Va. Tech's a contender; Tyrod set to breakout?

Change we can believe in wrote:

I've ripped VT from being a National Championship contender quite a bit here but what they did last night was plain terrible. To think they were #4 a few weeks ago and to what should be unranked 2 games later is on par with the classic VT collapses when looking at their yearly resumes.
From the stunned silence I hear around work and the 757, it's practically unbelievable as I didn't even see them losing last night. Unless they win out, they should be going to the Meneike, Emerald or ChampsSports Bowl, at best. And if they win out, they might get to the Chick Fil-A or Gator.
Marcellus, what's your take?

It was for sure a flop, however I did mention a week or so ago that NC was due to win a big conference game against either VT and/or Miami. I didn't realize that Miami was going to fall out prior to that though with losing to Clemson and pulling a rabbit out of the hat to sneak out of the Wake game with a W, barely! Perhaps VT could have won that game with some SEC officials, eh? ;)
If you want to have a fall from grace, overrated conversation lets not forget to mention USC! I get tired of hearing their name mentioned as NC contenders every year, even this year after losing to Washington (unranked), I guess we can now put that one to rest after Oregon put a class 1, grade A whoopin' on some USC. That was a beat down of epic proportion! Loved it! They still only fall to 12, splain that? Utah loses to only Oregon they fall behind USC? USC got their a55es handed to them and lost another one to an unranked opponent?
I don't concern myself with none BCS bowl bids mid season, It really doesn't matter to me much. If VT lost the rest of their games this year some bowl will scoop them up because they know they will sell tickets, VT has one of the nations best traveling fan base. If it isn't a BCS bowl the particular bowl name/location is irrelevant, they're a dime a dozen at that point.

Change we can believe in wrote:

I've ripped VT from being a National Championship contender quite a bit here but what they did last night was plain terrible. To think they were #4 a few weeks ago and to what should be unranked 2 games later is on par with the classic VT collapses when looking at their yearly resumes.
From the stunned silence I hear around work and the 757, it's practically unbelievable as I didn't even see them losing last night. Unless they win out, they should be going to the Meneike, Emerald or ChampsSports Bowl, at best. And if they win out, they might get to the Chick Fil-A or Gator.
Marcellus, what's your take?

As a Canes fan, the lose to Clemson was disappointing but not surprising. Miami's program should never have been ranked above VT after losing to to VT but beating GT. They can't live on history to get the rankings they do.

What's in store when they meet Virginia...or NC? With this team, you never know!

Chokies wrote:

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As much as it pains me to admit it, Marcellus got it right on this one...

How about them Blue Devils! Wait what did you call them earlier? I believe it went something like this........
"Given VT's recent performance aginst the Duke juggernaut......"
Two years in a row now! I think at this point you'd have to consider Duke to be a "juggernaut" if you cheer for UVA, two years in a row isn't a fluke, they've got your number!
Man! you were touting your prediction of holding GT to under 300 yds, you couldn't even keep Duke under 400!!! Not to mention the record low attendance numbers for this past weekends game, how about the fans booing the team and coach post game as they enter the locker room? You got some serious troubles there in hooville!!! I mean you guys have sucked for a few years now, but what's next when the fans stop showing up and the ones that do are booing the home team? Still don't think you guys will lose out this year? The aforementioned events sure aren't a recipe for success!!!
Remember when I predicted you lose out with giving you a "maybe" on Clemson? Shall I remind you of your reply to such a prediction........."Duke ain't all that."

Marcellus wrote:

<quoted text>
How about them Blue Devils! Wait what did you call them earlier? I believe it went something like this........
"Given VT's recent performance aginst the Duke juggernaut......"
Two years in a row now! I think at this point you'd have to consider Duke to be a "juggernaut" if you cheer for UVA, two years in a row isn't a fluke, they've got your number!
Man! you were touting your prediction of holding GT to under 300 yds, you couldn't even keep Duke under 400!!! Not to mention the record low attendance numbers for this past weekends game, how about the fans booing the team and coach post game as they enter the locker room? You got some serious troubles there in hooville!!! I mean you guys have sucked for a few years now, but what's next when the fans stop showing up and the ones that do are booing the home team? Still don't think you guys will lose out this year? The aforementioned events sure aren't a recipe for success!!!
Remember when I predicted you lose out with giving you a "maybe" on Clemson? Shall I remind you of your reply to such a prediction........."Duke ain't all that."

