Early Line - GT v VPI

[stinger78]

VPI is #98 in rushing yards and #27 in passing yards allowed.

Sounds like an opportunity to me. Can we get a running game going on Saturday?

 

[bobongo]

VPI is #98 in rushing yards and #27 in passing yards allowed.

Sounds like an opportunity to me. Can we get a running game going on Saturday?

Ran for 245 yds. vs Duke, 371 vs UNC before being held to 64 vs ND.
Tech should move the ball on the ground against VPI.

 

[Thwg777]

GT opens an 8.5 point underdog on fanduel.

I anticipate another choppy week from a spread perspective given our QB uncertainty. In my opinion this line bakes in that King is unlikely to play.

Just jumped to 11… choppy as I expected.

VPI coming off of their best game and us, one of our worst. But an overreaction in my opinion for two teams that are roughly peers.

 

[gtrower]

Just jumped to 11… choppy as I expected.

VPI coming off of their best game and us, one of our worst. But an overreaction in my opinion for two teams that are roughly peers.

King was reported as out today. It’s a reaction to that.

 

[Root4GT]

Look at the respective schedules.

Drones is an option QB running out of shotgun. I’d take Pyron over him. King is wayyy better.

Tuten is a really good RB. Comparable to Haynes although I’d take Haynes in our offense and Tuten in a more pro-style offense.

WRs they have a couple good ones on paper. Again ours is better on the whole.

And their OL is not good. Ours is wayyy better.

Their DL is really good. Their LBs are okay. Their secondary is bad. Very comparable to our defense although I’d swap DLs with them if offered. Still bitter they got Duke’s All-ACC DT a few days before Santucci signed on as DC for us.

Wow, there is no "Way Better" position at GT over VT. King when healthy is the best QB for sure, He hasn't really seemed healthy for a while this season. Besides that it is mostly push on offense. Their defense is better than ours. They get much better pressure on opposing QBs than we do. Our Special Teams are dreadful and much worse than any of our opponents including VT.

Right now they are playing much better football than GT is playing. GT will need to play it's best game of the year to win in Blacksburg.

From you comments I gather you have watched several VT games. Is that correct?

 

[gtrower]

Wow, there is no "Way Better" position at GT over VT. King when healthy is the best QB for sure, He hasn't really seemed healthy for a while this season. Besides that it is mostly push on offense. Their defense is better than ours. They get much better pressure on opposing QBs than we do. Our Special Teams are dreadful and much worse than any of our opponents including VT.

Right now they are playing much better football than GT is playing. GT will need to play it's best game of the year to win in Blacksburg.

From you comments I gather you have watched several VT games. Is that correct?

My brother went to VT and I live in DC (a lot of my friend group are VT grads). I follow them from a position of hate. Yeah I’ve watched them.

Their OL is not good. Their QB is not good. Their RB is good. Their DL is really good.

King is certainly way better than Drones. Like across the board against a harder schedule. I could see the debate between Pyron and Drones, but I’m just really low on Drones.

 

[bobongo]

My brother went to VT and I live in DC (a lot of my friend group are VT grads). I follow them from a position of hate. Yeah I’ve watched them.

Their OL is not good. Their QB is not good. Their RB is good. Their DL is really good.

King is certainly way better than Drones. Like across the board against a harder schedule. I could see the debate between Pyron and Drones, but I’m just really low on Drones.

I'm having a little trouble reconciling the fact that VT ranks #99 against the run with their DL being "really good".

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[LongforDodd]

Unless someone (looking at you ST Coach Brumfield) points out to Shanahan this week what a fine line he's riding, I predict at least one blocked punt against VT.

 

[Root4GT]

My brother went to VT and I live in DC (a lot of my friend group are VT grads). I follow them from a position of hate. Yeah I’ve watched them.

Their OL is not good. Their QB is not good. Their RB is good. Their DL is really good.

King is certainly way better than Drones. Like across the board against a harder schedule. I could see the debate between Pyron and Drones, but I’m just really low on Drones.

Drones has been good to very good his past 3 games and Tuten has had gaping holes to run through.

Position of hate tends to bias one. I live in Fairfax County and have a son who started at GT and finished at VT. I have watched most of all their games except when they have conflicted with ours then it is channel flipping. They are a much improved team. Pry makes boneheaded decisions more than a HC should.

We each have our opinions but in my view you vastly undersell them. They are not great but overall they have been on a very positive trajectory while GT has not. Pyron will have to play extremely well to win on Saturday. The OL will need their best game. Our Defense better be ready to tackle guys who are hard to bring down.

The line has moved to around VT favored by 10 points now. That sounds about right to me.

