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Redskins Anonymous

Well the name about sums it up, but here's a video my cousin Scott sent along to me with the tagline "I can't believe it's come to this." Me either buddy. Me either.

Stop Wearing Football Jerseys: Caps Beat Thrash 5-4

I'm growing a little tired of listing scores like 5-4, 6-5, 6-4, 4-3. This Caps team is so damn good, and so infuriating at the same time. I should have known better than to pack it in after Chris Clark's tally put DC up 5-2 in the second period. Between our erratic goaltender and our undisciplined play, there was no way that score would hold up. Shocker...it didn't. Here are my thoughts of the night:

• Ilya Kovalchuk is good. Really good. So when you feed him the puck (stares at Keith Aucoin) in the high slot, he's probably going to bury it. I bet he felt two feet tall after that giveaway...oh wait...


• He looked two feet tall standing up against Antropov after the big red diving machine gave him a little bit of a cheap shoulder in the third. I didn't mean to offend Aucoin with that little height joke, and I like his guts in standing up for himself. Nice pass on the Giroux goal too.


• Brendan Morrison continues to impress me with the little things he does. He had some nice backchecks last night, and really seems to be playing with some consistency, even when he doesn't show up on the scoresheet.


• Speaking of the scoresheet, where has Nicklas Backstrom been? The top line looked lame last night, so thank God for secondary scoring.


• The power play was garbage, and so was the ice. I agree with Boudreau, but I don't know that we have room to talk on the ice condition issue.

I think the penalties are maddening, and although you can yell at the refs for that slashing call on Knuble, it didn't surprise me. The Caps are not only shooting themselves in their proverbial foot at the end of games, but they're now maintaining a reputation for stupid, sloppy play in the third. I think that had a lot to do with the quick whistles down the stretch last night. I don't think a disciplined team doesn't get called for slashing or cross-checking in the same situations. That is the most concerning thing about this loss. Boudreau's run the boys down in practice Herb Brooks-style, and that obviously hasn't done the job. What can he do to alleviate the problem? I say fines. I don't know if that's possible, but fining a guy for a third-period penalty makes me think they would get the message quickly. But that's why I'm behind a computer and Boudreau gets to make ASC commercials, I guess. Get it fixed Gabby.

Kudos Go To:

Eric Fehr. Fehrsie has looked like a man trying to save his job, and it finally paid off last night. Sick hands on that goal. He's also been flying around the net a lot more lately, which I'm sure has a lot to do with #22. Secondary props to Double Nickel on the 3-spot (even if the goal wasn't his), and Clarkie for getting on the score sheet. Does Matt Bradley really have 3 goals already?

Small Delay

Hey guys...there are big things coming around the bend for FFODC, but that's going to require some extra time away from posting over the next few days from me. I promise that it will be worth it. I'll still have my ReCap after the Atlanta game tomorrow morning, but it's a good weekend to get this done with the Skins and Hokies off. Thanks for your patience!

2009-2010 Wizards Preview

So I've kept the Wizards chatter to a minimum, mostly because there hasn't been a ton to talk about with Gilbert's recent "silence." Of course the beginning of football season paired with hockey has taken a little away from the Wiz hype as well. Maybe I'd be more excited if they were the Bullets again. At any rate, the season is now a week away, and with a Redskin/Hokie/Capital bye week, why not give the Bullets their love? Here are some major questions facing the Wizards this season and some things to watch for:

• Coaching...how will Flip Saunders manage the egos and playing time of this roster? As some people have noted, the Wiz are basically a collection of swingmen and scorers, so who gets the minutes? Will Mike Miller become a starter or stay a sixth man? What about "defensive minded" resident psycho DeShawn Stevenson? Will he and his neck tattoos see slashed minutes this season? Will he be able to push Randy Foye and Andray Blatche to their potential productivity? All of these are big questions entering the season with Flip at the helm.
• Depth...speaking of roster management, last season saw Nick Young, JaVale McGee, Dominic McGuire, and Blatche gain some experience with significant injuries. How valuable that experience was comes in to question when you consider that those guys were playing for a lame-duck coach and didn't show a ton of progress as the season slogged on. Will these guys be able to fight their way into a regular rotation, or will they give up their minutes easily to Foye and Miller? Each of these guys is under 25, and the competition has to be helpful for a team that seemed a bit complacent before all the injuries set in.
• Consistency...can the Wizards remember how to win right out of the gate or will they stumble. Once they figure it out, can they maintain a high level of play? Everyone seems to think that they're a lock to be the NBA's most improved team this season, but how they respond to being kicked around for the entire 2008-2009 season will be a story to watch. If they can establish consistency against bad teams (something they couldn't do last year), as well as grab a few pelts from the Bostons, Clevelands and Orlandos of the world, it could be a good season.

