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Saturday at noon, Scott Stadium, Charlottesville, Virginia some 144 miles from Blacksburg, oddly enough on exist 118B on I64 (Blacksburg/Virginia Tech is Exit 118B on I81). I don't know when the trip actually starts, if the busses will leave early on Saturday, or on Friday afternoon with a hotel stay in Hooville. With a 12:00 kickoff and it being the Thanksgiving holiday weekend I'd opt to do the hotel and have everyone up and moving on a fixed morning schedule of final walk through work breakfast, and study.
This game means more than most folks would like to admit. It really shouldn't mean that much because UVa hasn't put a consistent winner on the field in almost a decade, now. I don't know if it's lack of trying since it certainly doesn't lack the talent. Virginia seems to do pretty well for itself in its recruiting rounds. If it's the coaching, game planning, or some level of ambivalence to football at the institution, I don't know. Virginia shouldn't struggle this much, and the game should be a good deal more difficult than it has been, recently. They have played us close, but we haven't been in real danger or lost for the last 11 years. At some point the rivalry starts to fade when that happens.
EXCEPT, this year and last year we have something hinging on winning the game. We shouldn't, but we do. This year, we have bowl eligibility at stake. It means the probability of getting something better in the post season bowl seeding. There is a really interesting and annoying issue going on this season. Five and 7 teams are going to get consideration because there are 40 bowls, and there don't look to be 80 winning teams to fill them. This means that win or lose, the Hokies might be eligible, but only winning will guarantee something. It also means Frank Beamer's last team wins the last regular season contest against a 120 year rival for football supremacy in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Here is the record that Frank Beamer has amassed against UVA during his tenure as Head Hokie:
Hokies and the Wahoos in the Beamer Era
Season |
Date |
Site |
Score |
Rank |
TV |
2014 |
Fri., Nov 28, 2014 |
Blacksburg, Va. * |
W, 24-20 |
NR/NR |
ESPN |
2013 |
Sat., Nov 30, 2013 |
Charlottesville, Va. * |
W, 16-6 |
NR/NR |
ESPNU |
2012 |
Sat., Nov 24, 2012 |
Blacksburg, Va. * |
W, 17-14 |
NR/NR |
ESPNU |
2011 |
Sat., Nov 26, 2011 |
Charlottesville, Va. * |
W, 38-0 |
6/24 |
ABC |
2010 |
Sat., Nov 27, 2010 |
Blacksburg, Va. * |
W, 37-7 |
13/NR |
ACC Net |
2009 |
Sat., Nov 28, 2009 |
Charlottesville, Va. * |
W, 42-13 |
14/NR |
ABC |
2008 |
Sat., Nov 29, 2008 |
Blacksburg, Va. * |
W, 17-14 |
NR/NR |
ESPN |
2007 |
Sat., Nov 24, 2007 |
Charlottesville, Va. * |
W, 33-21 |
8/16 |
ESPN2 |
2006 |
Sat., Nov 25, 2006 |
Blacksburg, Va. * |
W, 17-0 |
17/NR |
Raycom |
2005 |
Sat., Nov 19, 2005 |
Charlottesville, Va. * |
W, 52-14 |
7/NR |
ESPN |
2004 |
Sat., Nov 27, 2004 |
Blacksburg, Va. * |
W, 24-10 |
11/16 |
ABC(r) |
2003 |
Sat., Nov 29, 2003 |
Charlottesville, Va. |
L, 21-35 |
21/NR |
ABC(r) |
2002 |
Sat., Nov 30, 2002 |
Blacksburg, Va. 1 |
W, 21-9 |
22/NR |
ESPN |
2001 |
Sat., Nov 17, 2001 |
Charlottesville, Va. |
W, 31-17 |
18/NR |
ESPN |
2000 |
Sat., Nov 25, 2000 |
Blacksburg, Va. |
W, 42-21 |
6/NR |
ESPN |
1999 |
Sat., Oct 2, 1999 |
Charlottesville, Va. |
W, 31-7 |
8/24 |
ESPN |
1998 |
Sat., Nov 28, 1998 |
Blacksburg, Va. |
L, 32-36 |
20/16 |
ESPN |
1997 |
Sat., Nov 29, 1997 |
Charlottesville, Va. |
L, 20-34 |
NR/NR |
ESPN |
1996 |
Fri., Nov 29, 1996 |
Blacksburg, Va. |
W, 26-9 |
17/20 |
CBS |
1995 |
Sat., Nov 18, 1995 |
Charlottesville, Va. |
W, 36-29 |
20/13 |
ABC (r) |
1994 |
Sat., Nov 19, 1994 |
Blacksburg, Va. |
L, 23-42 |
14/16 |
BIG EAST (r) |
1993 |
Sat., Nov 20, 1993 |
Charlottesville, Va. |
W, 20-17 |
25/23 |
J-Pilot(r) |
1992 |
Sat., Nov 21, 1992 |
Blacksburg, Va. |
L, 38-41 |
NR/NR |
|
1991 |
Sat., Nov 23, 1991 |
Charlottesville, Va. |
L, 0-38 |
NR/20 |
J-Pilot (r) |
1990 |
Sat., Nov 24, 1990 |
Blacksburg, Va. |
W, 38-13 |
NR/17 |
ESPN |
