TSL Podcast 370: Vanderbilt Preview

Tech Sideline Podcast Intro Tech sideline is presented by First Bank and Trust Company they offer free checking with industry-leading Mobile Banking who you choose to bank with can make all the difference visit firstbank.com to learn more what's going on hes fans game week is finally upon us as we hit the road for Nashville and Virginia Tech kicks off the 2024 season against Vanderbilt it's episode 370 of the tech sideline podcast and it starts right now [Music] [Music] we record on this beautiful Wednesday August 28th 20124 from our high-tech Studio at the Virginia Tech corporate Research Center hey remember to like subscribe refer the show to a friend and head over to techsideline.com to check out our extensive editorial content as always the first month of your subscription is free and your student subscription is free as well Tech sideline is presented by First Bank and Trust Company the TSL podcast is also sponsored by The Hokey way whose countdown to kickoff campaign is underway all this month this is a huge campaign for the Hokey way that generated over half a million dollars in nil funds last year and as of this morning 171 Tech sideline donors have contributed over $43,000 we'll be featuring updates on the campaign all month so check out Tech sideline to find out how you can get involved and how you can donate we'll also drop the link in the YouTube subscription description Not subscription description check that out down there as well I'm your host Giovani heer to my right Chris Coleman our lead analyst and columnist across the way Andy bidder our senior staff writer and in the fourth chair today our founder and general manager back on the Pod will Stewart Nick Brown is behind the scenes the mustache man always producing the show well to set the table for everybody just in case they're living under a rock Virginia Tech does start the 2024 Game Information football season this weekend Saturday on the road in Nashville at Vanderbilt First Bank Stadium 12 p.m. eastern time kick if you're heading down there it's an 11:00 a.m. local time kick and the Hoke open as 13-point favorites yeah um it's been a fast off season I think um has it I thought for me it has for me it's going by pretty fast um uh I don't know why that is it just is um I think it's been a boring preseason and we talked about the before the season like unless there are injuries or something it's going to be a pretty boring preseason because pretty much all these starting spots are were already taken I mean you've got a few spots here and there that that were up for grabs but for the most part nothing happened in virgin inex preseason season and that's a good thing it's I think it's the healthiest they've ever gone into a season opener um what you've got one guy in in the two deep that that might not play and that that's Gallow other than that they're they're pretty much 100% um so I feel like they're in a really good place going in the open yeah I think teai Heath was working off on the side with Gala doing some running so I'm not sure exactly his status we'll see that uh later today we're recording this on a Wednesday uh yeah nor normally you have like a a quarterback battle or something that is like the featured piece of August and even if it's just sort of nominally a quarterback battle it's something like all right wait until they announce it but this one is like as soon as the season's done it's like drones is the quarterback and everybody else is coming back so what you know you know the big story with the depth TR reveal yesterday was who is the left guard and who is the starting safety that Pride basically said was the starting safety last week so uh yeah I would say no drama is probably a good thing because it does mean that they have so many you know questions answered about this roster and now I think the big question is you know are they legit can they go out there and actually you know do what everybody thinks they're capable of doing and uh you know I can't wait to find out I'm fin glad the games are back at last will how you feeling over there heading into now you've you've had a ton of Virginia Tech football seasons under your belt heading into 2024 when's the last time you felt this excited about a team I would say 2012 although 2012 was not warranted you know I think Gio just called you old by the way lot of lot of Seasons under your belt just got Own It seasoned Tech Seline found it in 1996 six it's cool I look good for my age I don't mind um no I'm I'm I'm excited I'm I'm I'm a little guarded you know because uh probably because I watched the Florida State Virginia Tech game about a week ago and that reminded me to stay humble uh so uh yeah looking forward to it going down to Nashville with a group of about 15 people it's going to be hot as blazes down there so we're stocking up on water and getting ready to roll water anything else as well uh part of the tailgate why no Gio why do you ask we're going to buy good breakfast food but other than that it's just water there we go there we go all right well Virginia Tech leads the alltime series 6-3 and has won the last five in a row 1983 84 85 86 and 89 uh they have not played since 1989 the last loss that Virginia Tech had at the hands of Vanderbilt was in 1982 and Virginia Tech is two and3 in games when playing on the road uh down just off of Broadway so talking about 2023 Vanderbilt Football Season Recap the Vanderbilt commodor a little bit let's let's bring everybody back to what they did last season especially because it's a season opener they went 2 and 10 they lost their 10 games we could queue up the clip of Chris saying that they're not very good at football uh their lone two wins were over Hawaii and Alabama A&M to start the season they lost every SEC game by double digits and I mean bullet point after bullet point it it just gets worse they uh I let's see every SEC game actually their last 10 games of the season I believe they gave up uh 31 plus points per game something like that uh like even like UNLV dropped 40 on them um awful defensive team last year not much better offensively what they've done in the off season is they've totally revamped their coaching staff uh they brought in Jerry kill as Virginia Tech fans will remember as like a special adviser to the head coach they also brought his offensive staff in from New Mexico State Tim Beck was a longtime division 2 coach at Pittsburgh state I believe won some national titles didn't he yeah he sure did yeah so he's he's a good football mind and they turned around New Mexico state's offense um now it took them a year they were not good their first year they were good in their second year um when they got their quarterback Diego Pavia who was also transferred to Vanderbilt that's the solution if you're a struggling SEC team just raid New Mexico state of all their players and coaches apparently but uh you know he did kind of the same thing on the defensive side of the ball he was not he's he's taken over play calling you know Clark Lee their head coach excuse me uh when I say he that's who I'm talking about he's taken over play calling he's a former defensive coordinator at Notre Dame who's a Vandy uh graduate he he's