Per @therealdcunna yesterday, the ODU series in football may be ending early, so Tech may not be traveling to Norfolk this year.Could end up being an FCS team to fill that slot as a home game. #Hokies— Clark Ruhland (@Hokie20) January 11, 2024
Apparently this might have been leaked in a podcast from TSL yesterday, but there seems to be a bit of swirl about a potential cancellation of the ODU series, effective as early as this year.
Honestly, would love to see this happen. And if you want to check out some nice humor, look at social media right now. ODU fans are not taking this well
January 24th update.... womp womp
The #Hokies' 2024 football schedule is out: pic.twitter.com/dyXR4jMrGq— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) January 24, 2024
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Here's a read for non-twitter folks too.
I can understand ODU fans being mad. However, playing them EVERY YEAR always seemed a bit lazy to me.
Yep, I actually don't mind a Norfolk game every once and a while, it's convenient for me and I have a lot of friends in the area. However, a 24? year contract with ODU is absurd. One of the best parts about college football is the ridiculous number of teams. There's no reason to play any out of conference game for that long.
OOC should be one-off games at home with G5 teams or home and home or home-neutral-home series with FBS schools. FCS schools should rarely, if ever, make the schedule and there should be a good reason for it.
Bye ODU
I'd rather play ODU than LIberty so until I also see a news release that Liberty is being removed from our schedule this upsets me. At least playing at ODU makes sense from a recruiting standpoint. What does playing at Liberty provide.
And yes, I'm talking about the SINGULAR matchup we have left at LIberty in 2030. I dislike the school of Liberty THAT much.
I'd rather play at Wyoming in December play liberty. With that said, I hope that Pry is getting his way and now he can work with their staff to have joint camps and such.
Woo! I'm relevant! Bring the Hokies to Wyoming! God I would kill for that game. Probs not in December though.
Where in Wyoming are you? Grand Teton NP is my favorite place to visit anywhere. Really enjoyed Fort Laramie, Natural Bridge (yeah, WY has one too), Yellowstone and Buffalo Bill Dam. Wanted to see Devil's Tower, but never made it. Seems like so many great places if you are an outdoor type.
I'd by so psyched to go there and see Tech play.
I live in Lander, which is a mountain range east of Jackson. Wyoming is a fantastic place for outdoor recreation of all types, and its definitely why my wife and I live here. But it has all the tough things about truly rural living too (Lander is 2 hrs or 120 mi from the nearest interstate), like few good jobs, no restaurants, limited cultural activities. The real secret of Lander is an exceptionally tight-knit community of people who make this place worth spending our lives instead of just visiting. That said, everyone should visit, cause as far as I'm concerned the Wyoming mountains are heaven on earth from June through October.
I would also love to bring the Hokies out to Laramie to see a game live again after so long. And I know we would knock their socks off with how the fans travel. I just hope our talent could overcome the 7,000 ft of elevation, I would never hear the end of it if we lost.
Many years ago I took my first job out of Tech as a field engineer building the Wyodak Power Station near Gillette Wy. I loved it there too. Very isolated, yes; but 100 miles East and I was in the Black Hills and 100 miles West and I was in the Big Horn mountains (little brothers to the Tetons but not near the tourist traffic). Devils Tower is truly impressive. Trout fishing and hunting was fantastic. Had to travel 1-1/2 hours to Rapid City SD to get a Big Mac but had Rodeos ten minutes from my place every Saturday during the Summer.... Great times.
I love Wyoming, spent some time out there over the years in the fall hunting. Mostly in the eastern part of the state between Gillette and Douglas. Would love to make it back this upcoming fall or the next but the drawing odds for nonresident applications has made it very difficult. I've often said that if the mountains of SWVA weren't my home, I'd be living in Wyoming.
What is this?
I am assuming non-resident hunting license for Moose, Caribou, or Elk.
What HokieAlum6144 said - hunting applications. What used to be essentially an over-the-counter application with 100% success for deer and antelope is now at about 5% success, with the only guarantees of drawing being building up preference points for 10 years. For some game species, like bighorn sheep, there's 1 tag for every 1000 applicants, with any chance of a guaranteed hunt taking 25 years of buying preference points. Combination of additional interest in the outdoors post COVID and lower game numbers. Wyoming does an excellent job managing their herds, but that unfortunately equals less opportunities in the field.
Didn't realize it had gotten that bad. You need to buy a small cabin there and apply as a landowner.
Or, and this is just an idea, get WyoTurkey to hook me up with some sweet private land in an easy to draw area. I'll bring food and beer and we can talk about the Hokies.
