Some Michigan/VT news and content.

Submitted by GunnersApe on

Nothing earth shattering, I've been starving for some VT match-up content. I'm hating the fact that the media has been bashing them just so they'll be extra motivated for the Sugar Bowl.

http://www.virginiatechfan.com/2011/12/quick-michigans-offense/#more-6638

Michigan’s offensive line can be summed up in one word… big.

^Just wait a couple of years fella's.^

I would like MgoShoe take on VT if he is indeed back from self imposed exile.

 

And this from the Google Machine.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2011-12-12/sugar-bowl-matchup-michigan-vs-virginia-tech-denard-robinson-david-wilson

 

 http://sportsdirect.usatoday.com/football/ncaaf-matchups.aspx?page=/data/ncaaf/matchups/g8_summary_31.html

 

GunnersApe

December 15th, 2011 at 9:17 AM ^

Jug·ger·naut

[juhg-er-nawt, -not] Show IPA
noun
1.
( often lowercase ) any large, overpowering, destructive force or object, as war, a giant battleship, or a powerful football team.
2.
( often lowercase ) anything requiring blind devotion or cruel sacrifice.
3.
University of Michigan Offensive/Defensive line in the Brady Hoke era.

michiganfanforlife

December 15th, 2011 at 9:19 AM ^

why the mods are deleting topics right now? I've been blogging here for a couple years now and I never remember nazi erasing tactics before... Part of what makes this place amazing is the diversity of topics and discussions. It's turned into a censored mess. Does Brian approve, or have the mods taken on a crusade?

SalvatoreQuattro

December 15th, 2011 at 9:52 AM ^

usage of the word "Nazi". The Nazis killed tens of millions of people. I do not see anyone on here murdering men, women, and children with the alacrity of the Seven Dwarfs at work.

'Your punishment is to watch "Schlinder's List" so you can begin to comprehend the evil that was the Nazis. It is hoped that by watching this film you will refrain from so casually invoking the name of the  Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterparte.

SalvatoreQuattro

December 15th, 2011 at 10:46 AM ^

that usage is or ought to be acceptable. Certain African-Americans use the n-word in every day usage. Is that okay? For many African-Americans--particularly older ones--it is not because of the feelings that word  evokes.

Your reasoning that it has become socially acceptable does not justify it. At one time it was socially acceptable to call blacks "ni**ers". It was socially acceptable at one time to accuse Jews of blood libels or conspiring to take over the world. Socially acceptability by itself is not sufficient reason to use a word for society is quite often wrong.

That said, my post was written in mainly in jest. I simply do not like the flippant use of the word, but there is nothing I can do about it.  Sarcasm is the only thing I can respond.

Stewart52

December 15th, 2011 at 12:23 PM ^

I think it might be beneficial to have two MGoBoards... One for on topic posts and one for off topic. You could put the offtopic board underneath the current one, and maybe bump mgo.licious to the left side or something. Or maybejust put a tab in the board for OT in between new and recent or something. Then we could just stick to the rule "no politics/no religion" rule for OT, and people won't have to waste their time complaining about unworthy threads clogging up there board. That being said, with the current system a Tool concert is kinda a stretch, especially right when recruiting is getting interesting again.

StephenRKass

December 15th, 2011 at 12:38 PM ^

So, right now, there is plenty to cover between:

  • Bowl Game
  • Football Recruiting
  • Basketball Season
  • Hockey
  • All other Michigan sports.

I put up a Tebow post a couple weeks ago, which was deleted. Why? It was OT. In August, guidelines were spelled out, eliminating all OT posts until AFTER the football season. So, after the bowl, things will slow down a bit. After signing day, they'll slow down even more. After Basketball is over, they'll slow down even more. There will be a momentary uptick during Spring Football, but things will get really slow from May through July.

You'd have to ask the mods, but I'm pretty confident that there will be more tolerance for OT posts in January, yet more in February, and almost free rein (except for boobs and politics) by May. The problem with OT posts is it clogs up the board. I'd rather be able to quickly access relevant football posts without having to wade through several pages of new topic OT headers to get to the few things that really matter.

