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Your Virginia Tech Fighting Gobblers This should at least be an interesting season; we have a new head coach for the first time since I was still toddling, which should be fun. He even likes offense! Expect we'll be taking most snaps out of the diamond in an uptempo spread. Hopefully being more productive on offense will lead to more breathing room for Bud Foster to get creative in his scheming again. I'm excited to see what his defense looks like this year, Xs and Os wise, as I think we'll abandon the bear against non-option teams, and hopefully go back to exotic coverages with more zone mixed into the almost-entirely-man secondary we've seen the last few years. Our safeties should be very good, our corners COULD be very good, depending on how star CB Brandon Facyson returns from injury. Our middle linebacker is awful and a tire fire, and there's no hope in sight on the roster behind him unless a T-FR comes in and somehow takes the job. Our outside linebacker and LB/S hybrid will probably both be solid, but unremarkable. We have an obscenely deep roster at DT, and an obscenely shallow one at DE, so hopefully we'll be injury-free at DE and a couple of the younger guys will step up. This unit will probably be a solid B. The offense I don't expect to be hitting on all cylinders, but we have a first-team all-conference WR with potential for All-American this year in single-season receiving yardage record holder Isaiah Ford, one of the most dangerous tight ends in the country in Bucky Hodges, and a potential all-conference level running back in Travon McMillian. The OL is experienced and has a decent amount of depth for the first time in as long as I can remember, and our starting quarterback will likely be #1 JUCO QB Jerod Evans, who should be a natural fit for this spread O. We're shallow at WR behind Ford and opposite starter Cam Phillips, and will absolutely NEED a FR or two to step up as the #3/4 option. Bucky Hodges will also be split out wide some, taking pressure off the lack of depth on the roster. I expect a B/B- effort from the O this year. The schedule: Sept 3 - vs Liberty: W. If we lose this one, I'll have lost interest in the season the first weekend of September... Sept 10 - Bristol vs Tennessee: L. I don't see this going particularly well for us, but should be interesting in a couple ways. The power run game will absolutely destroy our terrible, probably not good enough for D2 Mike LB, but our DTs may be able to slow the rush up the middle enough that he can make a play or two off their effort. If our secondary and DEs perform well, we could keep this close for 3 quarters. Sept 17 - vs Boston College: W. We find ways to lose to BC that we shouldn't, but BC looks to be an absolute tire fire this year with one of the worst offensive coordinators in the country taking the reins. Sept 24 - vs ECU: W. I just can't predict a loss here, I think we'll be a significantly bigger, better, and more talented team than ECU this year, which hasn't always been true recently. Oct 8 - @ UNC: Tossup, likely L. Carolina is good, but not that good. They beat up on the little sisters of the poor, and we played them very close last year with no offense and one of our worst defenses in decades. I could equally see us getting blown out or coming out and just kicking the tar out of the heels. Oct 15 - @ Syracuse: W. Syracuse has been good in the past. That has not been recent. Oct 20 - vs Miami: L. I expect Richt to take Miami's top-15 level talent and wipe the floor with us. But we'll see! Oct 27 - @ Pitt: W. We never ever win @Pitt, but I think a competent offense is enough for us to get over the hump. Guess we'll see if we can reach the mighty standard of 'competent.' Nov 5 - @ Duke: W. Duke has been hitting above their weight for the last few years, and Cut is a good coach, but they've barely squeaked out their wins against us despite us being completely, utterly one dimensional. I think adding an offense will just be too much for the devils. Nov 12 - vs Georgia Tech: W. Bud Foster>Paul Johnson heads up. Add an offense and the fact that their defense is terrible, and I think we have absolutely no problem putting the jackets down this year. Nov 19 - @ Notre Dame: L. Notre Dame's just way more talented than we are at this point. Unless Fuente has the offense hitting on all cylinders by the end of the year, we don't stand much of a chance. Nov 26 - vs Virginia: W. UVA is terrible, their new head coach is awful, they're somehow recruiting worse than us, and we're recruiting terribly. I expect next to nothing out of them this year aside from somehow being even dirtier than they were under Timecop. Ceiling 10-2 Overall 7-1 ACC: We will lose to ND and Tenn, we will lose 1-2 ACC games. I think best case is we sneak one of those two aforementioned games away and lose an ACC headscratcher. Likely 8-4 Overall 6-2 ACC: This would be a slight improvement over the last few years, which would be promising, given that Fuente's reputation as a coach is predicated on his Xs and Os abilities. We need to at least win 8 to not fall completely into the dumpster in recruiting, as Fuente and his C USA level assistant coaching staff have proven completely incompetent as P5 level recruiters. Floor 5-7 Overall 4-4 ACC - Worst case, we come just shy of missing a bowl game. I don't realistically expect this, but in the back of my mind I assume it's going to happen, because that's been the trajectory of the program the last 4-5 years.
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Jul 19, 2016 20:39
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