How to win in Blacksburg

Be the Boston College Eagles, seriously take a look.

1. VaTech has only had 8 losses to ACC opponents since joining the conference, 3 have been to BC including the last time any team beat VT in Blacksburg.

2. Our strengths offset their strengths and some of our strengths exploit their weaknesses (running game anybody?) Throughout the first couple games of the season VT relied on the excellent running of their backs to offset Taylor's slow start. Most of their running game developed out of Williams and Oglesby's ability not necessarily the awesomeness of their line. While our d-line isn't going to crush their o-line I would be willing to say that Linebackers Mac, Luke and Dom can limit the YPC.

In all honesty I would say this game depends on the QBs, but wait, doesn't every game rely on QBs? Well yes and no, but the fact is that this one relies even more. Everyones been talking about how Tyrod Taylor has only had 2 decent games so far this season. True, I'll give you that but of the last three one has been his best game this season(in fact the most recent). One was in a monsoon and the other was against one of the best pass-rushing teams in the country (Nebraska).

Meanwhile Shinskie has been only getting better since taking over the reigns and continues to show improvement. He has shown some mistakes the VaTech might be able to capitalize on but the reality is that VaTech takes advantage of everyone's mistakes and as long as the offense has spent some practice time working on tackling I'm ok with our defense watching Uncle Dave's back.


So here's where the rubber really hits the road: Alex Albright.
If he's healthy, we win. Everyone has been talking about how the secondary played too conservatively in the second half, but the difference is really somewhat negligible when you actually compare to the second half. The difference was that Albright spent most of the first half terrorizing Ponder who I would consider to be very similar in style and ability to Taylor. Albright when down and didn't play in the second half... and the secondary got roasted. Combine that with that fact that VaTech's line isn't as good and you got yourself a recipe for a win.

Now we wait for the injury report...