Week Four

0:13 Music and welcome back to the Boundary Corner podcast. Along with my partners Brian Siegler, Jonathan Talley and Shelton Moss, I am Curtis Wilson. This episode is brought to you by Doctor Jeremy Counts down at the Counts Family Pharmacy, your friendly neighborhood pharmacy, three O 1 S Main St. in Blacksburg. Boundary Corner podcast also a part of the College Huddle Network.

1:09 Boys, welcome to a winning Tuesday. How's everybody today? Man, it's been a busy, busy week for me. Man, I haven't like taken a breath since football started on Saturday. Between running around, watching games, stuff at work, trying to get ready for tonight. It's been busy, but it's been fun. Yeah, definitely busy on my end, always ripping and running, doing something. But it's football season, some people's giving up already. I'm just getting started. I'm happy about it, win or lose, draw, I'm happy to watch some football every week, all week, but this is a winning Tuesday. Sheldon, how you feeling?

1:53 I'm feeling good, my week has not been busy because I'm unemployed but hopefully that'll change soon and we've got some good content coming up this week. I have an article for the key play coming out tomorrow talking about the passive game and Kyron Jones. So feeling feeling good after a win. Hey, as I say, a win is a win, so hope. You're doing one that's. Better than being wanted to. Yes. That's correct. They also say good teams win great teams cover and tonight we're going to be talking all about the game down at ODU with tell the truth Tuesday and then a little bit later on know the enemy where Larry K from the Rutgers night watch our buddy inside of college huddle networks going to be joining us give a little insight on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

2:42 But let's do start with some tell the truth Tuesday because what went well, y'all was tally. You said the one big thing that had to happen is we needed to. Got to break the curse, man. We got to go. We got to go beat the road allegations. Nailed it. What? What's the judgement? We beat them. I mean, I'm sure we're going to get into some of it later on, but I got a lot of people that was feeling some type of way about the win or upset about it. They had 100 yard rusher, actually had 200 yard rushers, 150 yard passel, 100 yard receiver, had a defensive defensive end with four sacks. I don't care who you play against, if you get 4 sacks I feel like you're balling.

3:37 Two 4th fumbles, 1 fumble recovery for the same person, and DB that struggled in the first game had another pick so. Two and two games. I I mean, we had some good stuff going on. Yeah, we did some bad stuff too, but we had some good stuff, so I'm all right with it. She'll know. What about you? Yeah, I, it was a very, it wasn't an underwhelming win. It was just a very whelming win. Nothing, you know, we, we covered, we, we won by 20, really 27 before the backups gave that last touchdown. So, you know, I would have liked him to see it come out a little bit, a little bit faster for the majority of the of the first half.

4:21 Not going to give those big plays, but you know, they, they did some good things. They did some not so good things. So we'll, I'm sure we'll talk about all tonight. You know what? I, I saw improvement. I saw improvement. And Sheldon says he was, well, not overwhelmed. I think Tally was, he wasn't superstitious, but he was definitely a little stitious. So I, I think, I think we got over to hump a little bit. I'm excited that we scored some points, put up 37 against ODU. I'm excited that we covered. I'm excited that we were able to, as Tally said, beat the road allegations and finally get a victory down there in Norfolk.

5:05 So, I mean, other than that second quarter, there's not a whole lot of of complaints that I have for that game. And we're going to talk about the second quarter a little bit. But what I saw that impressed me the most was just drones and Tooting on the ground and drones running with authority. Again, authority. Absolute authority. He was bringing a hammer real quick. Brian, just so you know, we're a sentimental podcast. Here we go. Sometimes it's true. First of all, y'all said it for me, We finally went in a damn game down there in this series. Like it felt like, you know, back in 2018, everything went wrong, quarterback broke his leg, nobody knew what they were doing on either side of the ball. We lose a shootout down there to ODU. And then just three years ago, two years ago, two years ago, everything that could go wrong did go wrong. The ball that was in Norfolk was snapped to Williamsbury. We always talk about that.

6:03 This time that none of that happened. We just went out and played. We played. We did not play down. We played to them. And to what y'all have both said. I mean, let's talk about the drawing to do the true dog, the true dog ground game. 232 combined, 3 touchdowns and it wasn't fancy runs, it was that big run from drones. I mean, he was looking to. Hurt. He was looking to hurt somebody when he got downfield. It ain't even good about that. He broke the tackle there kind of at the point of attack and then just got out there in the open and looking for contact, looking for contact and somebody brought it and he got stiff armed into the dirt.

6:50 Made his Mama feel it a little bit and then the next dude got truck. So three guys caught some allegations on that one. Yeah. And it's like that's kind of the Karen that we used to seeing and they have for whatever reason went away from that. I understand you want to protect your quarterback. I will talk about it a little bit later, but and that's who he is. I mean, you can't stop Lamar Jackson from doing what Lamar Jackson does. He's small, he runs, he's going to take some hits. But if he doesn't have part of that as his game, he's not a effective quarterback. So I mean, what we seen from drones is what I expected to see most of the year, but I feel like they have kind of shield away from that.

7:34 So I will, I don't know if it was a a call play or he just said I think at that point it was like 14 to 10. So it's still kind of close. And he was like, all right, fuck this. We got to, we got to do something, you know what I'm saying? And from then on, it kind of looked like, OK, let's start dominating the game. 90% get on my back for a little bit. Let's go take a ride. Shown anything catch you stat wise, data wise or just your eyes from watching those guys run? No, not really stat wise or data wise anything. I think it was just good to see, good to see the offensive open up, some explosive plays and it had a couple of gadget plays. Park Clemens, great job as a slot receiver. He was a.

8:19 The best jumper jacks I've seen and you know what, we didn't throw it to him like UVA, so that. He didn't jump off sides. We learned from the mistakes of our rivals. Don't throw it to the tackle, let him be the decoy. So. So so so did you go re watch that play? Yeah, I I did rewatch it. So did literally did just the safeties head like just like immediately move to the left? Like why is he doing that? Yeah, no, they they all took the bait and and Lane was just running down Scott free. I don't know if I'd be. I'd be interested to see if if adds a adds a snap first Parker as a slot receiver and then puts that puts that into his final PF upgrade.

9:02 Perfect. Perfect. He was a perfect slot receiver, Yeah. 99.9 grade. That was a good call. But you know what, look at that play and the first thing my thought was the next time you run that the safeties are going to go with Lane. And I know we get on Parker Clements a lot, but you imagine the safeties run up if you're outside. Guy locks up his guy Kyron Sweet with an offensive lineman just right in front of him. Think about that play design, because the next. Time. The first thing I'm thinking about is, is Varsity Blues man the thing that damn play where I run down feeling act like I'm lost, is it? No, it's the play where you stand there and do jumping jacks.

9:42 Right. But obviously great game for Jay Lane as well. 125 total yards, that touchdown pass and y'all the the play where tell me y'all didn't get the feeling that whatever it was bad snap, weird hand off and that ball went tumbling. I mean, I hate to sit here. I sat here and everything from 2022 just came rushing back in my brain watching that play like, Oh my God, no, not again, not again. And then I'm like, OK, he got it, throw it away, throw it away. And the next thing you know, we gone.

10:23 Yeah, it wasn't really. I wasn't watching it in in in terror actually, because it kind of happened quick, you know, So it was like when it happened, I think I text y'all and was like, Oh yeah, this is like we're going to win the game. You can't have a couple of things like that happen when you don't win, you know what I'm saying? It's like when you have stuff like that happened to you, it's like, yeah, that's your game. It doesn't matter what happens, don't matter how close it is, you're going to win. You know, when we were in Vanderbilt, they put the ball on the ground 93 times, got all of them, pick one of them, ran it around. Like when shit like that happened, you just like, OK, somebody is on the yeah, somebody. Speaking of Vanderbilt, I know this is a Virginia Tech podcast and I know a lot of people are paying attention to Vanderbilt because we lost to them.

11:11 Did anybody watch any of that game because it was not their night? And when I say not that night, it was when people ask like, how do people lose? And old Georgia State beat them and we couldn't go watch it, go watch the game. And when stuff like what happens in those games happens, there's nothing you can do. It's like quarterback rolls out, he gets hit, fumbles the ball, you know, wasn't even a blind side hit. Then you got a guy that is a returner on the kickoff that gets a safety, you know, bobbles the ball, steps back into the end zone, grabs the ball, kneels it, They give them a safe. Like when stuff like that happen, you like, come on, man.

11:52 Like it's not your day. So it's like, man, sometimes you just got to watch games and and stop watching. Well, this team should beat this team and this thing like it's all different. So every week's different. 17 to 20, well, in some cases, 23 old kids in the case of what is it, Oklahoma State, Utah, it's 24 and 25 year old kids. I mean, yeah, we'll talk about that later. But Sheldon, let's go real quick because I think just from our eyes, especially Tally and Bronze as we kind of already heard, I got a feeling offensive line probably played better, more across the board, more average to above average than what we've been dealing with this.

12:33 Maybe a couple people are above average in multiple people below average. So what did they look like this week? Yeah, it was pretty solid overall. Certainly just based on the eye test, you know, they they kind of opened up a little bit in the second-half once they kind of started to wear ODU down. But you know, park limits for as much grief as people give him and sometimes it's been justified, but not so in this case. He was a 75.8, which was really good. We saw Johnny Garrett sub in for Xavier Chaplin. He was solid at the 68. So that was good to see. And then and patch protection. Caden Ward was really good. He was a top grader at 85, which is very good for an offensive offensive lineman.

13:14 So, you know, we saw we saw Brody Meadows get some snaps too. You kind of got into the bench a little bit and he actually did extremely well in the limited time he was he was in the game. So I thought it was, I thought it was a pretty solid performance from the from the front 5. And, and again, I told, like I told you last year, it was that third game with drones where like things start clicking. We start feeling this is the offense more and more and the guys have to get comfortable. And it's one of those things you can we can scream out, we can be mad all year. This happens to a lot of teams. We're not the only team in the country this happens to. It irritates us probably more than any fan base in the country. But that's neither here nor there. And that might be an episode, any offseason that we might be working on, but.

13:56 I think it's more with how often we end up doing it when, when there is any stakes at play, whether it's, you know, a Boise back-to-back was, you know, all, all all these weird things that happened at the start of the year for the Hokies. When there's any sort of expectations attached to a team. It's true. It just feels like, you know, that there's a reason that chokies exist, and that's one of them all. Right, let's roll on and run on to the defensive side of the ball with APR because Tally's already mentioned it. What a absolute ball game he had because he did have 7 total tackles.

