Game Day: Virginia Tech

With non-gratuitous football-related image of Rocky.

The second game day of GeauxTuscaloosa's life is finally here, and it's sort of the one everyone's been waiting for, including my baby, who is doing her level best to get at the keyboard. She's a cutie-pie.

Anyway, I think all that can be said has been said.

• Neither team performed well on the offensive line last week.
• Sean Glennon is not known as a great QB
• LSU's defense was dominant
• Virginia Tech is known for blocking kicks
• Virginia Tech's linebackers are supposed to be awesome but didn't exactly show it last week
• Virginia Tech is playing through memories of tragedy
• LSU needs to throw the ball more effectively, getting more yards per completion and finding more receivers than just Early Doucet

But that's how the day will end. The day will start with an 11:30 matchup that is almost as interesting with Bama at Vandy. As I said before, Vandy's best 5 players are just as good as Bama's best five. Maybe even better. We know nothing about Bama as a result of last week. We'll know a lot more after this week. Is this team a legitimate threat in the West? Or are they going to struggle to reach a bowl game?

I predicted a long time ago that the winner of this game would go to a bowl and the loser wouldn't, regardless of who won. In my early-season preview, I said that if Bama lost, it would be hard to make it to a bowl game. I don't like to make predictions about outcomes of games, and I won't here, but I think my alternative analyses of the future is still correct. If Bama can't beat Vandy (who you must understand is probably better than any Vandy team in my memory), then Bama will probably sweat out going to a bowl all season, and may not make it.

For that matter, this is also a huge game for Vandy. They have a tough schedule, and even though they may have the best team they've had in a long time, I only count 4 easy wins on their schedule, and that's only if you count Ole Miss as an easy win. They're going to have to figure out how to win 2 games against Bama, Auburn, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Wake Forest. Only Bama, Kentucky, and Wake Forest look like games where they can match talent with their opponents. They likely have to win 2 of those 3 to qualify for a bowl game.

So, my schedule today is:

Now to 9:00am: chores, errands, and possibly watch non-football-related entertainment
9:00am - 11:00am: Watch as much of GameDay as I can stomach
11:00-11:30am: Nothing sticks out at me as a must-see. Perhaps I'll do more chores or something.
11:30-3:00pm-ish: Bama v. Vandy
3:00-4:45pm: Perhaps I'll watch a movie
4:45-8:00: South Carolina v. Georgia, with TCU v. Texas as a fall-back position
8:00-midnight: Virginia Tech v. LSU