClease and Jalen Holston filled the rushing void very well, combining for 26 carries and 122 yards (4.7 YPC).  Josh Jackson got back into the running game as well (8 carries for 39 yards and TD, removing his 2 sacks for -7 yards), after being largely ineffective / unused on the ground against GT.  Reportedly because he was seriously, massively, beaten up after the Miami game.  As in, barely practiced the week leading up to GT.  Perhaps most impressively, to me anyway, VT did not have a single rush for negative yardage (other than the 2 sacks).  38 rushing attempts, and none of them went backwards.  And that’s your BDG Sneaky Stat of the Week ™.  Cam Phillips had his best game in a while as well, hauling in 8-117 and TD.  Phil Patterson, who has missed most of the year with an injury, had 2-29, and Kumah had another BC-like game, with 3 catches that all converted 3rd downs.  Speaking of which, VT was 10-19 on 3rd down in this game, after being awful at 3rd downs for much of the season (33-97 34% starting with the Clemson game, per Will Stewart of TSL).  On special teams, Oscar Bradburn averaged 44.3 yards per punt, and the punt return team held Pitt to 4 returns for just 6 yards.  Pitt came into the game averaging 15.9 yards per return, good for 5th in the nation.  Also, Brian Johnson filled in admirably for an injured Joey Slye, hitting on a pair of FGs (from 30 and 27), both PATs, and 3 of 5 KOs for touchback (though he did kick his first one out of bounds).  On the not so positive side, VT gave up a fake kick conversion for the second week in a row.  One that should have been overturned for illegal man downfield, just like was called against us on our 2 point conversion.  Observe #66, an offensive lineman, trotting well down field at the time of the pass.

Recap of our conference mates/season opponents in week 12

ACC went 4-0 OOC, outscoring their overmatched opponents by a combined 242-35.  For those of you scoring at home, that’s an average score of about 61-9.  ACC is now 35-14 OOC and still just 6-12 against P5 teams.  This week there is a chance to either seal our fate as “weak conference”, or change the narrative with some big wins, as the ACC-SEC rivalries play out:  Clemson (-14) @ USC-east, FSU (-5.5) @ Florida, UGA (-11) @ GT, and Louisville (-10) @ Kentucky.  I have no faith in FSU or Louisville, despite both being favored.  I’ll guess that one of them gets a win though, and the ACC goes 2-2.

Our regular season opponents went 7-5 on the week, and are 71-59 on the season.  Our 4 OOC foes went 2-2 (22-22) overall.

Coming Up

uva.  Rivalry week.  The hated hoos, in hoo-ville.  The game is on Friday night, at 8pm on ESPN.

uva is, surprisingly, already bowl eligible at 6-5, but are coming off of a 28-44 loss to #3 Miami, a game which uva led 28-14 in the third quarter before giving up the final 30 points of the game.  They started the season 5-1, but have just 1 win in their last 5 games, a 40-36 last minute win against GT.  Overall, uva’s stats paint a picture of pretty much what their record says they are…a lower-middle of the pack team.  In the ACC, they are 14th (of 14) in rush offense, 10th in scoring offense, 10th in total offense, 10th in rushing defense, and 12th in scoring defense.  They are good at pass defense though, ranking 3rd in passing yards allowed per game and 3rd in sacks per game, helping them to 6th in total defense per game in the ACC.

uva is led on offense by QB Kurt Benkart (SR, 6-4 215), who ranks 5th in the ACC in passing yards per game at 261.5.  He has thrown for 25 TDs versus just 8 interceptions.  He is NOT, however, a mobile QB (-53 yards rushing on the year), which bodes well for us as we often struggle against QBs who can run.   On defense, LB Mikah Kizer (SR, 6-2 240) is the unquestioned leader, as he leads all ACC players with 10.45 tackles per game (good for 6th nationally).

VT is an early 8 point favorite.  Have a safe and happy thanksgiving everyone!