The Goat Pen

Gentlemen, Doc is in trouble....

Now Ryan Malleck, VT's starting TE, has suffered a torn labrum and is out for the season. This means that VT will also be playing Alabama without a single TE who has ever caught a pass in college. VT now returns only 2 of its top eleven receivers from last year, and one of those two is hurt.

Let me respond before AA can: Sure, but Alabama only has two returning receivers from last year who combined for only 1600 yards and 24 TD's b/w them. Their backups were high school All Americans, but they only combined for less than 900 yards b/w the three of them. And the third string has limited college experience, plus two 5 star high school All Americans who have never played a down of college ball but had career receiving totals of over 6000 yards between all of them. We're fucking screwed...

Malleck is probably the single worst injury VT could have suffered at this point. Lack of production from the TE position was a major factor in VT's offensive struggles last season, but Malleck improved as the season progressed to become a reliable player. With Scot Loeffler's emphasis on heavy formations, he figured to be a prominent part of VT's passing game, and his backups weren't even recruited as tight ends-- they're converted defensive ends.

The teams I watch the most - FSU, UGA, UF - I can never seem to get ahead on - just treading water.

For some reason - I am able to bet Bama at about a 80% success rate.

Hopefully my luck doesnt run out tomorrow....

I don't think VT would cover tomorrow even if everyone was healthy. As it is, if VT covers tomorrow, the Hokies should carry the entire coaching staff off the field in celebration.

Well, I am on my way to Atlanta. I'm sure I will be crying into my burger at The Vortex tomorrow night.

c'mon, being in Georgia isn't THAT depressing...

" I'll bet you the margin of victory will be closer to 25 than 10."

Doesn't get much closer to 25 than that...

Pats self on back...

Alabama offense: 14
VaTech offense: 10

We miraculously had a kick off, a punt, and an INT returned for touchdowns. And that's a good thing because VaTech completely shut the Bama O down.

VT popped one run, and otherwise put up 135 yards on 58 snaps.

Yeah, we shut their O down. They also returned the favor. Like I said, only 14 offensive points and Bama had a 38-yard pass for one of their TDs. Take that away and we had 168 yards of offense on 61 plays.

You're right, special teams TD's don't count. Not really part of the game. I bet Saban and his staff don't even coach any special teams plays or situations. Probably never mention it at all until game day when it's time to put some guys on the field to return a kick. They probably just send out the first 11 guys they can get the attention of. So you're right, those 3 TD's were pure luck on Bama's part. Still, they count and still Bama won by 25...

Wow, you're daft. I never said special teams TDs 'don't count'. They do. Taking a kick to the house is like a halfcourt shot in basketball. It's rare, and there is usually a bit of luck involved - it's certainly nothing you can realistically plan on. Ditto the pick-6 we had.

I'm sure there's a way to quantify it, but offhand I'd say a halfcourt shot that goes in is far more rare than a kickoff or punt return for a TD. Bottom line is Bama won by 15 points more than you predicted. You claim to be the voice of reason for Bama football and it's prospects on the field. So far, not so good...

I will agree that having a kickoff, punt and INT returned for TD's all in the same game is highly unlikely (although I would stop short of your characterization of "miraculous"), but I bet Bama has more games this year where they get at least one of those than games they don't...

6.8% of halfcourt shots go in. Only 5.5% of kickoffs are returned for a TD.

And, I admit my prediction was wrong, but only due to the minor miracles mentioned earlier.

Glad you're ok AA. I was starting to get worried about you. That one was a little to close for comfort. This Alabama team at this point just doesn't have that Championship umph that you need in game 1. I'm starting to understand your concerns now. You weren't joking. At this point, Alabama is not a BCS Championship team. You better hope Nick can get this crew together soon.

If Virginia Tech is going to have any chance of making a bowl game this season, they had to beat East Carolina and Marshall. Despite getting outplayed at times by ECU and for most of the game by Marshall, the Hokies managed to win a couple of ugly games, but they might not manage much else this year. They lost starting tailback Trey Edmunds to a hip pointer, didn't have starting placekicker Cody Journell due to another suspension, and only pulled out the win over Marshall in three overtimes, in the one week of the season VT didn't want to play a triple-overtime game(VT goes to Georgia Tech on Thursday night). The offense is still largely terrible-- the opening week's surprising performance from the offensive line appears to be an anomaly, as VT has given up repeated sacks and lost yardage runs the last two weeks, and the receivers still struggle to catch the ball. Logan Thomas appears to have maxed out as a QB (though he certainly could be getting more help). At this point, he is likely to throw at least four or five ill-advised passes a game. Journell's backup, Ethan Keyserling, missed three field goals, two of them very makeable, after Journell struggled mightily against ECU, so getting points figures to be even more of a challenge going forward. This outcome was greatly influenced by torrential rain-- Marshall's passing game was killing VT in the first half, but as the rain got worse, Marshall's offense bogged down, and the Herd missed a field goal in regulation that would have given them enough to win. One nice thing about this slog of a game: VT blocked a punt for a touchdown and blocked a field goal in overtime to give themselves one more chance.

"Ethan Keyserling, missed three field goals, two of them very makeable, after Journell struggled mightily against ECU, so getting points figures to be even more of a challenge going forward."

Special teams points don't really count. Except in the "miraculous" sense...