Tuesday: Challenge of Clemson, unintelligent play and an SEC mooning
HOKIES
-Andy has a ton of notes and quotes on the challenge facing Tech’s defense against Clemson here. “It’s a unique offense,” Bud Foster says. “It gives you the spread element but a Wing T and some of the same principles of Georgia Tech too. Some option football and spread football. Just a lot of misdirection. We’ve got to be sound with our perimeter people, not letting the ball get outside of us. Keep areas restricted and then not give up the big play.”
-J.C. Coleman’s breakout game against Duke doesn’t necessarily mean he’s “The Guy” at running back. Frank Beamer still plans to go with the hot hand.
CAVS
-Doughty argues that UVa’s biggest problem is that the team “plays unintelligently,” particularly when it comes to special teams.
-Phillip Sims is still looking for his first win as a college starter, and to get it, he knows he must improve his accuracy.
-Perry Jones sustained a concussion against Maryland but Mike London is hoping to have him against Wake Forest this weekend.
MLB POSTSEASON
-The Giants beat the Cardinals 7-1 to even the NLCS at a game apiece, as Ryan Vogelsong goes seven strong innings. Game 3 is tomorrow night in St. Louis.
-Do the Yankees have any fight left in them? We’ll find out at 8:07 tonight when the ALCS shifts to Detroit for Game 3, with the Tigers holding a 2-0 series edge. Phil Hughes against Justin Verlander.
NFL
-Peyton Manning throws three touchdown passes in the second half as Denver roars back from a 24-0 deficit to defeat the Chargers, 35-24.
-Ray Lewis is out for the year with a torn triceps.
MOONING
-A South Carolina fan was arrested for mooning LSU fans at Tiger Stadium.
HOT SEAT
-Is Mack Brown’s job in jeopardy at Texas?
NAME THAT TUNE
The years rolled slowly past
And I found myself alone
Surrounded by strangers I thought were my friends
I found myself further and further from my home
And I guess I lost my way
There were oh so many roads
I was living to run and running to live
Never worried about paying or even how much I owed…
October 16, 2012 - 6:12 AM
Against The Wind – Bob Seger.
I can get the old ones. Just nothing after 1999.
I get the impression that Frank/Shane don’t want to call JC Coleman ‘The Guy’ because they’re intent on waiting for Michael Holmes to become ‘That Guy’. Holmes was named the top RB during the spring, and I think the coaching staff wants to leave him in the mix until he works himself to the top on the field.
You have to wonder if Ray Lewis is effectively done playing. I would hope the Ravens appreciate his leadership enough to retain him in some manner once his playing career ends Lewis clearly has proven he’s got the drive & desire to recover. The question is whether or not the Ravens really want him to come back at 37 years old. They might decide they’re ready to find a youngster to slot in that position.
Against the Wind, Bob Seger. Knew that one.
Finally!
So, for the 2nd time that I can recall, Peyton Manning engineered a comeback win. There was one several years ago where he helped the Colts rally from several points down to beat Tampa Bay in the final 4 minutes of the fourth quarter. Swell. Good on him.
Here’s what irritates me. The Broncos organization is pretending and anointing Manning as some kind of messiah that rescued the organization. Champ Bailey on record said, “This was a total team effort.”
Here’s my problem. Tim Tebow? Hello? Didn’t Tebow help engineer many great games last season?
Oh, that’s right, the talking heads on ESPN effing hates his gut, therefore, because Tebow doesn’t fit the ESPN’s idea of a prototypical quarterback, they will just dismiss him, but are so quick to embrace Manning as a savior, a messiah, and Manning does everything except master the fine art of roundhouse kick that only Chuck Norris can. And Chuck Norris would roundhouse kick ESPN off the planet if they dare to cross him.
I know Manning is one of the greatest quarterbacks, a surefire Hall of Famer, but the praises they heap on him while ignoring some great games last season from Tebow is just over-the-top ridiculous.
I just needed to get that off my chest.
Against the Wind,Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
I watched Manning get the Broncos within three points last night before having to turn in, and figured I would awake to a Denver win….Peyton didn’t disappoint .the old boy has still got a lot of good football left in the tank.
