The Goat Pen

Virginia Tech's starting offensive line against Alabama:

LT Jonathan McLaughlin: True freshman. Also, might already be the best offensive lineman on the team.
LG Caleb Farris: five career starts, none at guard.
C David Wang: ten career starts, none at center.
RG Andrew Miller: twenty-one career starts, none at guard.
RT Laurence Gibson: zero career starts, has played all of 27 snaps.

Again assuming J.C. Coleman won't play(he's been characterized by Frank Beamer as "questionable," if it even matters), each of the top three running backs will be playing in his first college game. The starting fullback, Sam Rogers, is a true freshman. Of the five second-string offensive linemen, two of them are walk-ons. With Corey Marshall now away from the team for personal reasons, the backup defensive tackles are now both freshmen. All told, 27 players on Virginia Tech's traveling roster to Atlanta are true or redshirt freshmen, and 16 of those freshman are on the depth chart.

This isn't sandbagging. We gon' die.

I think you play it closer than you think.

The only way I could see that happening would be for VT's defense to play phenomenally well and somehow hold Alabama to 17 points or so. Even in that case, Alabama should win comfortably, because I just don't see any way VT's offense is going to do much of anything, and it's been a long time since VT could count on something big from special teams in a game like this. It's more likely Alabama's special teams makes a big play or two.

Alabama 42, Virginia Tech 7.

This is different Alabama team. We lost 3 o-line, Lacey, and a ton on D.

Got a delivery of five dumptrucks full of sand out here..... should we put 'em on the Bama sidelines or the Tech sidelines?

"Of the five second-string offensive linemen, two of them are walk-ons."

Well, at least you know their legs work...

"This is different Alabama team. We lost 3 o-line..."

After reading JRB's assessment of VT's woeful-sounding O-line, AA's comment seems less like sandbagging than an outright slap in the face. I hardly need add: Well done...

I wonder how many total snaps Bama's O-line has played vs. VT's O-line?

We aren't the 2012 Bama team.

-Lost Eddie Lacy to the Packers. Have TJ with no clear #2 at RB. One in the mix, Kenyan Drake (who averaged 7 ypc last year), has the infamous 'violation of team rules' suspension

-A starting CB (a position we're thin at) suspended for DUI

-Lost 3 O-linemen to the NFL, including the best guard I've seen since John Hannah

-Lost our starting NG to the Seahawks

-Lost a great DE to the 49ers

-Lost our shutdown corner to the Jets

-Lost a very good LB to the Chiefs

-Throw in the loss of a real playmaker and better blocker, in our TE, Michael Williams, who went to the Lions

-Finally, we have a converted RB as back-up QB. Let McCarron go down and we finish the year 6-6 and are hoping for a Weedeater Bowl invite.

Hmmm, I wonder which one I'd rather have. This:

"Again assuming J.C. Coleman won't play(he's been characterized by Frank Beamer as "questionable," if it even matters), each of the top three running backs will be playing in his first college game. The starting fullback, Sam Rogers, is a true freshman."

Or this:

"Have TJ with no clear #2 at RB. One in the mix, Kenyan Drake (who averaged 7 ypc last year), has the infamous 'violation of team rules' suspension"

Keep in mind this "TJ" rushed for over 1000 yards last year. Yeah, the cupboard is really bare in the Bama backfield...

I'm not sure I understand your point, hedge. I'm not suggesting that we're worse off than VaTech. Is Bama in a better position? Yes. The Tide should win. I think it'll be around a 10-point game. 30-20, or something close. My post is simply a reminder that this is an entirely different team than 2012, and very likely not as good - especially early.

"I'm not sure I understand your point, hedge."

My point is that thou sandbaggeth...

Tiresome.

Your sandbagging? Not really, I generally find it amusing...

No, that any real discussion of a team's negatives is dismissed as sandbagging. It's tiresome and lazy. I, after all, am predicting a double-digit win against the Hokies.

Yes, a 10 point win is technically double digits, but by choosing the very least number that would satisfy that criterion and then proclaiming it as if that were a bold prediction ("Hey, I predicted a DOUBLE DIGIT win!!") is sandbagging. How about this? I'll bet you the margin of victory will be closer to 25 than 10. Or rather, let's make it closer to 24 so that in the unlikely event it's only a 17 point win, it'll be a push....

I never bet on Alabama football.

I didn't mean a money bet...

I have 5 bills on the Tide and 18 pts - I predict 35-7 Bama.

UP! UP! UP!

Docs betting his weight again.