(n/r) Austin Peay @ #18 Virginia Tech:

Vegas Line: VT-49

A.P. 1o1:

Kickoff: 1:34pm
TV coverage: ESPN3
Announcers:
PbP: John Sadak
Analyst: John Gregory
Sidelines: Rontina McCann

To put his mismatch of titanic proportions into prospective for you, lets use dabble in VT.edu and AP.edu for a moment.

Right now Austin Peay has an endowment funding level of 8.6 million dollars –whereas big bad Vah.Tech as an endowment that stands at just a shade north of .6 billion with a “b”.

Yah; this game is already over and Chris, Will and I can all play in this football game –for either side mind you- and Virginia Tech still wins this one going away.

4.64 possession kinda speed…

A.P. Offense: (7 starters return)
Last season the Governors were dead last in D-1aa little old Ohio Valley Conference scoring offense terms. And they depart their fairly crafty 1,100 rusher. That’s not good and neither is this offense sports fans. Right now, by my count, the Governors field precisely one offensive baller who could ball at mighty Virginia Tech. #18 Wr Devin Stark, Senior (53 receptions, 627 yards, 7 TD) who is an all everything pre-season Ohio Valley Conference fringe pick. And I do mean fringe, as not a single offensive or defensive governor made the 2012 all-conference Ohio Valley pre-season team! They do have one fairly good looking Rb (Wesley Kitts) who rumbled for 1o4 on the ground on a mere 10 carries last week. They have a grad-school start at Qb in fifth year senor Jake Ryan. Upfront A.Peay returns one single solitary oLine starter (Chris Hartman at Guard) in his 2011 home position as they have moved the other Guard inside to Center. They also have a starting Ot who missed last week with “an undisclosed medical condition” –whatever that may be code for, God Bless on that. Yah; I suppose you can see why A.Peay finished last week with eleven, that’s 11 yards passing folks!

Last year Austin Peay ran the football semi well, finishing 37^thin D-1aa terms for it. They will run from a Jumbo or twin-Te modified Pro set, and flash some Pro or I-formation elements with some spread out wrinkles as well. This team does like to run as they lead the Ohio Valley Conference in time of possession (TOP) last year. This is a fairly bulky D-1aa offensive line at 6`5“ 296 on average. However, it is a misnomer that this is a spread set as Qb Jake Ryan has never rushed for more than -38, that’s negative thirty-eight yards in a season! The Rb’s carry the mail – key the Rb’s and they will lead you right to the play. That, and this will be a homecoming of sorts for Austin Peay wide receivers coach Marcus Gildersleeve, who played wide receiver and was a special teams performer for the Hokies from 1996-98. I guess there is that.

Lee Majors this guy ain’t…

A.P. Defense: forty-two set (9 starters are back)
A.Peay has everyone back from last year sans a starting Safety and a Cb who did return only to suddenly leave the program of his own accord. They also return 11 of their top 12 tacklers from 2011 so experience is not a problem. Although basically everything else not named Antwan Major .at Safety is. As this is a small and light-in-the-pants looking D-1aa stop-unit for sure. Check it out … the Governors De’s average 229 lbs. in weight, the Dt’s average 271 and the Linebackers average a rather puny looking 219 lbs.! Wow! This is nearly a AAA or AAAA high school esque sized stop-unit folks. Reese Bulmash is the only one to watch upfront from his De position, the linebackers are all non-plus and that brings me to Mr. Majors. 80 plus tackles for a walk-on four year starting safety does not suck and neither does Antwan Majors (above) who could prolly back up at Fs smartly enough at B.C.S. Vah.Tech.

So with so much experience returning things to look a little more sporting on defense for the Governors this year. Well, at least they do right up until you look back at the Governors defense from last year. 105^th best in rushing defense and 113^th best in passing efficiency defense while giving up 417 total yards and yielding 38 points per game. Yah; Welcome to our world Austin Peay.

A.P. special teams: (both legs return)
Stephen Stansell is not a pretty damn good FG Kicker as he might not be any better than sixth best in a race of five if he were kicking on the Virginia Tech campus. Stanseell is within 2 more makes of being anointed Austin Peay’s all-time field-goal kicker and yet that might be the most deceiving all-time stat I’ve ever read. As dood is only 32 for 55 for his governing career down in Tennessee. Back at punter is converted Te Ben Campbell, who has a very moderate leg. Both return specialists are gone.

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Conclusion(s), Illation, OPT digits:
The pet word I got outta Clarksville Tennessee –from the one person who did in fact return one of my inquests for information- was: “aggression”.  Yah; I’d be pretty aggressive too if I had only enjoyed 18 winning seasons in 75 years of ball. Though that’s the mantra of Governor’s football Coach Rick Christophel; he of the Ohio Valley hot-seat.

To go ahead and rip the tooth, yank the band-aid and flat out say it … this team sucks! Now, I’m not want to bemoan strength of scheduling, at least when it comes to who(m) we play or do not play out-of-conference or any other worn out tripe from the never played a contact sport  — or don’t know what size means when it comes to buying a jock band mentality malarkey. Though that said, Chris is right, this might just be the worst football team that Frank Beamer has ever played at Virginia Tech.  That’s 310^th outta 310 if you are keeping score at home…

However, and all that to really say, this is a glorified scrimmage; at best folks. And I’m being perfectly serious for a change when I inform you that Frank Beamer and Virginia Tech would get better work less one Austin Peay Wideout and one Austin Peay Safety if we simply lined-up and went at it with our very own 1’s on 3’d all day long down in the New River Valley. This is indeed a glorified scrimmage and nothing else.

***

Nevertheless, it is also a football game that counts and a chance to further eval’ some of our back-ups once the starters get the rest of the day off somewhere in the second quarter of play –or so one can only hope. Injuries will count in this one, and we are playing on a very truncated made for Labor Day night national TV 3.25 day shortened work week and that tells me that we might as well be playing this game in sleepy hollow. Yawn, ZZZZZZZ’s, snooze. As this one is all about the orange and maroon scrubs; the kids who pay the very same price that Logan Thomas does sans most any other game-day of the year. Work on, tinker and putter around with, and maybe even make few changes as starting things go for about 20 odd minutes and then yank the starters just as someone yanked the proverbial tooth above. So here is what to watch for on Saturday in a midget-fighting mismatch of epic proportion terms…

Bottom-10:
1. how long do the 1’s or starters play — less is more here…
1a. did they get outta dodge healthy enough as we have 6 guys in blue, 2 in green and dings and dents abound after a scrappy Georgia Tech contest that was contested all the way into the 13^th round
2. Secondary-back-ups, almost everyone’s primary concern
3. back-up oLine which played precisely z-e-r-o snaps on Monday nite to a man in our zone blocking scheme
4. FREE Mark Leal and then unleash Trey Gresh!!!
4a. (re)evaluate the back-up Wr’s and possibly resize a r-shirt or two accordingly, as Coles is done and Davis is hurting, again
5. the 2’s or second-unit Linebackers need work as Tariq is a few games away, and B.Taylor was hurting and therefore feeling and likewise wearing blue earlier this week
6. go ahead and try fielding some punts and see how that goes, lets sort that out while we are at it before we really need it
7. don’t forget the pet cheer for the Governors: “Let’s go Peay!”
8. drive safe, run the ball, and get this one over A.S.A.P. pronto! “That’s what it’s all about.” 

Virginia Tech=54, Austin Peay=6

“LETS GO!“

“Hokies!“

bourbonstreet**