First off, if BCO can find a way, link this post down to your posted answers on the round table Q&A, or even just re-post your March Madness FF prediction post so it's newer and still the headliner for the blog over the weekend. I'm by no means trying to steal the thunder of the Final Four Weekend post with my responses to the round table Q&A. But, alas, I did want to weigh in on the football questions circulating our Hokie Blogroll.
So.....
[1] From reader Riggs: "Are we really going to be that good next year? I just don't see us being a top 10 team given last season's offensive output. Tell me that we're overhauling the offense, or we're adding new packages. Give me some hope."
I have to answer this question in two manners. Does "top 10" mean preseason rankings? Or really "top 10" meaning top 10 teams in the nation who will rise to the top and be there all year? Well, then more like five manners, because I'll focus on the top 10 aspects first, then the "offense" we "run" to give him some hope.
First, and don't ever let me seem close to or seemingly in any type of agreement with Heather Dimwit over at the nESPNtwork. But one of her recent "blogs" on the ACC for this upcoming fall did approach, like maybe kinda sorta, a way that I feel about preseason rankings and preseason choices for conference favorites. For the ACC, she essentially calls out the "standards" UM and FSU as lifetime achievement award winners and will be on everyone's radar to be conference champions from now until 2099, just because they're UM and FSU; and calls out the "pick of the week" picks of UNC and Clemdaughter as the hot pick for this year's title; and the "maybe one more year of implementing the new system" pick of GT --- and then concedes that by default the ACC championship will still go through Blacksburg. As reluctantly as one could type words, she relinquishes that until proven differently, boring VT "has to be the preseason favorite" by default. We're boring, not good on O, boring, and boring - yet find a way to win 3 out of 5 championships and get to a fourth championship game....despite young teams, bad offense, etc.
So, before I lose you on the whole "I asked which FFour game is first Saturday and you tried to explain how DirecTV satellites work and how they can sell a package to broadcast all 4 first round games at the same time on different channels and it doesn't matter which CBS region you're in"..... Heather Dimwit's stance there on the ACC is how I feel about preseason rankings as a whole, specifically the top 25, and to this question, the top 10. Here's my preseason top 10 "prediction" that the main polls will have, and reasoning, hopefully you'll see where I was going with the ACC angle from Heather in the previous paragraph:
[top ten teams in no particular order, I'm not predicting rankings, just the 10ish teams I think will be in the top 10]
*UFlor - they're good. Tim Godsend is coming back, they'll find another Harvin.
*OU - they're good too. Bradford is back. Idiot. Shoulda taken the millions.
*OSU - "but they're Ohio State" [see UM and FSU analogy]
*UTex - they're good too with Colt coming back, but a little bit of UM and FSU analogy here.
*USC - half "but they're USC" [with a horrid weak conference schedule] and half, they're good.
*'Bama - considered overachievers last year, expected to be better this year, and how can voters outside of the SEC not know history on 'bama football
*["other" big 12 team here] - TTech or OkST - see UNC and Clem analogy
*Utah - see UNC, Clem, or even GT analogy
*["other guy sneaking in"] - Boise? TCU? - I just vomited a little bit typing that
*["other" SEC team here] - LSU or Ole Miss - LSU, see UM/FSU. Ole Miss, see UNC/Clem. Plus if 'bama opens with a loss, ahem, cough, "someone from the SEC will have to be top 10" right?
*and.....
Which leads me right into the heart of Heather's "thinking" [my term, used loosely]. "Someone from the ACC will have to represent the top 10 opening poll", right? And who is that? Young but improving stalwarts of time UM or FSU? Super trendy up and comers UNC or Clem? Super super duper trendy new system taking over the world pick GT?.........or, just the team that wins what they need to, including conference championships, conference championship games, and now even BCS bowl games......."someone has to be up there from the ACC", so why not VT? So, I think if the question is, is VT a "top 10" team meaning they'll be preseason #8-11ish. Sure, they will be, by default because someone from the ACC will be up there. I think GT will be closely ranked below us and will take our spot if we lose to 'bama to open, or we'll take 'bama's spot and GT will take ours if we win over 'bama to open. Because, "they're has to be someone from the ACC up there" is a rule. Check the voting handbook, see Chapter "Voting on Preseason Polls", Section "East Coast Bias".
Do I think VT really is a top 10 team? I refrain from answering that until the game in the GA dome. Because, as the second part of the initial question suggests - we clearly have worries on offense. And by worries on offense, I don't mean we're worried that our athletes are inferior to any opponent we'll face in athleticism, I mean we're worried about the situations that our athletes will be put into by offensive playcalling, schemes, and "coordinatorship". I'll leave it at that. I can't give reader Riggs hope. I think we have top 10 athletes on the roster. Do I think these athletes comprise a top 10 team? I'm worried I'm coming off here as negative-Nancy....
If we're (4-0) to start the year on September 26, with wins over 'bama, 'braska, Marshall, and the U - then yes I feel we should at that point be in the top 10. I actually prefer to start the season ranked 18-22 and be on the radar, and then move up.
[2] From Beer Control Offense: "Are you concerned about the lack of depth of quarterback? How many significant snaps do you think VT's back up quarterback will get?"