I'm an '04 alum as well, so we'd have plenty to jaw about. Unfortunately I'm a public lands hunter as well, haven't drawn an antelope tag in 2 years. Last winter was so harsh with massive die-offs that tags are gonna be tougher for the foreseeable future too (not to mention the growing number of applicants).
I'm planning on elk hunting up in the Winds or Gros Ventres next year though, as a resident I can just buy general for those areas.
But if anybody is applying or draws a tag in Wyoming and needs advice, I can try to help. I don't know everything, but I can try. I'm mainly a climber!
And you can't just own it either. You have to spend 180 nights in Wyoming and not claim residency elsewhere to apply as a resident. Landowners with 160 contiguous acres get a couple tags automatically, but I'm not sure how that interacts with residency.
I moved to Gillette for my first job out of school. Rough town for a fresh grad, I moved down to Lander a couple years later. But you've judged Wyoming well, winters are long but man this place is perfect in the summer. One of my favorite things is that almost none of WYs best parts can be seen from the interstate, everyone thinks the whole state is scrubby desert.
When I was there, the trailer park (since replaced with a subdivision) was adjacent to the golf course and airport. On some holes, the players would halt play the let the commuters coming in from Denver land without wasting balls that might hit the plane. Stockman's was the only "real" supermarket in town and LuLus down by the rail station was where everyone went for a good chicken fried steak meal with a Dixie Cup of ice cream for dessert. Man I really do miss those times.....
Wife is staying in Rock Springs for work. She saw someone jogging with a VT beanie on this morning... long shot chance it's you or someone you know? Figured there can only be so many Hokies in WY.
Haha I don't know any Hokies in Rock Springs unfortunately. Hope your wife isn't there for too long, Rock Springs is rough in the winter! Best thing about it is how close it is to Park City and SLC.
See even people living in Wyoming don't want December games.
Laramie is so rough in the winter I try not to even drive by it!
Usually snow starts falling in late November so the cold always arrives before the season ends. It's the only place I've been where the snow doesn't really melt. It just blows around until it wears out.
That sounds like the way my relatives in the Buffalo, NY area describe things. Starts snowing in maybe October and may not melt until something like May.
Then there is my wife from Edmonton. Said July or August, I cannot remember which, was the only month she never had snowfall when she was growing up.
I was born in Batavia, New York outside Buffalo and raised in New England. I can remember years where it snowed before Christmas and the ground was white until March.
Growing up an hour east of Buffalo, I can confirm.
This is a great move and shows we are getting serious about our scheduling. There is no reason why, as Pry called us "the flagship football team in VA," should be locked into a long term lose-lose series like this. Plus, also as Pry mentioned, with staff relationships there we can help each other if we aren't playing.
Here's to now 7 games in Lane next year and a winnable game heading into what looks like a monumental opportunity for this program next year.
I wouldn't get ahead of things. Unless we know who that spot is going to be filled by then I'm going to reserve judgement. If this opens the door for getting more H&H games against legit teams in the P5, then yes, this is good. If this removes ODU in favor of another long-term thing with, say JMU, then no, this is push. Same for negotiating H&H against annual bottom feeders like Vandy, Baylor, and Indiana then this just sucks.
"Baylor is a better job than VT in every single aspect". Bill Roth, longtime voice of the Hokies
I'm still salty with Bill for that comment. He wasn't necessarily wrong, but it stung.
He was wrong. Art Briles cheated and ran a rape ring on campus, thus they had a couple nice years. VT was down a bit at the time. But to compare the "programs"? over time? clown statement Bill. Clown.
I think his hot take was (much) more about the investments and boosters, and the infrastructure and ignored the rest of what you highlighted. Also why it stung a lot when he said what he said.
Right, so in other words his hot take was about raw dollars. And Baylor has more. No shit. So does every program apparently. Sad, but its all about money
I interpreted that comment as a moment in time. The intent of the comment was to say that, as of 2021, Baylor was investing more in their facilities and staff than VT was.
We've rectifying the issue since then.
man if only Bill Roth had just used the words that most clearly communicated this instead of saying that Baylor was a better program in every way, maybe we wouldnt still be talking about it
/ducks
That is an ongoing issue with Roth. When he left the VT booth for UCLA, he stated that it was his dream etc. He did not state that he was clout and money chasing and would leave soon after begging VT for his old job back. So I hear you
So maybe we schedule......Wisconsin? /s
Absolutely nothing wrong could happen with that, right??
FTFY.
I hope we do more than schedule them, but at least we've increased the penalty for a cancellation.
If we do this, just watch. The replacement will be ...
Because I'm a VT football fan?!?
