Game Preview - VT vs. Clemson

Oh my. Oh my goodness. This. Is. A. Big. Game.

This is the level of Miami coming here in 2003 and 2005, Clemson coming to Lane on a Thursday night in 2006, or FSU and Boston College visiting in 2007. Clemson's 2011 squad is every bit as good as those aforementioned teams and except for the final 2 minutes of the Boston College game in 2007 and the Miami game in 2005, every one of those teams came in on this enormous stage and left not only in a loss, but got MANHANDLED by the Hokies. The Boston College ending was the result of a superhuman effort by a Heisman-worthy QB in Matt Ryan. The 2005 Miami game? We'll come back to that later.

Meh. Tech Defeats Marshal to Get To 4-0

What can I say about this game? The defense was once again phenomenal against the run. They let their opponents have their obligatory one touchdown. However, they pummeled the run game of a team already struggling in that department. The offense moved the ball well and racked up points quick in the first half, but struggled in the second half only to score once. The special teams story continues to get weirder as Danny Coale came in to punt.

Tech's performance in this 30-10 victory over the Thundering Herd cannot truly reflect on how they might do next week as they open up conference play against the red hot Clemson Tigers. The Hokies got a win in a game where it never was in question. There were some good plays, some bad plays, and definitely some ugly plays.

Narf! Mega Conference Redux

With Brian "Where's the Ice?" on hiatus as he tries to get himself more edumacated, MadJay and I find ourselves in a weird pattern where one of us is doing the review of the previous weekend's game and the review of the upcoming game. That leaves one of us without much responsibility for a week. Knowing us that's just dangerous. If you're thinking what I'm thinking, where are we going to find a duck and hose at this hour?

Game Preview - VT vs. Marshall

This may just be the shortest game preview we've ever done here at TSF. This Marshall team that the Hokies are going to face is the worst team they will play all year. Yes, even worse than Appalachian State - who I still think is a good team that was just overwhelmed by the moment against Tech. I will admit from what I've seen in watching Marshall highlights from games this season, that they have some decent athletes. For example, there is speed in the backfield in true freshman QB Rakeem Cato and RB Tron Martinez along with another true freshman RB Travon Van who was a University of Florida recruit until academics got in the way. Now, now, Hokie Respect prevents us from making any jokes regarding the academic credentials of our esteemed opponent this week. So there will be no comments of any kind about what did the Marshall graduate say to the Virginia Tech graduate? (do you want fries with that?) Ok, I digress.

Game Review - VT vs. Arkansas State

Behind another suffocating effort by the defense and a creatively called (if poorly executed at times) gameplan on offense, the Hokies stifled a FAR tougher than expected opponent - the Arkansas State Red Wolves - 26-7 on Saturday in Blacksburg. But you didn't come here to read that. You already know that. After all, you are a Superfan.

Tech Tries to Recover from Mistakes Against Arkansas State

"The big thing is that when we needed to do it, we did it."

- Coach Frank Beamer

In order to get a full preview of what we can expect against Arkansas State this weekend, I could rehash all the penalties. I could talk about how we've all established that this was a fluke and that Beamer will not tolerate any screw ups in practice this week and in next weeks game.

I could rehash the dropped balls, which after skimming the footage from Saturday, I'm starting to be a little more convinced that they were, in fact, drops.

To Coach Bowden...

My hat is off to you sir. Coach Bowden you are a warrior. Over the years, I've gone from hating you to appreciating you as a coach to out right respect for what you mean to college football. Today, with your announcement of being a cancer survivor while continuing to think of nothing but the best for your team, you solidify your place amongst the top reasons why I love college football.

May your cancer remain in remission and may you continue to be an icon in this game we love.

Your truly,
Tech, but more importantly, College Football Super Fan,
Anand "EhhTee" Trivedi

Penalties; Low Confidence Struggles The Story In Win

I don't know what some folks are talking about. After briefly discussing the game with MadJay and seeing comments from Illinois Hokie, I was expecting to see more dropped balls than orientation day at Carrot Top's Juggling School For The Blind. I just didn't see it.

As a side note, I didn't get to watch the game live but watched it Saturday evening after the awesome Notre Lame loss.

First off, I wish the coverage wasn't pushed back due to the Iowa State and Iowa game going to triple overtime. I missed what I think is three drives plus a bit of the fourth. In those drives, I only noticed two incomplete passes in the play-by-play.

Game Preview - VT vs. East Carolina

My, oh my, what a difference a year makes!!! Going back and watching last year's VT vs. ECU game in preparation for this preview, an entire flood of memories came back. If you haven't fully repressed the horrors, you too may recall where you were sitting as the Hokies prepared to take on East Carolina in 2010. Tech was 0-2 and I was as bad off as I can remember feeling as a Superfan (certainly back to the loss to Cincinnati in 1995).

Game Review - VT vs. Appalachian State

3 Key Plays will return once ACC season starts, but for now let's take a closer look at the Hokies huge win on Saturday against the Mountaineers of ASU: 66-13.

Perhaps the best way to review this game is to look at the 3 big questions that we asked while wrapping up pre-season camp:

1) Is Mike O'Cain an improvement as the offensive coordinator (whatever you want to call him, that's what he is in practice)?
2) Will the lack of depth at rover, free safety or defensive line rise up and bite VT or will these young players come up to speed quickly?
3) Is Logan Thomas ready to demonstrate what he's shown all offseason - that he is a top-flight QB - or will all this pressure and inexperience get to him?