No. I'm not concerned about the lack of depth. If a team is to win their conference, be a top 10 team, get to a big bowl, win a big bowl, or [gasp] win THE big bowl - then everything has to go right. If this is in fact our year, it will be in large part due to the fact that Tyrod Taylor plays the whole year and plays as well as we think he can. I hope that the back ups get ZERO snaps, except for mop up. Which, inherently in itself means they are still insignificant. If Tyrod goes down and we're in a heap of trouble at the QB position - everyone, probably including us bloggers - will write this year off as another young year, we'll be great next year with another year of Evans and Williams, and the D will be stellar next year! Translation, I think we are not top 10, nor top ACC, without Tyrod. So in the context of us being REAL good, I'm not concerned about the lack of depth. Because our depth means nothing in regards to a truly successful big time program's success. [see UFlor without Timmy boy, OU without Sammy, UTex without Colt, etc.]
I don't mind the occasional gimmick play with Boone or Davis running a modified Wild Turkey, against the right opponents at the right point in the game. Run it against Marshall and Duke to set up plays against the U, 'braska, GT, etc. Don't run it on 4th and goal from the 2 in an important, close game, when everyone in the stadium ["everyone" includes the other team's defense] knows that the only play you run from that formation is Boone in the 2/B gap on the left side, after a play fake to the man in motion from left to right.
And, as a non-Wild Turkey QB future, I see JuJu > Davis for probability [for now, until we see Davis play] as a future QB starter - so I don't mind him getting some "meaningful" snaps in games occasionally either. But again, if any of the talk in my answer to #1 above is to come to fruition, Tyrod can't go down, at all. So I'm not worried about depth. I'm not thinking about Tyrod's ankles/knees at all, I promise. /pray
[3] What position do you think is most important to the Hokies on the defensive side of the ball this spring? Are there any young players who will step up during spring on that side of the ball?
I have two answers for the first part of this question. First, I can't say much more than BCO to give a true answer to the question. The only "worry" [term used loosely] I have on our D is at linebacker. They will be fine by game 5, unfortunately this means they'll be ready for Duke and BC, having already played 'bama, 'braska, and the U. Our secondary is always second to none, see current NFL rosters and recent draft days for VT secondary in the league. And, despite being a no-name crew except for a select few [Moore, Adibi the first, etc.], our D line is always great against the run and forces teams to pass. Which in turn, in a self-fulfilling prophecy, makes our secondary know it's 3rd and 8 and a 10-yard out is coming, and they pick it for 6, and our secondary is second to none. [which is funny to say in the first place, our secondary is second to none, except the first-ary?]
So, in agreement with EBJ/BCO, the only "worry" I have as the most important position on defense is at linebacker. But, they'll be fine, they always are. They lack star power [Adibi ^ 2 or V. Hall], but they were recruited for a reason. Breakout star young guy prediction: I have to take the chalk here and take the most experienced in Rivers. He's only a r-soph, but in his limited play time he always seems to be in the right place. This is your spot in this system, stay there, do your job, do it right. You're not a star, you're a part of a machine. The machine is stronger than the sum of its parts. [hence, Bruschi and Vrabel have careers and rings and the likes of Lavar Arrington and Jevon Kearse have some highlight reel hits and no careers or rings to speak of].
The second answer here, for most important position on defense, is an easy answer. I'm being half funny here and 2/3's serious. Wait, that doesn't add up. I figured I could sneak it in, after all, 5 out of every 4 Americans have trouble with fractions. The most important position on our defense is on the sidelines wearing a headset and a 2-button VT polo shirt. Bud MF'ing Foster. Our defense will be fine. I promise.
[4] What change would you make to college football's spring football system?
Umm, it's fine? I don't want to open the argument for more practice vs less practice. More practice, good, more learning. More practice, bad, more injuries. Less practice, good, less injuries. Less practice, bad, less learning. And I won't even get into inter-team scrimmages or travel or monies.
I'm getting a mini-fall-weekend on the 25th. Me and Mrs. HokieJayBee have a sitter for boy HokieJayBee, and a hotel room in B'burg on Saturday night. I'm going to try to find the bottom of a bunch of schooners, phatty mugs, weavers, rails, and jagerbombs that night. It's like a taste of football Christmas in April. Wish me luck.
[5] From College Game Balls: "What kind of music do you think the team is bumping in the locker room? And is Beamer getting down? I know the '99 team was big into Method Man and Dr. Dre."
I don't think I know what kind of music the team is bumping to. I do know. And in fact, since I have Sirius satellite radio in the truck, and I can see the artist listed for every song I ever listen to, I KNOW one guy who is bumping in the locker room. No matter what station I'm on, the song is titled, "SONG TITLE", and the artist is "ARTIST featuring 'Lil Wayne". So, no matter the genre,... the Game featuring 'Lil Wayne, TI featuring 'Lil Wayne, Pink featuring 'Lil Wayne, 'Lil Wayne featuring 'Lil Wayne, Justin Timberlake featuring 'Lil Wayne, Garth Brooks featuring 'Lil Wayne, Linkin Park featuring 'Lil Wayne, Metallica featuring 'Lil Wayne, Sting featuring 'Lil Wayne, Sonny Bono featuring 'Lil Wayne, Bach featuring 'Lil Wayne, some church choir from Oregon featuring 'Lil Wayne, etc. ---- I know one guy they're bumping to in the locker room.
I seem to think this Beamer Dance Off is some sort of reward for the players. Beamer, on Thursday before Saturday match-up with TEAM X in a big game, the team is screwing around, the coaches are pissed, losing the team's focus,........"quit that lolly gagging you lazy fVcks, quit screwing around!!!! Tell you what, focus up here tonight and tomorrow at the walkthrough, and I'll let you bump whatever you want to in the locker room after the game and I'll even bounce with you on camera if we kick the sh!t out of TEAM X!!!!" Enormous roar, sudden team focus, big win. Dancing Frankie Beamdog.
I type a lot.
HokieJayBee out.
