Last Season: 10-4, 5-3, beat Cincinnati in the Orange Bowl
Preseason Coaches Poll Rank: #7
Virginia Tech is quickly becoming the class of the A.C.C. Winners of two of the last four conference championship games, Fran Beamer and his Hokie crew look primed for another championship run. The dominance is even more impressive when you consider that the conference has been stronger than ever since the expansion of the league.
Here's a stat for you: VT is just one of three schools with 10 or more wins in each of the last five seasons. The others? Texas and USC. Entering his 23rd season, Frank Beamer has emerged as one of the top coaches in the nation.
The Hokies should add to there A.C.C dominance this year with another strong season. Returning is quarterback Tyrod Taylor. Taylor is an athletic player who finally has the job to himself after a so-called quarterback controversy with Sean Glennon. Taylor threw for just over 1,000 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also threw seven picks.
Where the quarterback's value really rests is his legs. While he was inconsistent throwing the ball last year, Taylor made defenses fear him when forced to make plays with his legs. He ran for 738 yards and seven touchdowns last season. This came a year after finding the end zone with his legs six times in his freshman season.
To become more of a complete player this season, Taylor needs to drastically improve his passing skills. On top of the awful touchdown to interception ratio, he only completed 57% of his passes. This will be an issue against the defenses that figure out how to contain Taylor in the pocket, thus forcing him to throw.
The quarterback can't blame his offensive line either. The line was strong last season and should be good again this year. The line returns tackles Ed Wang and Blake DeChristopher. While second team All-American Sergio Render missed spring practice, he should be good to go come September.
The Hokies have an impressive three-some of running backs. Darren Evans headlines the group. Evans racked up over 1,000 yards and 11 touchdowns last season. He is joined by Josh Oglesby and Ryan Williams. Both these players are more than capable complements to Evans. With the stout offense line and the mobility of Tyrod Taylor, the Hokies will give teams who struggle to stop the run fits. In fact, I can't see how teams without good run defenders find themselves in games with Virginia Tech. To put a number on that statement, Virginia Tech averaged 175 yards on the ground per game last year.
The defense that allowed a shade over 16 points per game will be strong again. Jason Worilds is the returning sack leader, bringing the quarterback down 8 times in 13 games last season. Worilds is coming off shoulder surgery that caused him to miss spring practice. If he stays healthy, he will anchor the defensive line. The combo of Worilds, Cordarrow Thompson, and Nekos Brown, and Demetrius Taylor fill out the rest of an experienced defensive line.
The biggest issue in the secondary will be replacing Victor Harris. However, the return of Stephan Virgil certainly lessons this blow. Virgil leads all returnees with six interceptions last season.
While the biggest issue this season will be the passing game, I think the ability to run the football will mask this problem. The defense should be more than good enough to bring another A.C.C title to Blacksburg, and quite easily at that.
3 Games To Watch
September 5th- Alabama- While I don't think 'Bama is nearly as good as the coaches do (ranking them 5 in the pre-season poll), there is no doubt that this battle between two 2008 BCS bowl teams will be a huge week one match up. Virginia Tech will make an huge statement out of the gate. This will be one of the few games that VT can prove themselves on a national scale. Too bad it comes in week one.
October 17th- @ Georgia Tech- If any team competes with the Hokies in the A.C.C Coastal division, it will be Georgia Tech. The running game will have to shine in this one because Georgia Tech boasts one of the best secondaries in the country. With the problems VaTech could have throwing the football, it will imperative to run the football well.
October 29th- North Carolina- Besides Georgia Tech, North Carolina is the highest ranked team on the schedule (#20 in the coaches preseason poll),. This game could be the last real test of the season for the Hokies before the A.C.C Championship Game.
Jordan Lauterbach
0 comments:
Post a Comment