1989 |
Sat., Nov 11, 1989 |
Charlottesville, Va. |
L, 25-32 |
NR/18 |
|
1988 |
Sat., Oct 29, 1988 |
Blacksburg, Va. |
L, 10-16 |
NR/NR |
|
1987 |
Sat., Sep 19, 1987 |
Charlottesville, Va. |
L, 13-14 |
NR/NR |
(r) Regional Broadcast
University of Virginia Cavaliers:
Head Coach Mike London isn't the most popular man in Charlottesville's football fan circles, but those circles seem to have gotten ever smaller as the success of UVA wains on the gridiron. Virginia has always been known as a "Basketball School" in a "Basketball Conference". Their baseball team is world class and boasts star players at almost every level of professional baseball including the Washington Nationals' Ryan Zimmerman. Their men's lacrosse team though PR challenged by a recent scandal, is first rate and routinely plays at the top of the NCAA. The Wahoos seem to be really proud of those teams and their accomplishments. It's just really interestingly difficult to find dedicated Virginia football fans. They are out there, but their presence seems to be stealth characteristic. While there are hundreds of cars sporting Hokie bumper stickers, flags, and window decals the UVA paraphernalia just doesn't stand out all that much.
Maybe it's the team's recent performance, but as the other half of the family feud, it's kind of fun to poke at your brother, cousin, best friend from high school, or pal from church, and give him a rib about the upcoming game. Lately it seems like the response has been more along the lines of "yeah, so what? We won the College Baseball World Series, and where were you?"
So how does a coach motivate a team of football players where the school is sort of interested in their play quality and record, and sort of not? It's not for lack of talent. Matt Johns is a reasonably good quarterback. He's pretty big, reasonably athletic, and hits 2/3rds of his passes for an average of a touch over seven yards. That's not terrible.
Virginia Cavalier schedule and scores:
Sat 9/5 |
UCLA |
@ (13) UCLA |
L 16 - 34 |
Sat 9/12 |
Notre Dame |
(9) Notre Dame |
L 27 - 34 |
Sat 9/19 |
William & Mary |
William & Mary |
W 35 - 29 |
Fri 9/25 |
Boise St. |
Boise St. |
L 14 - 56 |
Sat 10/10 |
Pittsburgh |
@ Pittsburgh |
L 19 - 26 |
Sat 10/17 |
Syracuse |
Syracuse |
W 44 - 38 |
Sat 10/24 |
N. Carolina |
@ N. Carolina |
L 13 - 26 |
Sat 10/31 |
Georgia Tech |
Georgia Tech |
W 27 - 21 |
Sat 11/7 |
Miami (FL) |
@ Miami (FL) |
L 21 - 27 |
Sat 11/14 |
Louisville |
@ Louisville |
L 31 - 38 |
Sat 11/21 |
Duke |
Duke |
W 42 - 34 |
UVA lost some seriously close games; Miami by only 6, Louisville by just 7, Pitt by only 7. They even hung in with Notre Dame for just a one score loss. Their 4 and 7 record could just as easily be better than our 5 and 6 record with a few breaks. Much like I hear from my fellow Hokies regarding our disappointing season of ‘stunningly mediocre', again.
Besides Matt Johns being a decent enough quarterback, UVA has a few running backs and a running game that has put up mearly 1500 yards this season. If you pull out the fact that Johns is not a running and has far too many rushing attempts (ok, we are talking sack pressure scrambles, here) The Hoos are averaging around a 4 yard schedule on rushing attempts. Taquan Mizzell is both the leading rusher with 638 yards, and the 2nd leading pass receiver with 670 or so yards and four TD's in the air. Johns also spreads the ball around with Severin being his number one target.
UVA's offense cannot be legitimately called high powered or high scoring, but it is competent and can produce both yards and points. It is basically a pro pocket oriented design and if the offensive line can keep Johns on his feet and in the pocket it can be dangerous. They put up 42 points on Duke.
That brings up the other half of the Cavaliers; the defense. The Virginia D has not been its bright spot this season. Even if the offense can put up point totals in the mid 20's to 30's, the defense has been giving up too much, and that seems to be the biggest reason for the critical losses to closely matched teams.