made some changes brought in a new assistant defensive line coach to try to get their pass rush better changed out their safety coach changed out their quarterback's coach so major coaching changes on both sides the ball for Vanderbilt because this was a program in his first year that went 2- 10 then they improved to 5- seven in his second year and people thought they were making progress and then bam last year they were bad I mean they just weren't they weren't just bad last year like abysmal right you you go 0 and8 and you can still be like somewhat competitive and they but they weren't competitive in any of those games they had uh in that 2022 season that they went 5- seven 2- six in conference back-to-back SEC wins over Florida and Kentucky and they actually blew out Kentucky um and it's just they were they almost felt like they were going to move in the right direction last year kind of did the opposite this is I mean this is such a tough place to to win just it doesn't have like the football culture and the resources that you know all of its SEC counterparts have and I'm looking at their history here I don't think they've won 10 games in a season before and really the highlight of it the peak of it was under James frankco Brent pry was there as a defensive coordinator and you know they win six games nine games nine games when he's there uh go to three bowl games uh that's incredible at Vanderbuilt and now it's it's been on tough times you feel like you know Clark Lee changing up the coordinators taking over defensive play calling you feel like this is sort of do or die at this point with him he's in his fourth year yeah fourth year here 2 and 10 5- seven 2 and 10 uh you know I don't know if there's a lot of you know momentum to make another coaching change at Vanderbilt if there's not progress this season I don't know what their financial sit situation is I know they just paid a lot to Jerry stack house not to be the basketball coach there there's more there to dip into that that money but uh you know sometimes you just need to to change it up at the top and you I feel like this season very much when when you change both sides who's calling the players on both sides I think that's a a pretty big deal just to kind of back up your point a little bit more here Andy uh they have not had two winning seasons in SEC or they've only had two winning seasons in SEC play since 1959 they haven't had a winning season in the last 10 years just three winning seasons since 1982 only nine all-time Bowl appearances and uh four nine- win campaigns two of them did come under James Franklin so I kind of want to want to take it to that spot right a return Hokies/Commodores Ties to Nashville for both Brent pry and Chris Marv uh Brent pry uh was on staff from 2011 to 2013 under James Franklin before they made the move uh to to Penn State pry was the co-defensive coordinator and linebacker coach in 2011 when he coached Chris Marv uh second Team all SEC That season they finished six- six in 2012 pry coach the defense to two 23 plus Point wins uh in SEC play over Kentucky and Tennessee they had a nine- win season went 5 and three in conference they won their last seven games of the year and finished in the AP Top 25 and then in 2013 maybe their best year again finished in the AP Top 25 won nine games beat a top 25 Georgia a team beat Florida on the road beat Tennessee on the road uh and Bren pry was a big part of that uh his three years down there historically whenever Vanderbilt has been confident they they've done it with a strong defense and when I say competent like I'm talking you know five wins six wins something like that like they have been times where Vanderbilt has put a really good defense on the field but their offense has been bad like you never see a good Vanderbilt team that outscores people 38 to 35 every week um Jay Cutler back in the day some points in those games yeah um they put up a few um but like this Vanderbilt defense is not is not like those past Vanderbilt defenses it finished it outside the top 100 in pretty much every major statistical category last year and a lot of those guys are back and the portal guys they brought in you know outside of Zen wood they just don't seem like big impact guys to me so uh it just it looks like it's going to be a struggle for them again this year on paper now now we we know very well what coaching changes can do for a program uh and scheme changes and things like that like Virginia Tech fans should know that very well they saw a scheme tweak in the middle of last season that jump started things and they saw the same thing in 2019 after the first four games of the season when when they switched to the smok and mirrors type offense Jerry kill inspired Jerry kill inspired so so you can sit here and uh say they're going to be bad the bottom line is we don't know that they are but but if you're betting in Vegas historically Vanderbilt is not going to be a good football team fair fair and then uh just just to piggyback Chris Marva as well played linebacker from 07 to 2011 2008 freshman All-American uh three-time second Team all SEC linebacker in 09 10 and 11 begins his coaching career there as the defensive quality control guy um then was a graduate assistant before he then uh ended up becoming the side linebackers coach and Mississippi State Florida State here he is at Virginia Tech but for pry and Marv especially because that that connection where pry coached Marv does this have a little bit of extra juice maybe for Marv more so as an alumnist but but does this mean a little bit something to them probably means more to Marv I would guess because he is an you know for for Brent pry it was always just a stop right it was wherever it was there and then wherever James Franklin was going next that was where pry was going to be so I I expect it'll mean something to Marv I mean he's going to be down there calling plays on the field that he used to play on now that being said once you get out there in the game it's going to be out of your mind for the most part I think but but yeah I I think uh it probably means a little bit to to go to go back and coach at you're all the mo yeah I would imagine so uh even though I'm sure we talked to him today after practice he'll probably downplay it a little bit because I think it's going to give the typical coach speak it was a special place when I was there but I'm focused on Virginia Tech now and winning this thing I actually covered Marv in one game when he was down there when I was covering Auburn and Auburn played there in 2008 and Vanderbilt beat them 14 to 13 came back from a 13 nothing deficit to win that game and that was the last draw for Tommy tuberville with Tony Franklin as the offensive quarin he fired him in the middle of the next week and like all hell broke loose at Auburn and now Tommy tuberville is a US senator so it might have been all directly related to that game that season that were in the situation that we are now that is so wild slid indoors situation let's talk a The Vanderbilt Offense little bit about this Vanderbilt offense averag just 319s and 319 yards and 23 points a game last year uh even that's a little bit misleading because almost all that production came