I would be surprised if we replace this with a long term single team. Probably fill 2024 with a home FCS team, then either a few home and homes or 2 for 1s with lower level opponents
Don't worry, they'll be ACC members after the next round of totally impotent expansion.
I don't have a strong opinion on this. Beat the teams and it's fine. Lose and it's a problem.
Maybe this is part of some scheme to get us 'SEC Ready'? That would be cool.
I don't think Pry or Ronnie liked this game and would prefer to work together like kingjames stated above and I think using future conference scheduling is as good an excuse as any to end this contract.
Yep - this makes sense
Bingo - a lot riding on the next few years I think. Need to win as well.
Tell that to Florida State.
Too bad for those of us in the 757. Timing was poor in that we played this series while the Hokies were down. I'd love some more short trips to Norfolk to watch them dominate over the next few years. There are still some revenge poundings left to go...
Nah. One game in Ballard was enough for me. That stadium sucks ass. It wouldn't even be in the top five high school stadiums I've been to.
Yup. It's right on par with Boston College's stadium if you ask me.
I hear washington state and oregon state are available
Let's not travel there in the same season we travel to Miami, Boston and San Francisco
Replace them with WVU yearly (or a rotation of WVU and Tennessee)
That's an interesting response. WVU is a longtime rival. Tennessee is a regional SEC school. Both make a lot of sense if you're chasing a consistent P5 matchup. I wouldn't do either for long-term, but they would make interesting replacements for ODU along with other regional options. Just curious what's not to like about these two in particular.
We should play both of them as often as we can IMO.
WVU WAS a long-time rival. They suck. They can suck it. They can suck on a wet fart.
Neither of them is a winning proposition. We aren't recruiting against them, or recruiting in their back yard. We win, well, we were supposed to. And doesn't get us anywhere because we are still in the ACC. We lose, well, we get nothing at all for the effort other than their trashy fans doing what they do best.
Supposed to win? WVU is a peer and has fielded quality football teams for a long time. You are acting like they are East Carolina.
They won 9 games this year and kicked the shit out of UNC in Charlotte.
Talking about the perception...not saying we should win every game against everyone. See the next few sentences...
Yeah I don't agree with any of that. Playing WVU regularly only helps VT football as it stands today.
Well like most things "VT Football"- Beamer used to beat WVU like a drum- better WVU teams. Then Fuente and Pry gifted Neil Brown his two biggest wins to date, of course. Welcome to recent VT football. You could say this about many things.
I'll push back a bit here. We definitely have had some dominant wins over WVU in the series, but that was a very competitive rivalry. They are closer to a true rival in football than UVA frankly. I believe they still have the lead in wins in the series as well. We definitely beat some good Nehlen and Rich Rod teams, including that dominant win over the 2005 WVU squad which was their only loss. But they have thumped us many, many times. I view them as a peer program and geographic rival.
https://www.winsipedia.com/virginia-tech/vs/west-virginia
In the post leather helmet era, VT has the upper hand. Of course Fuente fucking lost to a shit WVU team- it's what Fuente does- at any rate- toward the end of the Big East and early ACC- we had a 9-3 12 game stretch against them. I hear you- they aren't some shit program to us competitively, I'm just saying that we have shown we can beat them regularly.
I wasn't saying they are push overs. Just saying a win over them doesn't get us the points in the media that some think it will. It's a nice feather in our caps, but that's about the extent of it. Oh, and it comes with a trophy. We aren't winning recruits or jumping 15 places in the polls because of a win against the cousins.
I think the point was that it's an improvement over ODU, particularly when mixed with other teams.
I loathe both teams and fanbases, and I will never go back to Morgantown (Not trying to add to the most arrested I've ever been). But I still approve.
The hate is what's good about it.
Yup. Still doesn't mean I will go to a game in Morganhole, though.
To be clear, my aversion to Morganhole isn't because I am concerned what they will do. My concern is my response.
LOL. I haven't been to Morganhole yet. They honestly weren't that bad in DC but that was neutral turf.
It was always a bit "spirited" but not unlike other rivalries. It got out of hand when we bolted for the ACC. They thought we lied and "abandoned" them and they falsely claimed they propped us up in the 80's etc. That is when it got unbearable and Beamer pulled the plug. Things have cooled down now considerably. The game there a couple years ago- we had zero issues. Also times have changed - more money in the sport now, more expensive tickets, etc. People act accordingly
I just caught the tail end of the rivalry so I never got to experience the good stuff.
