Virginia Tech opts out of playing in a bowl this season, ACC sources told @Stadium. The Hokies had played in 27 consecutive bowls, the nation's longest current streak. My updated bowl projections after Hokies decision & Tuesday's @CFBPlayoff rankings https://t.co/WDFzBFa5gL— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 16, 2020
Hopefully there will be updates and comments during today's press conference. I'm sure the players are split, with some wanting to play and some wanting to go home after this COVID season. Disappointing but understandable as a fan tbh
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Figured this when Darrisaw and Tre both posted crying emoji tweets at the same time yesterday.
Me too, but now we have confirmation from a reputable source
But in all seriousness, this is the correct choice.
Nope, when the great majority of the team votes to play, it is not the correct choice.
If the team isn't totally committed to playing and winning the game, then they're going to get embarrassed on the field. It takes everyone giving their all.
If a significant portion of the players, even if not a majority, were honest about not being able to, then I support that and respect their bravery to voice an unpopular truth and I give credit to Fuente for recognizing that and making the call.
I will never turn down another chance to watch the Hokies play, but given the last 48 hours I think this is the smart move. End on a win with UVA and focus on 2021!
I'm ok with this. Those kids need a break.
So do we.
It's an understandable decision. Part of me believes that we would have opted out of any bowl below the NY6 under better on-field circumstances.
I just hope it was the players' choice and not the staff or the admin.
I'm sure the players made their choice, Fuente scheduled a press conference to tell everyone, then the board pressured him to back pedal at the last minute. /s
FTFY
I think they did. If anything, I feel like the school/admin would want them to play since they LOVE promoting the bowl streak.
Even though a lot of the players interviewed after the UVA said they wanted to play, I'm guessing the guys who we didn't hear from (aka the depth guys) were less excited about going through all of the protocols and extending the season for a lower tier bowl game. Not sure if they did a vote or what, but I'd imagine a lot of guys just wanted the grind to be over which nobody can blame them for
2021 will be a fresh start. Fuente's first true season as coach (/s) and the first year of many new streaks.
We all knew the bowl streak would end eventually. Considering the circumstances this is probably the best way to "lose" it.
I was hoping this would coincide with the program having a clean slate for the new coach, but that obviously didn't happen.
I don't consider this an end to the streak. we could have played in a bowl, but due to the circumstances chose not to. We have made a bowl game for 28 straight seasons.
But under that logic, the only reason we could have even played in a bowl game with a losing record was due to the same circumstances.
true, but 6-7 teams have played in bowls before, and with limited games the qualifications are also lowered this year.
Virginia Tech Hokies opt to end nation's longest bowl streak at 27 years
I think the streak is pretty much considered done. ESPN.com - Top Headlines, front page. We chose not to play in a possible available bowl.
I'm sure if we qualify for a bowl next year, Pete Moris will tweet about how we've qualified for 29 bowls straight...
That's a headline to draw clicks. If we somehow manage to make a bowl next year, the perception might be different. But it really doesn't matter at this point.
So at best the Nation's longest bowl streak will forever have an asterisk. How many other bowl streak teams will earn that asterisk in the current top ten (below), 20, etc.? When those amass over time with "true" streaks, will the multitude of asterisk teams be considered as relevant as the others, especially given the 2020 bowl waiver for .500 and # of contests. Pretty sure with bowls being more and more meaningless most media will likely agree to draw a clean slate.
Top Ten
10. A&M
Miami
Oklahoma State
Clemson
Alabama
Wisconsin
LSU
Oklahoma
Georgia
1. Virginia Tech
It's not an official record. And ESPN isn't the arbiter of what qualifies.
it allows for next season's 5-7 record to sting less and allows Babcock to suggest that in year 2, Fuente still has what it takes to take VT back to the glory days of making a bowl.
The only streak Fuente has yet to break at this point is our continuous possession of the Black Diamond Trophy.
At 5-6, we probably shouldn't have been bowling anyway, so I can't fault this decision.
Yep. a lot of firsts for fuente... none of them good.
That will be put to the test this fall. I'm trying not to think about it.
Don't worry, he now has a very good chance to ruin that next fall too.