against Hawaii Alabama A&M and then they had a little bit of a shootout with UNLV week three they ended up losing that game yeah you know statistically they were pretty decent those first couple games and then uh after that it was all downhill I mean when you lose 10 games in a row like that your stats are not going to be good and some of that you know is the level of competition the SEC is a tough League we we have to say that and their schedule I think was was one of the tougher ones in the in the SEC but I also want to respond to a comment in our buy or sell article yesterday where somebody said we you have to think that 2 and 10 in the SEC is probably the same as six and six or S and five in in the ACC and I'm like except for the fact that three and N Wake Forest crushed them last year yeah it was 36 to 20 the on the road but still yeah it wasn't exactly a close game right and Wake Forest couldn't do that to anybody last year I mean that Mitch Griffith is their quarterback for goodness sake poor Mitch taking astray yeah um take taking another look five projected offensive starters are transfers uh 10 of the 22-man to deep uh are are transfers for this offense as well you mentioned Chris uh Tim Beck he comes in but New Mexico state was pretty good um I mean he had a rolling offense there and he had a really really good quarterback Conference USA Player of the Year and and Diego Pavia he brings him with him can they get something going they beat Auburn last year they beat down yes I was 31 to 10 yeah they crushed them in the planes yeah yeah um so yeah I think pavi is a very capable player um espe you look at him in that game against Auburn uh I think they use him well I think he's one of those quarterbacks that if you ask him to do traditional things thinks he wouldn't be as good but I think they know how to use him I think they're going to try to spread Tech out uh create a lot of one-on-one matchups um and give him running lanes because he's a good Scrambler and you know he's not the biggest guy in the world 6' 207 lbs but he's kind of stout and he held up last year he had he was one of the top 10 quarterbacks in the country in terms of number of carries so he was right up there him and Kyon drones were very similar in the number of carries they had last season so I think he's very very capable um it's the players around him that I would have serious question marks about yeah I think that offensive line specifically I know they're kind of mixing a matching still trying to figure that out right now so I don't know what kind of protection he has but I feel like pavi is a warrior like he's going to go out there he's going to play uh coming from New Mexico State I screwed that up yesterday I tweeted New Mexico during the press conference an abhorent mistake on my part I apologize for that so uh New Mexico state is where he came from and that was a really good offense just they had I think a lot of option elements and things that allowed them to run the ball pretty well and you know that that's if you're outmatched physically which could be the case going up against Virginia Tech's defensive line I think that's what you want to do is try to create confusion misdirection and uh you know Pavia I think is the perfect guy to try to run that I just don't know if they have the offensive line in front of it to really pull it off yeah I think uh watching the Florida state Georgia Tech game last week you heard Jesse Palmer used used the phrase I candy when talking about the Georgia Tech offensive scheme and that's another way like I call smoking mirors he calls it I candy it's the same thing it's a lot of motion a lot of deception things like that so you're going to see some of that stuff from from Vanderbilt this week for sure Tim Beck and Diego Pavia uh they were a big part of one of the best turnarounds in FBS uh over the last couple of Seasons back-to-back bull births after inheriting a team that had won only uh or had only just won three- win season since 20110 so a huge turnaround there they get the big win over Auburn um Pavia he was among the top 25 in the country uh in passing touchdowns and passing efficiency they also added another quarterback out of the portal and he was actually a four-star transfer Nate Johnson another option for them it appears they're going to go with Pavia he he's the starter but yeah had a four-star transfer I mean that's something to have yeah and and Johnson's got another year of Eligibility left so he could conceivably take over next season um they actually added three quarterback transfers because their fourth string guy is also a New Mexico State transfer yeah I hope New Mexico State got compensated for all these losses of course they did not yeah uh we'll get into it because they they they they took some more guys are you talking about Blaze burwitz I am talking about BL is a great name y started a Road to Glory with that like any name any first name that's Blaze whatever the last name is just gravy after that but then the alliteration on top of that fantastic name yep one of the other guys that they took uh from New Mexico state was Eli Stowers who could be a huge Target for Pavia uh transferred from New Mexico state after a season at Texas A&M he's now at Vanderbilt 32 catches for 346 yards two TS last year he also his stat Line's kind of crazy 29 carries He's listed as a tight end for 125 yards two touchdowns he also went four for eight passing with 99 yards and a touchdown a long of 69 so some trick plays could be in the she is what Virginia TCH hoped Conor bloomr would turn into he started his career uh he started last hour started his career as a quarterback like like blr didn't make it so they move him tight end becomes a good pass catcher uh now he's the Bucky Hodes type of tight end you know 300 or so snaps last year and like two-thirds of them were in the slot and very few of them were actually with his hand in the dirt but he's a good pass catcher um really bad at blocking so uh generally speaking they would avoid having him on the field when he had to block so that might be a tip off if he's in the game it's probably at least a two-thirds percent chance that it's gonna pass that that's the way it was at New Mexico State sure well their top three receivers transferred out um for Vanderbilt after the 2 and10 season will Shepard transferred to Colorado London humph transferred to Georgia that's kind of a crazy jump Vanderbilt to Georgia and then Jaden McGaw uh transferred into the ACC at Boston College so you lose your top three receivers they do bring back junior cherill and Quincy Skinner they're still around they were the fourth and fifth receivers last season Cheryl um ended up having 20 catches 293 yards three touchdowns Skinner 20 receptions 204 yards and three touchdowns those are going to kind of be their go-to guys they also added some receivers out of the transfer portal I think six of their top nine receivers are either freshman or transfer so a ton of uh turnover in that room um you know we'll see how Junior Cheryl does he's probably the maybe their top returning guy Richie Hoskins is technically their starter I believe probably in the slot but he's a guy who started his career at middleberry college