WTF is a Mini Scrimmage?

Two big plays highlighted a 40-play mini scrimmage for the Hokies on Wednesday. Tyrod Taylor had a 65-yard TD run and CB Eddie Whitley returned an INT 61 yards for a TD.

Neither the stats nor the Beamerblog mention who threw the INT, but there were two picks by the VT defense. Whitley returend his for a TD and the other was by Jeron Gouveia-Winslow.

I'd love to be excited about the Whitley TD. I've said all along he's the guy I want to step up and take the field corner spot by force. But according to the Beamerblog, it was a gift INT and TD. I guess Whitley was in the right place at the right time. Good for Whitley, but given that it was a "gift pick" in a mini scrimmage, you can't hand him the job by any stretch of the imagination.

From the two sources above, it looks like Tyrod was limited in the mini scrimmage and there probably isn't a lot of stock that can be taken from the stats. I'm more intrested in what happens Friday in the actual scrimmage than in whatever it was that took place Wednesday.

Go Beavers!

The Frozen Four starts today in DC with Bemidji State facing Miami U. and Boston U. taking on Vermont. If you live in NOVA, I urge you to go. There is nothing like the Frozen Four. Hockey fans are a devoted group and its an electric atmosphere. I've been to several Final Fours and the Frozen Four I went to last year topped them all.

A lot of the tickets to the Final Four go to corporate suits who don't care about the outcome. Not so at the Frozen Four. Since this year's Frozen Four is in a non-traditional hockey market, tickets should be easy to come by. Go and thank me later.

Go Bemidji!

Linkage

Hokie Bloggers

- Fulmer Cup points in our future? A vague post by BCO. (Beer Control Offense)
- How bad is the ACC next year if we're supposed to be No. 4 in hoops? (ACCSJ)

Atlantic Coast Conference

- Anatomy of an ACL tear. (Tomahawk Nation)
- The passing game continues to be an issue at GT. (The Legacy x4)
- Brendan tackles the immediate future of UVa hoops. (From Old Virginia)

Stuff Only I Care About

- Stop making me care, Sabres. (Die by the Blade)
- Brad May plays his 1,000th game. In a Leafs uni. *sniff, sniff* (Goose's Roost)
- Interesting interview with Sabres beat writer and blogger Mike Harrington. (Top Shelf)

Stuff to Read While Drinking and Filling Out Brackets

It's St. Patrick's, so I'm doing what I do best all day today. It's not even Noon and I'm on my third Guinness. I'm not an alcoholic, I'm just honoring my heritage.

I'm also filling out what will likely be the worst bracket in the history of filling it out brackets. Seriously, this thing is terrible. I'll reveal my picks tomorrow so you can point and laugh at them.

Everyone has advice on the NCAA Tournament and how to pick it. Well, I can only offer two pieces of advice.

First, the serious part: Fill it out backwards. Look at each regional, select the team you feel is strongest or has the best match-ups to get them to the Final Four and put them in Detroit. Then, fill out the rest of the regional. If you start from the beginning, you're bound to put the strongest team in a tough match-up in the Sweet 16 and then go against your better judgment and pick against them. Well, more often than not, that Sweet 16 match-up doesn't happen and you're stuck when you're original team ends up in the Final Four.

Finally, the fun part: Pick one huge underdog and have them winning in the first round. This way, if you're like me and your team isn't in the field, you at least have one rooting interest on Thursday or Friday. It's an added bonus if the underdog you picked is playing a team you hate.



Linkage

Hokies

- TSL has the Labatt Hokie Hotline notes. Greenberg on the officiating: "It is what it is."

- Tech Hoops went to the ACC tournament and naturally visited The Varsity. "What'll ya have!?"

- Niemo also previews the Duquesne game.

- Blogsburg has its unique take on the Dukes. With cheerleader photo!

- A-Line wonders aloud why Tech fans are complaining about the officiating Friday's hoops game after the officiating in September's football game. Good point. [stereotypical Hokie fan] I'll take the football win over a basketball win any day. [/stereotypical Hokie fan].

