Losing Ross hurts us on returns but weāll be fine on offense without him, weāre pretty deep at WR. Need guys like Kam Courtney and Jayden Thomas to step up.
The encouraging news is that Wilson is nowhere to be seen on that injury report. Heās much more important to our offense than Ross is in my opinion.
To be fair I feel like youāve had a bad feeling about every P4 game this year like youāre expecting the wheels to come off at any point.
we donāt need Ross to beat this horrible UNC team
Also, the OL has relatively few guys out compared to the last few games. Iām sure theyāre banged up so I wonāt say theyāre āhealthyā, but having Boley genuinely available rather than āavailableā would be really nice. A good OL fixes a lot of problems.
I actually felt really good about FSU! Rearranged my schedule to make a trip down and everything!
And I thought weād comfortably win against WSU!
Ok well then my argument is cooked lol.
I know we can absolutely lay an egg tmrw but this UNC team is just so bad. We should be able to run on them and their offense plays right into our defenseās strengths. They almost never throw the ball downfield, itās all short passes. And their running game is pedestrian at best. If the offense shows up at all, we should win comfortably
My friend, do you not realize the magnitude of what we are up against? The egg is always lurking and generally half-way āvisibleā in big games. Opponent strength is immaterial.
Donāt look now but I actually think we may be the front runner for gameday next week @ Cal if both teams win. They wonāt double dip SEC with the backlash theyāre getting and that would be the best game of the week I think.
Oklahoma-Tennessee is the competition but I think the SEC over index complaints (which are dumb) has broken through. Vandy-Texas is a big game but obviously canāt do that with Vandy this week. Every other decent team is playing a team thatās already fired their coach or is going to.
Cal currently getting a touchdown in Blacksburg though. Honestly donāt want them to get gameday, donāt want a hyped up crowd out there.
They went to Cal last year as the only ACC conference game, I sort of doubt theyād bless them again.
My money would be on Miami @ SMU if they were to go ACC - may be the best ACC matchup left on the schedule. SMU is undefeated in ACC play, has never hosted gameday, features two of the top 3 ACC teams from last year, strong markets, etc.
Followed by UVA-Duke (but think they go Texas Tech-BYU) or Pitt-GT (but that UGA-GT game the following weekā¦) as next best options.
If we win the next two, hosting gameday against Wake isnāt an impossibility. BYU at TTU is probably the most likely candidate followed by A&M at Mizzou but I could see ESPN having some interest in supporting the ACC, especially a school who hasnāt hosted before.
Yeah Iād bet money on TTU-BYU that week. Youāre right about the Miami-SMU one. Iām surprised SMU never got it for an iron skillet? I guess their nadir as a program kind of coincided with the rise of gameday until now.
If Cal wins again they may sneak into the top 25, and I think the gameday department of emotional terrorism would fall all over itself to do a story about us recovering from the shooting.
And they have hit Coral Gables this season already, and I do think Cal would have a better showing for them. SMU football games are kind of a sorry sight.
Iām not sure Wake would move the needle but I could see them making an effort to hit us.
The real questionā weād let them set up on the lawn right?? We would use it as marketing for our beautiful UNESCO world heritage site at the center of the university?? We wouldnāt put them in a new dorms quad??? We wouldnāt possibly fuck that up?? Right???
Nah, no chance. No votes in either poll.
Navy @ North Texas a sneaky possibility but usually Gameday goes non-P4 later in the season. That game is going to be on ESPN2 or ESPNU and will be just up the road from that Miami-SMU game.
https://twitter.com/petenakos_/status/1981492829877575976?s=46
Glad weāre playing the real game with transfers midseason. Donāt think this is necessarily something weād have seen in previous years at UVa.
Crazy part is this kid is planning to play out the year at OK State and still take visits. Ridiculous world we live in now in college athletics. Imagine putting your blood sweat and tears into trying to win and the guy next to you has one foot out the doot.
We are honestly running our program like the big boys do.
Whatās our OL 2 deep look like next season? A lot might depend on who wants to apply for a 22 exception (which Iām unclear on. I thought it was originally for anyone who was out of eligibility after 22, but itās also been given to guys who wouldāve been out of eligibility after 22 before redshirts and covid exceptions like Nick Jackson or Antonio Clary, but then Jahmeer Carter came back this season presumably using that exception so maybe anyone on the 22 team can get an extra year?)
Boley could petition for another season either here or elsewhere or could maybe try for the NFL. Josey the same. Wilsonās done. Metcalf could get another year for being injured last year? Or was this year the exception for last year? Witmer could get a 22 exemption. Mills could get an injury redshirt. York needs to get stronger. And some of HS recruits like Surber and Ellinger need to be ready to contribute by the time theyāre upperclassmen.
Believe Thomas, Witmer, Boley, Josey, Mills, and Metcalf would all be eligible for another year. OL could be a real strength again next year if we can retain our own guys. Feel really good about York too
If Boley, Thomas, Witmer and Mills come back, Iād feel great at RT and pretty good at LT, but I canāt see all 4 coming back to compete against each other for 2 spots.
Josey and Metcalf would be great for IOL, but we probably need more depth there. None of the younger guys have seen any action
York has seen a lot of action and should be ready be next year to slot in at guard imo. Sipe has played a lot too but donāt think he has any additional eligibility.
Weāll still have to add a few portal guys but should be more of a rounding out than a rebuild like previous years.
Iād like to see Thomas move into guard if the plan is to stay. I hadnāt seen or heard anything on the idea of Josey and Metcalf being back, but the idea of a Boley Josey Metcalf Thomas Mills starting line with Witmer and York rotational sounds great.