The last time we played there, weren't the buses the team took to the stadium attacked and damaged by their fans? I know for a while there was a standing policy of keeping your helmet on when on the sidelines, because their fans would throw shit (sometimes literally) at the bench throughout the game. And then of course there was the explicit racism directed at Marcus Vick in 2005
No, the last time we played there was 2021- no incidents - I was there, very chill vibe- most WVU people were super cool in fact.
Oh I meant before the series cancellation.
To be honest, I don't remember us playing in Morgantown in 2021. Must have blocked it out of my memory
We had 4 plays from the 1 yard line to win the game, and didn't of course- Fuente.
I mean Beamer did the same thing and Grant Wiley stuffed all 4 runs. But that was in blacksburg.
Ah, right. ... Fuente.
That was my reaction from the 2022 game at Lane. Had great interactions from WVU fans I encountered all around. Seemed to be really into the tailgate and talking football in general.
It was the previous home game that happened. 2021 was chill respectively.
In 2003, yes. In 2004, after we won, we (students) rushed the field NOT so much to celebrate, but to run across the field to throw shit at the mongoloids in the visitor stands. As my "about me" section states, I am prominently featured on the Oct 11 2004 issue of SI due to this.
There were a number of incidents in 2005 as well. I was involved in the street fight after.
Fuck every thing about that school but I want to kick their goddamn teeth in every year and would drop uva@c in a second to keep an actual rivalry intact.
Lemme find out baz is about that life!
I was there and did the same, my roommate, a highschool friend and I painted ourselves orange and had a maroon W V and U on our chests and a S U and X on our backs. the reactions as we flipped forwards and backwards were great until the rain in the 3rd quarter. Then everyone around us in the stands has little specks of paint all over them. We went down a floor in Pritchard to shower off after in case it clogged the drains haha
My one and only time there was 2001 when we spanked them 35-0. They...um...weren't happy.
Or Penn State!
Isn't the ACC adding a conference game?
I don't think so. I don't remember them actually voting yes on moving to 9 games. I figured it could happen in a couple years though.
Can we at least win in Norfolk before we cancel the series 🙄
Is Whit finally...getting it?
On the surface cancelling ODU doesn't make sense. I think this is part of a bigger strategy for the ACC and NCAA. The original/expansion schedule makes no sense and definitely isn't sustainable past 1-2 cycles. Reads like ACC is going to expand to 9-10 games or an NCAA requirement to play P5 games. Also, with the F$U exit attempt maybe this is hedging conference realignment. Maybe ODU is exploring moving into another/larger conference (or theirs is going to 9-10 games).
What doesn't make sense is playing ODU in football. Ever. This is a no-win game for VT. Beating ODU does nothing for us. Losing to them fucking twice as been a stain and total embarrassment and a harsh reality where our program is. If you want the romance of playing a state team, play Richmond, WM, etc. If you MUST play Liberty and JMU and ODU, play the games once every 5 years in Lane. Don't make it a fucking de-facto conference game. Makes no sense.
The only positive is recruiting. I've said it before, post-transfer portal era, we need ODU (and the rest of the VA schools) to act as a de-facto AAA team for us. If we can keep the ODU pipeline going (and keep getting the Ali Jennings prospects to transfer) without playing them every year, I'm game.
We're nice to ODU, they're nice to us. They know the 757 prospects better than anyone. They know who the 5* prospect is with a drug problem. They know who the 3* kid is with an elite work ethic. We need them more than you think simply to be able to trade information/recruits. Again, if we can do that without playing them, you're right.
That series has hurt VT recruiting more than anything, ever.
Didn't we get WR from them?
And losing to ODU probably sent 10 other recruits to maryland/unc/penn state
Since when does the NCAA do strategy?
Is knee-jerk reactions 2 years too late a strategy?
Who canceled the series? Was it mutual? Was there a reason given? If so, what was it? I'm basically neutral on the decision. I didn't like losing to odu (fuck you, Fuente) but otherwise I didn't hate the idea of Tech playing in Norfolk once in a while. Some good teams have annual in state teams that they can beat up on. Georgia-GT comes to mind.
It begs the question: are there bigger moves coming into play? Is this a precursor to more impactful changes ahead? Should we be excited or worried?
Dude, we already have loluva
That elevator incident must've really pissed off the wrong people.
Bowen: "Hey Coach, do we really have to go back to that shithole stadium with the broken elevator again?"
Pry: "Nah, screw that, I'll talk to Whit."
I believe the Hokies' locker room was broken into and items stolen also.
So for this upcoming season ULL just cancelled their gam with MSU. That game was scheduled for 9/14 which coincidentally is the same day we are slated to play ODU. That could be the perfect replacement and I'm not sure we're getting an FBS team on such short notice let alone a P2 school
That would be such a fun game. Back in my NCAA Football 2010 days I used to lead VT to the championship and hire Foster away to UL Lafayette and build them up to an unstoppable force.
