... and the final Six Pick goes out with a whimper. Moving and selling my house went without a snag, but I haven't completely organized my temporary place yet and just now got internet. So, it's a second week of just picks and not pics. I am sorry for that. I'll update the standings for last week and this. Let's just say this week is like the final leg of the Tour de France for HokieV as he cycles home a win. Looks like, I'll owe Vince some drinks.
Sorry guys, in this shortened week, I can't do a write up as I am in the process of moving into temporary housing for the next couple of months while my house is being constructed. I have so much going on, I couldn't give the column it's due time. It's a great weekend of football, enjoy the games and Go Hokies. Bring home a win and bowl eligibility.
The Games.
Saturday, November 24th
Welcome everyone to Week 12, or as the SEC likes to call it, SoCon week. It's up to the rest of college football to shoulder the weight. ::GULP:: Buckle up, I feel another unbeaten succumbing to the pressure.
I know I mention GameDay a lot, but this week it's different. It's GameDawn. I love when the ESPN crew heads to Eugene. The broadcast starts out pitch black, then dawn pushes through the morning crowd, all the while throughout the morning the atmosphere is absolutely nuts. Autzen Stadium is on my very short list of stadiums to visit. I sure hope when I do it's on GameDawn. So tune in and enjoy the unique vibe of Pacific Northwest fans. They are all powered by the combo of weed, alcohol, and Red Bull.
Saturday, 11/17/2012
USC -3.5 at UCLA 3:00 pm FOX
for the Victory Bell at the Rose Bowl
Damn, I should have invented this at Tech
Welcome to Week 11 and the home stretch. The season has flown by, even if Tech has 3 seasons worth of losses. This will be brief and hastily put together Six Pick due to me being extremely busy in my personal life. However, I am not so busy that I can't make a trip to Blacksburg and back later this week. Go Hokies. I know this season has been a disappointment, but don't give up on this team or this sport, it always can't be our year. Celebrate others success, unless it's the dirty neers or hoos or Canes or Noles or Vols or ... never mind, watch to see if everything burns.
I have little to add this week, so I thought an offering to the Football Gods would suffice. At first I was thinking of offering a VT cheerleader or coed, then I thought about #ALLMAROONEVERYTHING, but the Gods don't want physical beauty, they want heart and something real, that signifies Virginia Tech football. The Lunchpail. To current students, this must a thing only seen on tshirts or foamed hats, but not so long ago, this meant something. Here is hoping it means something again, very soon.
Saturday, 11/10/2012
Northwestern at Michigan -10.5 12:00 pm ESPN
Welcome to the start of November football. So much for this weekend being the best weekend of the season, too much chaos and unpredictability this year. That's not to say there are bad games, far from it. Regardless, college football has officially entered put up or shut up time, where dreams are achieved or crushed. It's more than just who has the biggest package in the SEC West, or which program really is the class of the Pac 12. Who wants to win the ACC Coastal, the Big Ten Losers division, or play spoiler to the Irish? The season hasn't shaken out as expected, who's to say more surprises aren't coming?
A couple weeks back I mentioned how I enjoyed the increased college football coverage Fox has. However, it would be nice if the networks didn't have the top 3 teams playing in games at the same time. Poor K-State is going to get crushed in the ratings going head up against Oregon/USC and Bama/LSU. The Wildcats would have drawn more viewers at the 3:30 ABC time slot and enjoyed the benefits of being the best game on at that time. I'll quit my bitching now and make sure the remote is close by. Tracking this week's ESPN Gameday location has them returning to the SEC and heading to Baton Rouge. It's deserved and I can't think of a place I'd rather be on Saturday. I can almost smell the smoked pork and corn dogs.
Thursday, 11/1/2012
I can't hide my disappointment resulting from the Hokies season, and I'm sure you can't either. That doesn't mean I love the Hokies or the game any less. As long as they keep playing, I'll keep watching. As you know, because of a bye week and back-to-back Thursday night games, Tech won't play on Saturday until mid November. So, it's on the rest of the nation to entertain us. I'm energized and ready to sit on my ass the next two weekends and watch the wheat be separated from the chaff. Buckle up and let's enjoy some quality football.
Seventy-three-year-old Bill Snyder is a BAWSE. This is the second time he has made K-State into a top 10 power. I have much respect for his ability to turn JUCOs, and two- and three-star nobodies into good football players. Collin Klein was a little thought of QB recruit turned WR by RonP, now he's the Heisman frontrunner. That's a pretty remarkable turn of events as he likely rides the pine for 90% of the other FBS schools. It probably took Snyder 10 minutes to figure out Klein's potential. Bill Snyder in this whiz-bang high scoring football world still knows ball control offense and sacking up on defense can still win a lot of games. If "Everything Old is New Again" is accurate, there is hope for VT to rebound.
Friday, 10/26/2012
It's week eight of the regular season, and that means we are at the halfway point. The optimism surrounding the Hokies season opener feels like a thousand beers ago. It's been a pretty crazy season, lots of carnage leaving few undefeated teams left. My gut says there will not be any undefeated teams to end the season, making the scramble for the top 2 BCS spots even madder than usual. Could two more undefeated teams go down this weekend?
It's time for the weekly ESPN Gameday watch update, and you guessed it, they are going back to the SEC. The World Wide Leader might soon run out of SEC ass kissing material at this rate. Most of these interviews are fluffer material, however I can't wait until ESPN try to soften angry Will Muschamp this week. He's an intense, hot headed dick and that's what I like about him. Coach Boom is all that is right in college football, and it would be a shame to white wash his natural personality. I don't want him to be human, he's a laser eyed cyborg ready to terminate refs. I beg of you Gameday, don't sanitize him.
(h/t to friend of the program @governorofdixie for the image)
We are approaching the halfway mark in what has been a disappointing season for Hokies, but a solid one for the sport. I'm here to tell you to forget about VT's difficulties and think about the positives at the moment:
Back again for another go at it, hopefully the results are better for the home team. I love college football, even when the schedule looks bad like last week, the games produce. This week there are no such issues. Now that it's October, the non-conference portion of the schedule has faded away into league play. These tilts always mean the most*, but not every week is like this one, as I'm sure the "Separation Saturday" tag will be generously applied. Many favorites for conference championships will have emerged by late Saturday night. Led by the SEC, who have 4 of their 5 top 10 teams squaring off. Make time to sloth on the sofa folks, you aren't going anywhere. Gameday watch for week 6 shows that the World Wide Leader will be in Columbia, South Carolina. In order to be the man, you gotta beat the man ... that's the only way to keep ESPN out of the Southeast.
#GoodJobGoodEffort this week, college football. I thought week two would draw the least interest, not even close. I couldn't even get out of the month of September without being completely wrong. That's not to say the games should be ignored, there will be close games and likely upsets, which always seems to happen in lesser weeks likes this. Forgive me for this brief Six Pick, I am using this week to recharge the batteries and save my best effort for October and November. OK, I'm being lazy.
This is a great weekend to get chores done while keeping an eye on your phone or TV. However, it's even better to travel to a game. Say one outside your Nation's capital where tickets cost less than two beers at a bar. Hey College Gameday, I see you, I wonder how it feels for them to finally leave the South? I'm sure they'd rather be in Athens, Ga and I can't blame them. Enjoy the atmosphere East Lansing, because it looks like Columbus and Ann Arbor will be ESPN's B1G destinations the next few seasons. Tech fans fully understand what it's like not being a sexy location for the worldwide leader, so hopefully something memorable, like a Corso F-bomb, happens.
Saturday, 9/29/2012
Baylor at West Virginia -12.5 12:00 pm FX
