Let’s Get This in Writing

First a bit of hype about Hokie Nation Showing up. And it serves as a warning that keeping this number means getting back on the winning track.

I can tell you as someone who works the sidelines in a game there is no more powerful presence than a hyped up thunderously loud Lane Stadium crowd. And nothing so deathly silent and thinning. The Hokies have enough talent to compete and be comfortable in getting to a bowl game. Do they have the discipline, self-respect, respect for their fans, and spirit to turn it up a notch and win the majority of the remaining games in the season?

Winning this game would go a long way to proving that is possible.

It’s time for those predictions in writing.

Bryan Manning

What do you know, another year of the Miami Hurricanes being overhyped and college football fans being told: “The U” is back. Ok, we’ll cut them some slack right now. It is a new regime, and Mario Cristobal is a winner. It is surprising seeing the ‘Canes struggle early this season because they have plenty of talent and a future NFL quarterback in Tyler Van Dyke. Miami has more talent, but both teams are desperate. I was encouraged by some things we saw last week against Pitt, particularly on offense. While I am concerned about the run defense, the Hurricanes are a different team than Pittsburgh. Ultimately, though, I don’t think the Hokies do enough to pull out a win. But I do think they keep getting closer.

Miami 30, Virginia Tech 20

Jay Johnson

The start to Miami’s season can only be described as disappointing. Once again the Hurricanes looked poised to escape the doldrums of mediocrity, but have stumbled. Tyler Van Dyke has had a rocky start to the season, but last week he found his wings and threw for 396 yards and three TDs. The “U” running game has looked lost these past two weeks, but there is talent in that unit. Virginia Tech still has not shown that it can stick with competent Power 5 teams for four quarters. The return of RB, Malachi Thomas, to the field and this week the expected return of LB, Alan Tisdale, will bolster VT’s performance and raise their ceiling a bit, but until the Hokies show they can put a complete game together it’s hard to pick them against a team like Miami, who isn’t meeting their potential, but has a lot of talent and athleticism all over the field. I worry that the Hurricanes view VT as a get well game for them to iron out some problems. I expect the Hokies to drop their fourth in a row, but would love to be proven wrong.

42-28, Miami Hurricanes

John Schneider

I shook the Magic ‘8-Ball’ and asked it, nicely. The first shake said, “Cannot predict now”. The second shake said “Better not tell you now” so, I tossed the thing back into the closet of old stuff and looked for some other out.

We recorded the podcast on Monday and quite frankly the ground beneath my feet just didn’t change much. The facts have pretty much remained the same. Miami is having problems. It’s got critical players on the sidelines, and anyone coming back is “iffy”. That sounds really great and legitimately like we have a good shot at a team whose Risk rating has gone from High to Moderate in a half of a season. Unfortunately, the Hokies’ “Moderate/Low” risk rating is trending towards the Low side of things. Tech seriously has a real chance to win this. Miami’s offense is woefully one dimensional, its defense is good but not shut down good.

That puts everything on this team and the three things that this Virginia Tech Hokie team seems to be lacking is in the level of talent present combined with a noted lack of the confidence to play top level football. Tech has been digging this well for four years, and now that it’s managed to stop digging, it is exhausted, and the spirit level is low. There is enough talent to win this game IF the Hokies minimize (preferably eliminate) penalty mistakes, stop van Dyke from passing us to death, and the offense generates some meaningful scoring drives. So far, that’s been a tall order this season, at least for all four quarters. Unfortunately, though I’d dearly love to be wrong, and I very much want to predict a win, I just can’t. The Wise Guys in the desert Southwest look to have it about right, though I think that Miami might beat the spread.

24 - 35 Miami

There is still way too much to fix and way too far to go to climb out of this deep well. It’s just going to take serious time...

GO HOKIES!!!!