You misunderstand me. We should be scheduling Michigan State
ULL is a lot of fun to play with on NCAA, though. does have a good point there.
There's also the Ricky Bustle connection with ULL
Oops, I just love the Cajuns lol.
I would take the Cajuns as well over an FCS school. But I have a buddy that went to MSU so selfishly I'd prefer to play them
Whit Babcocks best accomplishment as VT AD
Hopefully replaced in the future with hiring Pry
Ecu too
I thought it was hiring Brents.
First Buzz, then Pry.
Their elevators broke down with our coaches in it and our locker rooms were easily accessible and our players and staff were robbed the last time we played there.
We should have canceled the series right then and there. Playing there is a safety hazard
If that wasn't enough, a series scheduled apparently to help "recruiting" happened during the worst recruiting period in program history.
Ahh yes, Fuente and his 'if I just show up and play a game there every other year, that covers recruiting for the region' strategy.
Yeah, but I wanna beat them into submission in Norfolk first
this is what the SEC does...pretty obvious we've been invited to join
Can't wait to see what FCS program we replace them with
Roanoke College?
We really should beat them at their place a couple times to save face. If it was my choice I'd keep '24, 25, 28, 29 and 30.
Get rid of all the Liberty games, replace them with FCS. Replace ODU with neutral WVU in 26 and cheap low G5 in 27.
When I was walking out of the Super Dome in 1999, I mentioned to my friends that I really hope we could squeak out some wins at ODU some day. Oh wait- our program went to such shit that we can't win in Norfolk against fucking ODU- who didn't have football in 99. FFS we let it go to shit- everyone- Whit, Ballein, Sands, the fans, Fuente, etc. Sobering
Anyone else feel like we're treating ODU like a rebound girlfriend? Glad you were here when we sucked and needed an easy (or should have been easy) win on the schedule but now that we have our swagger back, it's time to move on. I'll keep your number for late night booty calls, but otherwise, peace.
Yeah but then after the rebound, you remember that she lives in a shitty complex where the elevator broke down while you were going up to her place, and your car got stripped of parts while you were hooking up. I mean, thanks for the sex, but..... yeah, its not going to work out.
And you had to see the Doc afterwards too...
But she came over to your place so you could smash one more time and then break it off.
Let's just add loluva as an OOC game and beat them twice a year!
I'd be ok with scheduling Liberty one last time, beat the everliving piss out of them, and then cancel that series, too
We dont play them again until 2027, so who knows if that actually happens or not tbh
I really hope we break it off before then. Even having them on our future schedule makes me feel unclean.
Leave the cancelation taped to the locker room door during the 4th quarter so they find it right after the game.
Why we don't have a series w aTm is beyond me. We are the only two universities of our kind in the country w public and military on campus together. That's a win-win all the way around, expands our footprint, and puts an $EC school on our schedule.
I'm in favor of putting more $EC and B1G teams on the schedule. Particularly if they aren't Rutgers and Maryland, who we've played enough (though I don't mind an occasional matchup).
Yeah I agree, except only the one's with a real national profile in football. So excluding: Maryland, Minnesota, Rutgers, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Northwestern, Purdue, Michigan State, UCLA, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, Kentucky, South Carolina and Missouri. Arkansas is pretty borderline too.
Wow that's a ton of teams and significant percentage of both leagues. It's almost like when people say "power 2" they only mean like a combined 12 teams from both leagues
Do you think we are above all of those schools in your list? I would argue we fall firmly in the top half of this list.
I think we're a better job than all but two of these schools and we're a bigger football TV draw than all but maybe a different two schools (but it's close, we may be the biggest draw)
Money and infrastructure several of these schools have us beat
I thought I remembered we did back in the early 80's.
We played them in the late 70s and lost both. Then we played them in 2002 and 2003 and won both. 2003 was the hurricane Isabel game.
2003 aTm was why I said the Military Bowl was only the 2nd wettest I'd ever been at a VT game.
Wettest I've been was 2016 at UNC Chapel Hill. Hokies won 34-3 in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew. Being drenched isn't miserable when your team is winning.
Was at both the Hurricane Isabel (aTm) game as well as the Hurricane Matthew (UNC) game, and will say that some of the best games to attend are when the weather is so unbelievably shitty that you stop caring about it and just lean into the chaos. The 2009 Miami game is up there as well in terms of just ridiculously awful conditions.
That said, I'm a solid hell no on a cold rain game. At least the above listed games were played in tropical conditions where it got warm and humid. A downpour in the 50s or below is a hell no for me.
