A Sea Of Red

Let’s Go. Get the convo started!

I'm not ready to be confident heading into a P5 game. But.. this seems like a pretty good matchup on paper. Virginia Tech has issues, and several of them are things Liberty does well. To that point:

VA Tech / Liberty
Turnover Margin: -8 (#122 of #131 teams) / +1 (#59)
Sacks: 2.7 allowed/game (#97) / 3.4 sacks/game (#5)
Rushing: 103 YPG (#117) / 133 YPG Allowed (#43)
SP+: 98 / 73

If Liberty can stuff the run on early downs and win the turnover battle, it could be a good day.

As bad as VT has been this season, they may have best defense we have seen. Our offense needs to bring its "A" game, and no turnovers.

ballcoach15 wrote: ↑November 14th, 2022, 11:41 pm they may have best defense we have seen

Not even close. They’re atrocious.

On paper they may be. They rank 54th in scoring defense and only give up 374 ypg. This is while having the 123rd ranked scoring offense, which probably puts them in a lot of bad spots.

Arkansas ranks 91st, although you could try and adjust for SEC competition. Only other team closest is UAB at 52nd, but of course they have a cusa schedule.

JK37 wrote: ↑November 14th, 2022, 11:53 pm

ballcoach15 wrote: ↑November 14th, 2022, 11:41 pm they may have best defense we have seen

Not even close. They’re atrocious.

A hard luck season for them. They're better than their record. They're due a big game. This one worries me.

According to FPI southern miss is the best defense.

USM- 46
Wake- 50
UAB- 52
VT-66
Arkansas- 82
Uconn- 96
BYU- 111

LU- 36

I was on a work golf trip last weekend so I didn't get to see a minute of the Duke game, but I watched the entire Georgia Tech game. Tech's tackling was brutal down the stretch. Unless that improves considerably, I don't like the Hokies' chances on Saturday. The offense just doesn't have much in the way of talent, outside of Kaleb Smith, who can be a problem if Wells can actually get the ball to him.

The bad part for LU is that it's Tech that has absolutely nothing to lose here. Weird spot to be in.

I don't know if any locals have noticed it, but VT has a billboard (geared towards basketball) running on Candler's right outside of campus that says, "Our State."

They may be 2 - 8 on the year, but they are 15 pts away from being 6 - 4. This isn't a bad ballclub. They are rebuilding and don't have much talent in the skilled positions, but they are still big and well-coached on Defense. No way they're ready to relinquish the state to us yet... not even close. They're going to be eager on Saturday, so HCHF better have our boys fired up and ready to go for a 60-minute slugfest.

They are a crappy ball club, and they’ll probably be losing their AD soon!

I am headed up this weekend from AL and bringing a couple of friends who went to VT along. I am cautiously optimistic my ride home will be enjoyable but we clearly miss our RB1. I think the home crowd gives us an advantage in this one but could easily see Tech rise to the occasion in this one.

I've really been looking forward to this game for long time. I can remember 5 years ago when they announced this schedule thinking that this was so long ago and how packed the Bill would be for this game. Who would've thought that they'd be struggling this bad. I, also hope that they don't fire or lose Whit Babcock. He seems to be somewhat of a friend to Liberty Athletics- at least in football. Forming a secondary and friendly rivalry with Tech and the Hoos is vital for our local/regional fanbase.

That said, they may be struggling, but they're still an ACC team and much better than most of our opponents talent wise. We can't take them for granted, as last week has shown. Hopefully our D shows back up and we get Smith, Reese, and Shedro back. All 3/any of those guys probably would've made enough of a difference to beat UConn. So fingers crossed.

Ring an ACC football team this year means nothing. Worst P5 conference by far. Worse than at least one G5 conference, too.

ballcoach15 wrote: ↑November 14th, 2022, 11:41 pm As bad as VT has been this season, they may have best defense we have seen. Our offense needs to bring its "A" game, and no turnovers.

Coach Freeze said in post game interview that VT had best defense we've played.

What does he know?