So, this Virginia Tech squad won’t be playing for the national championship, as many in Blacksburg and across America hoped they might. The Bayou Beatdown exposed Tech’s weaknesses at more areas than just quarterback, but that’ll be the major change starting this week, with freshman sensation Tyrod Taylor taking the helm from embattled vet Sean Glennon. Let’s take a look at this week’s opponent, the Ohio Bobcats, and assess the Hokies’ chances Saturday.
Ohio (2-0)
Offense:
When moving with the football, the Bobcat attack begins and ends with Kelvin McRae. A Clinton Portis look-alike with the same kind of flashy grin, McRae is a strong runner with a nose for the end zone. The senior from Decatur, Georgia has just shy of 3,100 career yards, and with 6 TDs, is currently the nation’s leader in scoring. McRae emerged last year as a receiving threat, as well, snagging 29 balls for 280 yards. If Tech shuts down McRae, they win easily. Period. If they don’t, Ohio can turn this in to a battle.
After seeing split time in 2004 and 2006, QB Brad Bower has slipped in to the full time role evacuated by Austin Everson, and had his strongest game as a starter last week at Louisiana-Lafayette, going 17-28 for 264 yards and a score. Bower’s career numbers are remarkably consistent; he always hovers right around 55-60% completions. So far this year, he hasn’t faced much of a rush. In his career to date, he’s thrown an INT about once every 12 pass attempts; this year, its 1 in 18. He is prone to throw picks when facing heat, however. His 1-7 TD-INT ratio last year kept him off the field. If Bower gets rattled, he’ll fall back on McRae. It all goes through McRae.
Last year, the Bobcat passing attack was just this side of abysmal, and so far in 2007, no one has stepped up as a go to guy. The plan seems to be to spread the ball around to a host of targets, and in two 2007 contests, no receiver has caught more than four balls in a game. Wideout Chido Nwokocha looked good against Gardner-Webb, snaring 3 for 52, but then disappeared at Lafayette. Sophomore Chris Garrett leads the squad in catches, with 7 for 51, but isn’t yet the kind of downfield threat Ohio can use to stretch a defense.
This Bobcat offensive line isn’t nearly as equipped to open gaping holes for McRae as the 2006 outfit, but they’ve done a decent job so far against two undermanned opponents. Matt Miller, a 322 pound senior tackle from down the road in Mechanicsville, VA might be the best of the bunch and along with David Shelby, composes a solid set of bookends between which McRae can try to find space against the angry Hokie front four.
Defense:
As long as Frank Solich is the sheriff in Athens, Ohio is going to be capable on the defensive side of the ball. Considering the MAC’s size, the league boasts a very high number of excellent defensive linemen, and Ohio’s Jameson Hartke and Landon Cohen are two of the best. Hartke posted 7.5 sacks in 2006, and Cohen logged 14 tackles for loss. If the Bobcats are going to cause distress for Tyrod Taylor, the effort is going to depend on these two beasts to do damage.
At year’s beginning, the linebacking spots were wide open after the departure of crucial talents last year. Jordan Meyers, Michael Brown, Taj Henley and Erick Ejike will run a rotation of sorts at the LB position. This group, like in any defense, has to be the anchor of the defense, and the group went from mediocre against Gardner-Webb (333 yards total, 14 points) to pretty bad in the Bayou (534 yards total; 257 passing, 277 running). Giving up 5.4 yards per rush is a good sign that Brandon Ore and the Tech line can bruise this midline group as the game goes on.
The Bobcat secondary gets a lot of help from the aggressive front four, but does have a winner in undersized but talented corner Mark Parson. Before the season, Solich said Parson had “TJ Wright-like skill,” referring to 2006 All-MAC CB Wright, now making a go of it professionally. To date in 2007, the numbers against the pass look worse than they should. Gardner was playing from behind all game, leading to a boat load of pass attempts, and the secondary got no help against Lafayette because of the linebackers ineptitude at run support.
Special Teams:
Chris Garrett is one of the youngest and brightest MAC stars returning kicks, coming off a freshman campaign where he averaged 14.5 yards per punt return. Kicker Michael Braunstein will be one of the last players in NCAA history to transfer under an old rule allowing a player with remaining eligibility to transfer to another school to take graduate courses without sitting a year. Braunstein was 10-12 on FG last year, and is a perfect 3-3 on FG and 8-8 on PAT so far in 2007.
Prediction:
Kelvin McRae will frustrate Tech fans by picking up a string of first downs early on, but the Tech defense has something to prove, and will give their young signal caller Tyrod Taylor all the support he needs to succeed in his starting debut. Virginia Tech 28, Ohio 7.
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