It's been a couple of weeks, so what?

 P.S- you'll have to click 'open in new tab' to avoid getting ticked off. Yup.

1- LSU- No brainer. Although I could have vouched for these guys.

2- Bama- Beat Arkansas like it was a less impressive team with similar colors and an even bigger jerk for a coach than Saban.

3- Oklahoma- This is the reason why polls suck. Oklahoma drops below Bama even though Bama and LSU have to play and when one loses they will inevitably drop below Oklahoma who will jump ahead of the loser of that game. Unless Oklahoma loses.

4- Boise- Good team. But they’re a dead duck too if Wiscy beats Nebraska. But, oh no, please don’t drop them after they beat a mediocre Mark Richt-coached team! Or in short, a Mark Richt coached team. Expect them to hang about a billion on Nevada this weekend.

5- Wiscy- Beilema v. Pelini in the coach off with two coaches that just look like Big Ten players and also brothers and also best friends and also everyone looks the same in the Midwest.

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So, Furrer is doing these BlogPolls (yea, the one word thing is ridiculous and stupid) every week. Now, it's time for the BlogTroll (yea, take that, 'BlogPoll'). And you got to pay the BlogTroll to get into that...okay never mind. *Always Sunny fans high five for that one* In all honesty, enjoy and don't take anything too seriously. This will hopefully be a weekly sighting until Furrer dismisses me from the blog.

**The links are there for your viewing pleasure, they aren't links to some stat page. Those links are the worst. (Teaser: One of them is a stat page.)

1- LSU- the Bayou Bengals move up because they played a team that fumbled the ball repeatedly from the Pac # rather than other teams that played teams that fumbled the ball repeatedly from terrible conferences. They assaulted the season-opening polls. Word choice intended.

2- Boise State- Throttled (mediocre) UGA. Peterson not only signed off on another year of Smurf Turf title game aspirations, he also signed Richt’s pink slip before leaving the Georgia Dome.

3- Bama- Week two match-up in Happy Valley awaits, it will be refreshing to see some boring uniforms after the Oregon/Georgia/Maryland fiasco.

4- Oklahoma- Not really sure why they dropped aside from the fact that they did.

5- Florida State- Actually am pretty sure why Boomer dropped, this makes it easier to type out their match-up with the Noles around the bend. What, did you think Furrer wasn’t lazy?

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Since Mike London has been in charge of the 'football' program in Charlottesville, some things have changed. At first it was the obvious superlative-laced editorials about the new man in charge, a man who was injecting fervor and passion into a dead program. A program that Al Groh left by the wayside to wither and rot.

With new guidance pushing the program in the right direction, it seemed a foregone conclusion that the Cavaliers would out-recruit Frank Beamer and the Virginia Tech football program. They would continue to dominate the Old Dominion's recruiting as they had for a year. Tech would then fall by the wayside and as would Beamer. A Hall of Fame coach, run out of the state and out of college football by a young whippersnapper with a fury behind him that led the mighty Richmond Spiders to FCS greatness. Oh, how the tables would turn. 

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Seth Greenberg made a guest appearance on the Lefty Dreisell Show, which is featured on 102.1 'The Game' out of Virginia Beach recently.  He was asked about when the Hokies and Old Dominion Monarchs would matchup again in the regular season.  

The exchange went as such:

Host: Before I let you go, a lot of people ask me this all the time during our weekday show: When is Virginia Tech and ODU going to hook up again with a little series, basketball-wise?

Seth: It probably won't happen.

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Today it was announced that the prodigal son would be returning home.  Okay, a bit hyperbole but you get the idea.  Shane Beamer is going to replace Billy Hite as the Hokies' Running Backs coach.  What does it mean?  Well, that's tough to identify less than 12 hours after the announcement but here are some possible results of this move.

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Take everything you’ve come to imagine about collegiate athletics and throw it out the window until the end of this post.  Now think about the most talented athletes who are using the NCAA, not because they want to, but because they have to, in order to get to the next level.  Athletics come first, school second.  No one cares about Cam Newton’s grades when he’s the heir apparent to Tim Tebow.  When he’s getting his at a rival school, then suddenly his grades are an issue.  How many of you care about your favorite school’s star athlete’s grades?  It comes a very distant second to his ability.  So if we as fans can put their talent first and foremost, why can’t they? 

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The first game I ever attended in Lane Stadium was the 1998 UVa game where Aaron Brooks led a miraculous comeback to beat the Hokies.  I've tried to erase the game from my memory, but as you can see, that has been fruitless.  It was pretty depressing.  I attended the game with my sister, brother in law, Chris, and my father, a Hokie graduate.  Dad was a Hokie when only cadets were Hokies.  He had been through more than a few years when Tech being completely irrelevant to college football.  He remembered the games against VMI in Roanoke; I can still remember him telling the stories of how heavy his wool jacket would get during games in the rain. 

The entire trip down to the game, and the duration of the game, the ride home from the game, we assessed the state of the Hokies.  The team was pretty good with Al Clark at the helm, but he was no Jim Druckenmiller.  Dad kept reciting the phrase, "This Vick kid they have is supposed to be pretty incredible."  It almost became laughable.  We all rolled our eyes as none of us had heard of 'this Vick kid' and figured he would probably never see the field in a Tech uniform.  The recital just kept on keeping on.

