| I'm honestly a little surprised Virginia Tech hasn't figured out a way to COVID out of this game. They already fired their coach, and had six guys opt out of the game, including their starting quarterback. This from a team that started the year by reaching #15 in the polls, before finishing 4-6. Those four wins were against an FCS team, the two worst teams in the ACC, and fellow 6-6 Virginia. Maryland had problems of their own, starting 4-0, with a huge home night national TV broadcast against Iowa. They got pummeled, but facing (at the time) a bowl elimination season finale, went on the road to Rutgers, and hammered the Scarlet Knights by 24 points. Expect Virginia Tech to try and establish a ground game, considering aside from Braxton Burmeister, they also had their top receiver opt out, and another enter the portal. Running back Raheem Blackshear also declared for the Draft, but he is going to play, for an offense that was just #90 in the FBS in total offense WITH those guys. Connor Blumrick provides more of a rushing threat from the quarterback position as well, appearing in 6 games, and rushing the ball 2.5 times as often as he passed it. Virginia Tech did average over 225 rushing ypg over the second half of the season, and ran at will in their season ending rivalry win over Virginia, but can they do that with next to no threat of the pass? Maryland goes as Taulia Tagovailoa goes. In the Terps' 6 wins, his lowest QBR was 66.5, and he was over 80 in 4 of them, to go with 15 touchdowns and just 1 interception. In their six losses, his HIGHEST QBR was 57.2, and he had 9 touchdowns with 10 interceptions. He's going to try to do that against a Hokie secondary who surrendered just 55.8% opponents completion percentage, third best in the ACC. Ultimately this comes down to two equal-ish teams, one of whom is trying to get some momentum going into their coach's make or break season, against a program where roughly a third of their starters decided not to play, and is without a head coach. I think Maryland absolutely rolls them. |