14:42 He had the trifecta when it comes to hitting the quarterback, the strip, the sack and a formal recovery. He had four total sacks. Second time he's had four total sacks. And I'm going to just let these guys say it. The only other person in Virginia Tech history do that is. Bruce. Bruce. Bruce. Smith. Bruce Smith, So that is on some level cool part was Smith was standing on the sidelines to see him do it like and he's in in APR said in the post. He's like, yeah, he dabbed me up before the game. It was just like, you know, and it's cool where it happened, especially with APR being down there. And I mean, he looked that was the best he looked all year. Like he, he finally looked comfortable for the first time, at least in my eyes.

15:34 Brian, what did what did you feel did you see from APR? Because it looked like that was the APR middle of the last season where teams were having to just think about him every snap. Yeah, I mean, the explosions been there and I think you know it. This was a a time that was right for him to kind of take that that step because, you know, we talked about it on this show last week that this offensive line wasn't a ton to write home about. It was it was time for the the guys on our defensive line to have a feast. And I'm glad to see that they showed up and entered the bell for that. Miss Talley. Oh yeah, definitely. You know, not much to, to, you know, throw in besides what you guys have already said.

16:19 It's like he was bigger and faster and stronger than him and he went out and he was bigger, faster and stronger than them. Like from the jump, you could tell whoever was was trying to block him couldn't do it. So whatever quarterback would have been back there, he was getting to him, you know, so I, I was excited to see. And like I said, man, the thing that kills me though, is when people say like, Oh well, was ODU, it don't matter. Like we played Delaware, we played, we played a lot of schools and people don't get 4 sacks against them. So if somebody gets there for if somebody gets 4 sacks in the game, I'm hyping it. I don't care who it is. I don't care if they're playing the school of the blind and deaf.

17:01 Yeah, and I mean, ODU gave that Gamecock team more hell on the road and then that that same team turned around and and gave LSU every bit that it wanted. So that's not an awful team that we went down to Norfolk and played. So I I think we need to remember that a little bit. Their offensive line might not be exactly what you would want to write home about, but that team as a whole is a pretty solid G5 team. Well, you got to think about this with South Carolina. What they scored 23 on them and 14 was because they the the offense turned the ball inside the what the 20 yard line. Yeah, something like. That like that, yeah. South Carolina didn't drive that ball at all. Again, so do you and I know it's it's again what tell you were just trying to say it's week to week and things like that. And Sheldon, I'm sure you you could probably find data about like to show us like how teams perform because it's it's the the crazy thing I feel about college football versus Pro is I feel like Pro is always more predictable outcomes. I feel like college it is legitimately like playing. I don't know.

18:10 You want to say roulette? Yeah, Callie, you gamble on the. You gamble, you go down. The contras when you say roulette so. Well, but but it's roulette. It's like, where are you going to place the bet? How you going to stagger it out? So yeah, but real quick I I noticed I think APR second highest defensive end for defensive player this week, Sheldon in PFF grades. Yeah, something like that. I know he was the the Walter Camp player of the week for for the entire country. So very well, well deserved honor. Yeah, really good on that. High PFF grades and everything. And I think just in general, really other than the second quarter, the the defense showed up.

18:54 The defense showed up to what we thought they were going to be. I know, Shelton, you've got the data point in here. We, we, we, you, you. I think, I don't know if you texted the group or just me and talking about missed tackle rates, how it went down again, what is your perspective, just the data and just watching the game, is the defense slowly morphing into what we thought it would be from Jump Street Shelton? I think it's getting there. I mean, I know they they moved up to 35th and SP plus this weekend for defense, which was, you know, kind of where they started the year. They're, you know, a little bit better than the offense right now. So but yeah, I mean, like, I like the way Tally's thinking. It's not about who you played, it's how you played.

19:35 And APR got his second career force that game. Last one was against Wake Forest last year. So look, he was a dog 91.1 PFF grade, which was, like I said, one of the best in the country. And that's really hard to do as AD lineman. Just from what I can see. It's you know, the the D line grades for PFF are much more kind of condensed in that sort of average range, but a 90 plus grade is really good. So mentioned the four stacks, 5 total Kiwi pressures, which was great and then missed tackles. I was looking at this because I've been following it for throughout the course of the year. Tech had a. 14% missed tackle rate, which a which was a significant improvement from the last two weeks. That's really good. I think, you know, national average is right around 18 to 20%.

20:20 So they cut that down a lot, which is great to see. You know, not not having, you know, guys break tackles and and get free in the secondary. Obviously you got to make sure that, you know, they're not running free, which happens sometimes, but, you know, always good to always good to wrap guys up. So, yeah. And then you look at some of the events that's, you know, we saw a lot of a lot of blue on that at advanced, that chart on game on paper.com, which is always a good thing. You want to see blue 31% success rate for ODU, which was 9th percentile all games this year. So they really just just smothered them really. So that was that was good to see. Yeah, and I mean, when we talk about, you know, success rate and getting better game to game, it helps when a defense is coming into their own and not having to play a triple option offense.

21:06 So if we're seeing improvement, that's one of the reasons we're not seeing a funky look where responsibilities are significantly different than they would be week to week. So we're getting into a little more consistent offensive attack. We're going to see, you know, where we'll talk about here in a little bit. We're going to see a lot more of that this week, a little more conventional offensive attack. So you're not not looking so much for the, the quarterback to have a lot of misdirection, doing a lot of keepers. You know, much, much less of that going forward. And and that's, that's going to be a good thing for this defense. I feel like because when they can play the way they have the last few last couple weeks, that's going to bode well for us because that's going to keep us in every game regardless of what the offense is doing. Anything to add to that, Kelly?

22:00 No, not really, man. I mean, we talked a lot about what went good. I mean, you always want to talk about what goes good after a win. But when you talk about what went good, what went good, you also have to talk about what went bad. So no lie, Curtis, I'm going to toss it to you and you part us with what went bad. Well, y'all know what when I texted about Saturday night was we gave up three runs, 40 plus yards and that's not good, especially when the other team only rushes for 243 yards on close to 40 carries. And if you do the math 140 of that on three of them.

22:41 That was the that was the issue last year. We saw at times and I and and I listen to the half the the the post game stuff and I, I, I relooked at the 65 yard touchdown run and and by by all means, I'm I'm trying to figure out exactly what the defensive end last ain't blanking on right now. Yeah, what what CJ McRae was doing and the other one a little miscommunicate, a misfit. It's like we, we we can survive against. So do you like that? We're about to start a stretch of games we can't survive. You cannot give up those big runs. And I could hear a little pissed off, as in prize voice, because one of those runs, he was true.

23:31 It should have been a 15 yard game. It should not have been a 40 plus yard game. Right. And that's what happens. That's what happens when you guess Curtis, he said. You didn't know what he was doing. He was guessing. Well, it's. Hold on. You want to make a big play. You want to hit the running back because you guess that's where the ball's going. But your responsibility is probably the quarterback, which just ran for a 65 yard touchdown. So you got to be disciplined. That's what it comes to on all phases of the game. You got to be disciplined. Whatever your job is, you got to do that job. Now, from what I can see, I think that was his man, but it was nobody else there, you know what I'm saying? And you know, if you're in that kind of coverage, you got to kind of know what's going on and where everybody is so. Yeah, especially against that offense where they've got their receivers outside the numbers.

24:19 So you don't really have as much support as you would normally have from those guys playing corner guys playing nickel, depending on where it where it, where they are, maybe even the safety there. So you don't have the help that you normally would have against that type of offense. So if you get, if they get to the alley, they're going to be running for a bit. Yeah. Sean, anything on either of those? Play again. Shelton usually goes back and re watches it. I try to sometimes. Sometimes I just don't fit into my life. But did you like throw when you saw the running plays again? Shelton? Did you throw anything the second time? You're like, what are you doing? No. OK.

25:01 Yeah, I mean. Obviously, like I, I, I don't know, you know, we don't know exactly what everyone's responsibility is. And you know, that's right. It's about my, my pay grade a little bit. But yeah, I mean, that was probably the one really the, the only area of the game that they struggled in was with the explosive run plays. I mean, cause look at like I say with the, with the, the advanced stats, Charlie, everything was good for tech except for the run stuff. So, you know, if we want to talk about this when we get there, But you know, the, the big place have really been the sore spot for the defense this year. So that's kind of why it's slowly concerning. You guys see Mike Rutgers that comes in and has a good, really good running game coming to Wayne Stadium next week or, or this week. So we got to get it cleaned up somehow, someway. All right, all right, I'm going to go to the next one that what went bad and I'm going to pitch this to you tally because I want to hear your anger on this. So you have 14 nothing.

25:50 You had a fast start, right? Good start. You drive again, you're at the 25 yard line. You got John Love, who is one of the more accurate kickers, not only in Virginia Tech history, right now in college football, and it's 4th and four. What? What are you supposed to do that? Are you really supposed to go for it? Man, I'm taking the layups. Man, I know you want to, you want to lean on the team that you're supposed to be better than or you're supposed to do this. And I'm just the kind of person where I feel like you got momentum. Don't give it up at that point. Like you said, if you had a questionable kicker or you had the perfect play call, sure. But Jon Love has been money.

26:36 You know, I'm giving him an opportunity to go and get him another stat. Hey man, go kick this field goal for us. So that's just how I feel. I mean, it's good to be aggressive, but at the same time, sometimes it comes back and bites you. And I feel like it always come back and bite us As Virginia Tech fans when something like that happens. You miss a field goal, then they score, then mishap, take the points because you take those points. If you hit that then you're up 17 to 0, you know? I think I drive the ball. Three times, yeah. I just feel when that happened, I was yelling take the point. So I feel like that was a a missed opportunity for us.

27:16 Yeah, I feel like sometimes we get a little out of kilter as far as when to be aggressive and when to just take, like Tally said, take the layups. That was definitely one. I mean, I know we were in, we're in a group chat, we were sending messages. We're like kick it, kick, kick, kick, kick, kick it. And I mean, like Tally said, you want to lean on them. You want to go out there to search yourself. You want to say, hey, we can, we can get the first down here. But sometimes you just got to take the points and move on to the next drive because you've shown you can drive the football. You're going to get some more opportunities. Take the points. Yeah. Sheldon, any, any any comments on that any any analytics where it says go for it there or? Or what should I mean?