and has six career catches right right uh it's just uh doesn't seem to be that talented of a group lock fungi and yes I'm using the pronunciation guide Texas Tech from Texas Tech uh he's probably their most productive receiver in the over the course of a career I think one year at Texas Tech he caught 30 35 passes or something like that but just on paper it's not a group of wide receivers it's stand out like they're going to have to I don't think these guys are going to be able to like get separation against Dorian strong and man sword delaye I think you're going to have to the Vanderbilt coaching staff is going to have to come up with creative ways to scheme them open besides fungi they added Jeremiah Dylan from ol Miss and Darren Wy um from the University of Louisiana Monroe so that that's kind of what their their receiver room is looking like you would mention the offensive line and and one big Focus for them was trying to bolster that offensive line in the transfer portal uh they ended up adding Steven Lya as a center from Mississippi State and Steven hubber a guard from UTEP the left side of the offensive line though does have some returning veterans yeah I I think they was looking for help up front I mean they did not run the ball well at all last year I'm looking at this ranked 124th in the country uh there's only a few power five schools that were worse than that Colorado South Carolina Washington State uh Michigan State so they're right there near the bottom I think that's you know the primary reason why you bring in somebody like Jerry kill and the back the OC and this quarterback who can run it is you've got to have some semblance of a ground game you can't just go out there especially in the SEC you can't just go out there and try to win shootouts against some of these offenses down there you have to you know somewhat try to control the clock and have something that keeps defenses honest so uh you know they brought in a lot of new guys I I don't know how settled that group is right now we'll see but uh I think that's still going to be a work in progress as they they go through this opener yeah l so Center um kind of a replacement level player I would say this is his third school um Middle Tennessee Mississippi State he's always been average sure um and they brought in Step hubard from UTEP who played pretty well at UTEP but he's a backup here uh listed on the depard and now I'm sure he'll get into the game what's interesting is they they designate their players they don't do left tackle left guard or any they do quick tackle quick guard strong guard and strong tackle now I don't know if they're just being cute or if they're actually just get they're they're going to line these guys up in different spots based on the play they're running in the side of the field or whatever but uh no matter how you slice it it was not a productive group for them last year um I mean of the of these five starters either at Vanderbilt or transferring in from somewhere else three of their five starters graded Out Below 50 in pass blocking that's awful yeah as a comparison the much maligned Parker Clemens was a 69 in pass blocking last year which is above average number um so it it just hasn't been a productive group now that being said we've SE we saw what happened with Virginia Tech offensive line last year when there was a scheme change and you added more eye candy and smoke en mirrors and things like that and you made it easier on the offensive line and uh it doesn't require dominant blocking up front to run an offense like that if you know what you're doing as a coach and you've got the right quarterback and I suspect that's what you're going to see Vanderbilt try to do but on paper this is the biggest mismatch of the game in my opinion uh this Vanderbilt offensive line going up against guys like anas PES and and Anan pow Ryland last thing on the offense here and and we're going to we're going to kind of get into we're going to go offense we're going to go defense then we're going to have a discussion uh about this matchup and kind of where Virginia Tech can exploit some things and stuff like that but they do return their leading rusher this kind of stunned me Cedric Alexander had 96 carries for 371 yards and four touchdowns and he was their leading rusher he also caught 18 passes for 133 yards and no scores that was one of their most productive offensive players and that looks like a third string running backs statline three of their four running backs have averaged under four yards per carry for their career uh the one guy who a has averaged over four only has 20 career carries so there's just not a lot of uh not a lot of sample size there it just again appears this offense except for Pavia lacks Playmakers across the board they lack Playmakers and they don't appear to be able to block I mean that's just what it looks like on paper again the offensive coaching staff can have a certain degree of uh change as far as that goes but it would have to be a I don't know you just just don't see a lot of talent there sure sure well as always Tech sideline is presented by First Bank and Trust Company as our presenting sponsor First Bank and Trust company's support has been invaluable to TSL helping us to bring you all the great content across all of our platforms they offer a variety of checking and saving account options that are sure to meet your banking needs including free checking visit firstbank.com to find the account that's right for you what you got will we cannot leave this discussion of the Vanderbilt offense without me asking you in your research did you uncover the NCAA record that was set in a game between Virginia Tech and Vanderbilt and which still stands today was it did Tech have like two interception returns for touchdown Ashley Lee this is Ashley Lee this is my 90 some yards and 80 some yards like something like that this is my freshman year in college Virginia Tech hosted Vanderbilt Virginia Tech was very good that year they were nine and two got snubbed for a bll bit anyway that's a different podcast okay um but they Vanderbilt was bad they were two- nine and uh the they came into Lane stadium and Ashley Lee played Safety for the hokes had two interception returns for touchdowns of 94 and 88 yards 182 interception return yards in a game 1983 the record still stands today not at the FCS level somebody's got like over 300 interception return but at the FBS level actually these record still stands and what I did not recall that I find interesting about looking at that game is that Virginia Tech won it 21-10 hok's good commodore's bad he got two interception returns for touchdowns of a mile long and Tech won by 11 points so that was an interesting aspect of that game that I'd forgotten that might be an actual record that's holding up today but it's one that is broken every time I play the NCA no question every single time and I say there's the number of pick sixes in that game that I and and I say there's no defense in that game that's right yeah there are a lot of pick sixes if you throw an interception you stand no chance of getting the guy down uh it's just just how the game goes well talking about the Vanderbilt defense now uh they did make a