I nailed the score perfectly in my prediction, but I’ll be the first to admit that the game, in most ways, didn’t unfold like I expected.

Actually, come to think of it, it did. No wait, it didn’t.

The Virginia Tech offense struggled to move the ball on Alabama, like most thought they would. But the reasons were different than I thought. I didn’t expect the passing game to fare so poorly … okay, poorly, but not that poorly. I thought D.J. Coles would be an asset, but he wasn’t. Demitri Knowles didn’t make a single play of any impact. Trey Edmunds was better than I anticipated. The offensive line was much better than I anticipated.

Defensively, the Hokies were even better than I had hoped they would be, but having said that, Alabama’s offense went right after a few mismatches when they presented themselves, just like I thought they would. (More on that later.)

...