27:59 No, yeah, I mean it's, I have no idea what, you know, different analytic charts will say different things. I think you probably in that situation probably go with the flow, like take the points more than four. That's kind of for me, that's kind of like iffy territory. I just don't have a huge amount of confidence in BT being able to convert that. So I just, I would just say take the points, you know, maybe if you're playing, I think if you're, if you're an underdog, it makes more sense to be aggressive and risky. I just, I don't think it makes sense in that situation where you're playing against a team that you know you're better than. See, while was also pissed off about that because up to that point they had 18 yards offense, 18 yards. And and it's really funny, you see how the momentum switches because at that point you kick the field goal.

28:45 They have no belief there is. The honest truth is I wonder if they get to 10 in that quarter because now you have 17 and they're like, Oh my God, are we going to be able to do this? All right. You gave them belief, don't give the underdogs belief. Ever. Couple other things that went bad. That's first kick of John's. I was like, did John miss one? Know he got it blocked. That is now the third effective big blunder on special teams this year. It's been one a week and now it's it's a trend now and now I sit here and say what's going to happen next week? What are we going to screw up? And it's something different each time. So that that's where it's a little more frustrating. You can't even like necessarily, you know, draw a circle around, OK, well, we need to improve, you know, how we're fair catching footballs or we need to improve how we're blocking on kickoff or, you know, how we're protecting on punt. Like there there's something different every week. So that's that's a little more frustrating because you can't necessarily say it's one thing or the other. It's a little bit of everything that we've seen a coaching blunder directly with the with the numbers you see. OK, well, they they went to a different look and we didn't call a time out.

30:01 You know, should we have been prepared for that? Should we should, should that be a coaching thing that we should have just stopped and said, let's look at it again on the block punt and then now you've got a block field goal where in early in that game it didn't look like we were doing a good job with protection up the middle. Regardless, we were now getting folks were kind of shooting the gaps in the middle of that, that field goal unit. So that's something to look at. But again, it's, it's, it's kind of inconsistent across the board on special teams with no real fixed area that we can look at. Yeah, I mean, a special teams unit was really good last year, so basically one of the top units in the country. So I know there were some nefarious individuals on Twitter who wanted to fire Stew Halt He.

30:48 Really has. Yeah, every single, every single week. I'm not going to, I'm not going to name names, but we know who we know who they were. We'll see you'd wrestling season. Yeah, I mean, The thing is with, yeah, with, with special teams, there's such a there's such a limited sample size of plays that if you have 3 or 4 really bad ones, it kind of hurts you a lot in the in the stats. So I don't know, I mean, it could just be players not executing and maybe it's a coaching problem, but I don't know. I think I think Stewart's done mostly a pretty good job. So, well, I guess we kind of just got to see how it plays out the rest of the year. All right, fellas, fellas, anything else in y'all's opinion went bad on Saturday?

31:29 I mean, we had another slow second quarter other than that, like, you know, looking at big picture for this game, second quarter aside, I don't really have a ton of complaints. All right, Charlie Sheldon, my only other complaint went bad. I would have liked to have buried them in the third quarter because we, our defense gave us every opportunity to put that game away at 28 to 10 in the third quarter. It took us to the 4th to finally knock them out. That's my biggest bad. Like a special. You went on meet bud. Muted yourself, Kurt.

32:11 Still muted. We don't know what's going on with Curtis. Somebody didn't want him to talk, so they put him on mute while we got Curtis on mute. OK, you back. Here we go. All right. Y'all going to have to run it for a second because something's going on with my mic again, y'all? Well, while Curtis is having mic problems, we're just going to bring new new King to the to the forefront. We ain't fucking worried about Miami right now. We're worried about Rutgers. We'll talk to you next week. I don't even know who y'all play this week, but you better be worried about whoever y'all play. We'll talk to you next week. Do King. Thank you for joining in. S Florence. Because if y'all don't remember just a couple weeks. Ago South Florida.

32:52 Sorry y'all, I completely lost everything. A couple weeks ago. South Florida went into Talley's home state and gave a team that's a whole lot more talented a hell of a run. Saturday night had them boys sweating bullets down there in Tuscaloosa. All right, let's go to this real quick. Brian, anything happened you were not prepared for? I wasn't prepared for finally jumping out the gate and getting a fast start. I, I, I didn't necessarily, it was one of those things I wanted to happen, but I wasn't necessarily prepared for it. So when it happened, it was very much a, woah, OK, this is what we can do out the gate. This is what I was expecting at Vanderbilt.

33:36 I got it ODU so I'm thankful for it here but I was expecting it there. What about you Tally anything that you were not prepared for to happen? Yeah, I wasn't going to say, I guess. Yeah, you can't really be prepared for like injuries, you know what I'm saying? Like right out of the gate, Chaplin goes down. We don't see him anymore. Jennings was real limited. I don't know exactly what's going on with him, but he went down. So just a couple of things. The injuries, I wasn't really prepared for that. But on the upside, some of the people that came in and, and, and played for him, I mean, they looked good. It helped. It helped that we had a little bit of depth, especially on the offensive line. So I wasn't prepared for that, but it was it was good to see. Yeah, it it, I think that's where we, we, we set earlier about a month ago and talked about depth, right? Like we felt like depth at certain positions was a lot better.

34:33 So Kelly, I'm with you. When I saw Garrett, because X was in there for Xavier, was in there for a couple plays and then next thing you know he's gone. Coach Robbie text me like who the hell 79 he got? No name plate. No name plate, baby. And you know what? They apparently they were. They were. They were thinking of doing something tricky. You know, with. That because with no name plate that means there's going to be 270 nines on the field. I don't know if there's a 79 on defense or not. So yeah, the other thing that for me that I like Brian was not prepared for was that fast start because it had been so slow and just been.

35:18 And when it's pop, pop you are dictating, in the words of Brian Siegler, you are dictating the terms to what you want to do. We did that right out of the gate and that's something we had not been able to do lately. So it's just good to see that because I think it's fan that gives you hope, right where you say, OK, we can take the ball the first time goes for some points. Curtis, let me ask you something. I ain't even thinking about this on the rundown, but another thing I wasn't really prepared for. Did you see how much we used the backup quarterback in the slot and stuff like what are we? Are we setting something up? Like, I was on my end, I was looking at it like we've got a lot of receivers that can run some plays in the rounds, whatever, put them in and we might get a score. But on the other hand, like I'm wondering what they're trying to do.

36:07 So what do you feel about that courtesy and seeing Schlee in there as much as he was? Well, I heard it a couple times and saw it. It's just like, to your point, it's like we got all these receivers, you know, we know Ali was banged who said it after game, he tweaked something and at the point where it was like, OK, well, he probably can go back in. It's like, well, hold on, we're winning the game, put him to the side. But as much as we saw that, what did you think when he went from shotgun? They got drones over in the slot. I don't know what the time. Well, the only thing I saw was like, wait a second, what are we about to run here? And then it's like a fake reverse and Schlee went up. I mean, it was a beautiful little quarterback sweep because you my first thought of the inclination is those safeties back there saw drones and they saw them going by. Like he's gonna hand it off to him. He's on Chuck it on us.

36:57 And he didn't. And then they again, it's a 10 yard game. I don't think it's anything wrong with it. But I also think, you know what I thought to myself, Tally, I think the confidence in pop is going up. I think the confidence pop is up Now where they feel, hey, we have this dynamic player. He started a bunch of games. He knows college speed. How can we utilize that? All right. Yeah, go ahead, Brian. I was just going to say, yeah, that that I think that's a good point. I think, you know, you got to take advantage of the talent that you have out there. And when you have a guy that can throw but is an athlete that gives you another wrinkle, right? And and and there's nothing wrong with adding an extra wrinkle to your offense.

37:38 And you know what, another thing is kind of you got to play the game within the game. So if Kyron decides to move on after this year, you know, to go on the big and better things, what does your quarterback situation look like? Like you kind of got to depend on Pop. You know, he's been in the system in the second year, right? So going in the next year will be year three. If he doesn't touch the field at all, does he decide to leave? You know what I mean? So things like that. So it was good to see him get on the field. And like you said, Curtis, I, I, I can maybe see that and agree with that. Well, they've got a little bit more confidence in him where, hey, if something happens where you'll wind it, we ain't going to even say hurt, you'll wind it and can't go in.

38:21 We do have another quarterback that we can put in and. He did go in. He did go in last series. I can see that. All right, as always, we get to our last piece here. Hopefully Shelton has figured out his Internet, all sorts of technical issues tonight on the Bouncer Corner podcast. That happens occasionally. But what can we do better moving forward? I know Shelton's got something he wants to do in the passing game, so I'm going to try to hold him off to the end. But what about you, Tally? There he is. So we're going, Sheldon, you were going to be our last because I know you got a lot to say and you got an article coming out with Tally, Sheldon, talk about the passing game and all that. But what are you looking at with what can we do better moving forward?

39:05 I'll say what what can we do better moving forward is mainly just just a defensive run fits for the most part. You know what I'm saying? Like again, I don't know the schemes that they run. I just know kind of what I see and what I know of football. The free flowing schemes is kind of having linebackers. They can run side to side is great, but sometimes you got to have a gap responsibility and come downhill and hit because if you're constantly going side to side and not North and South, sometimes things get by you. So I'd like to see us just build on what we've been doing. You know this next you're going to have a physical game this week. They're going to come in, they're going to be well coached, they're going to be physical. You're going to have the opportunity to size somebody up and hit them.

39:46 So we don't need, no, we don't need Sheldon to be having to spend his whole night talking about missed tackle rates and PW IS and WWFS. We need y'all to come downhill and hit somebody that show gap. Don't let nobody come through it. So I like to see that moving forward, Ryan. Yeah, I mean, you talked about it and and, and I'm going to flip it to the other side. Let's get let's get more of our weapons involved in the offense consistently. I know we've got a couple guys with Knicks. I know we got a couple guys that are still kind of working themselves back into playing shape. I'd like to see Felton get more targets. I'd like to see, you know, if, if Jennings is healthy, I'd like to see him get some more targets. Yeah, right now we have a good problem that we have probably too many mouths to feed from a wide receiver standpoint. At the same time, I think because they each bring a little bit of a different skill set to the table, it'd be nice to see them all get involved because that's going to make the offense more dynamic.