The biggest story of the season will easily be the Arenas/Haywood recovery process. How will they perform? Will their presence, plus solid coaching from Saunders allow them to challenge the elite teams in the East, or will their talent alone carry them to a low seed in the conference? Overall, I have to think the season will go somewhere in between. You have to think that the "big three" of Caron, Gilbert and Antawn (considering injury) have lost at least a step since their heyday a few years ago, so it's hard to expect any more than a 4-5 seed in the East. However, while they might not be as good, it seems that the depth (and overall youth) has improved as a result of decent drafting and dealing. Will that be enough to be the best of the non-elite in the East? I think so. I think the best case scenario is for the Wiz to challenge a 50 win season, while the worst is another injury plagued year where they struggle to hit 35. I believe with their talent, they should fall somewhere in between. I'll go with the high side and make my prediction for the season:

44-38, 5th in the Eastern Conference, lose in Eastern Conference Semifinals

A Couple of Jabs

On Sunday evening, my dad, a longtime Redskins fan and season ticket holder (and guy that created the monster of fandom that is your resident blogger), sent me this email. Under normal circumstances, I would have been pissed off and maybe even sent back a smarmy response. However, these aren't normal circumstances we're dealing with as Redskins fans. Here are the contents of the aforementioned email:

From: Dad
To: The Miz

Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2009 11:01:34 PM

Subject: Fwd: Redskins

HEADLINE: "D.C. Police are cracking down on speeders. For the first offense, they give you two Redskins tickets. If you get stopped a second time, they give you two Nationals tickets."

Q. What do you call 47 millionaires sitting around a TV watching the Super Bowl?

A. The Washington Redskins.

Q. What do the Redskins and Billy Graham have in common?

A. They both can make 90,000 people stand up and yell "Jesus Christ."

Q. How do you keep the Redskins out of your yard?

A. Put up a goal post.

Q. Where do you go in D.C. in case of a tornado?

A. To FedEx Field -- they never have a touchdown there!

Q. What do you call a Redskin with a Super Bowl ring?

A. Senior Citizen

Q. What's the difference between the Redskins and a dollar bill?

A. You can still get four quarters out of a dollar bill.

Q. How many Redskins does it take to win a Super Bowl?

A. We may never find out in the 21st century.

Q. What do the Redskins and opossums have in common?

A. Both play dead at home and get killed on the road.

Awesome. These are dark times we're living in. Dark times I tell you!

Lol Hokies: Week Seven

This week's edition of LolHokies comes with a side of anger directed at the stupid bumble bee. h8u other tech.

Field Goal Fest: Redskins lose 14-6

I wasn't all that far off. Outside of a safety in place of a field goal, the scoring went about as I had expected (I picked a 15-9 Chiefs win). Besides the 40% attendance and major booing and benching Jason Campbell, here are my thoughts on the game:

• Of course the day I call him Albert Haynesworthless, he decides to make a home in the backfield. He actually had an impact, and only limped off the field about seven times. The collapse on the sideline was a little melodramatic, I think.
• Justin Tryon is still awful.
• DeAngelo Hall wasn't exactly good either.
• The rest of the defense really can't be blamed too much...giving up 12 points is nothing to be ashamed of. Plus entering the day, they were 4th overall in the league.
• The offense needs to be blown up. Literally. Save Chris Cooley.
• Jason Campbell's benching was probably something that needed to happen, but it doesn't make it feel any better.
• Todd Collins didn't look any better after his first big throw to Santana Moss.
• Portis was gawdawful outside of that 79 yard run, and he also deserved to be benched. I loved how they said he had an ankle injury, and then showed him STANDING pissed off by himself on the sideline. Nice.
• I think Dan Snyder punished all the no-shows by cutting the wires for CBS and causing the "technical difficulties." Wait...did I say punishment?