I think at this point I have been in far more cold rain games than warm rain games.
The wettest game yet has been Purdue with the walk back to the car during hail and the walking paths having 3" of water on them. It took multiple days for my shoes to dry out and my mom just threw hers away.
I wasn't at either of the hurricane games but I was at the '09 Miami game and the Purdue game. Both were quite wet. Purdue was worse, since we lost.
Wasn't at 2003 A&M, but was at 2007 BC game that mysteriously ended with 3 minutes to go(at least that's how I choose to remember that night) and was at the 2016 hurricane game at UNCheat; and at this year's Purdue game.
For that- I was accidentally in sandals cause I didn't change to tennis shoes as I usually did -so on the walk back to the car (for me around 245pm) I just took them off and carried them and walked barefoot from Lane to lot 18. If I came across a 6-8" deep puddle I just walked right through it! Was glad I DIDN'T have the sneakers for just the reason you said-they'd have taken days to a week to dry out.
PS- glad I caught my typo before hitting "post"- originally said I wasn't at the 2203 A&M game-which could have led to many spinoff replies about how football schedules are set ludicrously far in advance, or time travel, or being such die-hard fan that I arrange to have my casket or urn attend Hokie games in perpetuity, or ......
I WAS at the aTm hurricane game and from what I recall the game itself wasn't that bad being in the stands, and it looked a lot worse on TV because the field was absolutely saturated even with the new(ish) turf system we had in place. The day-long tailgating was far worse as far as the weather goes. The only time I really remember standing water literally everywhere was during the downpour we had in '00 for the GT game that never actually got played.
In my entire life, I have gone to see 1 NFL game in person. And the only reason I went is because a vendor gave a co-worker 4 tickets and I was 1 of the 3 co-workers he asked to come along. That 1 and only NFL game:
The Detroit Lions @ Philadelphia Eagles snow bowl (highlight links below). At various points, I could barely see the other side of the stadium and from the early 3rd quarter on, I pretty much could not feel my feet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcdUDWssXyU
That sounds downright..........Frosty.
Damn, you got me
I keep seeing '10 new comments' in this thread, keep popping in and hoping to see official news... No such luck...
God damnit TKP, you've done it again you sick bastard
But we have learned a ton about hunting in Wyoming.
Love a good laugh when I don't want to laugh. Take your leg
Yes, we've TKP'd the hell out of this thread.
Which was, ummm, based on a rumor?
It's still cancelled.
People are saying...
Ugh, unfortunately this aged...well. Or poorly, depending on how you look at it.
Wouldn't be surprised if it ends early but isn't it a bit too late to cancel this year's game? And doubt we'd want to give away next year's home game.
There's honestly only 2-3 years of the series where we gain from cancelling and only if we replace them w a quality opponent (the years we can replace with FCS we also play Liberty, that series need to go first)
Wouldn't give it away, just replace who's occupying the visiting locker room.
We'd be ending the series giving them more home games than us. We would be effectively giving value away because we have to pay nonconference non P5 teams to come play us. Compared to other ODU is relatively cheap
I legit opened up this thread because this comment and the subsequent replies had enough traction to convince me official news had finally broke...
Looks like we'll find out for sure on Wednesday.
the series get cancelled yet?
rumor is that it has!
Tune in later today to find out!
So much for that
Probably not enough time to reschedule for the year
Well, we better win this one if the series does end. We can't go out 0-3 @ODU
That's what I'm saying
Jennings, Felton, and Lane all grab two TDs, while Tuten motors in for another two, while Drones also drives through for another.
XTB houses a kickoff in the second half, while Holloway houses a punt.
APR charges interest at a rate of 4 sacks, including a strip-sack-scoop-score
Not to be outdone, Delane and Strong both record Pick-Sixes.
As time is about to expire, the Hokies force a late turnover. Doctor Love comes out to line up a mid-range FG and drives home his 17th point of the game, while the Hokies go Brock Sampson on the Monarchs, and a new high score is recorded at 101-0
I would love nothing more
Awesome!! Alas, I have but one leg to give.
I saw you had 9 legs and felt it only fitting to give you one more so your comment goes green at the very least.
One green leg coming up!!!!
Why not go for the record? 223-0, baybee!!!!
I'll have what you're having.
I count 14 TD's. Let's disrespect them and go for 2 every time add make it 115-0
Yeah, the idea that they were going to cancel and reschedule the same year always seemed like a bit of a long shot. If it means there isn't one after this year or even next year, probably still a positive for Tech.
Just saw the schedule and a certain team still on it...
I'm hoping the rumor was incorrect and that all future games with Liberty were canceled.