Bob Seger…Against The Wind
…against the wind…
btw, i’ll take the wind @ -4.5 vs the Hoos
Against the Wind it is. Nice job, Blog Crowd.
I’m pretty sure that nobody was saying last year, or for the past several years, that ESPN ‘hates’ Tebow. ESPN has been front & center in the promotion of Tim Tebow since his sophomore season at UFlorida.
One thing everyone SHOULD realize is that ESPN loves hype more than anything else. This year, two of the potential hype stories in the NFL were Peyton coming to Denver, and Tebow going to NYC. Since Rex Ryan seems averse to playing Tebow, that hype story has fizzled. Manning is playing in Denver, and doing well, though. So, that hype story continues.
It’s not personal, it’s just that ESPN has long been nothing more than ratings whor… uhh… hook… uhh… ‘attentive’.
Mack Brown should not only be on the hot seat he should be fired. No way with the depth of talent in Texas and being the number one school there that they should not be a top 5 program year in and out. Also I am pretty sure that Texas football brings in the most revenue of any college in the country. I never thought they should have hired him to begin with. That will be a great job for some lucky coach.
One thing Mack Brown has done is win a national championship. He brought that elite status back to Texas. Not good, not ‘almost Top Ten’. Elite. Trophy cases with trophies in them.
He also was willing to revamp almost his entire coaching staff in an effort to change with the times. He’s confident enough to make difficult decisions to improve the program. He’s not mired in the mindset of his college days. He evolves to improve. Mack is not on cruise control.
At the end of the day, even in its’ deflated condition, Texas football is still well above all those pretenders hoping for a Top 25 finish. It’s still a destination, not a retirement home.
Verlander should own the NY tonight. With Jeter out of the line-up, the Yankees have lost about 50% of the offensive output they had against the O’s. Verlander’s numbers this season weren’t as good as last year, but his two post-season starts have been lights out. Plus, he’s pitching at home. Detroit goes up 3-0 tonight, but won’t sweep. NY has enough fight lest to win a game or two. The NLCS will likely go 6, maybe 7 games. That will be a battle.
Clemson’s defense is not as strong as it was last year. Then again, neither is VT’s. Tech may have turned a corner against Duke, but given the re-shuffling of the O-line, they may struggle to score points in Death Valley. Tech’s offense is still not consistent enough to wina shoot-out. If the D can keep Clemson contained and it is a field posistion, low scoring slugfest, Tech has a chance.
Eventually UVA may get their season turned around, maybe it starts this week against Wake.
If Chuck Norris became Virginia Tech’s defense coordinator, Virginia Tech would lead the country in penalties per snaps, because the players wouldn’t be tackling anybody. They would be roundhouse kicking every players.
The Texas story is so similar to Notre Dame. They almost have their own TV network deal. They hardly have to recruit players at all, just offer them. They singlehandedly dismantled what was the Southwest conference and later the Big 12 conference. First, Arkansas left the SWC because of playing 5th fiddle to all of the Texas schools. Nebraska had enough when they won the B12 championship outright but somehow the officials found enough time on the clock for a FG for Texas. That was the straw that broke the camels back. Texas A&M and Missouri pounced on the chance to leave, they got tired of making Texas rich. The remaining teams get what crumbs Texas allows to fall from the table.
I picked WVU over TT in the forecasters last week, but I hadn’t realized that that was the 2nd trip to Texas for the Mountaineers in as many weeks. No wonder they didn’t show up. Welcome to the B12 WVU, where your closest rival is like 1,000 miles away. Ouch.
I wouldn’t think there would be tons of high profile guys lined up to take that job, but look for darkhorse Larry Fedora to have interest.
Hey, crooked road, ray and two friends stabbed two men to death and got nothing, no fine no time, for there crime!
Interesting tidbit from Twitter. VT football equipment managers are putting in orders for uniforms for next season, and fans are already clamoring for all maroon uniforms. In a typical fashion, the equipment managers are ignoring it, and they only retweet lemmings who endorse ugly uniform schemes.