I can say I'm mad about this, but I can't get too worked up. It was expected. We've now given FOUR teams their first victory of the season now. Vomit. Odds on Zorn getting fired on the bye week: 3 to 2

Your Sieve of the Week:

Mr. Maroon and Black Himself. No explanation necessary.

AO at the Beginning, AO at the End: Caps Win 3-2 (SO)

The Caps called on their superstar to deliver on Saturday night, and in keeping his torrid scoring pace, he managed to just that. Ovie scored his trademark goal on "The Play" (a la backdoor pass to make the goalie stretch) on the power play, and then found himself all alone on Dan Ellis a short while later. Those two weren't enough, because the defense and Varly couldn't hold out. After a soft goal by J.P. Dumont late in the second period, the two teams played to a shootout, where Ovechkin dazzled fans with a nasty deke that put Ellis on his belly before Ovi flipped the puck in the net. A few observations from the box score:

• -1 for Backstrom with 33% in the dot? Not such a good night. I think Nicky misses his line buddy no. 8.
• Tom Poti skated 23+ minutes at a +1? Nice. Better than he's shown early on in the young season.
• Only four minors taken throughout the night...we've been much worse lately. Overall the Caps are moving in the right direction with regards to the penalty box.

Kudos Go To:

Alex Ovechkin of course. He now leads the league in goals (9), points (16), and is second in +/- (9). Not a bad start, considering he's also averaging 2.00 points per game. That extra training over the summer seems to be paying off. He's several weeks ahead of last years pace, and that's bad for the rest of the Eastern Conference, especially that he's doing it 5-on-5.

Next Up: @ Atlanta

Welcome Back Stiney: Hokies Lose 28-23 in ATL

Could've seen this one coming from a mile away. What were the keys to the game for Georgia Tech? Abuse the young VT linebackers en route to a strong rushing effort...check. Force turnovers early (slash keep the crowd in it)...check. Have Kam Chancellor screw up...check. I wasn't able to watch this one, thanks to marching band as mentioned earlier, but I had my trusty Blackberry in hand (and ready to throw against a wall). From everything I've heard, and the highlights I've seen, it seemed as though we couldn't get any real key stops, and Georgia Tech came in with a great gameplan. I expected no less from a well-coached team. Frank Beamer's teams now are 0-1298483 when ranked in the top five in a game that matters, and 0-82012948 in Atlanta. Ok, not that bad, but it sure feels that way.

I could get into the stats on this one, but it just doesn't feel worth it. Maybe I'll take a little extra time this week to dive in with the week off (Redskins too), but my heart isn't in it right now. I'll just wax poetic on our relationship with the other Tech for now. I hate you Bumble Bee. You can go straight to hell. You rushed your field and punched out some of our staff members. You are classless. I hate to say this, but we have a rivalry. For the forseeable future, we will slug it out every year for the ACC Coastal crown, and I will be happy to have our boys come back to Blacksburg next year and kick your asses. But furreal, since WVU is irrelevant/off the schedule, looks like GT gets kicked up a notch. Go f*%# yourself Bumblebee.

Week 6: Kansas City

The Redskins will face their NFL record SIXTH consecutive winless team when the Chiefs come calling to FedEx Field this afternoon. They'll have to do so without one of their best players, and last hope at a semblance of offensive line in Chris Samuels, and with questions swirling around ownership, coaching, and leadership within the organization. The team has seen the likes of Sonny, Sam, Joey T, and John Riggins completely trash everything about the organization in the last several weeks. Things are bad kids. Real bad.

Looking at today, I know I can assure one thing: FedEx will NOT be filled by any means. Not only is Dan Snyder trotting a crappy product under crappy direction onto the field, but it's supposed to be 46 degrees with a 90% chance of rain. Guess who gave his tickets away last night? I was shocked that I was able to find anyone to take them. Now it kills me to miss a game, don't get me wrong, but between my frustrating Saturday (i.e. marching band "competition" sans percussion judge, two hour bus ride with Mermaid Man from SpongeBob at the wheel, Tech choking..again, and the Caps playing down to the Preds) and the weather, there was no way driving up to Landover was in the works for today. So from the comfort of my couch under my still very loved VT blanket, here's my crappy prediction on today's ugg-fest.

