Sorry about the title - I couldn't resist with all the dumbassery happening on Wall Street - but, what I am about to say just might be more unpopular than the Unpopular Opinion. It's been a long 4 days (due to work kicking me in the junk ... repeatedly) since that fateful night, so only now am I catching up on Hokie Nation's response to the Clemson game.
My reaction to last Saturday?
A resounding Meh. As in, "I don't really care."
Yup, I just said that I don't care that we lost. I mean I do care, as I was quite the unhappy camper last Saturday night, but in the grand scheme of things, it just wasn't that big of a loss. We lost to a team that is more accomplished than us, and who looked better than us, but we also lost to a team in the opposite division than us. Sure, that loss just nuked any remote possibility of a BCS Championship birth. But who in their right mind really thought we were going to be a MNC team this year? I admit that I thought we could perhaps enjoy a darkhorse shot, but after the first 4 games, I realized that was a more than distant opportunity. All I want to see this year is another 10-win season, an ACC championship, and a bowl win against a quality opponent. (Sidenote: Tennessee barely counted a few years ago. I would argue that our last quality bowl win came nearly 11 years ago vs Clemson in the 2001 Gator Bowl following the 2000 season.)
All of those things are still within reach.
I would like to take a moment and disagree with MikeSty's opinion that Lane "just died" early in the game. Perhaps it has to do with where he was located in the stands versus where I was located in the stands, but I did not feel that Lane died early on. I felt like most people (including myself) thought Tech was going to get something going and pull the game out of our collective ass for most of the game. Even when we were down 17-3, I thought "this sucks, but it is not insurmountable." For most of the game I and those around me were yelling our asses off when we were on defense trying to will a good play for the Hokies.
It was late in the 3rd quarter and into the 4th quarter when I knew things were really going to shit. When Clemson went up 23-3, I left Lane Stadium and headed downtown for the warmth of the indoors and bourbon. Feel free to knock me for leaving before the bitter end, but I knew the Hokies weren't coming back from that deficit and I was (a) cold, (b) miserable, and (c) seeking my first night out in Blacksburg since last basketball season earlier this year. I hope you can understand my desire to leave the game at that time.
In the time between my getting up early Sunday morning to head back to Hoo'ville (yes, I live in enemy territory, it's not as bad as you might think) and the present (less than 48 hours before kickoff vs Miami), I have reflected on the loss, on the commentary about our program, and on the commentary on our fanbase. I have concluded something that really should be painfully obvious. Virginia Tech football has been on a plateau for the past 7 seasons, and the fanbase has been on a plateau for just as long or longer.
I believe that because we've seen the same product on the field, with minor variation, for the last 7 years, we are collectively less hungry. We have consistently been a good team, but not a great team. We have a string of 10-win seasons that is truly rare in college football today, yet we cannot get over the hump and beat college football's elite. Week-in and week-out we watch one of the best good teams in the nation.
These really aren't things to complain about, and my intention is not to bitch about the state of Virginia Tech football. (Because I really can't complain, it's been a hell of a ride since my freshman year in 1997). However, I believe the last 7'ish years have bread a complacency amongst both fans and coaches. Heck, I just admitted that I really didn't care that much about the loss, and folks are complaining that Lane has lost its edge. I also think Beamer enjoys a bit of complacency as well. While the coaching moves he made in the offseason were huge by Frank standards, I remain convinced that in order for us to make that last push to enter the realm of college football elite Coach Beamer must change his offensive philosophy. I agree with much of what french60wasp wrote earlier this week, and I blame it to a certain extent on the complacency we experience today.
So, I ask my fellow TKP readers, am I way out there in this opinion? Am I the 1%?
PS: I can't believe I just ended that post with "Am I the 1%?" ... that was lame, but it seemed to tie it all together. However, I do welcome your feedback. I love Hokie Nation, Virginia Tech, and Blacksburg; and I can't wait for another beautiful Saturday afternoon when Miami comes to town this week.
PSS: Shameless plug: I recently got into the Twitter: @VinceRivellino. Feel free to hit me up there with your feedback.
Comments
Yes and No
First off: Where I was in the East Stands, the crowd stayed into it until the middle of the 4th quarter. I stayed until there was 2 minutes left to beat traffic, but can say my section stayed loud and proud longer than most stadiums would.
Secondly, as far as the 1% goes: You are and you aren't. I, like you, am ok with taking one on the chin. Losing is to be expected during the season, so long as it isn't too often. How we lost, however, is where I really take issue with. Losing to a better team (and I think that Clemson was the better-established team on Saturday) is fine, but not having one-single touchdown is not ok.
