The Goat Pen

I'd say never congratulate Rickart, 10ac, but I've been preparing to do that for the last hour or so. College football is a stupid game sometimes.

This didn't go as expected. Then, it did. And then, at last, it didn't. This was nuts-- it was probably the best game to watch that VT and UVa have played in 20 years, and it was one that Virginia almost certainly should have won. The Cavaliers were by far the better team in the second half, and if ...

This went pretty much as expected.

VT was as competitive as they could be for as long as they could be against a better Boston College team, which meant they were in that game in the first half before BC took control in the third quarter. All things considered, that wasn't such a disappointing performance for this struggling VT team....

It's official-- Paul Johnson owns Justin Fuente. This was a thorough ass-kicking-- the Yellow Jackets simplifed things with a new QB and bet that VT's defense was too inexperienced and undisciplined to stop them, and they were right. I always admire seeing a triple-option attack run well, but this m...

The Notre Dame game was kind of this VT season in microcosm-- VT managed to stay with one of the nation's best teams for a half, but then spent the second half making the kind of mistakes a better team doesn't let slide. It was sort of similar to VT's season opening loss in 2015 to Ohio State, thoug...

VT lost to 0-3 ODU, lost their starting QB indefinitely to a broken fibula, and lost their best pass rusher to a persistent attitude problem. The Hokies were left to start a kid who lost the starting job at Kansas. Duke was 4-0, ranked, and was getting their starting QB, Daniel Jones, back from a br...

Three weeks after shutting down Florida State in Tallahassee, Virginia Tech got shredded for 49 points by an ODU offense playing its backup QB. This was a disaster for VT-- not only was the defense humiliated by a team that lost 52-10 to Liberty, but the Hokies lost starting QB Josh Jackson to an an...

For the record, I wasn't sandbagging-- I was wrong. Florida State has owned VT for most of the past forty years-- even in games when VT played well, the Seminoles have been able to dial up big plays exactly when they've needed them. When Cam Akers broke off that big run early in the fourth quarter, ...

Prediction: Florida State 35, Virginia Tech 17. VT returns less proven defensive talent this season than the Hokies have in a long time, and VT hasn't beaten Florida State in Florida since 1974. It might be close at halftime, but I doubt it's close by the fourth quarter.

Some fights you win by knockout. Sometimes, you get knocked out. And sometimes, it goes twelve rounds, the referee has to raise someone's hand, and for some reason, you get the decision. That's sort of what happened in this game. WVU gained nearly 600 yards of offense in this one and had all the mom...

Life with a new head coach-- the Hokies blow out North Carolina in Chapel Hill, then go to Syracuse and get whipped, then come home on a short week and beat Miami by three touchdowns. I dunno, man.

Next up, a trip to Pittsburgh. VT has lost four straight at Pittsburgh.

Virginia Tech has responded to the Tennessee loss better than anyone could have expected, and in these last two games, the Hokies have looked better than they have at any point since 2010. This one was over before halftime, and VT fans especially loved blowing out ECU with help from a punt return TD...

A week after repeatedly self-destructing against Tennessee, VT played about as well as could have been hoped for against Boston College. BC's offense was a major help, as it looked to be even worse than it was last year, if that's possible. But BC's defense had looked legitimate in their first two g...

VT doesn't have the kind of talent that FSU had at the end of Bowden's tenure, and it'll take a while before VT is even recruiting as well as they did ten or twelve years ago. What was most disturbing about the loss to Tennessee were the cheap shots-- there was no excuse for Mook Reynolds' idiocy on...

Tennessee was clearly the better team from the start of the second quarter on, and if the Vols had bothered to show up when the game started, they might have put this one away earlier than they did. But this game exposed VT, and not just with respect to the talent level that has been declining in Bl...

If these suspensions stand, Charleston Southern has to consider whether or not it's worthwhile to play this game. They've only got at most 63 scholarship players. I'm sure their athletic department needs the money, but sending a team of forty or so FCS backups and walk-ons to play Florida State migh...

FSU's next opponent, Charleston Southern, has had to suspend upwards of thirty players, including the entire starting offensive line, for tomorrow's game. What hideous sins have these young men committed? They were advised by school bookstore employees to use whatever portion of their scholarship bo...

Tennessee -7.

This is noteworthy pretty much only for being Justin Fuente's first win at VT. The defense probably deserved a shutout, but the offense handed Liberty a fumble-return touchdown and a drive starting at the VT 10. VT's offense was very erratic-- Jerod Evans looks capable as a passer, but he committed ...