• To say the Redskins offensive line is patchwork is laughable. We'll see Stephon Heyer at left tackle (vomit) and Mike Williams (yeah, that dude) at right tackle. I'm pretty sure Will Montgomery's getting the start too. Let's hope he blocks better than his Hokie brethren. Considering that Kansas City has spent a considerable number of picks on their D-line in recent years (from memory: Tyson Jackson, Dorsey and Tamba Hali?)...they aren't without talent, and we'll probably see that today. Ugh. JC might be dead with 6:34 in the second quarter. He'll probably be happy to be put out of his misery.
• What egregious coaching error will we see today? Blown time out? Zorn saying that Brandon Flowers hits too hard and should be kicked out of the game for making a routine tackle? Benching Albert Haynesworthless? Oh wait...
• What the hell happened to Larry Johnson anyway? Wasn't he Adrian Peterson before AD came around? Damn did he drop of the face of the earth. Look for him to crawl out from a rock today and rush for 300 yards.
• Over/Under on Matt Cassel dropped interceptions from Carlos Rogers? 3.

As you can tell, I'm none too happy right now. We have a weak defense, and a pathetic offense. Even superhero Chris Cooley has to stay in and block. God help us all...

Redskins 9
Chiefs 15

Field goal fest, here we come!

Nabby Dances, Caps Win: 4-1

What on God's green Earth was he attempting to do on that save? We'll probably never know, but man was it pretty. After Nabby thwarted an early shot by Ovechkin with his glove hand, he and Ovi seemed to exchange some playful words and a laugh. Then Ovi had fun the rest of the night. #20 for San Jose? Not so much. Here are a few of my observations from last night:

• I was really skeptical about the Ovechkin-Morrison-Knuble line, but man did they have a solid night. Knuble made the heady plays, Morrison moved the puck up ice quickly, and Ovi capitalized...it's all good.
• Brian Pothier hasn't looked as sharp these last few games.
• No bad penalties, and I thought Quintin Laing looked really solid last night.
• Alex Semin had a few really pretty takeaways, and I agree with Alan May that Sasha had an overall solid game last night. I also thought that Shaone Morrisonn continued to play physically strong and effective in his own zone.
• Varly's glove looked pretty solid last night, eh? It's a shame that seeing it had to be at the expense of Theo's back, considering that JT60 had played really well so far this season. Get better soon Theo.

Kudos Go To:

Brendan Morrison. The guy has just seemed like he's out to prove himself all over again, and he really seems like a quiet leader that the Caps need. Someone that plays with a lot of heart on the top two lines is a big plus right about now, and B-Mo fits in well with the team's attitude and chemistry. Let's hope this is only the beginning. That signing is looking like a pretty good bargain at this point...

Week Seven: Bring on Gah Tech

So maybe I was a little harsh yesterday. I mean, Georgia Tech is a solid program with a history worth discussing prior to the Clinton administration. They've beaten a team by over 200 points before. Not bad. It doesn't mean I have to like them though. In reading message boards and blog posts this week, I've seen a lot of cockiness that resembles Miami circa week four. We can't have any of that business. Georgia Tech is a solid team with a solid coach, playing at night as a home dog. Nothing about those last three sentences gives me the warm and fuzzies this week. How do we ever feel when we're a legitimately good team that gets no credit at home? We stomp people. That's the mindset that the Yellow Jackets must be taking this week. Here are three keys to the game for each team on Saturday.

The Ramblin' Wreck will win if:

• Paul Johnson wins the chess match with Bud Foster. Unfortunately for us, Bud's pieces include two very young linebackers that have been known to play a little too instinctively. We all saw what happened the last time we were in Atlanta when Jake Johnson followed his instincts (hint: touchdown Upchurch). If GT wants to dominate the Hokies, they have to exploit the overaggression of the young linebackers and set up some timely throws over the top to Bey-Bey Thomas. I believe Johnson will find some yards out of the Tech D, and there are two ways this could go: Either the bend-but-don't-break Nebraska type of game, or the bend-then-break Alabama type of game...defensively speaking of course. If the latter takes place, the Hokies will have another long trip home from the ATL.


• They force a turnover or score quickly. While Homecoming isn't sold out just yet, the "other" Tech fans that will be in attendance will be pumped. Georgia Tech's defense hasn't been able to slow anyone lately, but a loud crowd that helps cause early mistakes (e.g. turnovers, penalties, coverage breakdowns) could spell disaster for the visitors on Saturday.