Back to back losses to DUKE in football stings worse than loss to W&M. We are definitely at a new low in the post-Welsh era. If things keep moving in this direction, they will be forced to allow open licquor consumption at Scott Stadium to boost attendence. Absent a victory over VPI, or a complete collapse by Clemson, BC and Miami, Groh's position is definitely back in jeopardy.

CaptainKind wrote:

On the bright side, no one's been convicted of a felony in the last week.

yeah, UVA's doing better with that this year!

Marcellus,
The only thing I can point to with regards to USC is that the voters may be giving them a little bit of a pass since they've proven more than VT has historically. Should they still be as high as they are? Probably not but the same can probably be said for VT even being ranked now.

As for Bowl talk, VT hasn’t clinched any bowl bids yet. Saying that, they’ll probably win tonight and clinch one. In any event, they still play UVA, so bowl eligibility is a formality..lol.. I think you hit on something that I failed to mention in our big disagreement earlier. The VT fanbase will almost assuredly guarantee a bowl bid somewhere if they meet the bare qualifications. They do travel with the best of them. I think that, in conjunction with the quality program that Beamer has built is what I was trying to get at in the distinction between bowl streaks and truly meaningful bowls. As for bowl streaks, FSU better win 2 of their final 4 or their longest streak of them all will end. It sure would be nice for the Gators to be the one who could end the Criminals, er Seminoles’ streak.

As for the games, UF put a beatdown on Georgia. Maybe that’ll hush the naysayers for a little while. They’ll probably have a letdown this week but with a 2-7 Vandy, that shouldn’t cause too much concern. Anything drastic is almost unthinkable. Or is it? Nah… Next week at South Carolina could be interesting though...

Well good luck with ECU tonight. From what I’ve been reading, it seems VT is taking last week’s loss really tough. It’ll be interesting to see how they react tonight.

ACC Fan wrote:

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As a Canes fan, the lose to Clemson was disappointing but not surprising. Miami's program should never have been ranked above VT after losing to to VT but beating GT. They can't live on history to get the rankings they do.
What's in store when they meet Virginia...or NC? With this team, you never know!

The Canes sure pulled one out against Wake. That should really help a young team though and along with the Clemson loss will probably be building blocks to a serious run next year. Are you getting your inner Wake or (gasp) Duke cheers ready to help the Canes. To think the Blue Devils can realistically decide the ACC Championship is crazy. I would expect to post that in basketball but in football when they play Miami and GT, they will really have a say. It should be interesting...

Change we can believe in wrote:

Marcellus,
The only thing I can point to with regards to USC is that the voters may be giving them a little bit of a pass since they've proven more than VT has historically. Should they still be as high as they are? Probably not but the same can probably be said for VT even being ranked now.
As for Bowl talk, VT hasn’t clinched any bowl bids yet. Saying that, they’ll probably win tonight and clinch one. In any event, they still play UVA, so bowl eligibility is a formality..lol.. I think you hit on something that I failed to mention in our big disagreement earlier. The VT fanbase will almost assuredly guarantee a bowl bid somewhere if they meet the bare qualifications. They do travel with the best of them. I think that, in conjunction with the quality program that Beamer has built is what I was trying to get at in the distinction between bowl streaks and truly meaningful bowls. As for bowl streaks, FSU better win 2 of their final 4 or their longest streak of them all will end. It sure would be nice for the Gators to be the one who could end the Criminals, er Seminoles’ streak.
As for the games, UF put a beatdown on Georgia. Maybe that’ll hush the naysayers for a little while. They’ll probably have a letdown this week but with a 2-7 Vandy, that shouldn’t cause too much concern. Anything drastic is almost unthinkable. Or is it? Nah… Next week at South Carolina could be interesting though...
Well good luck with ECU tonight. From what I’ve been reading, it seems VT is taking last week’s loss really tough. It’ll be interesting to see how they react tonight.

