CFB Week 6: Hokies and Hoos head to North Carolina for tough matchups

There’s a great weekend of college football ahead of you this weekend! But it’s going to be a long season for Hokie and Hoo fans.

October 4, 2012; 6:41 AM • by Ross Catrow

This week saw the Hokies fall to 3-2 and the Hoos fall to 2-3, both which I kind of predicted. It’s going to be a tough year for football in the Commonwealth, so strap in and prepare yourselves (for sadness).

Normally I hate all things WVU, but just try and hate this video of their entire stadiums singing along to “Take me Home, Country Roads” after their victory over Baylor:

Here’s a couple notables from this past weekend that you may have missed:

#8 West Virginia beat Baylor 70-63. The Baylor QB threw for 581 yards with five TDs and one INT–in a regulation loss! Insane! WVU’s Gino Smith, who’s at the top of everyone’s Heisman list, threw for 656 yards and eight TDs. Eiiiight.

Middle Tennessee crush a struggling Georgia Tech 49-28. You’ve gotta wonder how much longer Al Groh has as the Yellow Jacket’s defensive coordinator. How many ACC programs is that guy going to destroy before we get rid of him?

LSU faced Towson in THE BATTLE OF THE TIGERS. Most LSU fans thought that this would be a walk in the park, a chance to get the backups a few reps. The LSU student paper even ran this clever feature asking students where Towson was located (spoiler alert: no one knew). Well, LSU QB Zach Mettenberger played the entire game, and it took until one minute left in the first half for LSU to build up a two-score lead. The Tigers (of LSU) eventually won 38-22.

Upset: Washington over then-#8 Stanford, 17-13. Last week I said this:

It is my opinion, after watching that Stanford-USC game, that The Cardinal are the best football team in the Pac-12.

That was, obviously, incorrect. All hail #2 Oregon! The conquering heroes!

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Virginia Tech at North Carolina

Saturday, October 6th, 12:30 PM; ESPN3

I think most of us saw that coming.

Another week, another inept showing by the offense. This time it took nearly 30 minutes of play to move the chains a single time, and Tech offense could only muster two first downs in the entire first half. For the game, the Hokies were 4/13 on third down conversions. Terrible. But then, something clicked in the second half, and VT rattled off 17 points in the fourth quarter. Of course it wasn’t enough as Cinncy QB “Munchie Legaux” Matt Ryan’d the Hokies with a last second TD to go up by three. Oh well.

This week the ACC schedule begins in earnest with an away game at North Carolina. How will the Hokies play? I have no idea. When they decide to play, they are actually a pretty decent football team. When they decide to shit the bed, they really shit the bed. The Tar Heels are 3-2 with losses to Wake Forest and Louisville; Virginia Tech should beat this team. But will they? I think it’ll come down to how the young secondary performs against a UNC passing offense that is one of the best in the nation.

But despite the loss last week, there definitely were some positives to take away, and for whatever reason I’m feeling hopeful. Go Hokies!

Virginia at Duke

Saturday, October 6th, 3:00 PM; ESPN3

From last week:

I think things are going to end up in the Hoo’s favor, but watch out if it turns into a shoot-out!

It was true! At the end of the half, Virginia was up four, but then came the third quarter and an avalanche of 21 unanswered points for Louisiana Tech. And of course there was UVA QB Rocco–poor, interception-prone Rocco. He threw three interceptions against the Bulldogs, one was returned for a touchdown and the other two resulted in touchdowns. Rocco’s thrown 6 TDs and 8 INTs this season, and I’d guess he won’t be throwing any more of either. Coach London said Alabama transfer Philip Simms will start at Duke this weekend.

Duke is 4-1 for the first time since 1994, and currently sits above both Tech and UVA in the ACC standings. Truth be told, I was going to pick Duke to crush the Wahoos in ol’ Wallace Wade Stadium. But starting Philip Simms, might give the Hoos the spark they need to turn the season around. Improving their 116th-ranked turnover margin wouldn’t hurt either. Go Hoos!

Games worth watching

Thursday, 9:00 PM, ESPN; #13 USC at Utah — Watch as Lane Kiffin collects another win, or don’t.

Friday, 7:00 PM, ESPN; Pittsburgh at Syracuse — The final Big East matchup of the teams that betrayed the Big East! Come on Pitt! Don’t screw this one up, Hokie fans are counting on you to have a decent season.

12:00 PM, ESPN; #24 Northwestern at Penn State — Penn State continues its streak of games televised on either ABC or ESPN (for reasons other than football). Sure.

12:30 PM, ESPN3; Virginia Tech at North Carolina — Go Hokies!

3:00 PM, ESPN3; Virginia at Duke — Go Hoos!

3:30 PM, CBS; #4 LSU at #10 Florida — LSU hasn’t been ranked below fourth since the final AP Poll of 2010–this changes Saturday. The Tigers just haven’t played the level of competition that the Gators have. <gatorchomp motion>!

7:00 PM, FOX; #8 West Virginia at #11 Texas — The over/under for this game is currently 75. The combined average score for these two teams over the last four games is 100. Place your bets. #NoDefenseInTheBig12

8:00 PM, ABC; #21 Nebraska at #12 Ohio State — Did you see those wild uniforms at last week’s Nebraska-Wisconsin game? I was all, “Whoa, did Scrabble sponsor this game?” Then I looked on Twitter and saw that was far from an original idea. Anyway, I’m loving Nebraska in the Big Ten! Go Huskers!

10:30 PM, ESPN; #23 Washington at #2 Oregon — 10:30 PM is Must Watch TV for Oregon fans. I really wish I could catch some of these Ducks games, but after a hard day of football watching I am asleep by the end of the first quarter. I assume Oregon is still scoring a trillion points per second?¹

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Etc.

• Game of the week: West Virginia at Texas
• Stupid prediction from the heart not the head for the week six: Nebraska over Ohio State. If I had to pick two, the second would be NC State over FSU.
• Gus Johnson Watch: West Virginia at Texas. Johnson’s new deal with FOX has him calling college football games. It’s just about the best thing ever.

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October 4, 2012 6:41 AM 3