BiSB

December 15th, 2011 at 7:16 PM ^

The rule, which comes directly from the owner of this here interblog, is that Off Topic stuff doesn't belong on the board from the start of the season through the bowl game. Generally, the season rules break down as follows:

  • ON TOPIC: College football, Michigan athletics generally, Detroit professional sports
  • GRAY AREA: Other Professional sports, non-athletic UofM stuff generally
  • OFF TOPIC: Most other stuff

During lulls we aren't too picky about it, and a lot of gray area stuff gets to stay. But Tool is way too far off topic. Sorry if that makes me a brownshirt.

MGoShoe

December 15th, 2011 at 11:05 AM ^

...to provide an evaluation of VT's season and his outlook. He was raised a Michigan fan and attended several games, but he's a sophomore at VT and a full blown Hokie. He's the sports news director at WUVT-FM (VT radio station) and covered their home games from the press box. He'll be home on winter break tomorrow, so he should have some time to put something together.

turtleboy

December 15th, 2011 at 9:55 AM ^

The VTfan article on our offense was very flattering. I'd almost think a Michigan fan wrote it. Naw if we wrote it it'd be more analytical and would have a few more criticizms because our expectations are so high, but it still made me smile. :)

Also: Sporting News gives VT the advantage in Defense, Special Teams, AND Coaching? Lol.

mgowill

December 15th, 2011 at 10:48 AM ^

I've been watching more and more film on Virginia Tech offense as the game draws closer.

Here's what I've noticed in my pedestrian analysis.

Logan Thomas is a big quarterback (6'6" 254 lbs!) with great range.  He extends plays with his athleticism and will force you to cover sideline to sideline.  He is hard to bring down in the open field.  He is a shade under 60% for the season on completion percentage, and almost averages an interception per game.  Clemson got a ton of pressure on Thomas and he was rattled in both of their games (15/27 125 YDS 0 TD 1 INT & 22/44 274 YDS 1 TD 2 INT).  The key will be getting to him with pressure or the time he adds by running around will create gaps in coverage.

David Wilson is a scary match-up for our defense.  At 5'10" 205 lbs he is a solid back that protects the ball well.  He also is very slick at getting to the corners and into the second level.  I have seen my fair share of poor tackling on this guy in the videos I watched.  Getting helmets to him and slowing him down like we did to Ronnie Hillman will be the key.  He averaged 6.1 YPC and will probably see the ball 20+ times.  Holding him under 100 yards will be a lot easier if we can get pressure on Thomas.  Not a huge threat in the passing game (he only had 123 yards total) but he did average over 6 YPC.

Their recievers are pretty physical.  Jarrett Boykin 6'2" 218 lbs (731 YDS 12.8 YPC), Danny Coale 6'1" 200 lbs (781 YDS 15.1 YPC), and Marcus Davis 6'4" 228 lbs (499 YDS 17.1 YPC) will all test our secondary.  They have had their fair share of "jump balls" this season because of their size.  Thomas isn't very accurate but with these guys he doesn't have to be.

Their big weakness seems to be their offensive line.  They allowed Clemson to pour though and this caused them problems all day.  They were 25% on 3rd down conversions 4/16 against Clemson and replicating what Clemson did will be the key.  If we don't disrupt their offense, we don't match up well enough with their athletes to have a successful day.

Also, this team and these fans are pretty fired up.  They've been hearing about how they didn't deserve this game.  They are out to prove something.  They are wanting a signature win over a traditional powerhouse (haven't really had one since their victory over Texas in the 1995 Sugar Bowl) and they are licking their chops at the chance to prove they are for real. 