ACC

- Joe Ovies and Adam Gold interview Tom O'Brien about Irish Christmas.

- Blogger So Dear has advice on filling out your bracket. Don't look at the RPI, folks.

- Jeff of BCI took time out from being a neutered married pussy to attend the ACC tournament.

- TrueCubbie of Tomahawk Nation takes a preliminary look at The Tournament.

- Probably the best read of the week (even if it's from a dirty 'hoo) comes from From Old Virginia with his take on Dave Leitao's ouster. Good stuff. You know, for a 'hoo.

- Doug dissects Dabo.

Randomness

- Tulsa is finally better than OKC at something. Too bad it's making meth.

- Remember when Winfield of The Legacy x4 and I traded texts during the GT-Miami game last November? This is what it would have looked like if we were women. Notice the complete lack of swear words. And neither of them is drunk.

- Woo hoo!

- Double woo hoo!

Yet Another Must Win for Hokies

Virginia Tech Hokies (17-12, 7-8)
at
Florida State Seminoles (22-8, 9-6)
Tallahasse, Fla., 2 p.m., Raycom

Enough bubble teams, especially in the ACC, have lost in the last week that Tech's Tournament hopes are no longer a lost cause. If the Hokies beat FSU Sunday, get two wins in the ACC tournament and enough bubble teams blow it in the next week, they could make the field of 65.

But first, the Hokies have to go on the road and beat the Seminoles. Quite frankly, I have no faith in this team coming through in a must-win situation. They blew it enough times last year that they went to the NIT and have proven time and again down the stretch of this season they have no business being in The Tournament.

A loss Sunday in Tally would honestly do us all a favor by taking the drama out of the next seven days.

Linkage

- Tech Hoops says the 'Noles are a one-man show.

- The North End Zone's girlfriend has a thing for dolphins.

- Bourbonstreet over at the newly-named Blogsburg notes that FSU actually wins its close games.

- Tech Sideline actually likes that this game is on the road.

- TrueCubbie at Tomahawk Nation is the best basketball blogger in the ACC. He breaks down the game here.

All together now: Awwwwwwwww!

Congratulations all-round!

Congrats to Jeff from BC Interruption for making the decision to ruin his life by getting married this weekend. Awwwwwwwww, they're getting married Valentine's Day weekend. Ain't that sweet?

Congrats to the Hokies for beating the Jackets/Sid Bream Speed/Winfield/Dane/Bird on Wednesday. Is "ass kicking" hyphenated? Just kidding. That was a lot more difficult than it should have been.

Below - Master P celebrates the Hokie Hoops win (NSFW)!


Congrats to the entire ACC, for having something to talk about in the morning. The ACC is (allegedly) announcing its football schedule at 11 AM EST.

Congrats to the Sabres, for sucking in their first game with Vanek on the IR. This is going to be a looooooong three weeks. Good thing Les Canadiens are firmly in the tank.

Ditto

College Game Balls makes fun of the 'Hoos in a way I wish I had thought of first.

Read read read read.

A basement worth envying

What a horrible weekend in so many ways.

Anyway, here's what my basement will look like should I ever get married. Just imagine Lane Stadium instead of Ohio Stadium.

An Open Letter to BSU's Tom Collins

To: Tom Collins
Director of Intercollegiate Athletics
Ball State University
HP 116
Muncie, IN 47306

Dear Mr. Collins,

I understand your head coach, Brady Hoke, has decided to leave Muncie for San Diego State. This is a very important time for you and Ball State. The man you select to replace Coach Hoke will take over a program that is coming off the best season in its history and has incredible talent.

There is only one person qualified enough to lead Ball State during its meteoric rise to elite status in college football. That person is Bryan Stinespring, the offensive coordinator at Virginia Tech.

Stinespring has directed the Virginia Tech offense since the 2002 Gator Bowl. He began as offensive coordinator shortly after the program rose from obscurity and into college football's limelight. And on his watch Virginia Tech has become one of the most consistent teams in the sport.