40:49 I'm. Going to throw. I'm going to throw something on that before we go to the next thing too. Kind of what Brian was saying, you know, too many mouths to feed and more targets and stuff. Another thing with the players and they have to realize, and I know it's a hard thing to do, but and I and I think they're fully capable of it. Like when you're getting like limited opportunities, you have to make the best at opportunity when you get it. Like, you know, I've seen some wide receivers go to all games, you know, ball hits you in the hands, you drop it because you're excited, you're getting it. Like you got to make that catch because you don't know when it's going to come around again. You got to think about your quarterback back there. He's getting the ball to who he's comfortable with when he starts. When things go awry and Kyron starts scrambling around back there, if you go look at the games, who does he look for? He's looking for Jay Lane or he's looking for guys Nail, but they're also knowing where to go and getting in the position to be open.

41:46 So, you know, I'd like to see some of our playmakers. If everybody's on the scramble drill, everybody just get in the scramble drill. I know we can't throw it to everybody, but you got to be open sometimes too. And I'm not saying that that's not because I can't see the whole field, but I'm just saying if I'm looking at things from a past perspective, like there's a couple of people that are getting open when he's scrambling around with that. But like when Curtis said that ball was bouncing around and he was nervous, like I knew when he picked it up and he and that first man missed him, I was like, those nails going to be open and it was Jay Lane. But so that's that's what I would want to add to that. Nice, Sheldon. I'm going to let you go man, because you got some stuff.

42:28 You mentioned to us that going better moving forward. You wrote an article about it. Go, man. Yeah. So the biggest thing I think that has to improve as a passing game and it's been a little bit lackluster so far this year through three games, some of the key stats Hokies are 105th in passing success rate and that includes passes and sacks as well. A little bit better than the rush game, but really the the pass game's been kind of their their biggest sore spot. So when I was looking at numbers this week, what I found was that teams are playing zone extremely often against tech 81%, if memory serves, zone defense. That's a 40% increase from last year. So what they're trying to do, I think is, you know, flood the passing lanes, get Kyron off his primary read, you know, make him go through his 2nd and 3rd progressions, essentially have him scan the field and try to be a drop back passer. And for the most part, it's worked pretty well. Particularly, you know, one thing that Tech had success with last year was their short passing game. They're really good there in terms of, you know, throwing behind a lot of scrimmage screen passes, you know, get the ball to your playmakers, get it out quickly. Don't let your O line block for a long period of time and let your playmakers make plays in space. Now that worked really well last year, but this year their efficiency on those short throws has just plummeted. I think drones was second, second worst passes rating among all power Power 4 quarterbacks in efficiency on short throws. So, you know, that's a big sore spot for me. I think, you know, obviously

43:59 it's easier when, you know, you got guys looking at the quarterback. They're not logged on to their man. And I just think that, you know, drones has to be able to to to scan the field a little bit better, be more consistent in his footwork and his mechanics, because I think that's where he struggled a little bit. You know, when you're on your second or third read and you're sitting there in the pocket having to go through his progressions and it's it's easy to, you know, maybe get a little bit rushed, in which case your mechanics suffer. So I think if if drones, the hope is that he can have the game slowed down for him a little bit because this is really the first time in his career where he's been forced to be a a traditional drop back passer. And it's been it's been a challenge. So I think hopefully he gets better with more experience.

44:42 But if I'm a you know, if I'm a tech fan, that's that's the biggest concern for me is like, can tech be efficient against zone defense when other teams know they're passing the ball? Can they? Can they push it downfield? Yeah. And I think to a point, I'm glad you make the point with the zone versus man in that case, Shelton, because one way you can do zone Busters and everything is roll the pocket and move, Karen, because immediately you start moving and they're downfield, they're locked on him, They're usually vacating zones. People are getting off their spots. We talked about, I think you mentioned a couple weeks ago, we're not rolling the pocket much. It's OK to do that, get him comfortable because we have seen when he has gotten comfortable, he is going to make throws.

45:27 But you've got to get him there every week and if it's rolling the pockets, if it runs zone reads, RPO, stuff like that. That's on Tyler Bowen though. Tyler Bowen's his first thought should be my first 10 play should be get Kyron comfortable and whether it's him running or passing. So I'll go flip it. I didn't even write this on here. Go better moving forward. Get Karen comfortable quicker because the quicker he's comfortable, the the quicker he's going to do exactly what Sheldon's talking about. He's going to be more come from the past going through his reads. One more piece I'll say I want to see better going forward. I don't want any more special teams blunders. I want a clean game Saturday. I don't want double jerseys.

46:07 I don't want to block kick. I don't want to block, punt, clean, write that down. And the honest truth is this. That was the best game we've played all year. It's been three games in the best complete game. I still think the best half of football was probably against Vanderbilt. Honest to God, truth, I think that was the best half we've played all year. But a complete game beginning in, that's it. And I think we sit here and probably everybody watching us tonight and our fans, I don't think we're even close to the peak yet. No. I don't think. Still haven't played a complete game still. Haven't played a complete game, still haven't played our best game, so that's where I'm going to leave that one last piece. A lot of people injured and questionable this week and it's going to happen.

46:57 But I'm for one. Everybody who's banged up, just let them sit till Saturday. And I know you want them to go. Through practice, but it's like practice is a good thing, but we need games. All righty. So fellows, as you all know, we are brought to you by Counts Family Pharmacy, your friendly neighborhood pharmacy located at three O 1 S Main St. in Blacksbury. I did not get a chance to reach out to Jeremy this week to figure out who's sending me the PS5. Somebody won APS 5 and they're supposed to send it to Curtis. So if you're listening, if you want, just get it to him. Just put it, just put your name right here in the comment section and I'll, I'll get with you and get you my address.

47:42 So we jump from the Hokies and tell the truth Tuesday to now we are going to get to know the enemy. And just like last week, we have found another very special guest. So we are introducing this week part of the college huddle, Larry K, who was from the Rutgers Night Watch. Larry, how are you doing this evening, Sir? How you fellas doing? I'm doing good man. I'm doing good. Man, rocking and rolling it was, it was fun. For those that don't know, me and Larry had a nice little 45 minute conversation earlier today. I talked to little Hokies with him. He's returning the favor. Talking a little Scarlet Knights with us tonight. Yes, Sir.

48:26 Yeah, my show Brian came on and people got a lot from it. So it was a lot of fun today and then I had to hop off and do a Pro Football thing and then back with you guys. So excited about the game Saturday, Excited to talk Rutgers and to let you guys know whatever you want to know. Awesome. Well, Larry, before we get into all the nuts and bolts of the offense, defense and a little bit about Rutgers this year, a little bit about yourself, how did you stumble upon doing a Rutgers football podcast? So I had kind of an audio background. I had done like different podcasts growing up, you know, sometimes current events, podcasts. I was into music growing up, so I kind of had to set up with a microphone and keyboard and all Pro Tools and most audiological stuff. So I started doing, believe it or not, I'm a Miami Dolphins fan for the NFL, even though I'm a Jersey guy. Long story, not worth going into today, but I started a podcast doing that because I'm like, OK, I want to talk just about my pro team, whatever.

49:21 It kind of took off. So then I'm sitting there and I'm like, you know, I'm a Rutgers fan too, and I go to every game and I'm an alum and I'm like, there's really not a lot of, you know, content out there on a regular basis for Rutgers stuff aside from the beat writers and whoever. So there's a void there. And if I can fill that with the equipment and the wherewithal I already have, maybe it could go well. And it it's so far has gone well. And then I went on with Zach Guggenheim of Big 10 Talk and Big 10 Football Talk, and then he was kind of involved with setting up the college huddle. So they extended me the invite. I used to write for a site called On the Banks, which was like the Rutgers portion of SB Nation. And so they kind of ran it kind of professionally over there. So I was able to write for them for quite a while. Aaron Brightman at the Scarlett Scarlett Faithful, who runs his own podcast, brought me on to that, and he was my editor. So then when there was an opportunity to go out of my own, you know, I did it and I write creatively and whatnot. So it was kind of like an easy transition, Hey, And it's a lot easier to talk all, all the time than to write it down. So kind of did night watch my show and took off from there. That's awesome, Larry.

50:34 And I love hearing kind of that journey because I think everybody that's a podcaster kind of has their own unique journey of how they got to this, whether it's just having a, a, a fun chat with some, with some fans or whether they kind of went through, you know, like you, you know, writing, doing other podcasts and other venues. And then you kind of get to, well, here's my passion and kind of, you know, you find your niche in, in that fandom. But it's good to hear that. Like I said, I, I love jumping on with you earlier. It was a really good time and just just chopping up and talking some football with you. So we're going to get to it. Let's start on the offensive side of the ball. Yeah, offensive coordinator Kirk Shiraka.

51:15 What can we expect from this Scarlet Knights offense when it kicks off at 3:30 on Saturday? We are, as most probably know and suspect we are, a ground and pound. First thing we want to do is establish the run game. Kyle Monunguy Really, really tough runner. Monster. Absolute Monster. Came out of high school with Jalen Berger in the same class and Jalen got all the hype and fanfare, but Mananga has been the steady presence who's developed from freshman to now. Decided to come back. I thought his stock was pretty high last year. Came back to school for this year, has been running his butt off the first two weeks already.

51:58 They're going to like to try to get in there, you know, inside the tackles, inside the guards. But once every once in a while, once they've established that, Kyle's going to see the pile and he's going to cut back and try to find a lane outside and cut around that way. They tried to build the pass game off of the run. You might have some play fakes and they're going to try to take a deep shot or two. Last year, Gavin Wimsett was the quarterback, had a lot of wheels, had a lot of legs. But this year, Athan Kaliakmanis, who's a Minnesota transfer, came in and he was a starter for about a year and a half, I believe at Minnesota. He's reunited with Kirk Shiraka and he's pretty accurate quarterback. I think his issues might come in when he tries to squeeze it a little bit into coverage.

52:40 But he can he can hit guys in stride. He can hit guys down the field. So you're looking for a running offense that tries to take its shots. The only thing that's non traditional, when I say traditional, I'm talking, you know, millennial. So the 80s I formation is not there. You know, we got one back, three wide outs and a tight end. But other than that, it looks fairly fairly traditional. Hey, let me ask this, Larry, what was the feeling not only of yourself, but you know, your friends, fellow alums, when the Gavin Winstadt did leave and they brought in Athena or you, you said his name Perfect. I'm terribly I don't know the Greek kid, the Greek kid. That's what I want to call other Greek kid We keep. Going down, yeah.