We also haven't been shutout in a game since 1998.
Fuente: Hold my water bottle
1995 if I recall correctly
16-0, Cincinnati? Just going off memory (bad memories)
A sad day, indeed....where we then went on to beat Miami, then catch fire to win the Big East and knock off Texas in the Sugar Bowl.
If that's what it takes for a Sugar Bowl appearance, I'm willing to get shutout early to win big later.
No we dominated TX. I was almost feeling sorry for their QB in the second half. He seemed worried about who was going to hit him next. They had the
'unstoppable" BMX back field.
Side story. I had a biz trip to Dallas not long after that. Not thinking, I wore my VT hat into Bass Pro. I didn't get my ass kicked but I was getting the hairy eyeball from people.. I was thinking what the hell? Finally figured out is was the hat. I am a slow person.
that streak seems impure, considering the asterisk...
*VT was shutout in regulation in 2014 to WF and Shane Beamer had the other team's playbook.
There is no asterisk, at the end of the game we did not have a 0.
I still have to think that when Shane received the play book he thought there was no way this was real and tossed it in the trash.
Now, as Whit said yesterday, the Beamer era is finally closed, year 6 marks the start of the Fuente era!
Or Year 2 of the Fuente era apparently lol
I'll be honest, I wanted to see one more game this year. Just seems like this season was a blur and went by quickly. Also, sucks for players like Herbert who never got the chance to experience a bowl game but I get it. The players need a Christmas break, no need to worry about practice and traveling at this point.
Thank you to the players and the coaches (yeah I said it). This was not an easy year by any measure and I don't think we could imagine what they went through just to play a game.
If he wasn't going to get paid in the NFL next year, he still has the option to come back next year since this year didn't count
To be honest though, a bowl game this year was not going to provide the players that "bowl game experience"...it would likely just travel to X location, play game, travel home.
is it even a bowl game if no one gets arrested for stealing from the store where you're given a $300 gift card?
Or breaks curfew and gets sent home on a bus?
Or competes in some half-assed eating competition 2 days before game time?
Or injures himself on a jetski?
If they're going to miss a bowl game I'd rather it be the players' decision to not go.
It was the players call, obviously not all of them agreed with the decision
In Fu's presser now, he did say that it was ultimately a player decision
Correct
Have we considered that Fuente wanted the bowl streak to end so that the pressure isn't so high to continue it going forward?
If he thinks the pressure is too high with the bar set at "finish with more wins than losses in the ACC Coastal" then we have the wrong head coach.
So now we can start on a streak of not going to bowl games? /s
Yeah, but it will have an asterisk, too since we could have gone to one this year.
lol.. pre-covid 6-6 in the ACC was a lock for a bowl. If that is pressure, he's in over his head.
I think you should always go to a bowl if selected. I do get that with COVID and everything this year is different, but Reps are Reps and the younger guys always need more reps considering the limited amount of practice time the NCAA allows. This would also hold true if we had made the move, the extra bowl practices are always good to help with development of players.
Honestly didn't earn it after a 5 win season. No asterisk on the streak now.
Bowls have been watered down imo to where the lack a lot of meaning. It's not something earned anymore, its just an exhibition because a company paid for the sponsorship. I guess I'm old school that way. This team didn't earn a bowl game. .500 or below teams shouldn't be in bowls period. I'm not particularly ok with 7 win teams (considering how many games are played now) being in bowl games but whatever. Point is, if you want to keep playing, be good enough to keep playing. We weren't this year.
Actually, if you were really old school, you'd be okay that bowl games are just an exhibition. That's the way they started- just an opportunity to put teams against each other that wouldn't otherwise play. I'm not really disagreeing with you, just pointing out that bowl games started out meaning nothing with respect to "earning" the spot.
