The Road Ahead

The Hokies are set to play 5 games in 29 days.

[Mark Umansky]

It's been a weird football season for the Hokies.

The pantsing of Florida State didn't square with the sum of Virginia Tech's offseason defensive losses. Vegas, pundits, and pollsters all pegged the Hokies to lose in Tallahassee. Instead, they won. Unexpedictly and big. Forget the week one to week two leap, that adage Frank Beamer was so fond of citing. Bud Foster's group seemingly grew up overnight. (Spoiler: They didn't.)

The only par for the course was the William & Mary waxing. That was a clean drive, iron in, and two putts out.

The East Carolina game, iteration twenty-three of the longstanding series the overwhelming majority of Hokie Nation wished would end, was abruptly canceled. The Tech faithful was a blend of sad, mad, and dejected. Irony overload.

Then, Old Dominion happened. You know it's a splendid football season when the result of a September contest, one scheduled on the road against an in-state program two orders of magnitude below in weight class strictly for off-the-field reasons, forces the discussion of all-time Virginia Tech losses, upsets, collapses, choke jobs.

Dominating then undefeated Duke in Durham went against prognostications and revitalized the masses. Notre Dame both dismissed the notion Tech was approaching national relevance, and bolstered the theory Lane Stadium's teeth were dull. A handful of bungled North Carolina red zone trips coupled with a 98-yard touchdown drive proved college football's cruelty isn't exclusive.

To summarize: This season has been all over the map and I don't have a handle on this Virginia Tech team.

Inexperience across the board increases variance of expectations. Progress for the Beamer teams, the ones from the Vick through the Taylor eras that is, was simple to track. It was binary — national championship or bust. From conference championship crowns to marquee bowls, those teams accomplished everything else but. Beamer raised the bar high, and although never taken, the next step was logical.

Five games remain on the Hokies' 2018 schedule. Virginia Tech's conference record is unblemished. By virtue of 3-0 away from Lane, Tech closes its conference schedule with 4 home games and one road trip. That's a more than manageable slate against a group absent a single squad that's separated itself from the pack.

A Coastal Division championship is most certainly on the table.

That may or may not be a fair measurement of success down the stretch, but it's there. However, at some point during the season, a team stops being "young". It's the end of October, the underclassmen have benefitted from six games of experience. It is time for the Hokies to grow up. It's time for on-the-field play to support the claim these coaches form one of the best developmental staffs nationally. Correctable, non-talent issues — misfitted gaps, wrong quarterback reads, coverage snafus, etc — should be eliminated. Play calls and personnel deployments need to put the team in the best position to succeed, and on-field player progression should be more noticeable than a before-and-after Hilgartification photo.

Do all that, and it's still no guarantee the Hokies make the December trip to Charlotte. This team is flawed at positions which will take one-or-more recruiting cycles to address.

However, the road ahead, the long haul, that destination is much more palatable and appealing.

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I can imagine no more rewarding a career. And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction:
“I served in the United States Navy"

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"Why gobble gobble chumps asks such good questions, I will never know." - TheFifthFuller

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The Orange and Maroon you see, that's fighting on to victory.

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If it ain't orange, it better be maroon...and if it ain't maroon, it better be soon!

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30 years after starting grad school at Virginia Tech, I finally defended my dissertation and earned my PhD.
Don't give up on your dreams.

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If you play it, they will win.

"How the ass pocket will be used, I do not know. Alls I know is, the ass pocket will be used." -The BoD

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"I play real sports, not trying to be the best at exercising..." - KP

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Plan for the worst and hope for the best, not the other way around.

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"I play real sports, not trying to be the best at exercising..." - KP

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"I play real sports, not trying to be the best at exercising..." - KP

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"Runs up the hill! Into the Tech student section! Here in Charlottesville!"

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"What kind of person would throw away a perfectly good dog?"

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If you play it, they will win.

"How the ass pocket will be used, I do not know. Alls I know is, the ass pocket will be used." -The BoD

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"Why gobble gobble chumps asks such good questions, I will never know." - TheFifthFuller

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Plan for the worst and hope for the best, not the other way around.

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The Orange and Maroon you see, that's fighting on to victory.

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Vols Fans are more delusional than LOLUVA

Hokie in Tennessee

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"...sticks and stones may break my bones but I'm gonna kick you repeatedly in the balls Gardoki!"

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"What kind of person would throw away a perfectly good dog?"

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Warning: this post occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors)..

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Vols Fans are more delusional than LOLUVA

Hokie in Tennessee

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Virginia Tech School of Architecture Class of 2014
Fan of Hokies, Ravens, NY Giants, Orioles

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Plan for the worst and hope for the best, not the other way around.

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"For those who have passed, for those to come, reach for excellence."

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"I play real sports, not trying to be the best at exercising..." - KP

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"What are you going to do, stab me? - Quote from Man Stabbed

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Plan for the worst and hope for the best, not the other way around.

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"Our job as coaches is to influence young people's lives for the better in terms of fundamental skills, work ethic, and doing the right thing. Every now and again, a player actually has that effect on the coaching staff." Justin Fuente on Sam Rogers

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"...sticks and stones may break my bones but I'm gonna kick you repeatedly in the balls Gardoki!"

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"I play real sports, not trying to be the best at exercising..." - KP

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"Welcome to the Terror Dome." -- Corey Moore

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"Welcome to the Terror Dome." -- Corey Moore

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the numbers don’t lie and they spell disaster

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the numbers don’t lie and they spell disaster

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VT '10--US Citizen; (804) Virginian By Birth; (210) Texan By the Grace of God.

Rick Monday... You Made a Great Play...

I also root for: The Keydets, Army, TexAggies, NY Giants, NY Rangers, ATL Braves, and SA Brahmas

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I don't know what a Hokie is, but God is one of them!

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VT '10--US Citizen; (804) Virginian By Birth; (210) Texan By the Grace of God.

Rick Monday... You Made a Great Play...

I also root for: The Keydets, Army, TexAggies, NY Giants, NY Rangers, ATL Braves, and SA Brahmas

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The Orange and Maroon you see, that's fighting on to victory.

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"We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their behavior" Stephen M.R. Covey

“When life knocks you down plan to land on your back, because if you can look up, you can get up, if you fall flat on your face it can kill your spirit” David Wilson

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From the 2018 VT-uva game-"This is when LEGENDS are made!"