Indeed it will. Obviously one of two things will happen, they'll either put a smack down on ECU or get smacked down by ECU. I'm not looking for a real close game either way. They either shape up tonight or ship out tonight! A respectable season can begin to be salvaged tonight or a colasal fall from grace can be established?
UF had a great final score against Georgia, however your key problem still exists. Your defense owned quite a few of those points which doesn't fix the offensive non-splender this season. What's up with the eye gouging too? I think UF and the SEC are giving a pass to that unacceptable behavior. A half a game? What's that? I think Marcus V. took a huge blow from critics and the school itself when he stomped the leg of the opposing defender in the bowl game, hell they immediately suspended him from the second half then eventually the team. Granted there were a few prior hicups along the way. I'm not saying they should kick him off the team, but a punishment that fits the crime and the reputation of a dirty scumbag should be included as well!

Tyrod is not a quality ACC QB. He belongs in the MAC or maybe even I-AA

Frank beamer's days are numbered. His program is declining. His downfall will be the next time one of his thugs gets in trouble with the law (and it WILL happen). People tolerate that type of behavior when the team is the cream of the crop, but if they are not a top team, they will send Beamer down the road.

I thik he does most of his recruiting through the Crips and Bloods

Change,

Things keep getting worse! No7 Boise gives up 35 points to an unranked opponent, not an impressive showing in that top ten matchup. Iowa's out! Cinci almost falls, to an unranked opponent no less. GT gets lucky as hell against Wake! What? At home too! Very, very unimpressive! USC continues to suck it up, taking about all they can handle from unranked AZ st., pitiful! Cal, Oklahoma, and ND all lose. Let's not forget coming off that clinic on USC, Oregon takes a smack-down by unranked Stanford!
The only impressive wins by ranked teams were Arizona, Ok st., Miami (kind of, I mean they played UVA, so....), Utah, Pitt, Ohio st., TCU, TX, and Alabama, who continues to show they are the best team in the country. I must admit Texas is showing some late season surges that are starting to impress me a bit. Finally starting to live up to some of the year long hype. I think you can agree the UF win was neither impressive nor unimpressive, it just kind of was. I mean against Vandy I would have expected much more from them and they didn't give it, so I consider that a neutrality on the impressiveness scale. The VT game Thursday I'm going to go with unimpressive on that one, a W yes, impressive in any way, NOPE!
Well it's played itself out! Looks like we get Alabama, Florida in the SEC championship game. And smart money would say Alabama and Texas playing for all the marbles post season! Alabama has show all year long they are a tougher more impressive team than Florida and I think they take the SEC crown this year! Been saying it since week 3 or so and I'm sticking with my NC prediction! Bama!

Hey Marcellus,
I think we are going through the proverbial mid season lull and the real cream will rise back up. The Iowa loss surprised me because it was Northwestern that got them but truthfully, Iowa was living on borrowed time. Cinci is probably the same. Boise was a nice story but any NC talk can’t happen unless all the other undefeateds lose and it may still be debatable. TCU is interesting because they make a pretty good case for a non traditional BCS school. That TCU/Utah game coming up is getting more intriguing by the day.

Another team that’s starting to look really interesting is Pitt. At#12 in the BCS, they’re not in the NC discussion but they do have a date with Cinci and probably a BCS bid on the line (pending what happens with WVA). Cinci/Pitt is looking really big. Maybe in the NFL but college football? Cinci vs Pitt…Well, it may be...

