The Tribe Has Spoken

The biggest game of the Tribe’s season is this saturday, with the Tribe traveling to Blacksburg to face the nationally ranked Virginia Tech Hokies. VT has underachieved thus far, with closer than expected home wins against ECU and Ohio, and a blowout loss against LSU. Expected to be a National Championship contender, the Hokies are now ranked in the teens and are struggling to come up with offese. However, a quarterback change has made their team start to move the ball a little better, and has their fans excited about the future.

Sean Glennon started the season under center, but after struggling vs. ECU and LSU, was pulled for true freshman QB Tyrod Taylor. Taylor, a Hampton native, was one of the top QB’s in last year’s class and has been impressive thus far. In 2 games with 1 start he has a lackluster 51% completion rate, but controls the game with no INTs and is averaging almost 200 yards per game. He is also VERY fast, and is currently second on the team in rushing. He has all the talent in the world, but is bound to struggle and some point and Tribe fans can hope it is Saturday.

The rushing was supposed to be the VT strength coming into the year, but it has been pretty bad thus far. All-everything RB Brandon Ore is already battling injuries, and is averaging 3.3 yards per carry through 3 games. Kenny Lewis Jr. has been good in his PT, with 4.8 ypc. Before the season, I was scared to death of playing vs. Ore, but his play of late makes me glad he is on the field rather than Lewis. Lewis is the faster RB, and Ore has some speed himself and is tough to bring down.

Tech is filled with strong upperclassmen receivers, which has never been the problem. Josh Morgan is leading the team in receiving with 14 receptions and 179 yards. Eddie Royal is the big play threat, and punt returner, and he has 5 catches for 46 yards. Josh Hyman has 4 catches for 69 yards and has been making big plays since he was a freshman. Justin Harper has 8 catches for 96 yards and he tops off the group of seniors. These 4 guys have been playing together for the last 4 years, and are as talented a receiving group as you will find. Derek Cox and Terrell Wells better be ready to play Saturday, as any 4 of these guys can burn them.

Chris Ellis is the leader of the defense, a talented defensive lineman. Ellis has 2 TFL’s and a sack and a half on the year, with 12 tackles. Carlton Powell is also a force at the tackle spot, 293 pounds worth. He has 8 tackles on the year, including a half a sack. They are having some trouble stopping the run this year, giving up 159 yards per game.

Linebacker is easily VT’s strongest position. All-American Xavier Adibi leads the team in tackles with 35 and has 2 sacks on the year. As if that weren’t enough, he is paired up with All-American Vince Hall. Hall has 30 tackles and 5 TFL’s on the year, and these 2 make up a scary combination. These are probably the most talented players we will face all year, and could very easily decide if this game is close or not.

The defensive backs are also a very talented bunch. Brandon Flowers is the shut-down guy. He doesn’t have any INTs as he is rarely thrown to, but has 3.5 TFLs. Victor “Macho” Harris was a 5-star athlete coming out of high school and is the secondary’s playmaker. He has one of Tech’s 2 INTs on the year, and he took it back for a TD. Kam Chancellor and Brandon Flowers are also very good safties, and combine for 37 tackles this year.

I don’t think this game is a blow-out. The Tribe never gets blown out in BCS(I-A) games. If the Tribe can at least slow down the VT running game this game could be closer than the experts think[/lee corse], and I believe the Hokies end up winning by about 3 TD’s.

W&M-14
VT-35