53:22 Yeah. But what was the thought? Because like with us, Winstadt, I mean, he gashed us last year with some of those read options, some of those, you know, like quarterback sweeps. And for us, we're looking like he's gone. Wait a second, there goes the running element away. I think, you know, for the longest time Rutgers and there's been these debates in football circles, you know, Rutgers has a a chance to get athletes at the quarterback position given their recruiting territory. And should we go for a dual threat quarterback? We finally do it with Gavin, who happens to be from Kentucky. I, I, I really like the kid, quite frankly. He came in young, he was developing, he had wheels and he had the arm talent. The thing was, as the season progressed, I think Rutgers fans thought that, wow, we're in a better position in 2023 than we actually expected to be.

54:11 We're a little bit ahead of schedule and if you look at some of the the games down the stretch, get bowl eligible fairly early. Everybody expected it because of the way the schedule, you know, shook out that we would lose a lot of games towards the end of the year. But nonetheless, it kind of takes its toll on the fan base. And they're saying if we could have completed a pass here, this guy was wide open there. There were accuracy issues with Gavin Wimset that were hard to deny. Now. I loved the player and I actually was still rooting for him. They bring in at 8th and Caliac Manis and I'm rooting for for Gavin to continue to progress and to win the quarterback competition. But after spring ball and even during the spring game, you know, it's just evident that Athens landing simple passes, you know, screen passes, quick slants, passes that get the ball in the hands of I think some pretty talented playmakers that given the running game, if you could protect the ball. And Gavin wasn't a turnover machine. He just wasn't completing his passes at a high enough clip. If you can be a little more accurate and land the ball in the hands of your playmakers early in a play, I think Rutgers thought they had a chance to be even better. And after spring ball, Schiano talked with Gavin, from what I understand, and the competition wasn't even close. So Gavin was afforded the chance to go elsewhere. Now you lose something with the wheels with Athan Kelly, Mattis. Now he can look at, there's designed runs. He has some wheels, not the same type of wheels. From watching the first two weeks. There could be issues where you

55:42 know, Gavin wouldn't have thrown it or would have thrown it away. Maybe Athan's trying to sneak it in there At the same time. There's a lot. The ball is on the numbers, the ball's on time and it's on time and on the numbers at a much greater clip than we saw with Gavin. So it's a different attribute from the quarterback position, but it's I think Rutgers thinks anyway. And Kirk Shiraka thinks it's beneficial because now the ball's in the hand of your playmakers. Gavin was a playmaker. So it's give and take, but. Yeah, Yeah. So you're losing some of that dynamic playmaking ability, but you're upping the chance of getting the ball more quickly and accurately to your other playmakers in that offense. So like you said, some give and take there. Since you talked about the playmakers, who were some of the other playmakers on this offense? Well, what's interesting is I was going to kind of, and I thank you for the segue there too. I mean, Christian Dremel was the leading receiver on the team last year.

56:32 He's now the 4th receiver on the team. I mean, and that just kind of shows how much they tried to build up that playmaking talent. Now, Chris Long, who broke a bunch of high school records in New Jersey, he's a junior. He's been with the team for quite some time, but he constantly would run into injury problems. Every year. He's a deep ball threat. He had a long touchdown against Akron the other week and he's back in the starting lineup. He's on the edge. Damir Miller comes up a level from Monmouth University. He was the leading, I think he was a leading Mac receiver last year and he came up and he's been in the slot. He's been a really, really good at getting separation, coming back for the ball. He knows the intricacies of route running and he's actually been a really good asset to the team. Dremel was kind of playing that position and now he's the backup.

57:24 And then you have Ian Strong, who was from Long Island. He's a sophomore. Last year you saw some flashes. He's a bigger bodied receiver. He can get open. He has good hands. You saw some flashes last year, especially in the red zone. And now this year he's taking the next step. I mean, his body has changed a lot. He's really come into his own and he's playing on the edge. So those three guys in addition to Manungai are are an interesting bunch. And then you have Fletcher, the tight end who was a converted D end D lineman and he's got two touchdowns through two weeks.

58:04 Victor Konopka's the other tight end. You look at their blocking abilities and you know they're still developing in that realm. But as far as going out and catching the ball, Fletcher's been a pleasant surprise and a nice addition. So watch for him to come out in the flat. You know, they like to set that up to you're looking at the guys downfield, you got the play fake. All the sudden Kyle is going to block and Fletcher's breaking off into the flat. He's got two touchdowns that way. So they like those short passes. They like to get the ball in the hands of these athletes and run, run it that way. Larry, you know, something that's been a little bit more impressive to me as well and Amy didn't mention is the backup running back. I think it's Raymond when Menonga goes out and he's catching a breather.

58:47 I mean, y'all's backup running back is getting 5 yards to carry as well. So it's just kind of a implication to what your offensive line is doing. I mean, again, like I said about our team, doesn't matter who you play, it matters about you. Like you can play in the in the country, if you're not doing what you're supposed to do, you're not going to be effective. Anybody getting 5 yards of carry, it looks like that offensive line is pushing. So again, I know you didn't mention that name, but that was one of the names that I looked at. And if your if your running backs doing good, your start running backs doing good and your backup running backs coming in and they're getting 5 yards of carry somebody's blocking. And, and just to your point too, he's. Actually, the third when when Sam Brown is healthy, Sam Brown's number 2, Raymond's number three, and then you have Benjamin, who got some run last year. But great point.

59:35 I mean, when I look at those first two games, I'm trying to glean what I can from the way we executed, the way Rutgers executed and not so much on the opponent. There were some things obviously, that I was critical of, but then some things look good. That offensive line has come a very long way from being really undersized in the Big 10 a couple years ago, really getting manhandled and pushed around to last year really took root where against Ohio State before they pulled away in the second-half. I mean, we were running the ball well on them. And that offensive line returns a bunch of starters too. And so, you know, you got Big Holland Pierce on the ending. Might be a A draft pick. You have Zelinskis, who's another interior lineman, a center that's another Greek name trying to get right. But you called me right.

1:00:23 I'm like I. Got. I got on curves for the for the Athena and now look at me with the S and Hey Larry, when I sent you over the the. Outline there you saw I had the pronunciations in there there's a reason I was going to compliment you Sir on that and I was like you know I. Need I need to do that for my guests and whatnot because it it's helpful. Sometimes you're looking at a name, you're like, oh boy, what am I going to do? I'm going to get this right. We got to, we got to get Larry off here, y'all? I just because, I mean, we just called him in a lie, he said. They're undersized. And then we look at Holland Pearce and he's 68350. Nothing. Nothing. About that, man says. Undersized. No. So he's a big. So they were undersized. Line, he was one of the first guys who they were just looking for big bodies. So he's a kid from Trenton showed up, the story goes, you know, in the parking lot and I'm sure it was arranged or whatever, but really needed a lot of development, you know, with his body, with his skills.

1:01:13 And this coaching staff has developed him and he is a you, you sitting like my seats are pretty close and I'm looking this dude is towering over everybody and he's a big man. So it started with him and then they kind of they really built that line. So it's a testament now that we can run the ball the way we are. It's it's the the old line. And I say this in any football conversation I'm in. I know you guys brought it up. So you already know starts in the trenches, man. And the fact that the trenches have been much better. That's why Rutgers is is better right now. Yeah. So much you got. Yeah, well, well, tally kind. Of took my question because I wanted. To ask how that how that running back trio kind of plays off each other. It seems like they've all got some pretty good, pretty good skill sets. But I'll go with this. I think we we know Rutgers statistically has has had a great start to the season.

1:01:59 I think the big knock is the quality of competition, which is, you know, always tricky to evaluate when you're early in the season. Even though they played some inferior teams. I mean, look, they'd be accurate by 42. You know, Tech struggled with ODU for a little bit. So, you know, don't don't take a 42.1 for granted. But can you see the team, even though they're, they're playing lesser opponents? Can you, can you see the, I guess the talent there and, and and kind of, you know, maintain that optimism that you guys are in for a pretty good season, even though, like we said, not the not the murderous Rd. here, but can you just see the the potential there that that you've you've shown through two games? Yeah, I think it's a great question. Too. And I think starting off the season, because this is the first time we're not in the Big 10 E so there's no Ohio State, there's no Michigan, there's no Penn State on the schedule. Now you you insert a couple West Coast teams that are very talented.

1:02:50 You got to go on the road to USC. But when you look at the schedule and the bye weeks and you know the travel schedule with West Coast to East Coast, a lot of optimism in Rutgers circles, you know that this could be one of the better years we've had in a while. I think oddly, despite the the way we play those first two teams, I don't think there is negativity. But what I would say is some of the realities. Of the team like this is. Still real life, right? And I, I think I predicted a nine and three season, which is on the optimistic. So I think it's, it's, it's feasible. People were saying 10 and two people were, I say it was anywhere from 5:00 and 7:00 to 10:00 and 2:00 because so many of these games are toss UPS.

1:03:35 It's the first time in a while. But I'll say that like when you actually see it on the field now, now you see the good and you see the bad and you see the reality and there hasn't been anything per SE bad. But I think like when you see Rutgers go up against Howard and Athan Khaliq, Manis is just throwing the ball everywhere and everything's pinpoint accurate. You're getting excited. But then you come back the next week and he's squeezing balls in the first half into double coverage. We get lucky on a touchdown catch where it ricochets off of somebody and then he throws an interception while he's getting hit. I just think some things the receivers are talented, they're good, but they're you know, Howard played them tough and they Akron played them tough in the beginning of that game.

1:04:15 They there was some separation issues. So I could be being NID picky, but I think we're seeing some just reality. And so I think I'm still very optimistic about the season, but I'm I'm watching for the first true test now, which is this week, like the first, you know, real game that you know, and we always had it circled like this is this is where it starts. I'm just really sheerly curious, you know, Nice. Well, let's pivot. We've you've given us a ton of information on offense to players to watch the scheme, to look for the backgrounds of these guys and that's what we're here for man. So we can know more about Rutgers for us, we call it know the enemy. You have given us a very good description of what you guys want to do on offense.

