Make sure to tune in to Coach Pry on the Marty & McGee Show tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. streaming on SEC Network & ESPN Radio 😎#ThisIsHome | @MartySmithESPN @ESPNMcGee pic.twitter.com/bp4apJ0mAY— Virginia Tech Football (@HokiesFB) August 10, 2024
I know this is because of Marty, but still looks kinda nice having the SEC logo and VT logo near each other.
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Here's to hoping none of us have to use this gif after he has an immensely successful season this season...
What an amazing way to announce our new conference
"The VT brand is so popular, the SEC agreed to give them full revenue share while still playing the ACC schedule".
Maybe this is just the test run seeing how the VT and SEC logos look together...?
*don't read into it don't read into it don't read into don't read into it don't read into it don't read into it don't read into it don't read into it don't read into it...*
Too late baby. I'm all in. SEC SEC SEC
That's great. But, I think the more likely outcome is Pry to the SEC without VT.
This is my wish. Huge games in lane stadium. I can only hope
I'm just saying, ESPN has really been treating VT like a SEC program lately. Not saying there is something to it, but I'm also not saying there isn't.
Got to back it up on the field for it to mean much. They aren't gonna move a 2013-2022 caliber VT unless the SEC/BIG goes over 24 teams each
Good thing it's 2024. Another year or two like we had last year (and just an little improvement year to year) and I think we're a good draw for another conference, and I'd MUCH rather the SEC than the Big 10+. I've never seen fans be so full of themselves while only having a marginally relevant conference (remind me how many national championships their whole conference has since the playoffs - I think Clemson has more than their whole conference (again, since the playoffs)).
Not much of an argument:
SEC - 6 (3 teams)
Big Ten - 2 (2 teams)
ACC - 2 (1 team)
I'm not sure what you're referencing? Most big 10+ fans seem to think their team/conference is better than anything else out there. And they are still the only conference to be shut out (twice) in the playoffs. Ohio State and Penn State fans are the most insufferable in my opinion.
You must not know a lot of Michigan fans, then.
I don't, but yeah, I know a few, so yes, all three. I'm not sure which one is the worst though.
I will say that 100% of the actual UoM grads I know personally are generally decent self-aware people and are not insufferable fans (highly technical engineer types). The real problem are what we call "Walmart wolverines" who have no actual discernible tie to the team besides living in a state that shares the uni name.
I will agree with that. My sister-in-law and her husband are Michigan alums and they aren't insufferable. My brother-in-law will freely admit that Danny Coale caught that ball and the Hokies got screwed by the refs.
Never forget that the Allstate CEO (or some Allstate big wig at the game) was a Michigan alum.
I have no source for this but stating it makes me feel better. Yes I'm bitter.
Unlike VT- Hota Kotb? name another recent famous alum? Serious question? Michigan OTOH has hundreds of these.
We have some, but most require running in certain circles in life.
Homer Hickam is a big one, if you're interested in the right things.
We have almost no one in popular culture.
But, your point is totally valid.
It seems like the most "famous" Hokies are guys known for starting big money making businesses. But yeah, UVA grads are the blah blah blah....
It was whoever presented the trophy, I was there. I booed.
You and me both
"My sister-in-law and her husband" - unless you are dysfunctional family or there is some drama- they aren't as likely to be assholes regarding Michigan sports than any other rando you meet, correct?
For sure, I have two other sisters-in-law who went to UVA and several other in-laws who went to WVU (my wife has a huge family). Outside of light hearted trash talk everyone keeps it civil because we are well adjusted adults who comprise a pretty large family that get together regularly. What they are like on anonymous internet message boards, I can't say, however.
You know, there's a theory that covers how UVA/WVU people are on anonymous internet message boards.
Penny Arcade will always get a leg from me.
It's a good thing that VT has a history of football success that goes back to 1995 and not 2013, then isn't it?
We really need to get over this chicken little crap when speaking about our football program. We hired a bad coach, it happens to everyone. Hell, Alabama sucked 20 years ago.
Agreed. The team just needs to start cashing the checks that have been written the past few years to get the program back to where it has and should be.
I have high hopes for the next several seasons, but if we are still middling, we will just be a Miami looking at yesteryear with way better fan support, but less overall accomplishments.
Back room dealings will dictate a lot of the future state of college football, but VT has the chance to amplify the reasons they should still be included with the best on the field as well.
And this is what I'm talking about. This kind of chicken little, oh woe is us, just doesn't really apply anymore.
Fact of the matter is, Virginia Tech is the premier football program in Virginia, and probably the single biggest program on the Eastern seaboard between Penn State and Clemson. We had period of time where the on field results weren't good, but the fan support never broke while also being a program that is really not that far removed from an At Large bid to the Sugar Bowl (skipping multiple higher ranked teams in the process) to play Michigan because the bowls wanted the high profile matchups of name teams.