big change here this year The Vanderbilt Defense Andy head coach Clark Lee is now going to be acting as the defensive coordinator and that that's that that could stir things up a little bit yeah I mean he he was good at that when he was at Notre Dame and I feel like um this is sort of the last vestage of a coach on the hot seat is like if I'm going down I'm going down on my terms like I know how to construct a defense better you saw Pride do it when he was first here calling plays uh defensively because he wanted to have his stamp on that so now Clark Lee is going to have his stamp on this defense and boy does it need it because last year they ranked 131st in the country in Total Defense and you're looking like ah they well they were pretty bad at like really bad at pass defense so maybe they were better on rushing defense I think they were still like 107 or something like that so it just was not good across the board um so you know we'll see if uh you know the head coach taking a more uh you know concerted effort to run that side of the ball how big of a difference that makes what some of the Personnel changes make on that side of the ball but um you know I I don't feel like you often see a team go from 131st nationally to like top 20 like that would be a tremendous leap there's going to be have to be an interim leap if they make an improvement on that side so I think it's certainly something that the hokeys can exploit out there yeah and he also brought in a new cornerbacks coach who actually was promoted from their quality control and then he brought in a new safey coach he hired an assistant defensive line coach that is a quote unquote pass rush specialist so so clearly he's making huge changes to his defense to to try to improve their pass defense whether that's by actual defense covering down the field or by generating more pressure on the quarterback uh he he's really uh in the off season you know I I think it says a little bit to your players when your head coach is more involved with you you saw it towards the end of the Justin FTE era remember when he would take control more of the off spend more now he how would he phrase it I've been spending more time with the offense recently with the offense te or he would do the same thing with the defense sometimes and it seemed like whenever he went to the defense the defense started playing better then the offense would play worse trying to put out fires all over the place that's exactly right and then there were too many fires and I expect there's probably going to be too many fires for to put out a Vanderbilt as well but um I I theoretically yes well first of all you can't get much worse than 131st out of 133 teams so I do Stanford and North Texas beg to disagree te Tech play Stanford this year that was that was bring up how about that they gave up more yards those teams gave up more yards per game last year than Colorado which I think we all agree was a pretty bad that that's Quite a feat yeah um you know they also tried to bring in you know they brought in some transfer portal guys uh you know defensive tackle Zen wood you know they'll they technically run I don't know if you want to they're they're multi in their fronts they've got a a razor position on the edge like razer's Edge shout out to Scott Hall there that's right but uh rest in peace yeah exactly um but uh I just don't see too many impact transfers here like they brought in Colby Taylor at cornerback from Wyoming he's made the Athletics freak lless twice but it's never really carried over to the field like he didn't grade out well for Wyoming last year in pass coverage uh opponents completed over 60% of their passes against him there other two quarterbacks that they'll play opponent completed over 70% of their passes against them last year so it just they they like if these coaching changes work out then these coaches aren't going to be at Vanderbilt very long because somebody's going to hire them away because this would require major major improvements to turn them in to what was arguably the worst defense in the country last year to something coherent and competent you know I I mentioned you know it's tough to make that huge jump on defense I mean geord Tech was 123rd last year in the country uh Total Defense and they looked all right in that opener they they stuck it to for state for a little bit of that game so you know it might be one game and you know don't want to read too much into it but I don't want to bury a team going into a season when obviously they've made a ton of changes and you know first games can be weird and if you've got a middle linebacker with a 1998 neck bra s you're probably going to be okay georia Tech yeah yeah that was by the way I mean we could we could take it there for for 2 seconds how great was that it was great it was great um especially since I had it in the pick them I wasn't I wasn't surprised by the result um I I thought Georgia Tech's offense was going to be very hard to handle the question was their defense and they changed staffs they changed defense of coaching staffs so uh like they basically got Mike elco's defense in there now and yes so coaching can make a huge huge difference yeah and like I think I was most struck by just like how nonexplosive Florida States offense looked like like and dju dropping back to pass every pass was to a running back basically it's like do they have receivers they didn't try to throw the ball downfield until the third quarter and they when they did it was to a running back they threw the the Deep ball there so I mean this was a team last year that had you know Keon Coleman who's the other guys Johnny Wilson some real threats out there and that you just did not see that on the field and you go okay is U young going to be the guy that can carry you like Jordan Travis did previously maybe it's maybe they lost too much to to be think that like oh this is the the top team in the ACC coming back and and just assume that you can reload like that every single year with the transfers that they bring in well they got a bunch of transfers and some of them those guys those guys are from Alabama and I think some people make the mistake of oh he's transfer from Alabama he's automatically going to be good well sometimes you transfer from Alabama and it's because you are a good player but there's a bunch of other good players sometimes you transfer from Alabama and you as it turns out you just weren't very good yourself or it takes time or I you know Curtis Perry came here from Alabama he's not not listed on the two deep but he's also a 285lb defensive end who might need to adjust to a different position like it's it's a new scheme new situation might just take time to adjust to it well and Nick sabin's not not not the head coach at wherever you go um at at the second stop either so that changes things a little bit um taking it back to Vanderbilt a little bit uh you mentioned to Andy that they're that where they're at third to last in Total Defense they're also um fifth to last in the FBS in points allowed 126th um and out of 130 teams that that's not going to get it done uh Devin Lee and otara are are two guys that that kind of struggled on the interior defensive line last year