Your two choices:
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Go 7-5 beating the teams were 'supposed' to beat (VMI, ODU, BC, Pitt, GT, Stanford, UVA), but no impressive wins.
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Go 7-5 with some Impressive wins (Clemson OR Miami) and our first OOC P4 win in a decade (UMD) but some losses to some bad ACC teams (Stanford, BC, etc)
Which season would you rather have?
Bonus question: would you rather snap the P4 OOC losing streak by beating UMD OR ruin the season for a top ACC program?
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Option 1. This sets the floor, means a pretty fun season and no heartbreaks
Bonus: Snap the p4 losing streak. I'm not the type who takes pleasure in "ruining someone else's season" Unless it's UVA. My main goal for this season is resetting expectations and marking what our 'new floor' will be with our new regime. Like the pain of losing to Stanford or BC would outweigh the joy of beating Clemson
Option 1. As much as I'd like to see them beat Clemson or Miami, I'd rather see them take care of business against teams like Maryland. Oh, wait. I include Maryland and UVA in Option 1.
I'd rather VT win the highest level games when they can also take care of business in the games they should be able to win.
This is of course for this year. In the future, I'm looking forward to a VT who is a threat to elite competition in addition to taking care of the ocean of middle talents of college football.
I want both but we need to take care of the games we should. We are 6-1 against JMU and have outscored them 208-39. All we have heard for the last 16 years is how they beat us and continually duck them because of it. I'm tired of losing to ODU, Rutgers etc.
Option 1 would be...fine. Like your 3rd time drinking from a pony keg of Natty Light. It gets the job done but it's not going to really excite any of us.
Option 2, I think, would be a better barometer for what this staff and roster caliber can be capable of. Does VT catch a team on a bad day, or do we make a team have a bad day "38-0, Bro" style?
And the same for dropping one - did we let one get away or did we somehow have no answers for a basement-dweller like that Duke game that had an obviously pickled GameDay crew publicly mystified at what they'd just witnessed?
I wouldn't be signing over my 401(k) to VT Football for option 2 but it'd be a better Crystal Ball, IMO.
For the second question, I'd prefer to stop being a trivia answer in the 3rd quarter for that stat, tyvm. The only way I care about spoiling an ACC opponent's season is by making the Playoffs over them and since we're not Alabama or Notre Dame, a 7-5 record isn't going to get us to that result.
Give me option 2 every day and twice on Sunday.
Beating who we are supposed to beat is nice... but generating buzz and excitement comes from beating teams that matter.
I'd much rather have an "unexplainable" loss in year one with a win that can show the program's new ceiling.
For the bonus- give me the ACC win. You could argue that Maryland is so early in the season that the team is still coming together.
Bar- what was your pick?
I think I agree with you... especially because the better teams in our schedule are towards the end of the season.
Also, practically, there's more room for learning in the first half of the season (easier schedule, less travel) than second half of the season.
Finally, no one remembers beating Maryland. Everyone (recruits and talking heads included) remember beating a Clemson or Miami, etc
Playing Maryland is almost like the ODUs and ECUs. Losing pushes the needle further in the wrong direction than winning would counter.
I appreciate that both of your scenarios were 7-5; it would be hard to be mad at either of those. But I'd take Option 1. To me it would show the staff knows what they're doing and with another year under their belt, I'd feel good about beating some of the top dogs.
Option 2 dropping some head scratchers would make me a little worried about game planning and consistency which seem less likely to improve year over year. But if the BAD losses were early in the year and they got their footing as it went on, that would feel different.
Bonus: selfishly I'll take snapping the OOC streak. My wife is a terp and we've got a big squad from both schools going. I'm anticipating it to be a Hokie takeover like Nashville was in 2024. It would be nice to win something more than just the tailgate.
Losing to your partners Alma mater sucks. I hate losing to GT more than any non-uva team
Maybe I'm too pragmatic, but I'll take Option 1. It's Year 1, establish the floor and beat who they are supposed to. I'm tired of embarrassing losses. Set the standard for the future. Years 2 and 3 I'll hope that enough talent is on board to punch above their weight class and win some games they aren't supposed to. Year 4, enough time and talent to move up in weight class.
Forgot the bonus: I hope Franklin continues his personal mission to destroy Maryland at every turn. College Football thrives on this kind of pettiness (like Paul Johnson vs Brian VanGorder).
VT's brand has always been option 2, seems like. Except for last year, when we hardly beat anyone.
And while one of JMFF's calling cards is beating the teams he 'should' beat, I don't think that brand is going to change in his first season here.
And yeah, I'd rather snap the P4 losing streak. We owe Maryland an ass-whooping or two.
1 makes me feel good but I think 2 is better for the program. Franklin immediately starts to shake the 'can't win big games' thing, our hard games are at the end of the year so people view it as momentum, nationally people care if you win big games and have short memory that you lost an inexplicable game to BC
Option 2. I don't think we've beaten Clemson in almost 20 years? Badly want to see that. As for the bad losses, it's our first year so we have some wiggle room. As for the "bad" teams, we're talking about them like we already know they'll be in the cellar. If Indiana can win a championship, anything can happen. I can accept a head scratcher this season to get a big win.
*mashes Option 2 button*
It's only been 19 years, but you didn't have to make me feel old.
Ugh, this is like choosing between a root canal and a colonoscopy...
Option #1 simply isn't exciting and it feels like we've seen Option #2 play out multiple times before.
#2 is only enviable if we beat Miami. Clemson simply isn't what they were and beating them doesn't necessarily make us relevant IMHO (think SMU would actually be a bigger win at this point honestly).
Gonna go with #1 simply for the fact that I think James Franklin has the Recruiting and infrastructure in a place where we can actually legitimately build on a solid season.
When? When's the last time we beat a top 20 team down the stretch? 2019 we beat #22 Wake in week 9. 2013 Miami? 2014 Duke?
2014 we beat OSU only to lose to ECU a week later
2016 we beat our better ACC competition to poo the bed against a bad GT team with a backup QB and look clueless against a gimmicky Syracuse attack.
Neither were an exact replica, as every season is naturally going to be different. But the point is that we've seen multiple VT teams play down to weaker competition over the years and I don't think that's really a pattern that anyone wants to replicate.
Beating Clemson and losing to Stanford or BC doesn't move the needle.
Option 1 isn't terrible and it includes beating UVA so I guess I'll go option 1.
If I could take beating Maryland in option 1 as well that's the next thing I want most.
And then bearing Cal. Losing to Miami Clemson and SMU, 9-3, would be a fantastic first Franklin season in my book