1:05:01 Let's look at the defense. Defensive coordinator. Brian, you did the pronunciation. I'm going to try my best here. Joe Harasimiak, very close. OK, Samiak. Harasimiak. Samiak, Harasimiak. How I talk. This is Harasimiak. Yeah, I was going to say, Larry, I was going to. Say I think that you're wasting your talent trying to do football podcast. You should just get on TikTok and like eat food and review it. Like you'll make some money because of your accent, man. Like you just sound like a wise guy, you know what I'm saying? Like come on, man, go get you some pizza and eat it on TikTok and you're going to make millions of dollars. What are you doing? I like that I got to get on TikTok bro. I've been I've been holding out for so long and get on TikTok and eat you'll be good.

1:05:48 So tell me how this defense eats what, what, what have they were running. I had a pivot. So I love that pivot. That's a beautiful. Pivot so Joe Joe comes in from Minnesota as well and he's he's he's done really, really well here. They run an interesting four to five defense where you got 2 linebackers and it relies on a lot of athleticism from the linebackers. You have 3 safeties, one of whom is a quasi linebacker and that's, you know, you're going to have Flip Dixon or you're going to have Igbinosa and they're going to sneak up. They're going to kind of get in there in the mid level of that defense sometimes and and and confront the run or cover somebody in the short passing lanes. The linebacker core is a really interesting thing for Rutgers right now because you started the season preseason with Motoray, who was maybe our best player on defense last year. Sack leader, really great story.

1:06:47 He he goes down for the season before it even starts. So he's out and and he was a Rutgers likes to because it's a 425. It's such an interesting defense. It's such a a multiple look defense. They like to move guys around. So he would sneak up on passing downs onto the edge and all these things. Now he's gone. Tyrene Powell, who was arguably maybe the best defender on the entire team last year. He goes down last year against Ohio State, then sustains another injury like an Achilles in the offseason. He, I believe, is going to be able to go this week, but I'm not positive on that Now. I knew that there was a chance he could start the season, but I always said he's not going to. You're not going to see him until Virginia Tech. I don't know if we're going to see him, but there's rumblings we might.

1:07:36 There's now. So Moses Walker and Jabomi, those are the two guys that were kind of stepping up for them. Moses Walker, a New York kid, was a flip from Penn State, showing a lot of flashes, still learning the position. As far as being in position. Jabomi had a great game against Howard, struggled more against Akron. A lot's going to come down to those linebackers and their horizontal play. If Powell plays, it bodes better for the defense. Safeties. I, I love Shaquan Loyal is, is somebody who lays, hits hard, comes up with the ball when it's when it's coming his way. Flip Dixon, another another guy who's been very good for this team. He's had some injury troubles early in the year, but he's back at it and Igmanosa and like I said, is another talented player.

1:08:23 So the other thing to watch is Wesley Bailey, one of our ends on defense. He's been hurt. He's been out the first two weeks I predicted him to be the sack leader with Toray out. I when he's not hurt and dinged up, his motor is probably the best on the team right now. He's a good rusher, good pass rusher, very good pass rusher. Aaron Lewis on the other side, the interior guys, we're still waiting to see who really flashes. Malcolm Ray had a sack up the middle in the interior of the defense last week. I mean two weeks ago. So we're seeing how they develop. But it's a it's an interesting defense going to give you multiple looks. You're going to rely on those linebackers roaming around in that mid level, and if they can't do it, running lanes are going to get open at some point, especially to the outside. Passing lanes can open up and the intermediate passes, which you know, then the safeties might make the play, but you might be moving down the field.

1:09:16 A lot comes down to that linebacker play because they got to hold down a lot of space and that safety play. So one more thing I'll say is our pass rush as far as sacks has not been where we wanted it last year or the beginning of this year. And a lot of that, I think comes down to Bailey coming back and then Lewis on the other side being able to close out some of his pressures. We'll see if that happens, especially against the mobile quarterback who can make plays this week. So yeah, I know you had mentioned that when we were we. Were talking earlier, you know the concern is, you know, I mentioned that we've for the most part had some struggles from a pass protection standpoint. You're like we have well we haven't done a very good job of getting to the quarterback. So it may be a little weakness on weakness from a defensive versus offensive standpoint there. Sean, what you got?

1:10:04 Yeah. So I wanted to ask. About the cornerbacks and 1st off, I want to give a shout out to 1 of Rutgers's cornerbacks. That is Robert Longer Beam, the pride of Alexandria, VA. He was part of that 2020 Virginia high school football class that was, to be polite, a little bit underwhelming. Antoine Powell Ryland was also part of that class. So you got two guys from that class going against each other. I remember looking him up last year when when Tech and Rutgers played, probably I would say maybe one of the best three or four players in that entire class, even though he wasn't the most highly regarded recruit. But shout out to him. But one of your stud quarterbacks is Eric Rodgers. He's a fifth year senior, ranked 6th in the country among all defensive backs in overall grade at 87. Hasn't really been targeted much. I would imagine that's because he's not letting guys get open very much and top ten in coverage grade as well. So talk about Rodgers, what he does well, his best skill sets and just how you feel like the the coverage defense has played out so far.

1:11:01 You know, longer beam, I thought. We had Max Melton last year who went to the the league this year and his brother, obviously Beau Melton and and I thought longer being longer Beam has been just such a good player for us. And they weren't even really throwing his way a lot last year because he was such a shutdown corner. There's some story that he I guess he left campus. He wasn't going to commit or Schiano like followed him, like flew down there, went to his family's house. Like I mean, very highly sought after by by this coaching staff. They're very high on him as the Riemann beam podcast that he does too. So look him. And so Rogers comes in and steps up into Melton's position and I think people were pretty high on him.

1:11:43 He kind of developed last year and in times when he had to step in, started performing quite well. I think people predicted early in the season that he would come up with some interceptions because they were going to throw away from longer beam. And if they're throwing at Rogers, he's going to come away with some. I believe he came away with one, I think one of the first two weeks. And my, my brain is all over the place now that's late. But he's a ball hawk and he's going to be able to to stay on guys and he might take a gamble here and there to grab the ball, But if he does, he'll come away with it. And those guys are both very talented and, and the fact that Max left it was highly regarded and we were able to fill that pretty quickly is a testament to the depth on the team. And then behind them it gets a little more dicey because you have like Al Shadiz Salaam who was a running back converted. So it it gets a little dicey behind them, but they they are quick, they are going to be able to cover. They need to be in position and not take gamble's. We had another long kind of couple long passes the first couple weeks of the season and some blown coverages and things. One of them might have been loyal or the safety's fault on a, on a corner blitz, but they're going to try to grab that ball and they're going to try to stay on guys. They have the speed, they can stay with them, they have the hands.

1:12:59 They're all going to hit. They all can tackle and they come up and and they make tackles and they're not going to be afraid to try to stop somebody for a short gain after a catch. But but that's the tale of those two guys. Yeah. And you've got you've. Got Rodgers You. Weren't lying. Y'all's first score of the season was his pick 6 versus Howard. I thought it was 52 yards and the Tyrene Powell we, we talked about Tyrene Powell a ton last year in the preview. Tyrene Powell was a hokey commit, flipped to Rutgers very late in the process. And he led in in the game last year, he led the team in tackle. So for us, it's like, I'm glad he doesn't have those few games to get ready for Tech because coming in cold at linebacker, are you reading your keys right?

1:13:41 Are you going to the right gaps? Are you missing assignments? Do you know where you need to go? So that's a big thing. So let me ask this as a Rutgers fan, you're sitting here and obviously you and Brian had the discussion. You're probably looking at tapes, stats, data. What is concerning you most with the Scarlet Knights heading into lane on Saturday afternoon, the defense containing. You know your offensive scheme and and a mobile quarterback who can make plays off script and on script. The fact is, and I was talking to Brian a little bit, you know, this, this RPO, this spread run type offense, linebackers are concerned because of health and because of rust for us and containing a running quarterback. The first week against Howard, Scroggins got out of that pocket and he made plays downfield and he was able to escape a bunch. And you know, for a defense that relies on that horizontal speed to be able to contain guys who's got a guy coming off an injury and another guy out, other guys learning that linebacker position, you're going to have to that D line. If they get back there, they're going to have to understand that you can't, you know, if they dive at him too quick or they let him get outside.

1:14:56 Now where's that linebacker help the secondary? Like I said, we're running, you know, that many three safety. So so they can get up there and they can keep an eye on him and they have the closing speed. But I'm worried about that offense, you know, the way it's going to spread them out and the way that quarterback is going to be able to make plays off script anywhere in the middle of that defense or the middle of the field, that could cause Rutgers problems. And I think that it's the 1st Rd. game of the year. The environment is obviously well known. And so you're going into a rough environment. And I talked to Brian about this. If there's a big play that gets Rutgers on their heels, they want to, they want to be a ball control offense.

1:15:40 They want to run the ball incrementally down the field and take their shots when they're available. If they get on their heels where there's a big player to and the crowds into it and they're not able to establish that running offense and incrementally get down the field or a couple drives stall in that way, I think that could be a problem because if they get behind too much, they're just not built to sling the ball all over the field. And so I think the way those two teams are built, it's going to be really interesting. I was telling Brian this exact thing. Who establishes their identity first? Are we establishing, you know, a run RPO type system where there's quick strikes and there's a quarterback that's making plays?

1:16:20 Or are we establishing this a between the tackles, Rutgers type thing where, you know, we're going to laboriously get down the field and try to control the pace of the game, but that's going to go a long way in determining the outcome? Yeah, I think when. You talk about that. A shortened game, a game where the clock is running a lot, definitely I think plays into Rutgers favor, much like it did when we were playing Vanderbilt down in Nashville where they kept the clock moving. They they kept matriculating the ball down the field. We couldn't get off the field on 3rd down with that triple option attack. If we have a similar situation but with the non guy between the tackles, it could be a long day for the Hokies.

1:17:05 Sheldon, you got something before we flip it over to the last question here for Larry. No, I think. Yeah, I think I'm good. I know, like I said, the the the secondary has been pretty good County Hamilton has been the highest grade defensive lineman, So you know, they've been able to get some some pretty good pressure again factor in the competition, but it just seems like they've been pretty, pretty engaged on all fronts. Nice So. Let let me ask you this. Larry, before we let you go for the night, if you're settling. In for the prime time. Games on Saturday night with a big smile on your face. What do you think played the biggest factor in that Rutgers win containing drones? Containing the quarterback, I mean, you do a good job of limiting the damage he does, you know, with his, his skill set, which is a wide-ranging 1 flat out. I, I, I have seen it just, so it just seems that Rutgers, when they're playing their game under Schiano, they, they fare well, especially with the way the line is now with the power team that, that big 10 line up helmet on helmet and play a straight up, they tend to do well.