but they did add a handful of transfer guys Chris had mentioned some of them they also got a guy from Purdue a pass rusher on the edge uh kador cindor who they're looking to lean on a little bit here and then they do return their leading tackler Langston Patterson he's back in the middle he made 74 stops maybe something that they can have a little bit of veterans in uh yeah you know as far as uh cord sidor from Purdue he's he's listed as a starter he actually didn't play very much at Purdue like he was only on the field eight snaps for that Virginia Tech uh Purdue game last year so I don't know what kind of an upgrade uh he is and Purdue is a team that I think Virginia Tech would have smoked after they flipped the offense uh linkston Patterson is interesting he's he's been a good player for them was a good player for him last year but he wasn't he was only on the field for maybe 350 snaps despite you know a high grade and leading the team in tackles which leads me to believe that they felt like he had some sort of weakness where he couldn't be on the field in specific situations and my guess is probably pass coverage um but on the whole he's a net positive for their defense so they do have some pretty experienced linebackers although one inexperienced one as well uh Rand Rand sorry if I butcher this name Randon fonet transfer from TCU got 80 snaps as a true freshman last year now he's going to be starting at the star linebacker position we don't know whether he's an upgrade he hasn't played enough snaps he's still a very young player um you know so so there's some new faces on this side of the ball but for the most part outside of Zen wood on the defensive line they're unproven new faces if it's not like they're they brought in like anas peoples or somebody like that right or even an even an Antoine Powell Ryland um it's just a bunch of guys who haven't played all that much before yeah it's 14 straight games Vanderbilt's allowed 30 or more points I think it's 27 of their last 29 it's just it's not been a very good defensive program which is sort of surprising because that's Clark Le's specialty and obviously Personnel matters and the level of competition they go up against I mean last last year they're playing Missouri Georgia Old Miss Tennessee all ranked teams all with pretty good offenses coming at you there so uh it's it's just been a struggle I I feel like if the hokes don't score 30 plus in this game that you know they have done a poor job because historically this has been a team that teams have scored on from everything that I've read about this Vanderbuilt defense the big thing they're trying to get better at this year is improving on third down uh particularly last year they allowed teams to convert 47% of their third down chances and again that's a little inflated because the first three games of the season they actually contended fairly well yeah um I think they're probably need to get better on every down I suspect their third down defense was bad partially because yeah they could get better there but I expect they also faced a lot of third and twos and third threes because they just weren't good at defense on any down right is my overall takeaway so it's one of those things where you wish you're in a position where you're like oh man we have one weakness on defense so let's really try to fix this so if you're Virginia Tech you're like let's we if we fix the safeties we're going to be a much better defense this year right Vanderbilt you got to fix everything or almost everything almost everything you don't have to fix CJ Taylor who's a very very good player but other than that there's a lot of things that have to be fixed CJ Taylor and derricky Wright tied for the team lead with two interceptions each last season will you got something for us in the in the fourth chair yeah I wanted to add a little context to what Andy said in the last three seasons only playing 12 games a season Vanderbilt has given up 430 points 432 and 434 quick math in my head that's an average of giving up about 35 points a game for the last three years last year they gave it 28 in the first game 13 in the second game and in the last 10 games they gave up an average of if my math is correct 39.7 points a game so this this is a defense that just hemorrhages I mean next level Next Level stuff let's get into a little bit of an analysis here we we've gone through the position Virginia Tech Vs Vanderbilt Game Analysis groups here what can Virginia Tech exploit on Saturday on paper everything sure okay now we don't know I don't think schematically they're going to be all that different I think what what they're looking for is is um you know better technique better understanding of the defense um more confidence more aggressive um confidence is the thing in football like every football player every college football is going to stand every every college football player is going to stand in front of the media and say oh yeah we feel confident we're going to have a good year blah blah blah you cannot feel all that confident when you're giving up 35 points a game for the last three years like like I don't know I've seen some of the Vanderbilt fan s sites yeah puffing their chest down really going back and forth with the Virginia Tech sites I just kind of have to laugh like it's it's one of those things put themselves out there I'll give them that you you might you might feel good about the first couple drives of the game but like as soon as Virginia Tech scores 14 points it's here we go again it's in your head right as a football player and that snowballs um so I think the biggest thing is you have to find a way to build the confidence level of that group but confidence is a fragile thing like they're going to have to play well and they're going to have to play well consistently early in the season if they go out there and play against Virginia Tech like they have the last three plus years then uh yeah it's it's not going to be a great year for them so I think they weren't good against the pass and they've got three cornerbacks who have allowed I believe it was 61% 71% and 74% past completion against them I think is what I wrote in my preview and Virginia de got a really good group of wide receivers and then vanderbeld also couldn't stop the run and Virginia Tech ran over everybody not named Louisville Florida State and NC State in the second half of last season I it's just one of those matchups that on paper Virginia Tech has a lot of advantages yeah on paper but you know this is why they play the games you know this is a season opener weird stuff happens in season openers certainly early in the year I mean you wouldn't have looked at that Marshall match up last year and God man Virginia Tech's really going to struggle I did up at that was the game I picked him to lose before the season okay well but not for the reason they lost you didn't win by you didn't wi byy and sell at the end of the year just pointed that out uh but I mean you have these weird games start to see I mean nobody would have thought that Virginia Tech was going to go down and lose to ODU a couple years ago even though I think they were only like Sixpoint favorites or something like that that game I mean this