• Kam Chancellor acts like typical, overaggressive, "blame everyone else" Kam Chancellor. Saturday is about playing disciplined, assignment football. Chacellor has proven that this is not his strong suit. The fact that he sells out for plays leads to big hits, and sometimes interceptions, but it also has caused major lapses and big plays against the Hokie defense. Chancellor's blown assignments also tend to snowball when he initiates finger pointing and bitching (Jimmy Williams anyone?) as a result. If Chancellor makes mistakes early and often, Thomas and the Jacket offense could be in for a big night.

The Hokies will win if:

• Bryan Stinespring continues his recent trend of calling effective, game-managing type games. Because Georgia Tech will run the ball over 70% of the time, they will look to wear down Tech's defensive line and time of possession will be big. Stinespring might think quick strikes are great for morale, and obviously the points (much like Boykin's touchdown last week), but our defense needs the offense to try and hold onto the ball as long as possible. The last thing the Hokies want is to get into a shootout mentality, because the defense will not be able to hold up. Luckily, Tyrod Taylor has been managing this gameplan to perfection over the last several weeks.


• The defensive line gets penetration against the Jackets and hits Josh Nesbitt early and often. Nesbitt will be jumpier if he's forced into early decisions, whether pitching, keeping or throwing. It is important for the defensive line to neutralize the inexperience of Johnson and Rivers by dictating how the Jackets run their offense.


• The special teams continue to pull their weight and control field position. Bowden is first in the ACC in net punting average, while Dyrell Roberts sits second in the nation in kick return average. If the Hokies can control field position, and take points when they can get them (kick the damn field goal, Frank), they should help control the tempo and keep the crowd out of the game.

The key stats for Saturday are time of possession, Georgia Tech's first down YPC, average starting field position, and red zone conversion percentage. Overall, I just don't feel great about this game. The hype and the pundits are weighing on our players' ears. If they buy into their hype, even a little bit, this will be a close game, or we will lose outright. The intangibles point entirely toward Georgia Tech. However, I'd say that I consider the VT Offense/GT Defense an advantage, the VT Defense/GT Offense a push (with a slight edge to GT), and Special Teams to heavily favor VT. With regards to talent, the Jackets just don't have it on the defensive side of the ball. I think if Bryan Stinespring can stay out of his own way and coordinate like he has recently, the Hokies should win. Georgia Tech will get their yards, and probably their points, but the Hokie defense has to be opportunistic and force turnovers. I think this will scare us all more than we'd like, but I'll go ahead and make my standard homer prediction:

Hokies 27
Ramblin' Wreck 23

Let's do this thing.

I Have a Bone to Pick With You Bumble Bee

You know, I put up with Calvin Johnson. I've lived with the fact that we're repeatedly called "Vah Tech" by the media and the Jackets never hear "Gah Tech." I even let the whole '2008 Championship Banner for the Yellow Jackets' thing fly. No more of this rubbish bumble bees. This disrespect must stop. Apparently, Georgia Tech decided that we would be the most appropriate homecoming opponent for them this season. That stings a little (pun intended).

We all know that collegiate homecoming games are supposed to be scheduled against scrub teams. Maybe they're trying to pay us back for scheduling them as our homecoming guests back in 2005, and also for whipping them 51-7. Whatever the case may me, Virginia Tech should not be anyone's homecoming opponent. To make matters worse, they haven't even sold out the damn game, and it's a 6:00 PM start time. I would do horrible things for a 6:00 PM kickoff in Blacksburg on a Saturday. I wouldn't normally be so fired up about this little injustice, but in context with some of the other garbage we've heard spewed from and about the Jackets since last season's supposed "fluke," I think the Hokies should be a little mad about this. Let's hope we can party like it's 2005. We are no Western Kentucky.

Lol Hokies

So I thought this would be pretty entertaining. Here are some photos from the week with some mildly humorous captions (at least to me). Enjoy!

Weekend Round-Up

Ok guys, I'm alive. Promise. It was tough to post during homecoming weekend because I: a. didn't bring my laptop with me, and b. was only able watch two of the four relevant games to this blog (way to be cheap and not have cable Jeremey/Stephen). However, the long weekend was nice, and I do have plenty to talk about, so strap in...we'll take this team-by-team (saving the best for last with regards to recent performance).