If anything, the good fan support despite us being bad only helps reinforce how attractive of a get we would be should the ACC dissolve.
Exactly - the SEC isn't looking at win/loss record exactly, they're looking for market share, and we have it better than almost any ACC team and in an area that the SEC doesn't already have a footprint.
But we're on the upturn with a VERY large, very loyal fan base. So we are likely more desirable than almost any other program out there. You could argue pacific coast teams, but why send your teams to travel so far when we have the market share here.
I agree that Tech is the premier program in VA, and the best in MD, VA, NC. I hope that means enough to get VT over the hump with the TV execs and other power brokers.
It's a great thing that Tech has a high likelihood to get back to the football that brought Tech into the spotlight in the first place.
Nothing about what I said or my feelings about the program are "woe is us".
Tech was a natural fit for the ACC from the jump, I don't think the ACC and the VA governor woke up one morning and realized how great a fit we were out of the blue. Tech played their best football in program history leading to the invite and preceded to be the flagship program of the conference for the better part of their first decade in the league.
VT has a chance to put their actions where their money is on the field instead of just having to proclaim that "we are the greatest thing since presliced bread", regardless of how we play on the field and hope that argument sticks on its own.
Tech WAS the premier program in Virginia- and still might be. But 3 losses to ODU and Liberty recently certainly taints that. If we played JMU last year- a MUCH better team than Marshall and Purdue for example- We would have been very lucky to beat them. At this millisecond, we don't dominate anyone in this state, save UVA- which yes is hilarious. But you can't lose to Liberty in Lane and ODU twice and pump your chest. Sorry. Liberty played in a NY6 bowl last year- we needed to beat Tulane with none of their good players to win 7 games. Fact.
Yes and no. Certainly results on the field haven't matched it, but when was the last time that any other in state program got a high school commit or transfer that we wanted? USC went a long time where there were many teams in California that were better than they were, but that doesn't mean that they were not the biggest brand in the state the entire time.
Liberty- Malik Willis- VT wanted him for sure. And like it or not, UVA and VT recruit many of the same players every year- so by definition they have players that we wanted. Every cycle.
The only one I can even think of with UVA is Robinson this cycle, but I'm not sure he was a take after we landed Matthews/Outten/Anderson though he was certainly pretty high on our board. We wanted Willis out of high school, but its a lot more accurate to say that we lost Willis to Auburn.
I agree with everything you've written, and I still think we could land on the outside looking in.
The assumption is that the SEC will expand. They may not. It could even collapse in 6 years when their 6ish bluebloods leave.
A little "nugget" after watching. We had a top 20 defense last year. Pry thinks we're playing better, faster, more attacking this year.
For all the talk the offense, we really could see a return to the defense of old.
Could be a special year
Pry dropped that top 20 comment in his presser last week as well. I'm unsure exactly what that means, but he definitely has some confidence in that unit, and that both concerns and intrigues me
If you take total defense yards allowed November on then we were close to top 20.
We actually finished the season as a whole top 20 for total defense and 2nd in the ACC. We were also 10th in the nation with 39 sacks.
Interesting. I'm pretty sure pry knows total defense is a worthless stat, so it's interesting that he's flexing it.
I think McGee actually brought it up. Then Pry agreed and said he's mad if we don't finish that high. Something like that. Basically that he expects it.
And that he thinks we'll be better this year.
*looks at our schedule*
I mean, he's not wrong.
He's flexing it because Louisville, Rutgers and Marshall ran through the center of our defense with no resistance. And total defense hides that a bit.
Certainly could be, but we need to be a lot better up the middle or risk having a 03 style defense.
" We had a top 20 defense last year" that and 5.65 will get you a latte at starbucks and loses to Marshall, Rutgers and Purdue. W/L is what matters and those 3 teams cranked out huge gaping rushing holes against this "top 20 defense"
Don't disagree. But when you have this many guys coming back, another year in the strength and conditioning program, addition of some solid DT (and hopefully MLB) transfers, coordinator not calling his first season, I think it stands to reason we're better.
I think this team beats Marshall and Rutgers this year. In addition to the above, those are home games this year. We start 4-0 then gear up to go piss on the U!
If that is a new Hokies fan experience this year, sign me up!
God, I would love to return to great defensive play. I don't mind watching great offense, and Im happy it appears that we have some real playmakers, but nothing jazzes me up more than shutting a team down defensively, or returning a pick to the house. I really miss elite defensive play.
So does anyone know what they talked about?
The defense was the biggest take-away for me. The other stuff was about the comradery amongst the coaches, getting us back to the standard, why they were able to retain so many players, the Allman Brothers. All the Pry favorites.
He also talked about the ACC being just as talented as other leagues, the return of Miami, Florida State, Virginia Tech. Mentioned Clemson having to carry the torch for too long.
It was a good interview.