Virginia Tech is one Orange Bowl win away from its fifth consecutive 10-win season. Only Texas and USC can make the same claim!

Stinespring has helped develop such talent as Kevin Jones and Eddie Royal. Jones had a spectacular career at Virginia Tech and Royal is coming off an excellent rookie season in the NFL.

He's also an innovator. This year when Virginia Tech looked like it might be down to its third-string QB, he moved tight end Greg Boone under center and gave the Hokies a "Wild Turkey" package that was successful in helping the Hokies win four of their last five games and capture a second consecutive ACC title.

But the main reason you should hire Stinespring is a very simple one. He wins. No offensive coordinator has guided the Hokies to as many wins as Stinespring. The results are in his career. And he has more wins than any offensive coordinator the last five years. While Texas, USC and Oklahoma were watching their offensive coordinators take jobs elsewhere, Stinespring was plugging away in Blacksburg, collecting wins.

Stinespring deserves his chance to take the reigns of his own program. Now is the time and Ball State is the place.

Sincerely,
furrer4heisman

Thanks, Jackets!

Snoopy dance!

Your pilot has officially turned on the "No Fucking Around" sign.

Georgia Tech beat Miami tonight, once again giving the Hokies control of their own destiny. If we beat Duke and the Wahoos, we go to Tampa.

The Hokies seemed down and out after losing to Miami, Bud Foster becoming one of the top candidates for the Clemson job and Purnell Sturdivant saying what everyone thought about the offense. All of that hopefully means nothing now.

But, as the tag on this blog says, with each day there is fresh new hope. Before the Hokies even played another game after losing control of the Coastal, circumstances of this cracked-out conference have given it right back.

Georgia Tech took it to the Canes from the start tonight. It played perfect. Michael Johnson and Jonathan Dwyer were beasts and Lucas Cox gave us more evidence that white running backs are the wave of the future.

I feel almost like it was the Hokies who won tonight. Technically, Virginia Tech did.

It goes well with his lies...

Just sub "her" for "Stiney"

C'mon in boy and sit down at the bar
Don't want to hear or care who or what you are
Don't ask how it is but I know your pain is real
I'll tell you now I know exactly how you feel

Look at those suckers there crying in their booze
Everybody knows how to win
but you've got to know how to lose
So when your hopes and dreams are gone out of the night
you've got to hang your head just right

I recommend the California '85
It was the only thing that once kept me alive
It doesn't matter with a white or deep Rossette
The only thing that gets me through another day

I had a life I had a love and now it's all gone
And now I'm barely hanging on
So try the California '85
It goes well with her lies

Whiskey (ps- bourbon!) doesn't work 'cause it won't let you lie
A fightin' man will fight a cryin' man with cry
I'm not opposed to drinking me some beer
There's just so little beer to take my pain away down here

They say that living well is how revenge is earned
But you and I know they were never really burned
It's not the fall that breaks your heart so it won't mend
It is the quick stop at the end

I recommend the California '85
It was the only thing that once kept me alive
It doesn't matter with a white or deep rosset
The only thing that gets me through another day

I had a life I had a love and it was all gone
And now I'm barely hanging on
So try the California '85
It goes well with her lies

Old Willy plays the jukebox through the day
Come 12:30 one will teach you how to pray
Smoke gets thick and then the music gets so loud
Your mind starts spinning and your head begins to cloud

Call me a loser, call me living in the past
Precious days into a scarlet water glass
This isn't like anyone would want to be
So the first bottle is on me

So Goddamn that California '85
This ain't no living man, I'm barely just alive
It doesn't matter with a white or deep rosset
The only thing that gets me through another day

I had a life, I had a love and now it's all gone
And now I'm barely hanging on
So try the California '85
It goes well with her lies

It goes well with her lies
It goes well with her lies

I could sit here and give a tirade that would make TWIS proud. Or I could just get drunker and recognize that other teams (Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia) have it worse than us and next year will likely be better.

Yeah, I prefer that second choice at this point. It works out better for someone who has to be awake for work in five hours. We'll win out an we'll go to a bowl that isn't in Boise. Which at this point is a victory for me.

