Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Lane on a Thursday night



I don't know about you, but that gets me excited. Who doesn't want to see the crowded pumped up and ready for the game.

How will our team react? Jags is not worried.

16 comments:

John said...

Awesome. They beat #10 Clemson in this game 24-7, FYI

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/recap?gid=200610260016

eagleboston said...

I know many of you are more concerned about the Red Sox, but, make no mistake about it, this is the biggest game in modern school history. A critical ACC game with Wake breathing down our backs, ranked #2 and on the road in front of a fanatic crowd on national TV. This is huge! We lose this game and we drift out of the national consciousness and probably will not return this season. We win, and it buys us one more week in the spotlight.

Given our propensity for false starts, I am very concerned about the crowd noise. Those penalties have been drive killers and you can get away with that against ND and Georgia Tech. But against VT, the margin for error is slim. I think we will score points and I believe we will need to put up 27 to beat the Hokies. They have 2 linebackers out but I am sure they have the depth to plug in others. I think VT will handle our screens much better than prior opponents, so we are going to have to go vertical. Unfortunately, VT's corners are great, so scoring 27 points is going to be a challenge.

Defensively, I see no reason why we should not continue to be stout against the run. This will force VT to the air and hopefully result in a couple of turnovers. Our pass rush has been suspect, but we cannot afford to give the QB time or they will march down the field against our weak pass defense.

Johnny Ayers may be the MVP on Thursday. Hopefully, he won't see the field much because Matt Ryan and Company will be scoring. But if he is called upon to punt, I'm hoping he can pin VT deep. Actually, I'm hoping he gets the punt off without it getting blocked. Apo must be on as we will get a couple 3 point cracks and he must connect as that could be the margin of victory. The ace in the hole could be getting touches for Jeff Smith on kick-off returns. I'm hoping that we will not have to receive more than 2 kick-offs, but that may be wishful thinking.

Buckle your seatbelts as this is going to be wild. I already have butterflies in my stomach but I am trying to be realistic and not set myself up for a letdown. Go Eagles!

Kash86 said...

I went down 2 years ago and Im driving down tomorrow from Connecticut ... hands down the best place i've ever watched a football game in my short 22 years of life

Brian said...

I'm driving down tomorrow too. Sad that no one in Boston will be watching arguably the most important football game in BC football history Thursday night seeing as its game 2 of the World Series.

Most important game for national title hopes anyway; least important game for winning the ACC this year.

downtown_resident said...

At our Phoenix gamewatch I'm telling the bar to put all the TVs on the BC game. If someone asks for the Sox (which they probably will) I will allow them to change one of the TVs, but honestly I would prefer not to have the distraction of half the people cheering at random times for some other game. I hope the Sox win the series but I have next to no interest in watching their game Thursday night (the Rockies eliminated my team anyway). Go Eagles!

Brian said...

The Indians eliminated my team, who then went on to choke big time against the Sox. So I say ... Go Rockies! If the Rockies sweep Boston, they will have gone 25-1 to finish the season. That's just absurd.

Compare that to our current W-L pct. of 10-1 in last 11. :p

Anonymous said...

I am scared of that video and I am watching in my bedroom! Let's enjoy it, it may not last but at least we can compare graduation rates after the game.

Brian said...

From a Tech fan. I love it. Keep looking past us to the UVA game, VTech!

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?page=bowlprojections8

Hey Mark. Love reading your work, but can't help but comment on this weeks predictions. How can you put the pink polo, collar popping, sail-boating Cavaliers in the number 2 spot in the ACC. I know they are 6-1 and yes, IF they were to run the tables they would be in the ACC Champ. game against most likely BC. But name me a season when they have finished with as good or better a record than they started! This team is notorious for losing what should be easy wins....although that saying does not apply this year. I am bipartial to VTech (yes ESPN guys, it is VTECH, not VAAAAAAAAAA TECH) having gone there myself and have an issue with UVA on the level of that of WVU; however, they show little solidarity. They squeeked through most of their games and were it not for Chris Long they wouldn't gain any media coverage anyway. I know I can't talk about strength of schedule and the like being a VTech fan, but I can say that we own the record against UVA and will prove it in November, the month of the Turkey aka Fighting Gobbler aka Hokie. Will you give us some due credit after we beat BC this week and put us in a BCS game in next weeks prediction?

LAEagle said...

what, in God's name, are you talking about?

SectionKK said...

This has nothing to do with football, but I'm pretty sure BC and Merrimack rescheduled Saturday's hockey game because of the World Series.

http://bceagles.cstv.com/sports/m-hockey/spec-rel/102307aaa.html

Big Jack Krack said...

I have been giving this game a great deal of thought and I think if BC is going to win a huge Thursday Night Game in Blacksburg - this is the year!

I know it is very difficult to win there anyway - but especially on Thursday Night. I think this team has what it takes - coaches and players and staff.

I expect it to be a hard hitting, very tough game. I think VT players will be surprised when BC doesn't fold early and they will realize that THEY are in for a tough game on their own field.

At least the VT fans won't boo their team like the South Carolina fans did.

I don't know if it makes any difference or even if it is possible - but I would like to see BC run onto the field quietly, with confidence AFTER VT runs onto the field amid all the craziness.

Go BC Beat Virginia Tech

Go ACC on national TV

eagleboston said...

Brian: I would say this is a very important game on the road to an ACC Championship. If we lose, we will be tied with Wake and will have tremendous pressure to win out. We finish with FSU, Maryland, Clemson and Miami. Wake has North Carolina, Virginia, Clemson and BC State. Arguably, these are fairly even strength of schedules. If we end-up losing 2 conference games and Wake wins out we are looking at the utterly incomprehensible scenario of watching Wake, a team we beat soundly, playing in the ACC Championship game. We need to win this game.

eagleboston said...

I meant "NC" State, not "BC" State. Haunted by the ghost of TOB.

America said...

We will win this game!

Brian said...

Eagleboston - I agree that this is an important game for the ACC Championship, but all of the remaining games are important and would argue this is the least important of the bunch. All I'm saying is the Atlantic division games are much more important than the Coastal games at this point in the season (Maryland and Wake are lurking, and Clemson and FSU could play spoiler). If we lose Thursday, we'll be tied with Wake with the head-to-head. I think Wake's remaining ACC schedule is a little lighter, but I don't think they will win out the rest of their games.

Who knows how good UVA really is this year and who knows what Clemson team will show up when they play Wake, or when they play us, for that matter.

This is where the unbalanced ACC schedule starts to worry me.

But I can't even think about ACC championships right now. We are in the drivers seat at the end of October (can't ask for anything more), and we need this game tomorrow to keep it going.

Go Eagles!

Brian said...

Weather might be a factor in the special teams battle tomorrow night. 50 degrees and rain in Blacksburg, VA.