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I don't know how to start this, write this, or finish this.  I'm sick to my stomach with what I just saw.  Even if the Hokies had pulled a rabbit out of their helmets at the end, I'd still be beyond disgusted.  I just sat in the pouring rain to watch one of the most pathetic attempts at playing the game of football that I've ever seen. 

Congratulations to James Madison, I'll tip my cap to them.  I'll tip my cap to their fans, that traveled in droves and were seated throughout Lane Stadium today.  I'll tip my cap to their coaching, their players, their will to win.  Because today, all of theirs trumped all of ours.  On this day, the better team won.  I don't necessarily believe that they are better than Tech.  But, I absolutely believe that they were today.  That's all that matters.

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At this point, I don't know that there are words to describe it.  We, as Hokie fans have been here before.  We've seen the team bounce back and have successful season after successful season.  All of the heart-wrenching defeats seem to be pushed aside for bigger and better things eventually.  A loss like the one endured on Monday night brings us all back to square one.  It brings back the pain, and in doing so, effectively washes away most of the optimism.

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This is the first of two posts debating the Hokies' ability to Raise the Crystal in 2010. Read part two here.

Relax.

Football season is near.

Relax.

The Hokies can win the National Championship this year.

I won't lie to you, I don't actually know if Frank and the boys will actually lift that big crystal monstrosity of a trophy this season.  I don't know if Ryan Williams and Darren Evans will surpass Suggs and Jones as the greatest RB duo at the school.  I don't know if the defense will grow up as fast as needed.  I don't know.  If I did know, well, I wouldn't be here.

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According to the Buffalo Bills website, former Hokie DB Stephan Virgil was released today.  His release was a direct result of 7th round pick OL Kyle Calloway signing his rookie contract.  Best of luck to Stephan as he tries to land a roster spot elsewhere.

The Virginia Tech football spring game was everything you would expect a Virginia Tech spring game to be, cloudy, a little windy, and dominated by the defense.  While I certainly saw some promising things on offense (most notably Logan Thomas' first drive and the burst of Tony Gregory), one thing caught my eye the way I had hoped something would.  That thing was Antone Exum.

Exum is in the running to be the Hokies' starting free safety this year, and from what I saw on Saturday, he has a helluva shot at winning the job.  Although the favorite for the starting position is Eddie Whitley (who played well with one solo tackle for loss, assisting on four more tackles as well as intercepting a JuJu Clayton hideous lob pass), Exum looked to me to be the future at the position.  With four solo tackles and three passes broken up (including an interception out of bounds on a beautiful read), he caught  more than just my eye, he seems to have caught Coach Beamer's as well, "I like playing games because I think some people will step up. It always seems to happen when you do that. I think a good example of that was Antone Exum. He came out in a game-like situation and really stepped up..." (quote courtesy of hokiesports.com).  If a young man can earn post game mentions from the man in charge, you can't help but wonder how high his ceiling could be.

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I have a very simple problem with the Virginia Tech basketball program that I was willing to let sleep for the remainder of this offseason.  However, with the firing of Dino Gaudio at Wake Forest, I feel the need to take a closer look at the Hokies in relation to the rest of the ACC. 

With both Al Skinner and Gaudio losing their jobs on the ACC chopping block in the last couple of weeks, the question that I had on March 26th has gained some more steam...

Why did the Hokies extend Seth Greenberg?

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Dear fellow Virginia Tech fans,

First off, I would like to thank Gobbler Country for the opportunity to present my views and arguments on all things Virginia Tech and ACC related in the future.  This blog has been a favorite of mine as a Hokie fan and the chance to contribute to it was too good to pass up! 
Next, it should be known that I am not an expert of any sort in relation to Virginia Tech athletics.  I am a 22 year old Senior Philosophy major with an unhealthy interest in sports.  What I can say for myself is that I was born and raised a Hokies fan.  My late father was an alum of Virginia Tech and because of that, I was rooting for the Hokies before I could walk.  I was in Morgantown for the 1999 game (where I spent as much time dodging rocks as I did watching the game), I witnessed Lee Suggs breaking the NCAA single-season touchdown record, as well as the dreadful Matt Ryan game.  Although I am not an expert, I feel that my lifelong following of the team and the many experiences that have come with it give me some sort of qualification to write about the Hokies.
Lastly, I preface my posts here at Gobbler Country by simply stating my writing style and the views that I normally hold.  I can be extremely cynical, and if my posts touch a nerve with some of you out there, that's good.  They probably should.  I don't write for shock value, I simply write to get things off of my chest and create a different perspective when looking at the sporting world.  I hope to be somewhat humorous and intelligent in my efforts, but I understand that can be hit or miss.  I look forward to writing for Gobbler Country and giving Hokies everywhere a new and dynamic perspective on all things maroon and orange! 
Thank you,
Mark Trible

I can be reached on twitter @mtrible or by email at marktrible@gmail.com