As an alumni from the 1980s, I remember in 1983, finishing the season with the '83 squeaker 48-0 win over lolUVA (tearing down the goal posts in
Scott StadiumLane Stdium North )the week after the Hoos beat UNC and then NOT getting a bowl bid at all-snubbed by the Peach Bowl for that 8-3 UNC squad (thy screwed us over even that long ago!)(and they got crushed by FSU too-some revenge lol.) Of course there were only 16 bowls then lol.Date Bowl Pts Pts Notes
1984-01-02 Cotton Bowl Georgia (7) 10 Texas (2) 9 Dallas, TX
1984-01-02 Fiesta Bowl Ohio State (14) 28 Pittsburgh (15) 23 Tempe, AZ
1984-01-02 Orange Bowl Miami (FL) (5) 31 Nebraska (1) 30 Miami, FL
1984-01-02 Rose Bowl UCLA 45 Illinois (4) 9 Pasadena, CA
1984-01-02 Sugar Bowl Auburn (3) 9 Michigan (8) 7 New Orleans, LA
1983-12-31 Bluebonnet Bowl Oklahoma State 24 Baylor (20) 14 Houston, TX
1983-12-30 Gator Bowl Florida (11) 14 Iowa (10) 6 Jacksonville, FL
1983-12-30 Peach Bowl Florida State 28 North Carolina 3 Atlanta, GA
1983-12-29 Liberty Bowl Notre Dame 19 Boston College (13) 18 Memphis, TN
1983-12-26 Aloha Bowl Penn State 13 Washington 10 Honolulu, HI
1983-12-24 Sun Bowl Alabama 28 Southern Methodist (6) 7 El Paso, TX
1983-12-23 Holiday Bowl Brigham Young (9) 21 Missouri 17 San Diego, CA
1983-12-22 Hall of Fame Classic West Virginia (18) 20 Kentucky 16 Birmingham, AL
1983-12-17 California Bowl Northern Illinois 20 Cal State Fullerton 13 Fresno, CA
1983-12-17 Citrus Bowl Tennessee 30 Maryland (16) 23 Orlando, FL
1983-12-10 Independence Bowl Air Force (16) 9 Mississippi 3 Shreveport, LA
We were 9-2 and East Carolina was 8-3, with neither invited to a bowl. Some fans jokingly talked of playing our own wildcat bowl between the two teams.
Sorry, double post.
Bowls have been watered down, and yet so few schools have bowl streaks longer than just a few years. There may be more bowls, but I don't think it makes streaks any less impressive.
Not surprisingly with our quality coach and ad
I remember when I was 8, my oldest sibling went to visit Tech. We picked up an Independence bowl hoodie at the book store. Wore that thing till it wouldn't fit me sometime in high school. I have a strong urge to call my mom and see if she can dig it out from their attic.
Hard to lose a streak when no bowls likely get played!
Something, Something, Basketball school, 🏀 something, something.
Saw VT was trending on national signing day and got excited. Definitely a gut punch but I'm glad the players can go home for the holidays.
I dont understand the fans who are applauding the loss of the streak. I definitely understand the players choice and have no problem with not playing the bowl. What I dont get is the fans that are saying "good, the streak is over, we didnt deserve it". We deserved a bowl, thats why we would have gotten an invite. You can project what you think it means to deserve a bowl, but what makes you deserve a bowl is literally in the rules - so if you get invited you deserved it. Sure I want the team to get better and I see how the perception of rock bottom may feel like it can force change - but at the end of the day the streak is one of the last things that shows our historical prominence and something to put side by side with blue bloods and show that we matter. Wanting the destruction of something built over 3 decades just to send a message makes no sense to me.
Sure the team was 5-6 and most years a losing record is a rock solid indicator you don't deserve a bowl. But this team played a 10 game conference slate plus on OOC game against a ranked D1 school. There were no FCS or G5 games that boost records every year. Did we lose too many games we should have won? Absolutely. Did we also play 6 games against teams that have been ranked for more than one week? Yes. The schedule was tough and there were no gimmies. We should've been better but saying the kids didn't earn a bowl this year is just trying to throw shade at Fuente and discredit the hard work of the players.
Well said I was trying to think of a way to say the same but you nailed it on the head.
This sucks and is both frustrating and disappointing. Hate to see all of our positive streaks fall away. But, absolutely no way I can blame the players, coaches, or school for the decision. Certainly makes sense. Especially bummed for Herbert as would have liked him to get the opportunity to play in one.
