Well, I waited my self-imposed 24 hours... Here's the good, the bad, and the oh-so-much ugly from the Herd's loss to VT.

The good -
• Our defensive line is legit – Those guys absolutely played their butts off. The defense as a whole kept us in the game for 3 quarters.
• Turner is going to be a very good back
• Metcalf and Fitzpatrick made some nice plays out of the WR group.
• VT's tailgate scene was fun as hell, and everyone I talked to (with the exception of one very drunk student) was super friendly/welcoming

The bad -
• Stone Earle – Thanks for coming to MU, but it's time for us to go another direction. I would put Earle out there against OSU (because we are going to get beat by 40 anyway) and then move on to Braxton for Western Michigan. Was the line perfect, no... Did he miss multiple wide open receivers, yep... 13/36, 1 TD, 1 INT
• Special teams – Every freaking year... Give up a punt return TD, miss a field goal, penalties, two shanked punts. (Hey we blocked a punt though!)
• 3rd down play calling – We made some "interesting" calls on 3rd down where we weren't even trying to make the line to gain (in fairness we were in way too many 3rd and longs because we couldn't complete a forward pass).

The ugly -
• Slow starts - I feel like I can just copy and paste this sentence every week from here on out... Thank god for the blocked punt or we would have had zero plays to cheer for in the first half.
• Clock management - I dont know if they keep this stat, but we use more timeouts at random times in the first and third quarters than any team in the country. We used two third quarter timeouts on defense when VT was on their own side of the 50.
• The "Air Raid" offense - We were told we were going to run an air raid offense... The only way our offense is "air raid" is if we are comparing to 1920's Ivy League offenses. In defense of Doege, twice we had guys running wide open and Earle flat missed them (one would have been a TD mid-way through the fourth quarter) Our "air raid" offense threw for 131 yards, 3.5 yards per pass attempt. Yikes.
• Lane Stadium logistics - It was almost like they had never hosted a sold out game before. Concession lines so long my folks missed almost the whole second quarter. College kids with no tickets (or upper deck end zone tickets) trying to cram in where we were at the 40 yard line (the cops had to come remove them because they were standing in the aisle). No one directing traffic after the game (I guess they assume everyone has been there before).

Anyway, we are favored by 3 over "bye" on this week's schedule... Let's get the tailgate gear cleaned up before Ohio State. And buy enough alcohol to make Columbus not miserable.

HN caught up with Tim Thomas of the Tech Lunch Pail (@TechLunchPailD) to preview today's game:

Talk a little bit about Tech’s first game against Vandy. What went wrong?

This starts with Tech coming out completely unprepared to play and looking lifeless throughout the first half. They also didn't respond well to an early turnover according to Brent Pry which is unacceptable for a veteran team. The offensive gameplan was also a mess for the Hokies in the first half with no vertical passing to stretch the field. Their talent combined with a better gameplan led them to make a big second half surge and had them in position to win a game they had no business winning but a special teams mistake of two #0 jerseys on the field at the same time led to a field goal that proved crucial in forcing overtime and leading to a loss.

What about the game with Marshall concerns you?

I'll be blunt, not much. Virginia Tech has a clear talent advantage compared to the Thundering Herd and this feels like a classic bounce back spot against a weaker opponent. Tech also has multiple instances of blowout victories the week after bad losses including a blowout of Pittsburgh the week after Marshall's upset last season.

The one thing that does concern me is Virginia Tech's offensive which was subpar last week and could have issues with some of the Herd's defensive line, especially Mike Green. Tech has some serious questions on that unit and if I'm Marshall, I'm matching Green up against Parker Clements early and often.

What things does VA Tech do well that could hurt Marshall?

When Virginia Tech is actually utilizing their receiving talent as they did last week, this is an offense that can make defenses cover every inch of the ld from a variety of power running by Kyron Drones on read options, Bhayshul Tuten getting around the edge, Jaylin Lane being dangerous on screens and underneath passes, a combination of Da'Quan Felton and Ali Jennings stretching the field, and more. Tech has a clear talent advantage that should shine through if the Hokies run the type of offense they ran for the latter two-thirds of last season. Defensively, this team has some high-level stars who can be game-changers including Dorian Strong and Antwaun Powell-Ryland who I expect will be nightmares for Marshall to deal with.

Prediction to how the game will play out with score?

There's a lot of Tech fans who are overreacting to a Week 1 disappointment. I think this is a major bounce-back spot for the Hokies being at home with a lot to prove all over again. The two-touchdown spread was absurd to me and I think the three-touchdown spread is honestly a good bet if you're putting it on Tech. In the end, Virginia Tech wins 41-14 in a major bounce back performance.

The white liberal is the worst enemy to the black person.

True

I'm not talking about the on field product. The audio on the ESPN broadcast is horrible. It sounds like two guys in their Mom's basement commenting while playing EA Sports NCAA 2024. What happened to the stadium noise?

Saw that you posted you were going out of the country. Do your doctors know you are traveling? I would hate for you to have a relapse of some kind in a country where they stick pins in your head and wave feathers over your body.

Seriously, not sure I would travel too far away from quality medical care.

Tamar's son Bryce is making his college choice today.

He's picking from Dener, JMU, Ill St, and Marshall. 247 has him as the 12th ranked player in NC.

Have to close that one Corny! The competition aren't world beaters in the hoops world, have to close your best friends son!

If he who shall not be named is still our QB for the rest of the season, we may not win another game.

Gut wrenching. He has correctly picked 9 of the last 10 presidents. I'm assuming he got Hilliary wrong.

Democrats, their policies and their bleaters are destroying our country

"Miss me yet??"

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It requires idiots to buy what the idiot is selling.

Despite the continued effort from the left for it to remain, Kennedy’s name is being removed from both state’s ballots. I’m sure more will follow.

A huge sign trump is in trouble is when he starts rambling about absurd shit, can't stay on track, and looks dumber than usual with his attacks and ideas. And he's been out of control for a while now:

But this is sign number two. This is from a right-leaning newspaper. The substance of the article is important, but more symbolic is the comment section at the bottom of the article. Again, this is a right-leaning publication in a very red state, yet 90%+ of the comments are bashing trump. Now, sure, you can argue that liberals are far more educated, far more willing to read newspapers, etc., so they will have more comments, but I have never seen. this newspaper have so much anti-trump support:

the board is so much more readable. I'll check once in a while and if you ever stop doing what you're doing, I'll take you off.

So you and riflepuss' alter ego are the only people I have ignored.

Democrats, their policies and their bleaters are destroying our country

https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/g...istrationfor-driving-people-poverty-bad-worse #FoxBusiness