Redskins lose to Carolina 20-17:

Terrible. This was one I wasn't able to watch. Thanks to my trusty Blackberry (that I almost threw against the wall), I saw that we managed to play an ugly game, at least according to the ESPN gamecast. I saw lots of fumbles, lots of sacks, and no Chris Cooley. That is not a combination for winning. To make matters worse, Phillip Daniels and Chris Samuels both appear to have suffered reasonably significant injuries. Wonderful. Any momentum (and there wasn't much) coming out of the win against the Bucs is now gone, and we'll be lucky to compete against the lowly Chiefs this weeked. God help us all. Can we just take this season out back and shoot it already? We could put ourselves out of our own misery.

Caps fall in Detroit 3-2, then poop their pants in the third period for the fourth straight game and lose to the Devils in a shootout.

More terrible in some ways because unlike the Skins, they have no business playing this way. I wasn't able to watch the Detroit game, but I did watch last night. As much as I hate Nylander, maybe Boudreau needs to send a message to Boyd Gordon about late game penalties. The lacka of dissaprine is no good. We're tied with Tampa for the division lead for God's sake. Jose Theodore looks spectacular at times and overmatched at others, but the blueline is KILLING us. I don't know that I've seen such terrible play out of Tom Poti in his now 2+ years in Washington. We have no elite defensemen right now. Not good. I have confidence that they'll turn things around, as they've been in games despite their own stupidity, but Gabby's got to start preaching accountability to the boys in red.

And finally, Hokies take BC behind the woodshed instead of playing down to their opponent.

Maybe it was the three consecutive regular season losses to the Eagles. Maybe it was the fact that I radiate amazingness and was present in Lane Stadium for the dominance. Maybe Bryan Stinespring has finally decided to keep his head out of his butt and call a football game. Maybe Tyrod Taylor is a legit QB. I don't know that these are all the reasons why we won on Saturday, but I think they all made a difference (especially point #2). Now after seeing this team in person, I know that they have the ability to be special. N*%#$ C#*@#& special (yeah, I'm not saying those words)? I don't know...maybe. I don't think we'll win out. I've said it over and over, but we have the ABILITY to win out. Tyrod looks poised, accurate and confident under pressure, as evidenced by his touchdown pass to Danny Coale in the first quarter. Ryan Williams truly is a monster, and should be the '09 version of Bo Jackson in Tecmo. Coale and Boykin look legit, and Ed Wang even brocked werr on Saturday. He graded at 89 percent...wow. Guess those sumo lessons are paying off.

Bud Foster decided to go ahead and sacrifice that calf. His name was Dave Shinske. Master of Ceremonies for that ordeal was Nekos Brown, who was all over the place. Rashad Carmichael, like I've been saying all year is legit, and Kam Chancellor managed to not mess anything up either. Overall the defense looked great. If Tech plays with that sense of urgency for the rest of the season, the sky is the limit.

Overall, a so-so weekend for FFODC teams. The Caps can buy a break right now, but the Skins can't. The Hokies look really good, but must be consistent from week to week. I'll be back tonight with a Hokie surprise that I hope you guys will like. Until then, try not to burn all your Redskins' stuff.

Week Six: God I Hate Matt Ryan

Can we please just fast forward to tomorrow at noon? How I hate thee, Boston College. Let me count the ways:

1. Doug Flutie. Doug Flutie. Doug Flutie.


2. Matt Ryan and his stupid pass to win a game that they didn't deserve.


3. Matt Ryan for having a good first season in the NFL. I hope he breaks his leg this year. Nice Champs Sports Bowl ring, joke.


4. Jeff Jagodzinski. Nice unemployment check, joke.


5. Rich Gunnell. Is this dude in his seventh year? He always seems to do something against us.


6. Brenden Hill for dancing to Sweet Caroline while down by 20. Wait...


7. Their stupid 27 "superfans" that wear those awful yellow T-shirts. Decide on a secondary color idiots.


8. Steve Aponovicious. If I hear an announcer call this kid Sid Vicious one more time, someone is getting suplexed.


9. They're from Boston. Say your 'r's.


10. They have "history" in their program, but they're in no way historical.

I need help from our home viewers out there. Over/Under on how many times they show/refer to the Hail Mary pass AND the lucky play from '07: 7. Please let me know how this shakes out, as I'll be in the stands, screaming my face off. I'll miss Doc Walker on Raycom soooo much (vomit). Luckily, we're right behind the opposing bench this week, so the BC chumps might actually be able to make out what I'm saying. Whether what I yell is discernable by a human, sober ear is another question in and of itself.