Since this year didn't count towards eligibility according to the NCAA, does not going to a bowl really count?
This makes me miss when going to a bowl mattered. I still remember whaat a huge deal it was when VT got into the 93 Independence Bowl. ESPN watered the bowls down so much that now, the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl mean next to nothing if they aren't part of the final four. Just scrap the damn things and have a 16 team tournament... 11 conference champs, five at large. Conferences host the first round (bid out the two other first round games.) Then 3 weeks in the big all weather sites. Print money.
Yeah, never have understood why the NCAA continues to support the bowl structure considering how much money they make from the basketball tournament. Bowls must have huge Bag Men...
The orange bowl executives all make over 1 millions a year, for basically a week long event. Now while there is a lot to putting on that type of event, it doesn't need to be worth 1 million dollars per person. So yes they probably have excellent bag men.
And they also enjoy non-profit protection so have to allocate all those dollars. They also just have to put on their bowl jacket and lapel pin to get into any college football game in the country and instantly are issued in to Presidential suites and all that jazz. The bowl also pays for their significant others to go on vacations while they conduct bowl business. Their additional business meetings are usually scheduled at different uber-rich resorts around the country. Athletic directors and other important football people also get invited to these meetings to provide guidance and business suggestions
I clearly made the wrong career decision....
I'll take a 16 team NCAA tournament, a 16 team NIT (with all conference runners up guaranteed), and anybody with a winning season gets into a third tournament of indeterminate size.
2019 saw 79 bowl eligible teams.
The NCAA tournament would have seen: Memphis, Clemson, Oklahoma, Ohio State, FAU, Miami (OH), Boise St. Oregon, LSU, App State, Georgia, Baylor, Wisconsin, Florida, Penn State, and Utah (based on CFP rankings).
The NIT would take Cincinnati, UVA, UAB, CMU, Hawaii, Louisiana, Auburn, Alabama, Michigan, Notre Dame, Iowa, Minnesota, USC, Navy, Oklahoma State (round out top 25), and my guess being Air Force.
The final tournament would have the remaining 35 teams.
Round 1 would be the week after the Army-Navy game.
Round 2 would be the week before Christmas
Round 3 would be Christmas
Round 4 would be New Years
Championships would be Super Bowl Saturday. Noon kickoff for the third tier, 4:00 for NIT, 8 pm for NCAA.
Rounds 1 and 2 hit on the same weekend.
Wouldn't there have been 47 teams in the third tournament?
I apparently cannot math today. That goes for calendars as well.
Let's start with conference champ weekend. Let's not just have division winners play, but have the divisions go head to head so that you can't just sit at home for an at large spot.
16 teams in the playoffs, but why not more football, have an NIT and what ever the crappies tournament is called, thats 48 teams with post season play, more games is always better.
Sounds wonderful on paper. Would never work in reality.
Look, we'll get 2 bowls next year with the CFP semi and the national title game.
Oh you want what I'm smoking?
Smoke it 🚬
Legalize it 🌿
Nice job opting out of something you have neither qualified for or have been invited to. We should opt out of the CFB playoff as well, to get in front of it.
I am 100% certain you are related to dcwilson.
Really? DCWilson clearly has a name in there and Jew ILSo doesn't!
Tech is going to need to update their twitter account they use for recruiting:
https://twitter.com/HokiesFB
"Official Account of Virginia Tech Football #27Straight - Longest Active Bowl Streak in
🇺🇸
#HardHatMentality
👷🏾
#Hokies
🦃"
Its like the Safety Days count you see in workplaces...right after an accident.
#ItStartsNow?
Up here in PA at the moment it's more like #LetItSnow
The best! LMAO!
Nuff' Said!
My take is basically this year shouldn't count. I mean you had whole conferences that barely played any games. You are going to have teams that do go to a bowl game that normally wouldn't and teams that probably would have gone to a bowl game if a normal season schedule was played that aren't.