Saturday, the Cavaliers will take to the field at Scott Stadium with a fairly large representative sample of Burnt Orange and Chicago Maroon in the stands. They are going to be a dangerous opponent. Our last several contests (since 2011, anyway) have been close run deals. I see no reason to think that London, with his job potentially on the line, will not pull out all the stops to get that critical win that could get them to a bowl for late December; even if it's the Pogy Bait Pity Bowl.
Passing Statistics
NAME |
CMP |
ATT |
YDS |
CMP% |
YDS/A |
TD |
INT |
RAT |
Matt Johns |
229 |
365 |
2639 |
62.7 |
7.23 |
19 |
15 |
132.4 |
Connor Brewer |
4 |
8 |
34 |
50.0 |
4.25 |
0 |
1 |
60.7 |
Olamide Zaccheaus |
1 |
1 |
15 |
100.0 |
15.00 |
1 |
0 |
556.0 |
Totals |
234 |
375 |
2688 |
62.4 |
7.17 |
20 |
16 |
131.7 |
Rushing Statistics
NAME |
CAR |
YDS |
AVG |
LONG |
TD |
Taquan Mizzell |
153 |
638 |
4.2 |
36 |
4 |
Albert Reid |
57 |
257 |
4.5 |
71 |
2 |
Daniel Hamm |
55 |
247 |
4.5 |
53 |
1 |
Olamide Zaccheaus |
23 |
212 |
9.2 |
35 |
1 |
Jordan Ellis |
23 |
73 |
3.2 |
39 (TD) |
2 |
Matt Johns |
55 |
28 |
0.5 |
13 |
1 |
T.J. Thorpe |
4 |
27 |
6.8 |
26 (TD) |
1 |
Vincent Croce |
1 |
7 |
7.0 |
7 |
0 |
Nicholas Conte |
1 |
6 |
6.0 |
6 |
0 |
Totals |
384 |
1475 |
3.8 |
71 |
12 |
Receiving Statistics
NAME |
REC |
YDS |
AVG |
LONG |
TD |
Canaan Severin |
51 |
713 |
14.0 |
38 |
7 |
Taquan Mizzell |
68 |
671 |
9.9 |
80 (TD) |
4 |
T.J. Thorpe |
20 |
295 |
14.8 |
75 (TD) |
1 |
Olamide Zaccheaus |
19 |
197 |
10.4 |
50 (TD) |
1 |
Daniel Hamm |
14 |
174 |
12.4 |
48 |
0 |
Keeon Johnson |
13 |
173 |
13.3 |
42 (TD) |
1 |
Evan Butts |
14 |
157 |
11.2 |
28 |
3 |
Charlie Hopkins |
11 |
90 |
8.2 |
21 |
2 |
David Eldridge |
2 |
88 |
44.0 |
45 |
0 |
Albert Reid |
11 |
42 |
3.8 |
12 |
0 |
Ryan Santoro |
1 |
34 |
34.0 |
34 |
0 |
Connor Wingo-Reeves |
4 |
31 |
7.8 |
18 |
1 |
Andre Levrone |
2 |
16 |
8.0 |
10 |
0 |
Brendan Marshall |
1 |
5 |
5.0 |
5 |
0 |
Vincent Croce |
2 |
3 |
1.5 |
6 |
0 |
Totals |
234 |
2688 |
11.5 |
80 |
20 |
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Fighting Gobblers:
The Virginia Tech Hokies are just off of a crushingly disappointing overtime loss where many in Hokie Nation are still feeling robbed by more iffy end zone officiating. Well the old saw is; "if you got down to a blown referee call in overtime you blew more than they did."
Virginia Tech's offense has been maddeningly inconsistent. There are so many complaints about the play calling from all points of the compass of Hokie Nation that the needle spun off. The team has talent far above its 5 and 6 record. For this game, it better have a game plan, a load of flexibility in its execution, and above all it must think down field. Virginia's defense is not good enough to stop a balanced offensive scheme where effective runs help with play action fakes to gain advantages downfield under the zone and in the seams between coverages. Brewer can make this a career game if he does a good job of being patient, moving in the pocket , and hitting smart higher percentage passes where he can see the defensive development. The offense must get its big weapons on the field and into the game. Bucky, Isaiah, and Cam need to be regularly mentioned by the announcers in the positive sense. Getting some releases out into the flats for Malleck, Rogers, and McMillian would definitely help to keep the Wahoo Defense off balance.
The Hokie Defense needs to put the kind of pressure on Johns that makes him miss, or misfire to the player wearing the late 1980's throwback helmets and jerseys. It might be a good time to see more of Shegog, Clark, and Motuapuaka getting good blitz opportunities.