I hear that BC has a good pass defense and a 92-year-old freshman quarterback that did OK against Northeastern...I think. I don't care. Apparently #2 is a pretty solid back, averaging 4.7 YPC. I don't care. The Hokies should be spitting mad on Saturday morning. Bud Foster should sacrifice a fatted calf and paint his players' faces with the blood. Bryan Stinespring should continue to stay out of Tyrod Taylor's way. This game is huge...believe me, but it's a game that the Hokies SHOULD win handily. They should be ready to prove the doubters wrong, and tune up for Georgia Tech. The crowd will be charged, even for a noon game, and Tech has lost the last three regular season matchups against BC.

Channel the 2005 Defense:

Hokies 31
Eagles 10

Bonus pick of the week: Josh Oglesby goes for his first 100 yard game, Tyrod throws for <>

Let's Go.

Game Four: Rags 4, Caps 3...Yuck

That was ugly. What am I referring to? With regards to last night's flop in the phone booth against the Rangers, I'm talking about the defense, the powerplay, the third period goaltending, and the third and fourth lines. That game was one that just made you want to scream, because you know your team was outworked, even if they were the more talented group on the ice. I'm sure that's how Pittsburghers felt the other night when they were blanked by the Coyotes at home. In fairness to the Rags, they're not Phoenix, and Marian Gaborik (when healthy) can be an impressive scoring winger, but the Rangers should have never been in the game. The powerplay decided to take up passing drills rather than putting pucks on net, and Boyd Gordon committed another offensive zone penalty to cost the home team the game. Jose Theodore looked overmatched in the third, and I'm not so sure we won't see Neuvirth called up if Varly struggles against Detroit (assuming he plays). Here are the few things I actually liked about last night:

• Brian Pothier needs to stop gracing the press box with his presence. That was a beautiful pass to Semin for goal number one.


• Brendan Morrison seemed to everything right but score a goal. He was really flying around, and seems to be at 100%.


• Knuble looked very good with the first powerplay unit when he was given the opportunity, offering a "big time screen" and net presence according to Beninati.

Three bullets...that's weak. Back to the drawing board. Bruce needs to fire up his team if they want to take a point out of Detroit on Saturday...they won't do it with another effort like that.

My CFB Top 25: Week Five

My Rank	Last Week	Team	Record
1	1	Alabama	5-0
2	2	Florida	4-0
3	3	Texas	4-0
4	4	Cincinnati	5-0
5	9	LSU	5-0
6	6	Virginia Tech	4-1
7	10	Southern Cal	4-1
8	7	TCU	4-0
9	11	Miami (FL)	3-1
10	5	Boise State	5-0
11	12	Ohio State	4-1
12	14	Iowa	5-0
13	15	Kansas	4-0
14	16	Oklahoma State	3-1
15	25	Auburn	5-0
16	17	Oregon	4-1
17	18	Nebraska	3-1
18	20	South Florida	5-0
19	22	Georgia Tech	4-1
20	23	Brigham Young	4-1
21	24	South Carolina	4-1
22	NR	Penn State	4-1
23	NR	Wisconsin	5-0
24	NR	Notre Dame	4-1
25	NR	Pittsburgh	4-1

The top of my poll remained unchanged this week, so that's pretty ho-hum...the big changes this week were based upon how impressive (or unimpressive) some teams looked. I did the non-homer thing and kept Tech were they were last week. They didn't look good, but they also didn't look bad enough to drop. LSU beat a quality opponent and was rewarded, while Boise State looked terrible in their win, and dropped. TCU moved up despite losing some rep points after Clemson got turtle waxed in College Park. The Horned Frog defense looks pretty strong at this point in the season. Houston, Oklahoma, Georgia and Michigan all had losses, and two-loss (or one-loss lame schedule) teams don't get to stick around my top 25 this early in the season. Auburn took the biggest jump with their win over Tennessee and efficient play thus far. Penn State, Notre Dame, and Stanford all got into the mix this week with wins, but none of them impressed me enough to put them above 20. Penn State looked like trash for the first half against Illinois. Pitt squeaked into the final spot because I was impressed with their offense, even in defeat against NC State two weeks ago.