Of course, if we do go to Boise, I'd still go to that bowl game. I like to ski and it's the last time the ACC will ever have that bowl tie-in. So, I'm just going to sit here, drink my Maker's Mark, and relax.

I'll let all the crazies on the TSL message boards deal with the melt down. I've got good bourbon and the new Bruce Robison album. What the hell else do I need? You know, other than a win over the HATED HATED HATED Hurricanes.

/uncontrollable sobbing.

We're No. 1!

Rankings from ACC Now. According to combined BCS and GSR ranking. Woooooo hoooooo!

Some quick FSU thoughts

FSU 30, Tech 20

- Who would have thought Cory Holt is our best quarterback?

- Glennon did fine when he wasn't taking a ridiculous amount of sacks. Get rid of the ball, Glennon.

- We still control our own destiny in the Coastal.

- If we don't rough the punter, do we win that game?

- We still control our own destiny int he Coastal.

- I was pleased with how we were able to get pressure on Ponder.

- I was also please that Stiney threw some wrinkles into the offense, like using misdirection to take advantage of FSU's speed and over-pursuit as well as running the option.

- We still control our own destiny in the Coastal.

- We will either rally behind Cory Holt (I'm preparing for him to be the guy against at least Maryland) or things will fall apart like Pre-ACC Virginia Tech.

Some quick BC thoughts

I am officially on the "Fire Bryan Stinespring" bandwagon. I agree that the team's current offense is the one that gives it the best chance to win. The power run game does help the defense win. Look at the Oklahoma. The Sooners score almost too quickly, keeping their defense on the field longer and by the end they're tired.

However, Virginia Tech's defense gets stronger as games go on. They don't get tired. They get better. In second halves, our defense has been spectacular.

That said, Stiney is not the guy who needs to be calling plays. He is completely inept. The Hokies are the easiest team in the country to scheme for because they never do anything different. It's the same tired shit week after week.

I haven't watched the DVR of the game yet. I might never watch it. We had no business losing that game. We also had no business being in it at the end.

Week 8 ACC Power Poll

I'm still hungover from Friday night. That's right, Friday.

Week 8
1. Boston College
2. Georgia Tech
3. Florida State
4. Virginia Tech
5. North Carolina
6. Virginia
7. Maryland
8. Wake Forest
9. Miami
10. Clemson
11. Duke
12. NC State
13. Bryan Stinespring

Notes

- Should the Hokies be moved down farther? Probably. So pissed. Trust me, after they lose to Florida State I'll put them No. 12.

- BC is the best team in the league right now. GT is a close second, despite having beaten BC previously.

- Miami won and got moved down. I really had no where else to put them.

- Maryland could win this league and still be No. 5 in this poll. They're that screwy.

Bud to Clemson? No way.

We've known about Bud Foster's desire to be a head coach for a few years now. The last couple of off seasons have been filled with talk of Bud having interest in a few jobs. He was even approached about being South Carolina's defensive coordinator this past off season.

Now that Clemson has fired Tommy Bowden, more questions are arising as to whether or not Foster will be gone at the end of the year. Kyle Tucker has Bud's quotes on the Clemson opening. College Game Balls chimes in on the subject.

The reality Virginia Tech faces is that unless it gives Bud a Jimbo-Fisher-Esque deal, we are going lose him. However, Bud has said several times he wants to go to a good BCS program to be a head coach.

The problem is, those schools aren't likely to come calling. If it was going to happen, it would have happened the year after Bud's defenses finished best in the nation three years in a row. But it didn't. I have no doubt Bud will be a good head coach, but if he wants to do it in the BCS conferences, he's going to have to go some place like Duke, Vanderbilt or one of the Big East schools and build a program that isn't already established.

Established programs like Clemson usually don't go after guys who have no college head coaching experience. And if they do, it's usually for a guy with NFL experience, like Brian Van Gorder, or the current young hot shot like Will Muschamp. I'm sorry, but I don't see Bud as a viable candidate for jobs like Clemson and Tennessee.