1:18:11 What I've seen throughout the years, and this goes all the way back with Shiano defenses is when a quarterback is getting too much off script and he's making too many things happen on his own, they can struggle and they can kind of get bewildered a little like what are we doing? Cuz keeping UPS hard. That defense can contain him and his damage is limited. I think they're going to then be able to establish the run and I think they're going to be able to to keep it where they want it and then they might be able to pull out a victory at the end. So that's what I think the key to victory really is, honestly. All right, Larry. We appreciate it, Larry. Before we let you go, where can we see the show? Where can we follow you on Twitter, Instagram let you get all that out before we let you roll here.

1:18:55 Yes Sir man, so night watch if you. Just type in night watch Larry K like like a night. If you put in just Night Watch without Larry K, you're going to get like the, you know, like medieval guys that go out in the park and like, it's a lot of weird stuff. That goes Have to remember the Larry Kay, please Larry Kay so you don't go down the rabbit. Hole I don't know if we'll find you after that night watch with Larry Kay on YouTube. You'll see my show there. Click subscribe, guys, whatever fan you are of any I mean, I taught college football. I'm part of the college huddle and I'm just trying to grow my numbers and and and reach. So find me on YouTube. And then if you type the same thing into Google or any podcast platform, night watch with Larry K on on, you know, Spotify, Apple, any of the podcast networks.

1:19:40 I do an audio version my show with Brian's on on YouTube right now and it's already on all the audio podcasts. I'll send you the link for that later. My my Twitter. Let me because I always I always change the name because I do so many different things like it doesn't say night watch. Let me just give it to you right now in case you guys want to follow me there. All kinds of interesting things. Yeah, just just Larry KNJ. So Larry under score K under score NJ and you could find me on Twitter. You'll see Rutgers content, college football content. And a bunch of other stuff. You guys have been an absolute pleasure, Brian. I appreciate you coming out with me. You guys are awesome. Made my night just kind of chilling talking ball with you guys. So I'm wishing you guys luck, you know, this week and the rest of the year, hopefully hoping we win.

1:20:23 But I think it'll be a fun season for both of us either way. So happy we're playing, hopefully play again, you know, and looking forward to it. Yeah, we appreciate you taking the time tonight. We appreciate you letting Brian come on your show a bit earlier. Definitely love being part of the college huddle. You guys follow that. They're all out there. So many teams to go find out whoever the Hokies are playing next week, see how that team's feeling. And Larry, from the sound of it, you don't don't talk Rutgers. You're talking college ball all the time. And we love to hear that man. So take care of yourself up in New Jersey and we hopefully see you in the future, man. Yes, Sir. Looking forward to. It later get that TikTok. Started man.

1:21:04 See you later. Good. See ya. All righty. So great segment there with Larry. A lot of information about the players, about what they're doing up there. Got to love to see it again. It's great being part of this network. We can bring people on or in our case, Brian, going on sharing a little bit back and forth. So we got a lot of stuff from Larry. I, I, I don't know if we've changed any of our keys up, but y'all, we got to jump into what our hokey keys are for this week and I'm going to lead it off with us. Jonathan, Tally, tally, what is going to be the hokey keys for taking the dub this week? Oh yeah, It was going to be the same for me no matter what. But definitely, you know, reiterated what Larry was talking about. Like we have to let Karen be Karen. He's not a drop back passer.

1:21:48 He's not anybody else besides Karen. The big bruising runs that he has, he had one, you know, at Rutgers last year and he has had one against ODU. They got to let him get outside the pocket. They got to let him run the ball. They got to let him get some contact that's going to open up the pass game. Because if we just try to drop back and pass the ball and drop back and hand the ball off, it might not fare so well. So let Karen be Karen is my keys to success. Sheldon, what about you? Man, what is your hokey? Keys This week I went with establishing the run to set up the. Pass I think Tech is a team that has to run the ball well to be effective in passing game. Like Bryant, like we've been saying, we want drones to to roll out, you know, to use RPO effectively. And only way you can do that is if there's a threat of, you know, a credible threat of run game. So if they get the run and going, I think that's going to make things a lot easier on drones and hopefully they can put some points on the board.

1:22:45 All righty, Mr. Bron Siegler. What is your Hokie key this week? Yeah, for me, it's it's I'm flipping it over to the. Defensive side, yeah, I think the offense might take care of itself against this Rutgers defense. I'm worried about what they're going to do with the running game, shortening the game, staying on the field, not letting our defense get off the field. So for me, the big thing is no long runs and be able to get off the field on 3rd down. If we can do that, I feel pretty confident about coming out of this one with AW. All righty, I'm going to kind of get mine in here and. It goes back to how we've been playing this year. First quarter we have outscored our opponents 21 to three, that's plus 18.

1:23:25 Quarter three, we've outscored our opponents 30 to 10, that's a + 20. Quarter four, 3814 + 24. The second quarter is the undoing of this team this year and we've been outscored in three games, 31 to 3:00 that is minus. 28 that is. An insane number. And I go look back last year playing Rutgers, they outscored us in the second quarter fourteen to three. I think it's going to come down to what we do in the second quarter. Our coaches have a propensity for having great halftime adjustments where we get people in the rhythm. I am very glad that we got off of that hot start off at of OU because it proves to me that we can move the ball early second quarter.

1:24:13 If we come out even in the second quarter, I don't care for 77101033 nil, NIL. We are going to win this game and that. Leads us right. Into our hokey predictions and I'm going to go first just because I want to go 1st and what I got, what I look. At is. When they played us last year up in Piscataway, it is Piscataway NJ. That was Karen Drones first start as a college quarterback first start. They had Grant Lemstadt, who was a. Running quarterback who we have known forever as a Virginia Tech Hokie fan, what is our kryptonite? If you have a running quarterback, it's going to kill us.

1:24:59 Larry already said it. He couldn't pass last year at all. That was fine last year. We had one of the best pass defenses in the country last year regardless. So you take away the wheels, you put a guy back there who can do design runs for, but he can't scramble. You can't run a read option. I think we're going to flip it. I think we're going to score a couple more points in them. Give me Hokies 28. You went on mute again bud. You going? I'll take this next one here. I I'm in the similar boat with Curtis here. I I don't think it's going to quite be a the full boat. Eight points there, but I think the Hokies are going to do enough on offense and just enough on defense. It's going to come down to the wire though. But give me the Hokies 27, Rutgers 23, Sheldon Moss. I'm going with a pretty similar score to Curse here. I've got the Hokies 2720 winning. I feel like this team responds when the chips are down and people are doubting them.

1:26:02 So I think they'll come out pretty motivated and they're going to get a close win at home. When Edwin says that they can't do it, the chips. I like when Sheldon. Says the chips. Cuz I like to go to the casino and play roulette and I like to have all the chips. My chips are down. I am doubting I got Rutgers winning this game. I think it's going to be a close game. I'm just going off of off of history for the most part. Not so much with Rutgers, just with what we've done in the past as well as since prize been here some crazy stat was out. We haven't won a non conference game and however many days pretty much since 2017 and it just brought up all the fields of me being in the stadium. We're playing Purdue last year and everything that can go wrong goes wrong.

1:26:55 The hurricane comes through, we are out in the rain for six hours and hiding and don't know if it's going to be and then we go into the game and we lose a heartbreaker. Then we go to Nashville and we lose another heartbreaker. I just think it's going to be a close game. Rutgers takes it 2417. I'm praying that I'm wrong, but that's my prediction as of now. We got to go with what you feel, man, so. We're going to be flipping it over here to big screeners in just a second, but y'all out there who are watching, it's quite a few of y'all tonight. Throw your prediction, what you think the scores are going to be for the Hokies game. So again, you got me, Brian and Shelton, leaning Hokies, tally leaning Rutgers, all of us within at least one score. So we don't get you, liquor get you. Everybody's flirting in the 20s too there, no? Nobody's predicting a high scoring affair here. I don't we'll see that, but they think the under I think. Whatever the under is, I think it. Is it what, 51?

1:27:54 The last time I looked I can pull that up I. Got it right here on the phone. I think I do if y'all. Can get to it quicker. Somebody scream it. Out before me 44 1/2 Oh, it's went down, so it's went down. Significantly, just like the line. Started 4 1/2. Now it's down, But you know, we're going to see. We're going to see. I think this is a big make and break game for the Hokies in what we can do this season. So let's flip to it and let's get the big screeners. Let's talk about some other games we might be laying a little action on and some games we'll definitely be keeping an eye on throughout the day on Saturday. Brian Siegler, as always, you lead this segment. Sir, where we going? I went to Oklahoma, baby. Tennessee, Oklahoma, the Tennessee is favored by 7 1/2 here.

1:28:44 I don't think it's going to be that close. I think Tennessee is going to go out there and and do a little number. So give me the the volunteers in this one, all right? I'm exactly the opposite. Of you on this. One, give me Oklahoma home dog getting 7 1/2 points because I looked at Tennessee. Anytime they say any formidable offense last year, they couldn't get above 20 points. I trust Brent Venables. I don't know if Oklahoma will win this game or not, but I do not see Tennessee blowing the doors out of them. I see this being a close enough game that I'll take the home dog at 7 1/2. Sheldon so I saw. I saw stat. Earlier this week. That this is the first time Oklahoma is a underdog by four more points at home since 1998. I think they're going to feel a little bit disrespected by it and they're going to come out and do just enough to cover tally tally.

1:29:36 I'll copy Shelton. And I said. Oklahoma. There we go, Miranda dropped in. Tennessee. And. The man with the guitar is taking Tennessee as well. Oh, before we get too far, I dropped it in the in the text there. You want to give the rundown, Curtis, of what we did last week, Week 3. Looks as follows. Brian five and one, Curtis five and one, Tally and Shelton two and four, Miranda three and three, and our gambling guitar man four and two season records. Everybody with the exception of Miranda is above 500, so we got to get Miranda out of them. Buffalo Wild Wings.