There will be a critical part of this game that will be fought between the ears of each player on the Hokie squad. Tech has committed fewer penalties of late, but we are still having some difficulties with line discipline, especially the defense jumping offside. Execution of fundamental football is going to be more important this game.
Passing Statistics
NAME |
CMP |
ATT |
YDS |
CMP% |
YDS/A |
TD |
INT |
RAT |
Brenden Motley |
92 |
164 |
1155 |
56.1 |
7.04 |
11 |
7 |
128.9 |
Michael Brewer |
88 |
150 |
1122 |
58.7 |
7.48 |
10 |
5 |
136.8 |
Dwayne Lawson |
3 |
9 |
51 |
33.3 |
5.67 |
0 |
0 |
80.9 |
Isaiah Ford |
1 |
2 |
14 |
50.0 |
7.00 |
0 |
0 |
108.8 |
Sam Rogers |
1 |
1 |
13 |
100.0 |
13.00 |
0 |
0 |
209.2 |
Totals |
185 |
327 |
2355 |
56.6 |
7.20 |
21 |
12 |
130.9 |
Rushing Statistics
NAME |
CAR |
YDS |
AVG |
LONG |
TD |
Travon McMillian |
166 |
880 |
5.3 |
63 |
5 |
Brenden Motley |
88 |
224 |
2.5 |
22 |
3 |
Sam Rogers |
51 |
223 |
4.4 |
29 |
1 |
Trey Edmunds |
45 |
174 |
3.9 |
35 |
2 |
J.C. Coleman |
40 |
132 |
3.3 |
10 |
1 |
Dwayne Lawson |
14 |
55 |
3.9 |
10 |
1 |
Shai McKenzie |
13 |
50 |
3.8 |
11 |
0 |
Chris Durkin |
4 |
25 |
6.3 |
9 |
0 |
Cam Phillips |
1 |
24 |
24.0 |
24 |
0 |
Isaiah Ford |
3 |
22 |
7.3 |
10 |
0 |
Greg Stroman |
7 |
12 |
1.7 |
6 |
0 |
Totals |
472 |
1750 |
3.7 |
63 |
14 |
Receiving Statistics
NAME |
REC |
YDS |
AVG |
LONG |
TD |
Isaiah Ford |
57 |
816 |
14.3 |
61 |
9 |
Cam Phillips |
43 |
536 |
12.5 |
60 |
2 |
Bucky Hodges |
33 |
458 |
13.9 |
46 |
6 |
Ryan Malleck |
18 |
211 |
11.7 |
40 |
2 |
Sam Rogers |
13 |
167 |
12.8 |
51 (TD) |
1 |
Travon McMillian |
12 |
64 |
5.3 |
19 |
1 |
Kalvin Cline |
3 |
38 |
12.7 |
31 |
0 |
Michael Brewer |
1 |
14 |
14.0 |
14 |
0 |
Brenden Motley |
1 |
13 |
13.0 |
13 |
0 |
Kevin Asante |
1 |
13 |
13.0 |
13 |
0 |
J.C. Coleman |
1 |
10 |
10.0 |
10 |
0 |
Trey Edmunds |
1 |
8 |
8.0 |
8 |
0 |
Demitri Knowles |
1 |
7 |
7.0 |
7 |
0 |
Totals |
185 |
2355 |
12.7 |
61 |
21 |
The Wahoos WIN if the Hokie offense runs like a junker with a flat tire. Virginia needs to figure out how to get Brewer to make mistakes with the ball in critical situations. They need to stuff the run, and make the passes predictable. The Cavalier Offense needs to play good ball control football, score consistent points, and not allow Tech to build up a Defensive head of steam.
The Hokies WIN if we play a solid balanced offensive scheme where we take advantage of Travon McMillian's first rate rushing performance, the improved influence blocking by the offensive line, and passing with a moving pocket using play action and options to keep the Wahoo defense off balance and on its heels.
The Hokie Defense needs to play a game like it played last week, minus the yellow hankies, please.
The Virginia Tech Hokies are a better football team than the Virginia Cavaliers, unfortunately the difference is not great enough to consider this game in anyone's pocket. The Wahoos can win this one, and the Hokies had better keep that reality in mind.
Next Stop Scott, and then we'll talk other exciting things, and I am not really thinking about the certain Booger Bowl that we are likely to get a bid to attend.
GO HOKIES!!! Win the last Regular Season game for Frank!
Sources:
http://www.hokiesports.com/football/opponents/Virginia
http://espn.go.com/college-football/team/stats/_/id/258/virginia-cavaliers
http://espn.go.com/college-football/team/stats/_/id/259/virginia-tech-hokies