I'd like to see Bud named as Virginia Tech's coach in waiting. It makes me wonder why he hasn't already. Does he think Beamer is going to coach longer than he's willing to wait to be a head coach? Or do the decision makers not think Bud would be right as VT's next coach?

I think eventually Bud will realize that in order to get a big-time BCS job he's going to have to go and have success in the MAC or CUSA. When he does, Virginia Tech will move on and we'll wish Bud the best of luck. However, until then, I think it's wishful thinking on his part to think Clemson or Tennessee is going to come calling.

Hokie fans will decide election

From Carolina March comes this bit of info:

According to an article in the New Yorker, Barack Obama could need to carry Virginia to win November's election. The Commonwealth typically votes Republican, and win the state, he needs to win over the staunchly Republican Southwest portion of the state (including Halifax Country, rep-ra-zent!). And, of course, most of SW Va. is Hokie fans.

It helps Obama's cause that one of his biggest supporters is former Democratic Governor Mark Warner, who is wildly popular among Republican and Democrat Hokie fans alike. Why? Because Warner is almost solely responsible for getting the Hokies in to the ACC.

In office, Warner repaid the region by persuading two high-tech companies to move to Lebanon, and fought to get Virginia Tech—Virginia Polytechnic Institute, in the Blue Ridge town of Blacksburg—into the Atlantic Coast Conference. “Mark Warner has become part of the culture,” Saunders says. “We accept him as part of who we are, if for no other reason—God damn, he got V.P.I. into the A.C.C.! I mean, it’s a big damned deal.”

That's right, Hokie fans. You may decide this election.

Oh Those Heart Attack Hokies!

Great win. Another game that came down to the wire, but a great win. I'm proud of the team and the Hokie fans that were in Memorial Stadium. Nothing better than a road win. Other than winning on the road and then going bar hopping in the town of the opponent.

ACC Best of the Blogs: Week 4

NEBRASKA:

Corn Nation: ESPN Holds Ticketholders Hostage with "Sometime After" 8 pm Kickoff
"The Big XII conference announced today that the Nebraska-Missouri game would be televised by ESPN was met with two reactions from Husker fans: "Cool!" or "F***." Which group you are in depends on two factors: where you live and whether you have tickets."

BOSTON COLLEGE

BC Interuption: Resume Ranking Game
"Jeff: Today we play a game that is commonly played on ESPN before the NCAA tournament brackets come out so that people evaluate a team based on what they've done and not what their name is. I am going to give Brian ten teams and their wins and losses so far this season and who they beat based on their national rankings. After Brian ranks them 1-10 I will tell him who the teams are, where I got the rankings, and why he is wrong."

Eagle in Atlanta: Marketing that works: Parents Weekend Patsies
"1. Parents don’t care who we play. They are in town to see their kids, see the campus, go out to dinner, and sample the BC experience. They hear about the tailgating. They see BC on TV. Now they get a chance to go to a BC game. They are willing to see any game. So it’s not Notre Dame or Clemson. It’s still BC football. And by playing a patsies, a win is highly likely, which sends them home happy."

CLEMSON

Block-C: Extreme Korn Report: Blarrrrrg
"HORSESHIT, COACH BOWDEN.How DARE you reject my chatter to install WILLY KORN as quarterback for life?!? I’m a reactionary alcoholic so ever since I read this garbage I’ve been mainlining the MOST EXTREME LIQUOR DRINK KNOWN TO MAN. Vodka-SURGE martini with a twist of kerosene. EXPLOSIVO. What’s that? You don’t have stockpiles of a soda that went out of production 7 years ago? You dumb asshole. Even Wikipedia knows it’s the MOST EXTREME SOFT DRINK KNOWN TO MAN."

FLORIDA STATE

Scalp 'Em: Drew Weatherford Got The Shaft
"Drew Weatherford got and is currently getting the shaft, and quite frankly I’m sick of it. You’d think from some of the message board posts, blogs and reports that the guy couldn’t tie his shoes without help, or that he needs assistance throwing a ball. Guess what? He doesn’t."

