In which we’re not really sure we can say anything new.
I dunno y’all.
Game Recap in Three Sentences
Kyle McCord looked like a Heisman contender playing against an FCS school, throwing for 381 yards and 4 TDs.
The Tech offense looked pitiful, managing just 112 rushing yards.
Haynes King had a solid outing all on his own with two huge rushing scores and a good showing through the air.
Above The Line of the Week
- Haynes King. He didn’t do anything crazy in the passing game on Saturday, but he played pretty solidly and consistently.
- American tennis. Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz both made awesome runs to the US Open Finals, the first time an American man and woman have both been there since 2002. Emma Navarro and Frances Tiafoe also made it to the semis, with Navarro losing to the eventual champion and Tiafoe losing a heartbreaker to Fritz. Both tours also have several other strong Americans so the future looks bright at the moment.
- Cooler weather. Fall is nearly upon us, the temperatures for my morning walks to work have slid down from 75 degrees to 65 degrees. I’m gonna get to wear a hoodie soon.
Unformed Thought of the Week
Is there a defense in the country that has done worse against household name QBs historically? McCord, Pickett, Fromm, Klubnik, Castellanos, Lawrence, Howell – if we’re playing a QB that’s ever been mentioned on ESPN then odds are they’re going to have a career day against us. In the CPJ era this was particularly true for dual threats; I sat through too many games to count where running QBs completely torched us on the ground.
5 Star (7 Star, 5 Star) Developmental Program Haiku of the Week
Don’t rank us again
Don’t even look at us please
Just leave us alone
The Unbearable Weight of Small Expectations
In 2023, a big win over Miami was followed up by an awful loss to Boston College. Two straight wins over UNC and UVA were followed up by a huge loss to Clemson.
In 2022, two straight wins over Pitt and Duke were followed up by an ugly loss to UVA.
In 2021, a big win over UNC was followed up by a blowout loss to Pitt.
In 2020, a big opening win over FSU was followed up by big losses to UCF and Syracuse.
In 2018, four straight wins near the end of the season were followed by huge losses to UGA and Minnesota.
In 2017, a big win over VT was followed by blowouts to Duke and UGA.
In 2015, a big win over FSU was followed by four straight losses.
Every single time this program starts to put something together, it throws it away before we can even grasp it. 2018 was the last year we put together more than two wins in a row. Since 2019 we are 3-19 following wins. Brent Key has five ACC ranked wins but he’s 2-3 in the next conference games after those wins, all against unranked opponents. I’ve written the equivalent of this article at least five times. Do other programs get teased this badly? Is everyone else as incapable of living up to even the smallest of expectations? Is “win conference games that you’re favored in” really too much to ask of a program that so clearly has the pieces to compete?
What is it gonna take to exorcize the mental demons that have plagued us for so long? Key has obviously changed the culture, but so far it hasn’t been enough to stop the foot-shooting. Someone please let me know if I’m being too impatient, but all I want is 10% more focus and ambition from a program that routinely has good enough talent. Win this Syracuse game. Win the Bowling Green and BC games last year. Win the UVA game in 2022. Just hold it together a little bit more. Hell, just don’t fall apart when the slightest shred of expectations come up. I’m tired of writing this article and I don’t have anything new to say.
Look Ahead
Up next is VMI (9/14, 3:30pm). This one is simple: either we win this game by 30+ or I start feeling very bad about the rest of the season.