Hokie Tracks Have Been AFK for a Week

Apparently, there's a lot of news to catch up on and discuss. I didn't think spending the last week in June unplugged from Interwebs would put me behind the eight-ball. I was wrong.

The Hokies' future schedules got a lot sexier. Some foreplay, the University of Maryland has moved its 2014 game with Tech to M&T Bank Stadium, the home of Baltimore Ravens. I traveled to Byrd in 2009 and enjoyed the trip. I Metro'd there and back, appreciated the character of the stadium, as well as its cheeseburgers and tailgating, even though that just involved a pole and a 24-rack. It's a total speculation, but the ACC could use it as its Labor Day Weekend television obligation for ESPN. Either way based solely on location it will be a higher profile game, which bodes well for attracting elite recruits from Maryland. I know Hokie Nation will fill up M&T, but do consider this, from my experience in '09 Byrd's atmosphere wasn't anything threatening, in fact lifeless would be an accurate description. Even though the game will be played at a neutral site, it may turn out to be a tougher venue, because the buzz and hype will do a better job to attract those Terps who normally spend Saturday on the couch. All things considered, I think it's a positive move for Tech.

The rematch with Alabama in the Georgia Dome is all but confirmed.

Hokies athletic director Jim Weaver confirms what Virginian-Pilot beat dude Kyle Tucker first unearthed last week, that Tech has agreed to open 2013 against Alabama in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game at the Georgia Dome.

Since the Hokies' four non-conference games for 2013 were booked, Weaver had to juggle, and the previously unreported details are:

By mutual agreement, games in 2012 and '13 against long-time scheduling partner East Carolina have been delayed until 2016 and '17. The Pirates wanted to pursue another 2012 opportunity, hence the shift in two years.

The 2013 Tech-ECU contest was set for Greenville, N.C., so the Hokies are swapping a road game against a top-40 program for a neutral-site game against a top-five program.

The 2012 opener against ECU, at home, likely will be replaced by a Championship Subdivision opponent, according to Weaver.

"At this late date it's almost impossible to find a (Bowl Subdivision) opponent," he said.

I had to remember the good, before the slow southern drawl of an Alabama octogenarian played back in my head... "What's a Hokie? I don't know, but we beat the hell outta 'em."

Kyle Tucker broke the story and asks why do we continue to schedule these tough season openers when we always lose them. As it stands right now, the ACC isn't a strong enough conference to put an undefeated team into the national championship game over two others from a combination of the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 or Pac-12. A marquee win against Alabama could push Tech over the top in the hypothetical of hypotheticals. A quick observation, Logan's first year as starter is Tech's easiest schedule in at least ten years, what would be his senior year would include Alabama, Pitt and at Florida State. I may be in the minority here, but fist bump to you Weaver (just make sure we're on a bye the next week if we play on Monday night).

Danny Coale wants to punt things, including footballs, because Danny Coale doesn't feel like you believe Danny Coale's right foot can boot an F-150 60 yards.

He's training himself to take two steps, not three - lest a punt get blocked. He's changing his grip on the ball from underneath to a sturdier hold. He's reminding himself to hold the ball away from his body, to drop it from roughly waist-high, to swing straight up with his right leg.

These sessions add up to about 50 punts per week for Coale, even if they look a lot like a kid messing around in the back yard.

"This is getting in touch with my inner child," Coale said last week. "I love it. The competitor in me hates when I shank one or it's not exactly right, but it's fun and I'm going to keep doing it, piece by piece and bit by bit throughout the summer."

Believe it.

It's only a matter of time now North Carolina.

Thus concludes what appears to be the perfect storm of NCAA death: Players got paid, agents were everywhere, players committed academic fraud, coaches, players and tutors alike misled or stonewalled investigators — and there was direct institutional knowledge via Blake, who (according to the NCAA) not only knew but was actively participating in flouting the rules in a way that the last guy the NCAA accused of being a rogue assistant coach, USC scapegoat Todd McNair, never dreamed.

If you've been following this case from the beginning, none of those charges are new. But it is eye-opening to see all of them exhaustively detailed in one place for the first time, and there is no escaping the conclusion that the Tar Heels are going to feel the maximum, USC-level pain in response — up to and including a postseason ban and heavy scholarship losses. Institutionally, North Carolina worked hard to distance itself from the worst offenders ingratiate itself as a collaborator in justice when it became aware of the violations, but if the NCAA can't throw the book at a school that employed an assistant coach it accuses of acting as a runner for an NFL agent, it might as well ditch the rulebook and badges and rename itself the "Basketball Tournament Deposit Association."

Now, the bureaucracy lurches into a state resembling action. Carolina will have 90 days to submit an official response to the allegations, at which point a date will be set for an appearance in front of the NCAA's all-powerful Committee on Infractions (probably in October). A few weeks after that (probably sometime in the new year), the COI will send its verdict down the mountain on a set of stone tablets, and the university will initiate an appeals process that extends the process another six months or so. By the NCAA's standards, if the Tar Heels know their fate by the start of the 2012 season, it will qualify as a properly speedy trial.

From Doc Saturday's neat summary of the mess at UNC.