If non-conference games get you off, then there are many intriguing matchups to salivate over from now until September. Some of the more notable ones are:

• 9/4 – LSU vs North Carolina (Chick-fil-A kickoff)
• 9/6 – Boise State vs Virginia Tech (ESPN 8:00)
• 9/11 – Florida State at Oklahoma
• 9/11 – Georgia Tech at Kansas
• 9/11 – Miami at Ohio State
• 9/16 – Cincinnati at NC State (ESPN 7:30)
• 9/18 – Clemson at Aurburn
• 9/18 – Alabama at Duke (Please Duke pull the upset for lulz.)
• 9/18 – BYU at Florida State
• 9/18 – Maryland at West Fuckin’ Virginia
• 9/18 – ECU at Virginia Tech
• 9/18 – Wake Forest at Stanford
• 9/23 – Miami at Pittsburgh (ESPN 7:30)
• 9/25 – North Carolina at Rutgers
• 10/2 – Notre Dame at Boston College
• 11/27 – Boston College at Syracuse

As far as the conference race goes the major players are Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Miami, Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina and Boston College. That’s more than 50% of the conference and with that said one of the five teams I didn’t mention will end up winning the damn thing. Parity, if you’re and ACC fan you’ve got to love it.

Some quick notes:

• Boston College  plays all five of their divisional games back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back from 10/9 – 11/6. That’s rough.
• Clemson has to play Miami, @North Carolina and Georgia Tech. They could very well end up being the first, second and third place Coastal teams.
• Georgia Tech gets North Carolina early on in the season, when they’ll suck, again, but has a three game stretch @Clemson, @Virginia Tech and Miami as fall begins.
• Miami – That’s a schedule the oozes swagga!
• Virginia Tech – The following statement is extremely homerish, optimistic, but entirely possible. If we beat Boise State we could be 8-0 and the #1 team in the country heading into our Thursday night game against Georgia Tech. Welcome to the Thunderdome. Oh and this year, we’ve got 11 days to prepare for the Perfect Option.

What do you guys think?

The full schedule is here: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/acc/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/10accfbschedule.pdf

According to hokiesports.com it looks like Virginia Tech has indeed rescheduled it’s September 4th  game against Central Michigan to October 9th.  The only plausible reason for such a move is to free up Labor Day to travel to FedEx to play Boise State. I expect an announcement confirming this soon.

Here are the positives and negatives from both the Bronco and Hokie perspective. I’ve been against this move for two reasons:

1. A lean non-conference schedule will give our young defense and late blooming offense a chance to gel.
2. I’d like to see Boise State play a blockbuster game during the middle of the season.

UPDATED 2/2/10

The other shoe has dropped via @JeffCren

FedExField, the home of the Washington Redskins, will be the site when Virginia Tech hosts Boise State University on Monday, Sept. 6. The kickoff time will be released at a later date.

Thoughts?

In response to my own argument in favor of making Ryan Williams the lone featured tailback in the 2010 offense, I give you the CGB supercomputer analysis of the Evans Williams 100 proof backfield. Please note that the Hokies’ simulation opponent was Boise State.

Oh no, oh no, who’s getting it… Is it Evans up the gut or Williams on the outside… Oh God, Oh God. SMASH!

The results are an infinite amount of points. TREMBLE IN FEAR!

*Thanks to VTBaZ for the help.
**Credit to the drunkards at The North End Zone for the Ryan Mother Fucking Williams (RMFW) nickname.

How Frank Beamer, Bryan Stinespring and Billy Hite re-incorporate Darren Evans into the Hokies’ backfield will be one of the most discussed topics heading into the 2010 season. The dominating argument on the message boards and blogs is a 50/50 split and Evans should be the grind it out back and Williams the home run threat. Meh.

Below and after the jump are typical rushing statistics for both Williams and Evans. I’ve also included my adjusted yards and adjusted yards per carry statistics. They’re nothing fancy. What I’ve done is eliminated Williams’ and Evans’ long rush for each game and recalculated total yards and yards per carry. So simply put, adjusted yards = yards – long and adjusted yards per carry = (yards – long) / (carries – 1).

Ryan Williams – 2009

Continue Reading “Evans-Williams Statistical Comparison” »

What’s that eight foot tall mechanical motherfucker on stilts lurking underneath Torgersen Bridge? That’s right, Hokietron is back. Make haste pissants.

See more Hokietron here and here.

Furrer4Heisman asked me to answer five questions and one bonus question (that is actually a statement) about the Hokies. I like the cut of his jib, so I obliged.

1. Do you think the 2009 season was a successful one for Virginia Tech?

If I define success as meeting or exceeding my preseason expectations, then no 2009 wasn’t successful. However, it wasn’t a failure either. Based on our talent and experience we should have won the ACC. OK, so Georgia Tech was pretty good too. But losing a Thursday nighter in the Thunderdome to 4-3 North Carolina was inexcusable. In my eyes, what redeemed the season was the fact that we bounced back and didn’t go into the tank like 2003 quitters. Continue Reading “Hokie Postseason Roundtable” »

Can you find all the ‘fuck’s hidden on the rock? The penis is a great touch too.

via @Sports_Prose’s Twitter

My take, it’s a business. Lane Kiffin took an excellent job for an elite one. If he had failed and Tennessee had fired him none of the masses would be crying foul. As for the hire itself, it’s the best USC could do at the time. The Trojans get a big energetic personality at the helm and Monte, Orgeron and NORM, to, you know, handle the actual coaching. Kiffin’s record isn’t particularly impressive, but he won games (yes plural) in Oakland under they eye of Darth Davis and exceeded expectations at Tennessee.

On the other hand, and to put it mildly, Tennessee is screwed. I don’t think they’ll be able to hire a new coach and assemble a staff on such short notice that’ll be able to keep together their recruiting class. The most logical thing Tennessee could do is take their lumps, forget about trying to keep Kiffin’s recruits, and hire someone that’s committed to Tennessee for the long haul.

Oh and there were riots. Check out Rocky Top Talk for more.

via @rollbamaroll’s Twitter

• W-L: Wins and Losses
• (%): Winning Percentage
• W_c-L_c: Conference Wins and Losses
• W_w-L_w: Wins and Losses against teams with a winning record
• W₂₅-L₂₅: Wins and Losses against Associated Press Top 25 teams from the final AP Poll of that year
• M(W): Single season highest wins
• M(L): Single season highest losses
• H%: Home winning percentage
• A%: Away winning percentage

Continue Reading “2004-09 Aggregate Wins, Losses, etc…” »