I know its hard but set aside VT and our streak for a sec and look around at the bigger picture. Let's look at some of the other top 10 teams with bowl streaks is LSU going to a bowl with a 4-5 record? How about wisconsin with a 2-3 record? And i know everyone likes to say Fuente is using COVID as some lame excuse because everyone had to deal with it, which is true but you know what not everyone had to deal with it to the same degree. I'm not trying to say Fuente is right or anything but again in the bigger picture of this year just not counting you had some schools that got hit hard with COVID and some schools that didn't. You had schools dealing with different COVID protocols based on state and local government requirements. I mean just look at how many fans were allowed in our stadium for games vs some other schools in different states and you start to get an idea of how different the COVID protocols were in different places around the country. So yes everyone had to deal with COVID but that's like saying every soldier fought in the war when one group is on the front line getting off a boat on D-day and another is nowhere near the front line and then saying a 50% death rate is unacceptable for the group on the front line because look no one died in the other group that never even got shot at but hey everyone fought in the war right. Maybe that's a bad analogy but the point is every school had to deal with COIVD yes, but it was under different circumstances, different protocols, different levels of outbreak etc.
So i say this year just doesn't count across the board, you can put an asterisk next to everyone's streaks and records if you want, but this year just isn't the same. You can make the same argument for other records/stats, i don't know of any specific examples that are out there but let's say a RB has the best YPC in school history because they had 3 break out runs and only played 3 games would that record count?
Your going to have a lot of missed record breaking ops across all sports. Few years from not and some MLB player is 10 HRs short of bonds career record when they retire and you say hey what if they played the full season in 2020 he coulda had it man.
No, because they are valiantly giving themselves a postseason ban for something they did wrong.
But now that I have the smartass nitpicking out of the way, I am all for the rest of that paragraph.
So much this. But also, not every team was starting from the same point. Teams with older rosters or a more stable coaching staff were going to fare better than teams that say for instance replaced their entire defensive coaching staff.
Maybe it's more don't use covid as an excuse, but also don't completely dismiss it as a factor.
Okay on the defensive staff. But what were we in returning production in the nation?
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/28649423/college-footba...
I'm not sure who amongst Farley, Garbutt, Hazleton, McClease and Keene would have been factored into that ranking. But it was produced in February.
Brian Kelly
Notre Dame Brian Kelly
Said they wouldn't play in a bowl if they weren't in the playoffs.
This is part of what appears to be a tirade directed at the Rose Bowl not being flexible so parents can watch their kids play.
Thanks ND. Still finding a way to completely screw the ACC out of $$$. If they beat Clemson, and don't go to the Rose Bowl, the ACC get nil from the Playoffs. Son. Of. A. BK is gonna make me root for Clemson this weekend.
In all fairness, the Rose Bowl is a pain in the ass to college football. Most of the reason the playoff schedule gets screwed up some years is because the Rose Bowl will not change its date. Both BK and DS are correct here. If you are unwilling to move it closer, okay, everyone else is making changes, but whatever. But if you are unwilling to move it, then kids fly from across the country, and not allow their parents to attend, that is just wrong. The playoff needs to find a solution, they are pointing out an obvious misguided and overlooked aspect of the situation.
DS backed BK's statements.
The answer is to have the NCAA drop the Bowls altogether for the Playoffs....just schedule playoff games and cut the middle man out of the process.
I get that. But for ONE season, ND decides to join the ACC as a football member. And win the conference. Ranked #2. And opts out of the playoff screwing the ACC out of their share of the pot of money. If they hadn't agreed, or should I say been allowed to join for one season only, Clemson would be there and bringing $$$ to the ACC. Now, ND is completely screwing us in some bad poetic way.
And I'm not opposed to BK's and ND's decision. Just sucks the way it's playing out that the ACC gives them "power" as a member and they are screwing us.
I thought we were rooting for Clemson anyway to get that double playoff money.
The Rose Bowl has no say about crowds,hell, they should be glad Pasadena is even allowing football, San Francisco sure isn't, just ask the 49ers
Confession: every time I see the name of this thread, I read "Virginia Tech Football opts out of football" and think to myself, yes, that sounds right.
Man, it sucks to see Tennesse, Arkansas, Ole Miss and every other mediocre SEC team play in a bowl while we stay at home. I'm sympathetic to the players and respect their decision, but, from purely a fan perspective, it's disappointing.