This leads to your second point about complacency. Since 2000, how often have you seen the NCAA Offensive landscape evolve..how often have you seen ours follow suit? We recruit players at one position and then work them into others (see: Offensive Line and half the QBs we've signed switched to receivers, and then one receiver we recruited into a QB). I agree that we've become complacent, I've only been a student/fan since I moved there to start classes in 2004, so I'm relatively new, but not much has improved overall. We still struggle to recruit the talent for big boy football, and we still can't put together an offense capable of bringing us that trophy. Frenchwasp60 (?) gave great insight with an extremely knowledgeable analysis of problems persistant in our program for years. While I can't say our coaches aren't aware: sometimes I wonder if Beamer's conservative nature, while great for 10-win seasons, isn't in need of some rule-breaking in order to be a big-boy team. Which we aren't.
Defense is great and always is, even with trip-ups against option based offenses. We really can't accept not scoring in our own backyard, I will not let that go as a fluke against a defense that let Wofford score 30 AT HOME.
Thank being said: Miami has been, and still is my favorite rivalry since I've been a student, and I'm excited. I hope we addressed some issues, freshmen on the D line fill in like I think they will, and that we post a convincing "W" on Saturday. I'll be there in full forc ein the East Stands. Go Hokies!
Well said.
FWIW - I, too, am in the East Stands (Section 25 to be precise, right next to the student section).
Even though the score was uglier than we've seen the past (eg: not one trip to pay dirt), the offensive performance we saw was exactly what we've seen in the past. You know the reason why we never scored a touchdown? Field position. Our punting woes lead to such a lopsided score.
I would posit that had we good punting, the final score would've been along the lines of 17-10 or 20-10: one less TD for Clemson, and one for us. In the past we've made up for an ineffective offense through defense and special teams. But now all we have is defense.
My point being that the offense we're seeing is basically what we've seen the 5-7 years. It just looked worse last Saturday thanks to our special teams struggles.
EDIT: Whoops - meant to be in reply to scottbeard.
thank you.
for posting this.
i'm with you and that is the #1 reason why i got kicked from tsl last year because i saw the complacency and i was tired of accepting it so i went off. i'm glad too because at the key play, you can actually voice your opinion whether right or wrong, whether good or bad, if its constructive people get on board.
thank you for that.
i'll take your 1% and raise you another, good sir.
GO HOKIES.
Opportunity
Last week I made claim that it was judgment week. A real test for the players and program as a whole. Well.. we all know about how we failed and it was rather pathetic. Yea the D was good, be when I look at the damn scoreboard I don't say "alright! we held them under 30 points!" Sorry.
This week is the judgment week 2.0 for us. I am anxious to see if we come out and play with a really large, dagger-sharp chip on our shoulder and a pissed off "last Saturday wont happen again" mentality.
In my opinion, our response to the loss will give us a true assessment of this football team and its future.
Leaving for Blacksburg in T-minus 7 hours
Gut check time
Agreed, not that bad a loss, they're not on our side of the ACC, perhaps play them again (see: BC & Matt Ryan). Time to tighten up the chin strap, jock strap, and pad straps and go bust some heads.
Nice to see somebody else on here resides in hooville, too!
Good Piece
If you would've offered me those three things at the beginning of the season I would have gladly accepted in an instant. We all knew Logan would struggle, now all of a sudden we're surprised when it actually happens.
My argument against leaving early is the following.
1. Nebraska in 2009. 99 times out of 100 the comeback won't happen, but I never want to miss that one time.
2. The players and coaches work their asses off all year to put on a show. Some nights the production bombs, others it's a classic. Regardless of the outcome, I have to believe they work just as hard. The least I can do to respect their efforts is to stay until the end. They want to win as much, if not more, than we do.
You're not alone, but...
For this particular loss, it was the method of the loss, and how it fits into an overall pattern of what we have seen out of this football program for the last decade or so. All losses are worth the same amount in the W-L column, but not all losses are created equal.
In this case, if we lose 23-20 it stings for a little, but you get over it. We played well, but got beat by the better team. But this time was different. The theme of this game was just complete offensive ineptitude when faced with a team consisting of players of equal or slightly better talent, and that's just a song we've all heard before. The problem is the reason why we haven't had a quality bowl win in almost a decade. Once we feast on a schedule of also-rans who either have less talent than us, inept coaching, or both, we're just not prepared to get the job done against the Stanfords of the world in a bowl.
In Psych 2001 freshman year, I learned about this experiment regarding a behavior called "learned helplessness." In Short:
This is where I am with this football program. We are what we are. It's not going to change any time soon. What's the point in expending energy and getting worked up about it? It sounds like that's where you are, too.
Hate to say it..
But I'm there too. Different year... same story.
Nice pull on "learned helplessness"
I would argue that we're not quite to learned helplessness yet - at least not to the degree that UVA fans are. ;-)
Not for the team as a whole...
Just the offense.