1:30:25 You can't. You can't. You can't. You can't go out, get out of. There, make your bet. So there you. Go That's where we stand. Right now, if you had bet with any of us, if you're crazy enough to do that, most of us would have made you a little bit of money, a little bit, very little bit. You walk around with an. Extra 12 bucks you got, you got enough to put back in next week. In other news In other news. Everybody knows I love orange. Not Tennessee orange. That's the worst color orange that ever was made. When? Never wear that orange is hideous. Go ahead, Curtis. All right, I am going. To take a look at the Michigan State Boston College game, it's going to be up in Chestnut Hill. Believe it or not y'all we are not the red bandana game. No ACC opponent is the red bandana game. I could not find it.

1:31:09 I actually have a red bandana. My neighbor used to be the tech sideline guy. He got 1 so I could explain to the boys effectively. You know what that guy did back on 9/11 23 years ago? Could not find it. They probably got it chucked in their room somewhere and I can't find it. But BC coming off damn near pulling off the upset in Columbia last week, they only lost by 6. We made some money off that. This week they're laying 6 1/2 to Michigan State and Brian. What do you think? You know what I'm going to keep? Riding with the eagles, they're. Doing me good so far. I'm not going to change it up. I'm with you. Laying 6 1/2 to Michigan. State Michigan State to me under Jonathan Smith and new regime up there probably not quite got where he wants it yet. So I'll take BC as well.

1:31:57 I'm a Brian the. Eagles have. Not let me down this year. It will not happen this week. I like the job Bob is doing. Give me Boston College. I got to. Listen to all the Alabama fans. And tell me how much they hate Bob. So I said I've been betting against him every day, every game. So I start. Why? You know you got to hit at least once, right? I got to stay consistent with losing. So I went with Michigan State, right? All righty. Tally going Michigan. State and Miranda and Jason always so coming along with us on the BC. Hey Tally, you you riding solo with the Spartans? There, man, Ryan, solo man. All right, Sheldon, where are we going? We are going to Morgantown West.

1:32:39 Virginia, I Pike this game because it looks like a pretty intriguing match up. Obviously Kansas is off to a slow start. I think they've been getting a little bit unlucky. It was a close spread, 2 1/2. So with that being said, I will take Kansas. I think they bounced back from a really tough loss against UNLV last week and they get the win in Morgantown. I'm I'm actually going to go the other direction. Here to use Sheldon, I'm taking Kansas. I think they get on the winning track here. I think this is going to be an outright win for for The Jayhawks. Yeah, same here. I'm. With Kansas as well, I think.

1:33:20 Kansas bounces back. We know Shelton's with. Kansas tally? What about? You man, I'm going to have to go with W. VUI mean I'm probably going to get a little bit from the sister before the game, get them hyped up, you know, maybe get a little nipple from Grand Mama and have a good game. All righty. And Miranda and Jason. Little opposite. Miranda, Kansas, Jason. West Virginia. Tally, where are you going this week, man? I am. Going to Utah and O OK State, pretty intriguing game. I don't know man, I just like to watch Utah play. They seem pretty physical year in and year out, so I love to watch Utah play. It's always fun to watch those games. I am going Utah in this game just for what I said. I just like to watch them play.

1:34:11 I like the style of football that they play. I'm right there with Tally. I'm taking the. The Utes here as well. I think they they've played very well so far to start the season in in my opinion, I think they're going to go in there and probably win by about a touchdown in Oklahoma State yeah I'm I'm with y'all too. I. Think at physical style, we saw Arkansas do it with a, with a, to me, a lesser cohesive team. I think Utah goes in there and they do win. I'll take the three points. Utah's one of my. Favorite non virgin anti team in the country? I love the way they play, I love how physical they are. But their quarterback Cam Rising was out last week.

1:34:54 He is expected to play this weekend, but we don't know if he's exactly 100% and he might be a little bit rusty. So for that reason, being on the road, I'm going to take OK State. Miranda's riding with you, Sheldon, and. Jason is jumping on board with me. Tally and Curtis Righty last. One here before we get to the music man, we got Georgia Tech traveling to Louisville. This is a massive line. I mean massive line. And I'm I'm trying to figure out smells stinky. Louisville is laying 10 points to Georgia Tech, who I mean has played solid all year. So, Brian, what do you think? Yeah, this this is a weird.

1:35:36 Line I don't know if Vegas knows something that I don't but I think this is going to be a close game wire to wire. So give me Georgia Tech in this one. I swear to God if Haynes King is hurt and. We don't find out about it until the 1st snap. I am going and saying give me my money back. That's bullshit. Give me Georgia Tech, Give me the 10. Yes, I'm taking Georgia Tech as well. I. Just think it's too big of a line. I I respect Louisville, but I think Georgia Tech will do just enough to cover same I. Feel like that line? Is too big. If anything we're going to be looking at about a three-point game, maybe 7. Give me Georgia Tech, Miranda. Is riding with Georgia.

1:36:20 Tech as well, and our music man. Is coming. In hot on Louisville, laying the 10 points. So that gets us to it, man. Our our music man is back. He's picked a big one this week. We got the USC Trojans at Michigan. So I'm going to let him tell you what he thinks about this one. California those.

1:37:01 Have a party California those. Have. A party in the city say come. To. Keep it rocking nowhere to keep it rocking California. In the city. In the city.

1:37:46 Welcome to another edition of Guitar Licks. And gambling picks. I'm Jason Long, riding a hot streak right now, so I'm going to keep it short. USC travels to Michigan on Saturday. They're laying 6 1/2 points. I think USC is going to win by at least a touchdown. So I'm going to go ahead and take USC minus 6 1/2 versus Michigan. You don't know why Coast, California?

1:38:39 See you next week. And there it is again, he said, laying 6. And a half there taking the Trojans and you know what? I'm riding right along with that. Give me USC in this one. Curtis, what you got? I'm with you on it. I've seen. USC play a couple Times Now and then, especially after seeing what LSU did down South Carolina put up a bunch of points and I know first game and everything but I know Alex awards you starting former Hokie committee just I I can't see Michigan slowing them down enough even in the big house to to to to not lay 6 1/2 points on this game.

1:39:26 I'm taking Michigan on a hunch. I just. I think, I think they're playing at home. They'll be they'll be motivated. You know, they they had a pretty crappy loss against Texas. So I like teams. Sometimes it bounce back when, like I said, the trips are down and I think they're going to respond. Man, I was going to go UFC. Anyway, but after he and Jason come in and sang Californian turning into a country's California love and turning into a country song man, he did did Roger Troutman a, a, a a great honor. So I got to go UFC just because of what Jason did. And obviously Miranda, she is also. Riding with this Jason obviously taking your. Yeah, when, when, when he sent us a message and he's like, I got what I'm going to do. We're like, there's so many songs about California, what we could do.

1:40:13 That was the entire Red Heart Hot Chili. Peppers you. Know. Yeah, that's not what I was expecting. When he started going, I'm like perfect curveball. Great, great, great. All righty, so throw them. All up there. There you go, what it looks like. Who got it best? Who got it wrong? Me and Curtis are pretty close here with our picks top to bottom. Curtis and Brian follow each other they. Just don't want to they have a bet with each other. Neither one of them wants to lose. So hey, I'm gonna start getting on my up on the on the 1st pick now I win Tennessee. I'm, I'm not, I'm not riding straight across, man. Well, I'm trying to look here. Yeah, well, you're. About the only one that I'm close with. So yeah, all right, real quick, bunch of y'all responded. I appreciate out here.

1:41:01 So how we feeling about this week our buddy Andretti back 2416. Hey, he's got the faith back Andretti got. Faith also to say man. Hey, we got some good stuff going on, man. All right, Hashim. 3620 Oh, seeing a blowout saying Hokey's Rock. 3524 I'd I'd love 3524 or 3620. That means I can relax about the last 20 minutes of the game. Buddy Thomas always out here Tookie by 4 and we. Do got one person? Where was it? Where was it? Jeff Jeff's with Ally.

1:41:47 And. Just like you. Hope you're wrong on that. So boom, anything coming up? I didn't Mr. I got to give a. Shit, man, yeah, I got to give a. Shout out to our our buddy Lavar he was at the game this past week sent me some cool videos before the game. Lavar thank you for always joining in man Loyal loyal you know listener always is engaged with us. Like I said send me some cool videos before the game. Hey man, if any of y'all go to the games, if y'all are posted and y'all got some some cool shots man send them to us. I'll find a way to get Brian, get Brian to get him on here one day soon.

1:42:28 But that was that was pretty awesome to see some pre game warm up stuff that Levar sent. So just wanted to give Levar shout out for that. I appreciate you big time. Yeah, Lavar has been riding. With us for now pretty much since we started going live on here. So big, big shout out to him for following along and happy you got to a game, happy you got. To a game this year, man. Hey, you got to see his his classmates out there. Getting worked a little bit, true. That's what you got to see. It's true all. Right, anything else breaking boys as we get to the 11:00 hour here on the East Coast? No, just be sure to. Check my. Article on the key plate tomorrow. How's that going out Talking about Kyron Jones, the passing game.

1:43:13 So hopefully some some very good informative stuff on the Hokie's passing game tomorrow, key play we're going to have. Miranda. Wilhelm's recap and preview dropping tomorrow along with our show. So, found your corner vt.com. Head there. Check that out, go to the key play, check out Shelton's work, everybody doing big things and fun things. So we appreciate the support and and all the love that y'all SWVA shop. I need some orange. Hats, I know y'all. Are here get me some orange. Hats man, let me know how much there is. I'm running out. I need some new ones. He needs new. By the way, looks like Levar made the student section. Mad good, Levar.

1:43:54 I'm glad you made them mad. And with that, that wraps up this episode of the Boundary Corner Podcast, brought to you by Count Stanley Pharmacy in Blacksburg. I'm Curtis Wilson. I'm Brian Siegler. Jonathan Talley. I'm Sean Moss. We are part of the college. Huddle Network Our. Website is at boundarycornerbt.com. Listen to all of our episodes. Check out the little merchandise shop. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube accounts, all your favorite podcast sources. Jason who just played the most country found edition of California love you ever heard making Roger Troutman proud per tally. Check him out at jasonlawmusic.com where you can link up to all of his music, Apple, Spotify, his YouTube and Facebook pages. Check him out on Instagram too because he is dropping the the gambling links usually on Saturday mornings for one last time to get that out there.

1:44:45 Also check out where he'll have his live events. He always keeps that updated. We appreciate you as always for listening where, the wherever and however you may listen to us. And as always, let's go. The.