And the Bronco Mendenhall era begins at Massah Jeffuhsun's Univuhsity. Yawn!
Game Info: Nov. 19, Time and TV TBA...Senior Day for Tech...JT5's last game on Grant Field...the Cavs will be coming in off their final home game of the season against the Canes...they finish at the 2 Techs...the ACC schedule is relatively weak this date as several teams are playing non-conference games...other ACC games include Duke at Pitt, Miami at NC State, FSU at Syracuse, and Clemson at Wake
Last Meeting: Virginia defeated Tech 27-21 at Scott Sisson Stadium...it was the Clinton Lynch Show for Tech as he scored all 3 of our TD's...the 2nd one late in the 1st half gave the Jackets a 14-10 lead heading into the halftime locker room...but, the Wahoos scored 17 unanswered pts to take a 27-14 lead early in the 4Q to go on to win, though Lynch scored his final TD with 1:41 left to give Tech some hope at the end and make the final margin look better than the miserable 2nd half really was
All-time Series: Tech's loss last season trims our lead to a slim 19-18-1 margin...since being upset at BDS in CPJ's first season on the Flats in '08, Tech has reeled off 3 straight home wins against UVA...and all were pretty convincing wins by 12, 36 and 25 pts
Cavs Offense: Mendenhall is keeping mum for the most part on who will be the starting QB. I figure it will be the returning signal caller, Matt Johns. But, with a new HC and staff, who knows? Johns throws a lot of INT's and makes a lot of dumb decisions. I think the main threat in the UVA offense will be Sr. ball-carrier, Smoke Mizzell. He was a 5-star recruit out of the fertile Tidewater area out of HS. This is his chance to show the NFL people he can raise his stock.
Cavs Defense: Mendenhall brought his D-Coord., Nick Howell, with him from BYU to lead the Cavs D. Former ECU HC, Ruffin McNeill, who was surprisingly fired at ECU, was hired to run the D-Line. UVA finished 79th in the nation in Total D a year ago and 96th in pts allowed per game at 32.2, so safe to say Howell has his work cut out for him rebuilding this D.
What I Expect to Happen: If my objective attempts at predictions so far are correct (5-5 heading into this game...I hope we are better than that), this will be a huge game for Tech's chances to start another meaningless exhibition game streak back up. I think UVA fans will see some glimpses of improvement from the mediocre past in Mendenhall's first year, but truthfully - and I may eat major crow on this 5 years from now - I was not impressed with his hiring at all. I think JT5 on Senior Day and crew get it done in one of Tech's better performances of the season. Tech wins 42-17...Tech moves to 6-5/3-5.
I'm not spending any time previewing or talking about the Cheating Scum to the East. Not worthy of my time and you folks know more than you need to about the Cesspool. I think Tech will keep this game close into the 4Q as we normally do. Can we get over the hump? Probably not. I'll objectively pick Tech to lose a low-scoring game, 17-14 and finish the regular season 6-6/3-5.
Game Info: Nov. 19, Time and TV TBA...Senior Day for Tech...JT5's last game on Grant Field...the Cavs will be coming in off their final home game of the season against the Canes...they finish at the 2 Techs...the ACC schedule is relatively weak this date as several teams are playing non-conference games...other ACC games include Duke at Pitt, Miami at NC State, FSU at Syracuse, and Clemson at Wake
Last Meeting: Virginia defeated Tech 27-21 at Scott Sisson Stadium...it was the Clinton Lynch Show for Tech as he scored all 3 of our TD's...the 2nd one late in the 1st half gave the Jackets a 14-10 lead heading into the halftime locker room...but, the Wahoos scored 17 unanswered pts to take a 27-14 lead early in the 4Q to go on to win, though Lynch scored his final TD with 1:41 left to give Tech some hope at the end and make the final margin look better than the miserable 2nd half really was
All-time Series: Tech's loss last season trims our lead to a slim 19-18-1 margin...since being upset at BDS in CPJ's first season on the Flats in '08, Tech has reeled off 3 straight home wins against UVA...and all were pretty convincing wins by 12, 36 and 25 pts
Cavs Offense: Mendenhall is keeping mum for the most part on who will be the starting QB. I figure it will be the returning signal caller, Matt Johns. But, with a new HC and staff, who knows? Johns throws a lot of INT's and makes a lot of dumb decisions. I think the main threat in the UVA offense will be Sr. ball-carrier, Smoke Mizzell. He was a 5-star recruit out of the fertile Tidewater area out of HS. This is his chance to show the NFL people he can raise his stock.
Cavs Defense: Mendenhall brought his D-Coord., Nick Howell, with him from BYU to lead the Cavs D. Former ECU HC, Ruffin McNeill, who was surprisingly fired at ECU, was hired to run the D-Line. UVA finished 79th in the nation in Total D a year ago and 96th in pts allowed per game at 32.2, so safe to say Howell has his work cut out for him rebuilding this D.
What I Expect to Happen: If my objective attempts at predictions so far are correct (5-5 heading into this game...I hope we are better than that), this will be a huge game for Tech's chances to start another meaningless exhibition game streak back up. I think UVA fans will see some glimpses of improvement from the mediocre past in Mendenhall's first year, but truthfully - and I may eat major crow on this 5 years from now - I was not impressed with his hiring at all. I think JT5 on Senior Day and crew get it done in one of Tech's better performances of the season. Tech wins 42-17...Tech moves to 6-5/3-5.
I'm not spending any time previewing or talking about the Cheating Scum to the East. Not worthy of my time and you folks know more than you need to about the Cesspool. I think Tech will keep this game close into the 4Q as we normally do. Can we get over the hump? Probably not. I'll objectively pick Tech to lose a low-scoring game, 17-14 and finish the regular season 6-6/3-5.