Just like last Saturday, it was a maroon effect game, yet the only maroon was the jersey. Meanawhile, the cheerleaders were in all maroon, and they looked good in it. It’s a sad affair when the cheerleaders are in all maroon uniforms yet the football players aren’t.
Heard on The Herd this morning: A dude jumping from 24 miles up did a better job hitting his spot than A-Rod will do of hitting Verlander from 60 feet.
As for the game last night, I read a tweet from a SportsCenter spoof saying something along the lines of: “Think a 24-0 Chargers lead is enough? Then you haven’t seen Norv Turner and Phillip Rivers enough.” That proved to be prophetic. How long does San Diego continue to put up with the perennial underachiever? Norv Turner took over a 14-2 squad and ran them into the ground. With anyone else at the helm, they would probably have won a Super Bowl given the roster they’ve had. But with Turner? They struggle to make the playoffs…in an awful division.
I hope all you guys are right about the VT O-line going downhill without Miller. What I saw against Duke was that when Miller went out, every member of the O-line seemed to pick it up, and the run game began to flourish. As a Tiger fan who will be in Death Valley on Saturday, I’d much rather you guys be correct. The Clemson defense has looked slightly better the last 2 games, but, if we can’t stop the run, it should be a barn burner in the valley.
I never liked the all maroon uniforms, and found that virtually all of those who did were of the Playstation crowd.
I don’t like the constant rotation of uniforms now, but I’d prefer that to the geek crowd’s love of all maroon all the time.
Give me a maroon VT helmet with no stripes & a maroon face mask at home & a white VT helmet with no stripes and a white face mask on the road. Maroon jerseys with orange & white accents at home – no stupid stripes or Nike garishness, then the white version of same on the road. White pants with no stripes in both cases. Black shoes.
Let the 35 year old fanboys buy what Nike non-replica jerseys they want, VT is so far down the list on Nike sales memorabilia it doesn’t even matter. FTR, the seniors don’t pick out the uniforms, either, just to pick a nit.
Oh yeah, I’m well beyond the obeisance of Maroon Effect, Orange Effect, or the biggest fraud of all – White Effect days. Just wear Hokie colors & represent with dignity, not drunkenness. That’s what matters.
Two head FB coaches made coaching changes mid season. Johnson fired Groh at GT and Reid fired his DC in Philly. Now I wonder what the odds are that Stinespring will be canned by Frank? Ever…
#19 Bert, CU is what, 11 point favorites, for a reason. The VT O has stuttered as usual in the beginning of the season and only showed signs of life in the Duke game. The D, which was to be THE unit this year has underperformed and is vulnerable. I think the spread is appropriate. I want to say that the CU faithful have always impressed me as being good, decent fans. Good luck in the game.
Eagles fire Juan Castillo
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/philadelphia-eagles-fire-defensive-coordinator-juan-castillo-101612
Hey Andy, I hear Al Groh is available…….
I am a realist so looking at last year’s VT-Clemson games when Tech had Coale, Boykin, Wilson and Hosely and lost by 2 game score of 60-13, one can only logically assume that the score would be the same or worse. What do you think?
It is not Stinespring that needs to be canned, it is Beamer.
Unintelligent? I can’t believe Doug is finally admitting it. I kind of got that impression the first time I saw everyone in the stands at Scott wearing suits. hehehe
@Roger, maybe you should get your facts straight. I’ve never been a Ray Lewis backer, but I did follow the trial closely and there was never, ever any evidence even remotely showing that he participated in the act. Nice spin, must be a liberal. Ray Lewis was there and lied, under oath. Why don’t you be the first to stone him?
Yes, Lewis is a criminal.
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Hey, crooked road, ray and two friends stabbed two men to death and got nothing, no fine no time, for there crime!
Comment by Roger — October 16, 2012 @ 11:46 am
Art Modell showed up in Lewis’ behalf, money talks. Lewis was not innnocent, that is why he is trying so hard now to make up for the crime, i.e., visiting schools, helping rookie players, pleading with youngsters to not get caught up with the crime and folks that he was caught up in after college. Mike Vick was in the same boat, trying now to help others. Don’t judge them, just realize you could be in the same shape if not for the grace of God.