From The Key Play: HokieJoe3

The game isn't a cheap trip and requires some extra time off from work, but this is the type of bowl game VT fans have begged for. Let's not forget that a few weeks ago some were complaining about another trip to the Orange Bowl, and considered the Peach Bowl a blessing in disguise. VT has never played Michigan before and isn't scheduled to anytime soon. This could be the only matchup in our lifetimes. There's no question that a win on January 3rd over 13th ranked Michigan would be the biggest bowl win for VT since 1995.

http://www.thekeyplay.com/content/2011/december/15/big-game-big-easy-bowl-hokies-have-craved#more

goblue7612

December 15th, 2011 at 12:27 PM ^

I've seen as low as row 9 as high as row 23. are there really student tickets in the 600 level? also as a psa please do not sneak other ppl into the student section. this isn't Michigan stadium where there are bleachers, if you sneak someone in they will be taking someone's legitimate seat.

M-Wolverine

December 15th, 2011 at 11:47 AM ^

i think we slow down their running game, because once we finally knew what we were doing, we kept running backs from killing us.  The key will be the QB. If we can not let him scramble and kill us for first downs, and correct the over the top problems we had with OSU (because they'll probably not be getting a lot of extra help back there, concentrating on run support), we can probably make them rush and turn over the ball if we can continue to make them patiently drive down the field.  Give up big plays, opening up the running game, and it could be a long day.

Defensively it'll probably be the best squad we've faced since MSU. Not sure that we haven't played teams with better talent there, but they're not as well coached as VT is.  If Denard can avoid multiple turnovers, he should be able to drive them a little nuts...because he's been doing everything else right lately, and should be as healthy as he's been all season.  Be interesting to see if they try and stop him, or Fitz first.

And while they're special teams have been kinda meh for them, the way people seem to break out of their box vs. us this year, watch them block a FG or something.  Hopefully we're scoring enough that it doesn't matter.

gopoohgo

December 15th, 2011 at 12:17 PM ^

I'm going to watch some of the VaTech games this weekend.  Burgeoningwolverinestar mentioned how the VaTech DEs are VERY aggressive coming up the field, and would bet that Borges and co would be drooling at the possibility of the QB lead underneath aggresive DE play.

From some browsing on the internet, people say that the VaTech LBs are the weak link of defense, both physical talent and reading play development.  From the type of misdirection we use, and the attention paid to Denard, I would imagine that if VaTech doesn't have two Jerrel Worthy's on their Dline, that this would portend a very good day for Denard and Fitz on the ground.

ChiBlueBoy

December 15th, 2011 at 1:26 PM ^

...I was not terribly impressed by the analysis in the first article. Not sure why he'd call us big--VT O Line is maybe slightly larger than ours looking at the 2-deep. Their DL isn't small either, at least not compared to ours.

mgowill

December 15th, 2011 at 2:51 PM ^

I would agree with you here.  The only thing I noticed is that their DL is kind of stubby.  It doesn't look like they are underweight however.

 

U-M 

LT Taylor Lewan 6-8 302, Michael Schofield 6-7 299

LG Ricky Barnum 6-3 292, Elliott Mealer 6-5 310

C David Molk 6-2 286, Rocko Khoury 6-4 287

RG Patrick Omamek 6-4 300, Elliot Mealer 6-5 310

RT Mark Huyge 6-6 302, Michael Schofield 6-7 299

 

DE Craig Roh 6-5 269, Jibreel Black 6-2 260, Frank Clark 6-2 228

DT Mike Martin 6-2 304, Will Campbell 6-5 322

DT Will Heininger 6-6 295, Quinton Washington 6-4 302

DE Ryan Van Bergen 6-6 288, Nathan Brink 6-5 263

 

Virginia Tech

OG Michael Via 6-7 292, Greg Nosal 6-6 297, Jaymes Brooks 6-2 307

C Andrew Miller 6-4 290

OT Nick Becton 6-7 6-6 326, Andrew Lanier 6-5 306, Blake DeChristopher 6-5 311

 

DE J.R. Collins 6-2 240, James Gayle 6-4 257, Tyrel Wilson 6-1 219

DT Derrick Hopkins 6-0 301, Kwamaine Battle 6-1 302

DT Dwight Tucker 6-2 280, Antoine Hopkins 6-1 306