Tomahawk Nation: Hey Bobby, don't forget the sunscreen
"Get out. Seriously. Leave our program. You have some of the lowest admission standards in the country and your program is in the middle of the most fertile recruiting ground in the world, yet you don't care that you've lit this well-oiled machine on fire and crashed it into a ditch? Wonderful, old man. FSU's fans don't demand National Championships every year. They do, however, demand and deserve a coaching staff that is committed and qualified to the chase. Bowden no longer fits that bill, and hasn't for over a half decade. I wish he would step out and get down to that beach. We know he won't yet, because he fears the "next big event after retirement.", a reference to the fate of his idol, Bear Bryant, who died soon after retirement."

GEORGIA TECH

The Legacy x4: Yes, bye weeks suck...
"VPI @ Nebraska - Well, since no one actually knows how decent Nebraska will be, they need to BRING THE BEAMERBALL. BEAMERBALL IN LINCOLN BEAMERBALL SON OF A BITCH THE HOKIES ARE PLAYING AND I’M JUST GOING TO SAY BEAMERBALL ALOT OUT OF CONTEXT JUST LIKE THE ANNOUNCERS WILL ON SATURDAY. DID YOU SEE THAT SNAP!? BEAMERBALL!"

GT Sports: Overdue Post-Game Thoughts - Mississippi State
"I'm sure you're more interested in the game. However, when you're there with your wife and young kids, it's hard to focus completely on the happenings on the field. That's fine by me though, as Saturday was about the family first. So here are my stream of consciousness thoughts."

MIAMI

Hall of Canes: Bad Blood for NC?
"Former Canes Coach Butch Davis, now at North Carolina, apparently bad-mouthed current UM boss Randy Shannon during recruiting season, saying there would likely be a new leader brought in if Miami's program had another losing season."

NORTH CAROLINA

Carolina March: UNC to Suspend Football Season Until Congress Passes Wall Street Bailout
"CHAPEL HILL, NC: Butch Davis today announced that he would suspend the 2008 college football season on Thursday and seek a delay until at least mid-November so that he could return to Washington to try to forge a consensus on a financial bailout package."

Tar Heel Fan: So Why Is Butch Davis Thinking About Using Two QBs?
"Let me state upfront. I have zero love for a two QB system. The Coach Who Shall Not Be Named’s use of the QB-by-committee during the great debacle of 2006 turned me off to the use of two QBs in a game. In my mind you need one voice in that huddle and the offense is acclimated to that one individual. In my opinion when you change up QBs during the game, you give the rest of the players in the offensive unit something else to think about. It just seems to invite instablilty."

Tar Heel Mania: Hello, Deer. Have You Met Headlights?
"Mike Paulus: Yeah, I am sooo pumped for this game, even though I’m probably not going to see a snap. But hey, if I’m in the game, it;s because you’ve slammed the door shut, T.J. Now let’s kick some! Let’s go, T.J.! Let’s go, Quan! Let’s go, Greg! WHOOOOOOOO!!!"

NC STATE

Section Six: I'm not concerned.
"Goddamn vending machine's out of cinnabuns again."

StateFans Nation: Preparing for a Full Night of Harrison Beck
"As a devout reader of the hilarious NFL Blog known to fans as KSK, I can’t help but think of their Rex Grossman posts everytime Harrison Beck enters the game - particularly this one (warning - more bad language than a BJD95 live blog that involves UNC or Duke)."

Yet another... Q&A with www.thebullgator.com's Joel Smith
"I was approached this week by Joel Smith of www.thebullgator.com, a blog dedicated to South Florida and UF athletics, to partake in a Q&A exchange between the two sites. I thought, sure, what the hell!"

VIRGINIA

Good Ol' Blog: Duke week: The most important game of the season
"A superb article (hat-tip KnoxvegasWAHOO*) by Southern Pigskin on the current situation in Hooville, breaking down the current outflow of talent and Groh’s “hot seat” prospects. The author actually list some relevant factors that help Groh in not getting booted, which is sadly a rare thing in online missives about whether Groh is going to get booted."