That Miami win was well done. Yeah, it was UVA but considering what UVA did to them a couple years ago, it was a nice little spanking especially after a relatively close first half. Is the UVA poster going to chime in on that beating?

Now, I know you love Bama as your NC pick. I think we can criticize them as much as UF with the perception of not being impressive in their wins. I think a lot of that is the SEC though. You know I will always champion the conference card out there..lol.. Truth is, if they both keep winning, they will play for 1 of the NC slots. Impressive or not I don’t think is that big a deal unless it gets extremely unimpressive and then Texas may sneak in there. Either way, if Bama and UF are both undefeated come the SEC champ, the winner will be 1 of the 2 in the NC game. I also want to give props to LSU as in my opinion, they’re no worse than the #6 team if not higher especially considering who they’ve lost to.

As for UF, they just took care of business against a seriously overmatched team. You know I will keep to my guns to with a UF/Texas championship but I’m starting to wonder if TCU keeps things up, can they get into the mix if Texas loses?

Oh, nice bounce back vs ECU. I know the score wasn’t impressive but I was wondering how they would respond to the adversity of the 2 losses and especially the way the UNC game ended.

Change,

I like the play lately of Pitt as well, but until the last quarter of the regular season we won't know what they really got as they play their two toughest games at the end of the year. Not to mention they lost to NC St., a 1-4 ACC 4-5 overall team, that's hard for anyone to bounce back from trying to gain national attention. That's a pretty bad football team to lose to. If both Cinci and Pitt keep it up though that will be about as fun a game to watch as UF vs. Bama. A top notch matchup!
TCU is having a great season for a Mountain West team, but who have they played? Nobody! Unless they ever have a playoff in college football the likes of a 2009 TCU's true potential will be one for fiction writers. They might be great they might not, the college football community isn't going to find that out in a national championship game, by giving them their first chance to play somebody then.
There is still some good football to be played, but, I think expect the unexpected should be the motto from here out. Sure seems to be the way the rest of the season has been!

Change we can believe in wrote:

<quoted text>
The Canes sure pulled one out against Wake. That should really help a young team though and along with the Clemson loss will probably be building blocks to a serious run next year. Are you getting your inner Wake or (gasp) Duke cheers ready to help the Canes. To think the Blue Devils can realistically decide the ACC Championship is crazy. I would expect to post that in basketball but in football when they play Miami and GT, they will really have a say. It should be interesting...

The season the Cane's are having is one of those 'Who knows what's going to happen' seasons. They better be ready for Carolina.

VT took Miami to the woodshed and Clemson deserved to win. I believe Wake, although the record doesn't show it, can be dangerous to anyone they line up against. Although the VA game was a resounding win this year, VA won in a blow out their lasting meeting.

Maimi needs to forget about all this 'swagger' nonsense and concentrate on defense.

From Friday Oct. 23rd my post: "Both Miami and VT still have to play UNC, and I feel UNC will decide the ACC Coastal conference delima! UNC beats either VT or Miami, I have a hunch, maybe both!"

Don't sleep on UNC! Just 3 weeks ago everyone thought I was crazy! LOL! It's been a real long time coming, but this program is on the up and up! The scariest part for all the ACC fans out there is this is a very young team, they practically bring back the same team on both sides of the ball next year and that is something to take notice of in the ACC! I think it's great for the conference and not so great for VT going to UNC to play next year! Good job UNC despite your overall record, you've had one hell of a season.

Hey Chokies,

Sorry you didn't win your "Bowl Game" against VT, and about your coach getting fired. I guess the loss to VT can officially declare the season a bust now huh? At least the fans were chanting "KEEP AL GROH!" after the game, oh wait, never mind that was the VT fans! LOL!!! I hope your program didn't get hurt when they hit the bottom so hard this year. Although your basketball program doesn't seem to have much to offer this season either, on the up side, the new JPJ arena is very nice, I was there this weekend. Nice building for an average at best team.