I hate Liberty so much, I can't decide if I want to cancel the series with them or play them every year and pound them into the ground
I don't care if we wreck them at home for the first one or two games in the series, but for the love of god get rid of the away game
Multiple people on the timeline have posted video clips from ACCN of poor Eddie Royal attempting to justify Tech playing at ODU after EJ Manuel and Mark Richt called it out for what it is... absolute BS.
Love Eddie and feel bad he had to even pretend to defend the decision.
EDIT: Some confusion over my comment. I've added emphasis to the fact that we were getting dragged for playing "at" ODU.
Clemson plays the Citadel every year at home. They can't say crap.
I think that they are talking about us actually going to ODU. Not us playing them.
Yeah, every NCAA team plays their share of local cupcakes.
Look at some of the teams Alabama plays.
Exactly, most schools play their cupcakes at home. We're the only ones dumb enough to agree to play at their crappy stadiums.
Good point.
We're not the only ones dumb enough, just part of the small group of teams dumb enough.
Small group = elite, right? We're elite dumbasses.
the 2023 list:
NC State @ uconn
Stanford @ Hawaii
Cal @ North Texas
Ole Miss @ Tulane
UCLA @ SD St.
Wake @ ODU
OU @ Tulsa
Bama @ USF
Vandy @ UNLV
VT @ Marshall
Miami @ temple
VT @ UVA
Duke @ Uconn
Looks like Cal and Stanford fit right in the ACC already!
Yep, we gotta stop playing in that empty barn of a stadium. /s
Hey it's not empty; there are usually 20-30 thousand Hokie fans there.... NOT s/
Ah yes, until they implemented the policy that you couldn't get tickets to the VT game through the ticket office unless you donated to their athletic fund. From the 2023 LOLuva ticket info page...
So it appears they would rather have it empty than "occupied". What a joke.
To be fair, it's almost playing at home.
Our players don't get robbed during games in Lane Stadium
that depends on the game's officials.
4th's reaction when he gets mentioned in a post...
...my dreams are modest.
I mean ... in 2010 Alabama traveled to play AT Duke; of course Bama won 62-13.....
In fairness, I'd think saying we will play at Hawaii would be a selling point for some recruits. Maybe not huge, but it's not the same as saying go to North Texas, Temple or UConn.
My wife would be interested in attending that away game.
I would too. Not because I am a Hawaii/warm weather/beach-type person (I am definitely not any of those!) but Hawaii and New Mexico are the only 2 states I have not been to. Trying to get to all 50 before I die, so this would be a great excuse.
Away games @ Hawaii seem like a pretty good idea to me, but I may be biased having lived on Kauai for three years courtesy of Uncle Sam.
My niece turned down a visiting nurse appointment to Maui because she thought it would be too lonely. When we found out most of the family said, we WOULD have visited you.
Sure, but family always says that, and means it. But life gets in the way.
If you're the type to get lonely when away from family, traveling nurse may not be the right career.
Time goes fast, and you start growing roots wherever you go.
The military has short term moves down to a science, and they can MAKE you move.
The riot is right now she is a traveling nurse based at the hospital she worked at before she became a traveling nurse.
There's a couple of those at our local hospital. They are making way more money doing the same job they had before they "left." In, theory they are temporary and could be cut loose at any moment but with the shortages everyone knows it is a permanent deal if they want it. Other full time nurses are PISSED
Same for her. The hospital is not very pleased, because her co-workers know the deal and are applying to be more and more traveling nurses for the pay raises.
One of my brothers was a physical therapist. He had a co-worker who had worked physical therapy in Hawaii and she said it was like being in prison. Can't remember what island she was on, but I'm 90% sure it was not Oahu (i.e., no decent-sized city like Honolulu) or the Big Island with a bigger area. Said you are on this tiny island. There is a ring road that you can drive around the whole place in a short amount of time. After a month, you have already been to everywhere you have any interest in going to. To see anything else, you need to fly or take a long boat ride. If you are not into surfing and you don't already have a family, you are bored. It might be a really pretty prison, but still is one according to her.
The person who said this has never been in prison.
I had island fever a couple of my trips to Hawaii, after about 12 days I got anxious to leave the island.
In my three years in Hawaii on Kauai, population 50K back then, I never got island fever. Beautiful beaches, cheap golf on PGA quality courses (the local discount was available to military) great food, lots of friends on the military base, free base movies, just loved it there. My wife got island fever and I sent her back to VA for a month and she was fine, but I never had more fun in my life than when I lived on Kauai. Getting to fly helicopters all over the place on the government's dime helped too. I could easily retire there if I had enough cheddar, but I suspect rural Appalachia will be more in our price range.