one's what's the line on this one is it 13 13 13 and a half depending on what you look was 10 and a half Point dogs in that game like we think we know going into the season what these teams are going to be and sometimes it's just you know completely different and you know even good teams sometimes take a while to get rolling I mean you saw that 2010 team and the start that they got off to there and eventually got things turned around I mean it it happens where weird stuff happens so I think you know the key for Virginia Tech is like it's not going to go perfect on Saturday most likely and when things don't go perfect how are you going to react to that and I think you saw last year's team eventually came around that they were able to handle that that was eventually became a mature team that if something didn't go right right away in some of the games uh they were able to respond and you know do what they did at the end of the season will this team be able to do that what's the makeup of this team and a lot of carryover from last year but I don't think it's always a guarantee that that carries over to the next season so Andy is there anything about Vanderbilt that maybe gives you pause or like if Vanderbilt is going to give Virginia Tech a hard time where is it I think it starts with their quarterback Pavia yeah I think it's Pavia I mean if he plays out of his mind a quarterback that plays out of his mind could affect any game uh now I don't know if he necessarily has enough help out there but I think he's going to make some plays cuz I've seen him make plays on all those highlights against you know power four teams like he did last year against Auburn so um that's the really the only thing I look at this and I go you know what's he got cooked up what is Jerry kill helping with this team because I've seen the impact firsthand that he can have on an offense here that you know yeah it was a little bit of a struggle last year for this team but new coaches new attitude new scheme new quarterback you know what can they do with those new pieces that's sort of the unknown of this whole thing definitely Pavia I mean I bet Virginia TCH coaches have studied as much New Mexico State film as they have Vanderbilt film Tex defensive coaches they've had D Davi Belfor uh mimicking him as the scout team yeah that makes sense similar size guys can move around in the pocket and make plays so I think that's kind of an interesting role for him what style of game are we looking at here um is this like Georgia Tech Florida State everybody ran the ball and that game was over in 2 hours and 20 minutes or whatever it was and no thanks to the two-minute warning at the end and all the time twoin timeout Andy a two-minute warning I will not call it a twoin timeout uh I mean the last two minutes of that game took 15 minutes of real time was such a slow like they're turning it into college basketball now at the end of games it's horrible yep yeah hopefully that was just an exception to how it's going to go but I thought that was just such a dreadful way to end what was an exciting game and building up to an exciting moment was they basically just halted all the action there yeah I thought it stonk too I I think if you're Vanderbilt you try to Short shorten the game you generally want to shorten the game if you're playing against a better team the fewer amount of plays the less of a chance they have to use their talent advantage over you so I do think uh Georgia Tech did yeah for sure and plus that's Georgia Tech's strength yeah is running the football and Georgia Tech strength is their quarterback and he's the one guy that concerns you um do they have another strength on offense to complement their quarterback I don't know um it's it's so hard to say I do think that they're a competent offensive coaching staff now uh their offensive line coach is a former offensive coordinator at Nevada back when they had Colin Kaepernick that's what he's he's best known for um so you'll probably see some aspects of the pistol even this week so I expect teex coaches have even gone back and watched some old Nevada film so that the unknown is probably what concerns me more than anything else with so many new faces on the Vanderbilt offense but at the same time so many new faces from from different backgrounds how quickly does that come together and gel for them um generally it's not in week one but you never know definitely definitely uh Andy we talked about pry we talked about Chris Marv what is an impressive win in your mind like what point total do they have to get to or what do they have to hold Vanderbilt to in order to walk away feeling good I I think I'm past the point of like impressive wins just win right like don't lose this type of game that is the the real you know Downer here is you know we've seen that in past games with teams that have a little bit of hype and all of a sudden they lose a game like this that they shouldn't um you know I think if they pull out a close win people won't be happy but they'll be a lot happier than they would be if they lose this game so uh you know first game of the season wherever you're going to play I feel like you just want to win and if you win a game that's one more than Florida state has this week you know they're they're feeling a lot better than Florida state would right now so uh you know we can talk about style points and how they how they can do it I don't I don't know I don't buy into all that especially early in the year I think you just got to get the W yeah I agree um I I think if you're going to assign a number to it I would say 20ish um with the caveat that let's say Tech starters hold him to 17 and Tech is winning the game by a lot and put in a b bunch of backups at the end and the Vanderbilt scores and goes over 20 that's not a big deal so that's you're kind of a moving Target there so to speak speak but I I think speaking of that Florida State game I think that Florida State game helps Virginia Tech oh yeah game I think the fact that that game was played last week and that's something that Brent pry can really Hammer home to his team is like look everybody's talking about Florida State even more so than they were talking about you and they came mentioned the press conference the other day he referenced Pat McAfee putting them in the playoff he's like okay but you also have Florida state in the playoffs what does that tell you that nobody quite knows exactly right and then also you've got Brumfield who can literally tell his defense yo this Pavia guy is good you know do not be sleeping on this Paia guy just because he came from New Mexico State he's a really good player so I think there's some certain things like that going in in in virgin Tech's favor going into this where I I think virgin Tech is going to be ready to play that's just my personal opinion so we make some predictions gentlemen yes let's do it let's start with Will in the fourth chair what you got uh on Saturday as your final so I picked a Virginia Tech win 35 to10 and I wanted to add the dis to the discussion you guys first of all I think you know yes the concerns are they quarterback and and just the fact that first games can be weird but I want to give Virginia Tech the