Change,

Well, I'll go ahead and get this over with up front, I TOLD YOU SO! Alabama national champs, well at least SEC. Clearly a better program this year than UF, I was surprised by one thing though, I thought it would be a close game. I really didn't expect either team to smack the other one in the mouth like Alabama did, that was a surprise. I'm fairly certain that Alabama wins it all, I can't see how Texas can do anything with them, they BARELY got by Nebraska for crying out loud, and lets face it, if the Nebraska defense gave Texas trouble, Alabama will expose them for what they are as well!

Marcellus wrote:

Hey Chokies,
Sorry you didn't win your "Bowl Game" against VT, and about your coach getting fired. I guess the loss to VT can officially declare the season a bust now huh? At least the fans were chanting "KEEP AL GROH!" after the game, oh wait, never mind that was the VT fans! LOL!!! I hope your program didn't get hurt when they hit the bottom so hard this year. Although your basketball program doesn't seem to have much to offer this season either, on the up side, the new JPJ arena is very nice, I was there this weekend. Nice building for an average at best team.

UVa bottomed against Duke. If VPI can get past Tennessee, then they are legit top 15. Ga Tech should have their hands full with Iowa, so Hokies could still finish as top ranked ACC team, for whatever that's worth. A big loss to Tenn could knock 'em way down the list, however. Good Luck.
A few local Hokie fans could have a hard time routing against London. That should be fun to watch.
If Tony Bennett is all he is cracked up to be, the second half of the 'Hoos basketball season could be fun to watch as well.

Marcellus wrote:

Change,
Well, I'll go ahead and get this over with up front, I TOLD YOU SO! Alabama national champs, well at least SEC. Clearly a better program this year than UF, I was surprised by one thing though, I thought it would be a close game. I really didn't expect either team to smack the other one in the mouth like Alabama did, that was a surprise. I'm fairly certain that Alabama wins it all, I can't see how Texas can do anything with them, they BARELY got by Nebraska for crying out loud, and lets face it, if the Nebraska defense gave Texas trouble, Alabama will expose them for what they are as well!

Hey Marcellus,
I won’t say anything between UF and Bama except props to Bama as they’re the best team in the SEC. I will take solace in that it was an SEC team that ended the Gator’s streak. I’ll give you cred also for calling Bama earlier and judging from an unbiased side, I would have to agree that Bama was more impressive over the year. Good luck in the championship Bama. Represent the SEC well.

Marcellus,
I had to separate the posts because I didn’t want to take anything away from Bama…
I do have to point out your comment about UNC. They really laid an egg to a joke of a program in NC State. I don’t know what to make of them but that last week of regular season play left a lot to be desired for the ACC in general. I think Miami and VT are really the best going forward with GT being the team this year (even though they lost to a mid range SEC school).
I must say the last few weeks haven’t been a shining moment for the ACC. After UNC’s joke against NC State, Clemson and GT losing to middle of the road SEC schools, along with FSU getting stomped by UF again, the ACC bowl selection of FSU into one of the previously premiere non BCS schools was a serious black eye to the conference. Bowden’s retirement or not, it’s simply wrong for Miami, Clemson and BC to get the proverbial finger and relegated to lesser bowls because of a mediocre team (at best) FSU getting a better bowl due to political posturing. The ACC hasn’t looked too good out of all this.
But hey, it’s not impacting VT as they got a pretty good bowl and probably one of the better possible matchups against an SEC school in Tennessee. I see a D struggle there…

Chokies wrote:

<quoted text>
UVa bottomed against Duke. If VPI can get past Tennessee, then they are legit top 15. Ga Tech should have their hands full with Iowa, so Hokies could still finish as top ranked ACC team, for whatever that's worth. A big loss to Tenn could knock 'em way down the list, however. Good Luck.
A few local Hokie fans could have a hard time routing against London. That should be fun to watch.
If Tony Bennett is all he is cracked up to be, the second half of the 'Hoos basketball season could be fun to watch as well.

Have you been to JPJ arena? It's sweet! Top notch facility there....