All right Cardinal fans. For the benefit of outsiders so interested if you could keep us posted of key injuries, news, etc here that'd be great. Thoughts on the strategy?
I don't think the Cardinal offense will play out too differently because of the different quarterback, but it will be interesting to see how well the Hokie D can force him to choose a 2nd or 3rd option on passing plays. I'm expecting a lot of short yardage throws early to establish rythym and confidence, while hoping the running game can pick up momentum. No matter how good a defense is, it's never a good thing for said unit to be on the field for too long.
On defense I'm really anxious to see Dumervil vs Vick. Marcus isn't a really great QB, and the offense isn't world class. That being said some of VT's strengths play against the UofL weaknesses here, and I'm wondering how much the Cardinals will blitz against what could be a strong running game and mobile QB. Personally I'd try to force Vick into using his arm.
Well the latest in a seemingly never-ending string of painful bad breaks is losing our top DT, Montavious Stanley, to a torn pectoral muscle. He's having surgery (Friday, I believe) and will not play in the Gator.
Offensively, I think we will see a lot of the same things that have worked all year long. Big chunks of yardage from Bush and crossing routes/short curl routes to guys like Montrell Jones and Josh Tinch when needed. We'll probably go deep to guys like Harry Douglas or Urrutia at least a couple times; with Mario hopefully getting all the way back to 100%, we can use his size and speed to stretch the field.
Defensively, I don't think Mike Cassity knows any other way than to bring the house 3 times out of 4 and try to either get to the QB, knock him down, or at least throw off his timing. In other games with mobile QB's, we never seemed to change the game plan, even if we were getting killed with scrambling or screen passes designed to neutralize our rush.
I'm worried about our stellar rush D with Stanely not in there to clog up the middle. He was our best run defender and now it's up to Grady to show he can be as effective. Against Cedric Humes, we'll need that aggressive swarming attitude by the line to aviod a repeat of WVU.
Seems like the biggest issue is UofL not getting burned by their biggest weakness: mobile VT QB v. bad UL QB containment. If we can keep Vick in the pocket but still get pressure on him, I think we have a good shot.
Really our key injuries our of course Brohm, but the one that hurts is starting defensive tackle Montavious Stanley, he has been a beast this year with plugging up the middle. We have capable back ups but they don't bring the leadership that Stanley was able to bring to the table. You pretty much hit it on the head with the passing game.
I think we will go short for maybe a series or two, but I wouldn't be suprised to see them go for a couple of long balls because we finally have Mario Urritia Healthy again, our 6'6 stud wr. He is very tough in the open field to bring down and in one on one coverage you can almost guarantee he will catch the ball. You will most certainly see a heavy dose of Bush early and often, to soften up the D, as well as Smith and Stripling on the outside with misdirections and screens. You will probably see the Tight ends get used a lot in this game. Thats how we were able to have so much success against miami when they over persuit.
On defense, I hope we play alot of zone and mix up some blitzing within the zone. One area I think we may have a advantage is that we have some tall outside linebackers. Specifically Brandon Johnson who is 6'5 very fast and atheletic, I think they will use him as a spy on Vick alot and try to force him to make bad decisions. If we get our DB's on a island and if Vick gets time then it could be a long day for them, but if we can actually get some pressure then we might be alright. Our defense coordinator is stuborn and he has to change is philosophy so that does kind of worry me. If we can stop the run and get some big plays in the secondary I think we make the game interesting. I do believe we will move the ball on V-tech. They don't think we will score over 24 on them. FSU was running at will on them, and I know we have a way better offense than them. Hopefully the Tech team is overlooking us, from the press clippings it seems like they are. It should be a interesting contest.