 

[UgaBlows]

This is a classic ACC chaos game, very winnable if we can just put it all together

 

[RamblinRed]

if we want to use FEI as a comparison.
Our offense is currently ranked #18 nationally, VT's defense is ranked #35.
Our defense is ranked #81, VT offense #39
Our Special Teams #122, VT Special teams #19.
Overall GT is at #49 and VT #30

This feels like the 3rd straight game where ST could be a significant negative for us.
They avg almost 39 yards net per punt. They are avg over 15 yards per punt return (They have 1 punt return for a TD) while holding opponents to less than 7. They are 9-10 on FGA.

Defensively, with a healthy King I would say our O would be better than their D, with Pyron it feels a little closer.
Their defense is really good at havoc plays. They have 25 sacks, 7 fumble recoveries and 5 INTS. They also avg almost 25 yards per interception return. They have 49 TFL's.

In general I would say their special teams look like a huge advantage for them.
Our O might be a small advantage over their D, but I think their O is a bigger advantage vs our D than the reverse.


We can certainly beat them, but we need to play a really good game. If we cannot establish the run this week then it is likely going to be a long day for our QB's as they are the best pass rushing team we have faced this season. Antwaun Powell-Ryland is a premier pass rusher - he has 11 sacks already this season.

 

[swampsting]

I disagree. VPI isn’t good nor bad - they’re like us.

Normal strength, we’d be favored by 2-ish on a neutral field. Give VPI 3 at home at noon, probably another 2 for momentum (coming off their best performance), and another 5 or so for Pyron over King gets me to about +8 or so for GT.

King is good. But he doesn't make 5 points of difference, not in the score or a line from Vegas.
VPI is 4-3 and is a ref's overturned call away from being 5-2. They went out to Stanford and left a tire track on the Cardinal and beat a decent Boston College team pretty handily last time out. And they're coming off a bye. Plus, their loss to Vandy looks better with each passing week.
doesn't matter who are QB is - we got our hands full. If we can't run the ball, we're in trouble. Because we really haven't thrown it deep all year, even with one of the best deep threats in the nation. And I'm wary that they will run play action with Tuten and then throw it over our heads against our shaky pass D, because we ain't gonna muster any pressure on Drones at all.
I didn't feel very good about this one at the start of the year. That hasn't changed.

 

[takethepoints]

Zach also seemed injured at the end of the ND game. We may not have a QB ready for the VT game?

With any of the two healthy QBs, we will beat the turkeys.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: if Philo gets on the field, it'll be very difficult to get him off. The guy is the best passer Tech has had since Mike Kelly. But if Zac is ready, he'd be the choice. Game experience counts. I mean really counts.

 

[stinger78]

Wow. Mr. Positivity. We’ll just have to wait and see. Best win by VPI was probably BC. Looking at best wins, it’s a mishmash of 4-3 teams all over the place.

 

[g0lftime]

From what I've seen of VT, Drones is a duel-threat type of QB, that and with the game in Blacksburg and VT playing well could spell disaster for us.

Those type quarterbacks have given us fits on scrambles because we collapse down on the pocket and lose edge containment. We get held a lot in those situations and most of the time it isn't called.

 

[alagold]

Just playing AWAY with a rusty QB is enough to cause big problems for us.

 

[roadkill]

I believe faulkner , wienke, king , wr, ol, rb , te can suceed by being way more daring.

This quote from another thread applies here. I think we will need to surprise VT to overcome our special teams being so special.

 

[g0lftime]

Ran for 245 yds. vs Duke, 371 vs UNC before being held to 64 vs ND.
Tech should move the ball on the ground against VPI.

HK played in those. He makes a difference in how they defend the run. ZP is not as fast. He looked very good passing last Saturday.

 

[bobongo]

Just playing AWAY with a rusty QB is enough to cause big problems for us.

He shook a lot of rust off Saturday, and he's on comfortable ground having beaten VPI two years ago on the same field.

 

[gtrower]

King is good. But he doesn't make 5 points of difference, not in the score or a line from Vegas.
VPI is 4-3 and is a ref's overturned call away from being 5-2. They went out to Stanford and left a tire track on the Cardinal and beat a decent Boston College team pretty handily last time out. And they're coming off a bye. Plus, their loss to Vandy looks better with each passing week.
doesn't matter who are QB is - we got our hands full. If we can't run the ball, we're in trouble. Because we really haven't thrown it deep all year, even with one of the best deep threats in the nation. And I'm wary that they will run play action with Tuten and then throw it over our heads against our shaky pass D, because we ain't gonna muster any pressure on Drones at all.
I didn't feel very good about this one at the start of the year. That hasn't changed.

Vandy also lost to GA State and was tied with 2-5 Ball State in the 4Q. Both at home.

You could also argue we’re 2/3 plays away from being 6-1 and the remaining loss was to a Top 15 team without our best offensive and best defensive players.

Plenty of ways to spin things.