advantage because whereas Virginia Tech's very been very consistent in the coaching staff and the returning players there's some turnover on the Vanderbilt side of the ball and and in their coaching staff so you hope if you're Virginia Tech that'll be a positive difference as far as what a good win looks like I picked 35 to 10 that sounds good but what does it look like last year they beat ODU 36 to 17 in the season opener but there were some things to be concerned about there and I guess the things to look for here is it gets back to having watched that Florida State game the other night and also having caught the end of the the ruter game from last year where Kyle mananga is that his name the last touchdown he had he went running to the the left and there was literally no one there 50 yards of just untouched if you see some things like that in this game you're just going to kind of [ __ ] your head and go have the problems from last year been fixed so what does it look like is it a 3510 Workman like gain seven yards a carry and just grind him down and get out of there with the win or is it you know something different so that's my take on that's a great Point that's a great Point what you got and I went 3520 uh I think virgin Tech Will score points in this game the 20 for vanderbel is more out of respect for Pavia what he can do just because I've seen him do it against a you know power forward team before so uh 3520 I think Tech wins it rather comfortably though and that's still covering still covering that's the important exactly absolutely yeah I think I've got it 3817 um I I I agree with all those takes um I think you it's more about how they look like you go back to that that's a perfect example of the ODU game last year yeah Tech won the game by 19 points but they didn't really play well like Old Dominion outrushed Tech in that game by mile Virginia Tech's uh leader in yards per carry was Grant Wells Grant Wells also had their longest run from scrimmage of the day that's like and he was not a running quarterback that's that was the state of the Virginia Tech offense at the time it was just not good so the result was there but if you actually watched the game you knew there were still some some major concerns um so you're what you're hoping to see for me is like more consistent linebacker play more consistent safety play and an offensive line that can get a little bit more of a push like if I can see two of those three things this week then I I think I'll walk walk away happy they say good teams win great teams cover it's true it's true it's true David has them uh winning this one 41-13 so he's got the the largest margin of Victory here for Virginia Tech and and Chris I promise I'm not copying you I've had it typed in the in the script this whole time I got Tech 3817 uh is my pick I think again out of respect for pava he he makes you know some plays happen they're going to have some drives that's just how Football goes um but but hopefully Virginia Tech can take care of the football I'd love to see him score 40 I really would and I think that's where I would take mine into the echelon of okay I'm impressed if you only gave up like if David's hit and it was 4113 I think I'd feel a little bit more impressed than than 3817 well here's the thing like if tech wins 4113 or even 3817 I know there's some people out there fearing Vandy right now they kind of fear the unknown I think that's more of a lack of confidence in Virginia Tech than it is respect for Vanderbilt in my opinion Virginia Tech goes out there and Stomps them a lot of those same people are just going to be like yeah but it was Vandy you know we still haven't played anybody yet that's already built in it's already built in right exactly uh so so there's some fear in this game but also like if you blow them out it doesn't necessarily mean anything thing in some people's eyes again we'll find more about we'll find out the most about this team I think against ruter although they lost their star linebacker to a torn ACL the other day and that was really going to hurt their defense what's coming up What's Coming Up AT TechSideline.com on TSL this week as we get everybody prepped up for the game and then following the game as well Andy's got a Q&A on Thursday a practice report tonight um kind of focused on some of those connections with uh Vanderbilt from the past got a mailbag coming Thursday and season predictions on Friday and Q&A for me on Friday uh Brandon Patterson article so into the full full season content here we go what about you will I will remind everyone that Andy's season predictions preseason predictions were eerily accurate so pay attention to that AR now the pressure's on now got now I got to actually put some research into this come on now well well recap it for us do you remember what you picked last year that particularly stood out as it was just the second half of the Season like the tenor of I picked all the games Cor ly in the tenor of every description basically played out how it did so blind squirrel finds a nut you know it it works out every now and then the the man follows the team very closely he is a professional sports writer he doesn't have the emotional investment that some of us do very true you know so uh I went back and read that article and and I was like yeah that's pretty good I wouldn't have written that but it's pretty good that's awesome that's awesome all right well who's going to Nashville Will's going yep taking a big crew are you going Chris no Chris is staying put chance I I would I don't know I wouldn't get any work done if I went to Nashville way is that's that's is very adult decision that you have made it's kind of depressing but heading out Thursday I'm also heading out Thursday as well when you do the buy and buy or sell that we're getting ready to record right after this this will not be part of the proceedings but buy or sell who will have the most fans there seriously bu Virginia Tech will have more fans this is just anecdotal but they were actually talking about on the message board this morning there are a lot of people going and for for my group to take uh my college group to take 15 people to a road game I don't remember the last time we did that so that's uh now Nashville is a destination city yes a place that a lot of Hokies haven't been uh particularly for to see a football game so that that will play into it so uh throw that one in there at the end and see what people say I thought we were going to do byy or sell how many drinks will GI have on his 21st birthday the night before the game uh depends what the depends if the Hoke win or lose actually it probably doesn't no not the mood will just be different it'll either be celebratory or or out of depression go hard in the home that's how you got to do it on the 21st looking forward to it well it's going to be fun we appreciate everyone checking out episode 56:03 - Tech Sideline Podcast Outro 370 the tech sideline podcast as always Today's show of course brought To Us by First Bank and Trust Company also brought to us by The Hokey way for Nick Brown behind the scenes for will Stewart for Andy bidder Chris Coleman I'm Giovanni heer saying so long let's go Hoke on Saturday [Music] [Music]