A rough first week is behind us. After a poor performance by both team and coaching staff, we got one last jabbing today by the AP poll dropping us 8 spots. We desperately need to look ahead. It's Bristol time.
We've all been waiting for this game for a few years now and it's finally here. The Virginia Tech message boards look very similar to ours right now. They are unsatisfied with their Week 1 performance, and they are ready to get on the field during a real game and see what their team is made of. They are amped about being part of history, and they, like us, are focused more on what the end result will be than the actual experience itself.
Without further ado, here's what the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University faithful are saying about Saturday's historic matchup at Bristol Motor Speedway:
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-I would say there is a cautious optimism about Fuente right now. No one is extremely excited about him yet, usually discussion of him ends in debates.
-If we run our offense this week, go ahead and write our names on the Bristol Trophy, this one's over:
-Does anyone else find it odd for a VA Tech fan to say this? Granted, they're not currently a great team, but historically as a program they aren't exactly Central Florida....
-On Dobbs (with a slight dig at UT):
-They really, really like Bud Foster. It's not that it isn't understandable, but when discussing the potential success of UT's offense, I'm seeing a TON of "You do know we have Bud Foster, right?" And "Does the name 'Bud Foster' ring a bell?" etc etc.
-Summary of their 2016 squad:
-I would say about 80% of posters thought they would lose before the Appy State game. They seemed to feel a narrow loss is somewhat of a victory. Post-Appy State, I would say about 70% think they will win.
-They ranked 44th in Total Defense last year. According to them, the low ranking is because they "tried a new defensive strategy last year where they blitzed a lot," but not to worry...... apparently this year they're going back to their "real" defense...... ¯\_(ツ_/¯
-General score predictions are a bit all over the place. Most of them are predicting a VA Tech victory by anywhere from 3-10 points. Occasionally one will drop in with a UT victory by 14 or so.
-Sounds like we'll have the edge here:
-As concerned as we are about our O-line play against App State, the are equally as concerned about their O-line play against Liberty (similar to us, returning starters underperformed in week 1).
-Dobbs injury rumor was brought up, which turned into a pretty big Dobbs debate:
-Their "5 players to watch out for" were Barnett, Sutton, Malone, Hurd, Dobbs.
These were some replies to the list:
-It seems they are working on gamespeed and taking more snaps this season. They are referring to their "New hurry up offense" a good bit:
-General attendance predictions have the 150K Bristol allotment as UT 90-100k, Tech 50-60K.
-They are trashing the SEC after opening weekend. For those of you that don't have conference pride, just know that "Tennessee plays in the 'mighty SEC' which is a joke of a conference," and "The SUC, I mean the $EC" are phrases being tossed around frequently.
-Week 1 discussion of both teams from what seams to be a reasonable fan:
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An absolute slaughtering at Bristol is exactly what we need right now. I will be in the stands, and I know several posters here will as well. We need to get loud. Let's light that place on fire and move to 2-0.
GBO. No matter what.
Damn, chatt. One of the best posts I've ever read. Thanks, man.... and I could not agree more with your last paragraph. Go Vols!!!!