From Old Virginia: So, not too shabby
"Maybe this'll work out OK. I got around to watching the UConn game. Sort of - I watched the offense, anyway, with the specific purpose of making some attempt at evaluating the quarterbacks as is my custom. I didn't bother watching the defense. It stinks, and you didn't need me to tell you that."

VIRGINIA TECH

Tech Sideline: Nebraska Primer
"The Hokies head to the midwest to play the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday. Playing a team so far away during the regular season isn’t something Virginia Tech does a lot. They did play at LSU last year and at Texas A&M in 2002, but generally the Hokies stick to the east coast. To get you better prepared for the game, here’s a quick primer on Nebraska."

College Game Balls: The Top 10 Differences Between UVA Football and the Titanic
"8. One sank in Atlantic, other in Coastal"

Tailgate Fever: Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner
"We are invincible. No, not the storied Va. Tech defense or the ridiculed Hokie offense. Not even our legendary special teams, who failed to block a kick last week for the first time all season. We are invincible. Us. Tailgate Fever. Our crack research team, which has until this point relied on a magic eight ball to make most of our major life decisions, correctly predicted the final score for two consecutive weekends: 20-17 and 20-17, which will now and forever be known simply as The Numbers. After fourteen long years toiling over detailed analytical data, record books, and Vegas odds sheets, we have finally figured out how to correctly predict the final score of our games. Nothing can stop us now."

The North End Zone: Game 4 and 5: UNC Recap, Corn F'ers Preview and Predictions
"Since the roommate had to be a jerk and go get Rock Band 2 this week, The North End Zone offices have been a little neglected. Sick days increased 400% over the past 3 days. (Seriously, the game is freaking awesome. Last night we played Journey. When was the last time Zelda gave you that privilege?)"

Wild Turkey CFR: Hokies find their mojo, defeat baby blue
"The first half was the ugliest 30 minutes of offensive football the Hokies have played all season. The low point came when Tech couldn't even figure out how many players to put on the field. Stinespring's 10 man formation experiment didn't work, and the Hokies burnt timeouts on back to back plays. The Tar Heels did a good job of containing Tyrod Taylor's rushing, and the Hokies couldn't muster anything else. The only score of the half for the Hokies came on a Dustin Keys 19 yard field goal, and even that gave us indigestion. Following a fumble recovery on the Carolina 6 yard line, Tech could only manage to move the ball 3 yards. Carolina lead 10-3 at halftime on a 32 yard touchdown to Brandon Tate. Desperate times called for desperate measures. I resorted to an orange shirt. I said I never would, but I felt the season hanging in the balance. Early in the third quarter, the orange was not producing. I was having cold feet on the but before I was able to remove the orange menace, Greg Little ran straight through the Hokie defense for a touchdown. It's 17-3 Heels. Damn you, orange."

WAKE FOREST

Old Gold and Blog: Replay Booth: Offense vs. Florida State
"Everyone knows the offensive performance against Florida State wasn't exactly the best we've seen from this offense, and in some ways it may have been one of the worst, so let's take an in-depth look and see what we've really got here."

Stiney or Ricky?

I pose this question to Tech fans: If both Bryan Stinespring and Ricky Bustle are fired from their respective jobs at the end of the season, would you want Ricky Bustle back as defensive offensive coordinator?

Darryl Tapp Jersey

I'm here in Seattle for Fourth of July weekend. Apparently Darryl Tapp jerseys are popular here. The guy at the first store I went to said they were sold out. The second store had one in my size.

The Sky is Falling!!!11!

Yes, Brandon Dillard ruptured his Achilles Tendon. But seriously, folks. He was a walk-on who had never played a significant down of football. We'll be fine.

There's no need to call this season a lost cause because he's out for the year. The passing game was going to struggle anyway, so let's not get carried away over Dillard's injury.

SMQ: The Hyopthetical Hokie Passing Game? Uh, Scratch That
FanHouse: Virginia Tech May as Well Start Punting on Second Down