2009 Virginia Tech Football: Miami Game Guide

by furrer4heisman on Sep 21, 2009 7:00 AM EDT Comment 6 comments

Virginia Tech Hokies (2-1) vs. Miami Hurricanes (2-0)

Time: 3:30 p.m. EDT
Date: Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009
Place: Lane Stadium at Worsham Field, Blacksburg, Va.
TV: ABC/ESPN Reverse Mirror

Miami: The Hurricanes will have 10 days to prepare for the Hokies after dismantling Georgia Tech last week ... a lot has been made about the Hurricanes early slate, which starts with conference games against Florida State, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech and then has a non-conference game against Oklahoma ... so far, the Canes have been up to the test with wins at FSU and against Georgia Tech ... Miami has two new coordinators for 2009 ... OC Mark Whipple replaced the fired Patrick Nix ... DC John Lovett replaced Bill Young, who moved to Oklahoma State ... even though QB Jacory Harris has been the story early on, the Canes have 69 rushing attempts and 59 pass attempts through two games ... Harris has completed nearly 70 percent of his passes ... Graig Cooper and Javarris James share the carries for Miami ... Cooper has averaged over five yards per carry ... opponents are averaging under three yards per carry and 7.6 yards per pass attempt against Miami.

Trends: Miami had a five game winning streak before losing its last three games of 2008 ... it has started 2009 with two wins ... Miami's win over Virginia Tech last year was its first against the Hokies since 2005 ... four of the last seven games between Miami and Virginia Tech have been decided by more than seven points ... Virginia Tech has won 10 consecutive home games ... its last home loss was 14-10 against BC in 2007.

History Lesson: Virginia Tech is 9-17 all-time against the Hurricanes ... the Hokies lost their first 12 games against Miami ... Virginia Tech is 5-5 against Miami in Lane Stadium and 9-9 against it under Frank Beamer ... needless to say, it's been a very even series of late ... the last 11 games between these two teams have been on ESPN, ABC or CBS.

What to Expect

The Hokies could have trouble getting pressure on Jacory Harris. He's been sacked just once in his first two games.
Expect Harris to be confident in the pocket. He's only run the ball four times this year, including the sack.
Expect the Canes to be confident. Whipple has them playing at a high level in their first two games.
Expect big plays from both sides. The Canes can be beaten deep, but it will take keeping Tyrod Taylor upright for the Hokies to take advantage of them. Miami has nine pass plays of 25 yards or more this season.
Expect an improved Miami defense. It shut down Virginia Tech last year, but still struggled defensively. This year it's playing much better.

Hokies win if: They give Tyrod Taylor time to throw, force Jacory Harris into mistakes and make this an ugly game.

Hurricanes win if: They get their athletes into space, take advantage of Virginia Tech's struggles against the deep ball and don't turn the ball over.

Dot-dot-dots: This is the first time the Hokies and Hurricanes haven't met in November or December since they played on Sept. 19, 1998 at the Orange Bowl ... the Hokies won that game, 27-20 ... Saturday was the first time the Hokies took a lead in the final minute since 1999 when they won on a kick as time expired at West Virginia ... an opposing running back has gone for over 100 yards in each of the Hokies' first three games ... Saturday was the first time the Hokies won with less than 100 yards rushing since they beat Boston College in the 2007 ACCCG.

Miami Links

The 7th Floor
AllCanes
Anton Azucar
Canespace

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Comments

this is going to be a really tough game

Jacory Harris is a tank and their defense is suited well against us, unless Tyrod takes that next step in downfield passing

RIP JJ & HK
Let the future judge Michael Vick

by BadCo'09 on Sep 21, 2009 10:19 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Is it too early

To start the good-natured trash talk?

That’s a well done game preview up there, nice job.

I haven’t seen Va Tech play this year very much. I noticed that you think Va Tech has struggles against the deep ball. If that’s the case then you’ll need a big day from Tavarris Jackson…er…Tyrod Taylor to win. UM is very good at the deep ball this season.

**That stat from above…the one that says UM has 69 rushing attempts to 59 passing attempts is very surprising to me. Here’s something surprising that I’ll add to that. UM also tends to pass on 1st down this year. Watch for that on Saturday.

Warning: FSU was vulnerable to the deep ball also. They put up 34 points against us and it still wasn’t enough to win. The big question to me is can the VT offense keep up? You guys are gonna have to really bring it.

Pack that stadium and get loud like you always do. The Hokies are going to need every last bit of help they can get.

by CanesAddiction on Sep 21, 2009 12:00 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

The Byrd Kid

scares the bejeezus out of me. A friend of mine from high school who played for UM a few years ago said he thinks Byrd’s going to have a huge game on Saturday. I wouldn’t be surprised.

I have to admit, you guys are playing now like I thought you’d be playing at the end of the year. I’m impressed with how quickly the two new coordinators have gotten things to gel.

So is Bill Young the most overrated defensive coordinator in college football? As much as you guys held us down, you guys had one of the worst defenses in the ACC. Then Young goes to OSU and can’t hold any team from the Greater Houston Area under 24 points and you guys are shutting down GT.

The bad thing is, the one thing you guys seem most vulnerable at is this thing we suck at most: Chunking it downfield. I expect us to have one or two plays where your protection breaks down, but we don’t have enough consistency to do that and put up 35 points.

Also, I think Jacory Harris might finally have to deal with pressure. Our defensive line has to get to him if we want to win this game.

A bullhorn, a bottle of whiskey and a dream. GobblerCountry.com

by furrer4heisman on Sep 21, 2009 12:15 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

he is special

that’s for sure. But the best thing about the Miami offense is that #12 is spreading it around, not just relying on one “go to” guy. It’s nice for us for a change

by CGNC on Sep 21, 2009 12:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Nice write-up

I have been to Lane Stadium and other than it being freaking cold (night game) I think I was expecting more – that’s media for ya ;-D. The fans there were nice to us – LOL probably felt sorry for us since we were sooooooooo bad (think Kyle Wright getting hit by 5 defenders at once). I look for a fairly tough battle – VT and UM games are seldom lopsided and usually close but I think we (Canes) win

by CGNC on Sep 21, 2009 12:21 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Bill Young

needs to be at the same location for a few years before his prowess really shows, I think. He runs a zone-blitzing scheme that can be very effective if the players really know what’s going on. Last year we were out of position quite often while our players tried to adjust to his stuff. Add to that the fact that we were a poor tackling team and you get a poor defense. If Bill and that staff survive the year look for a better defense from them next year.

While Byrd is scary, he CAN’T be keyed on by a defense. 9 different players caught a pass in the 1st half vs Ga Tech. At the end of the game 11 different players had a catch. Want to hear the kicker? The WR who led the team in catches last season didn’t play vs Ga Tech. He was in street clothes (fatigues) on the sideline with a tender groin.

If you aren’t going to eat up big chunks of yardage yourselves then you will HAVE to pressure the QB and bounce him around quite a bit….just watch out for the screen pass while you’re doing that because we’ve got a couple dangerous RB’s (Cooper & James).

by CanesAddiction on Sep 21, 2009 12:32 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs