VT-WVU: OOC At Last

Live from Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport, it’s your BTN preview for tomorrow’s game, the Hokies of Virginia Tech versus the Couch-Burners of West Virginia. You may be wondering where the heck BTN has been for the past several weeks. The answer is, over at Fanblogs ACC. Yes, I recognize this is no excuse for not bothering to post my stuff over here… but then again, how much are you paying for this fine reading? ;-)

After last week’s grueling loss to NC State, the Hokies have to hope for a letup against the Eers. Fortunately, this game plays a bit more toward Tech’s strengths — despite the Eers’ demolition of the Hokies last year in Morgantown.

When WVU has the ball, we should expect an awful lot of running, both from senior RB Kay-Jay Harris and senior QB Rasheed Marshall. Despite their spread offense, the Eers are only marginally capable through the air — junior WR Chris Henry is their lone serious option. The encouraging thing to me is that the Hokie run defense finally got its act together last week, against one of the few RBs in the country who (when healthy) may be superior to Harris, N.C. State’s T.A. McLendon. Earlier games had given Hokie fans cause to worry — particularly Duke’s success out of a spread (albeit often with a 2-TE set). The addition of freshman Vince Hall has been a serious upgrade to the VT linebacking corps, and you can be sure Hall will stay among the team leaders in tackles for this game.

On offense is where the questions lie for the Hokies. Last year, WVU’s 3-3-5 defense confused Tech from beginning to end; running back Kevin Jones and wide receiver Ernest Wilford both had poor games and it was essentially over by midway into the third. Tech again must search for composure, and the thin offensive line won’t help matters. Fortunately, WVU’s defensive play is nothing to write home about this year. The Hokies will attempt to spark the run by shifting recently re-activated junior TB Mike Imoh into a starting role, keeping Justin Hamilton second-string and demoting the still-tentative Cedric Humes to third-string status. This should also change the Hokies’ playcalling; running the 5’7”/175 Imoh into the pile isn’t likely to be as effective as doing so with the 220+ Humes or Hamilton. You can expect the WVU defense to have half the team blitzing from the first snap after last week’s debacle; Hokie OC Bryan Stinespring had better be planning his sequences better than the third quarter of last week. Stinespring noted on Monday’s Hokie Hotline call-in show that tapes placed the blame for 4 of NCSU’s 10 sacks on QB Bryan Randall, but the continuous 4-wide calls through the third quarter have to bear their share as well.

This game is a total tossup, honestly. WVU is, in my opinion, grossly overrated at #6; #13 or so would probably be about right. That said, I don’t understand why the pregame line has gone from VT-1.5 to VT-3 over the course of the week; Tech hasn’t proven anything yet, and the game is yet another nooner, which will quiet the Lane Stadium crowd. If Tech wants this game, they can win it, but WVU ought to be marginally favored for now. That said, with my orange and maroon glasses firmly in place: VT by 7.

See you at Lane. And lock up your couches before you leave home.