Yeah it's really wierd, I'm super happy to not go anywhere so I don't know why I felt trapped.
TIL that "island fever" means the desire not to be on an island.
Technically North America the continent is an island.
Are we counting navigational canals as separating continents?
Sure, why not.
Shamelessly stolen from xkcd.
Always a leg for xkcd
Huh, for all my life, I've mistakenly called it the Delmarva Peninsula when it should have been Delmarva island.
Was a true peninsula until they cut the C&D canal across the top.
definitely different meaning from "jungle fever"
Which in turn is totally different from jungle love!
🎶oh way oh way oh🎶
Edit: whoops wrong jungle love song 😂
Exactly where I went the first time.
But how does it relate to jungle boogie?
If you take emotion out of it. If you use facts only. If you use data analytics, if you take bias out of it. There is no valid reason for Virginia Tech to play on the road at ODU. None. There is no valid data that supports it. None. We don't make money- in fact we lose money being on whatever bullshit network they are on. We don't get value in recruiting since our home stadium- one of the best environments in college- is 4.5 hour drive away. We don't get any tangible boost by beating them 48-0. We don't get an "easy cupcake win"- because our players don't think they are a big time team and emotional 18 year olds tend to be affected by that. It also doesn't help our team having to dress in HS locker rooms, etc. There is no data that supports any benefit to playing on the road at ODU. Well you can't play EVERY game at home DC.... true. You play 4 ACC road games every year. And you do what ND, Bama, Penn State, FSU, OSU etc do most years. You play 7-8 home games. If you do go on the road OOC, it should benefit your program in SOME way. - and yes a theoretical easy win could benefit the team- but those are few and far between on the road. So play a money game- go to a P5 school where both teams can get a money value. Play neutral site games, etc. Nobody on here or anywhere can produce a valid data point for value playing at ODU, Liberty or JMU if you are VT.
"Back in the day" it was sold as "good for the state university system" as well as a recruiting tool to hit various parts of the state in full force. Don't feel that is applicable today any longer. I agree with you.
Yeah, I never thought the idea that we were "playing in a key VT recruiting area" made much sense. The kids who are any good will come to Blacksburg to see us play, there's no reason to believe that watching us (hopefully) beat up on ODU in a sub-par high school stadium is better for recruiting than coming to a game in Lane. I guess it's possible that a HS player with no existing interest in VT could see us in person and decide to check VT out, but that's pretty far-fetched.
I always thought that reason was a bunch of smoke and spin. This series was created from a lot of work from Ballein I believe way back before Beamer retired. I personally think it was 1) some cost-cutter scheduling, and 2) throwing a bone to some big donors down in the 757 giving them a close game to attend. I never thought recruiting was a real reason for doing this. The landscape of the sport has changed a lot in the past decade+, and it just makes little sense to get locked into a long-term series like this. Really no benefit to VT but a lot of downside if you lose.
That's sounds way more plausible than bring VT to recruits. We should be selling ourselves as a premier p5 program that plays big time games in front of lots of fans. Playing @ anyother stadium in VA is not an option to prove we play infront of lots of fans.
Proof? Penn State and Ohio State recruit plenty well in Virginia.
It could get middle school and early HS kids to the game. It could get more family members of a recruit to the game. It could also get more local HS coaches to the game. It does not seem like any of those scenarios move the needle for recruiting.
Agreed. With NIL now, it changes the antiquated thought of a kid staying near home to play football.
I think it did 20+ years ago before every game was broadcasted/streamed. Back then, it was one additional game your family member could watch you compete in, that they may not otherwise be able to see. Now? Different story.
We should never play a true road game against a school that isn't at the very least P5 going forward. And if we do make it into the P2, then lock it down to those schools as well.
If you aren't ACC, BigXII, SEC or Big Ten, we shouldn't be playing in your home stadium. Period
That's just the nature of the game nowadays.
Pretty sure the SEC and B1G is going to use that same rationale for not scheduling ACC or Big 12 teams in the future. And honestly, that's probably accurate. Why help the ACC and Big 12 when they play diluted conference schedules? Provides the SEC and B1G no benefit when the top 3-4 are making the playoff every year and their in-conference games make more money.
Andy Bitter on the TSL Podcast suggested that he believes this will eventually be cancelled but that there was a zero percent chance it would get cancelled prior to this season.
Wouldn't give up on it just yet.
Whit has said we need to win a couple there first.
I'm down for beating them so badly this year that they beg us to cancel so their home fans never have to experience it again
FTFY.
Rumors spread round in that Texas town.