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.
Yes.
I'm including UMD on that list.
I suppose the fact is that I'd accept either of the two options for this year, but I really want VT to win the Maryland game.
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
"Losing to your partners Alma mater sucks."
Thankfully, I never have to worry about that with The University of Alberta. And, even if you include grad school in there, it's not like we play UMass Amherst very much. Maybe in club rowing or something.
I'm lucky, I married a Hokie
I feel like VT has beaten VT several times though....
And those are the worst losses, even worse than losing to UVA, so it tracks
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.
Naw we used to beat that ass all the time when I was in Blacksburg and that's only been...
Fuck.
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.
Of the 2, I have only heard bad things about root canals but one of my coworkers said that the most rested he ever felt was after a colonoscopy.
As bad as it is anytime to have to get knocked out for a procedure, I believe the thing most people grouse about with a colonoscopy is the cleansing prep.
And while a root canal can save a tooth, a colonoscopy can save your life, so suck it up and don't wait until you're in trouble to pay attention to a miserable way to die.
As someone who's had 5-6 colonoscopies , I agree, the prep is by far the worst part (and even that has gotten better if you do the Gavilyte (gatorade type prep); you just get to spend 3-4 hours the night before scrolling on your phone in the bathroom while using your phone timer to do the 8 oz every fifteen minute part of it. The procedure itself is a piece of cake-propofol used clinically is awesome- you're out in like 4 seconds and wake up 20-30 minutes later.
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
I'd much rather have option 2. The inability to beat any real OOC teams is very annoying. And I'm used to bad losses every year, so not a big deal in year 1 of the new regime when we are installing the new system.
Think the first part pretty much answers the second one, but would much rather beat Maryland to stop the OOC streak than get a win against Miami or Clemson.
With our schedule, I'll take 7 wins however we can get it
Option 2 portrays more growth and a display of higher "team potential" in my opinion.
Beating team's we're supposed to beat doesn't show us anything. Beating a potential Top 5 to Top 10 team would show our growth potential over the past year.
Losing to a team we're favored over is normal and happens to every team, every year; so I wouldn't take it as a warning sign.
If we end the season with the same record regardless, give me the win over Miami or Clemson.
Bonus* give me a win over OOC opponent. It's time to show other conferences we mean business.
This is a much better "Would You Rather" than the ones my middle school son comes up with. There are only so many duck sized t-rexes I can fight.....
I chose Option 1, shows we are headed in the right direction and it is not the emotional roller coaster that we have been on for the past several seasons.
For the bonus, I will take beating the Twerps. The "top" ACC teams tend to shoot themselves in the foot.
Putting GT in that "Supposed to Beat" category is dangerous. Brent Key is a really good coach and they have done well in recruiting and portal. I know they lost staff this offseason, but Key makes up for that.
Either way, Option 1. I just want to win. It's a forgotten art in Blacksburg. Win the small ones, build, and the bigger wins will come.
Option 1 for sure. And I'd rather beat UMD because most ACC teams can ruin their own seasons without us
Option two
If this season is about expectations, i would rather "growth to get over the hump" being about finding consistency than "if James Franklin could only just find a way to win the big games"
Let's build a proof of concept of VT as a team that has championship aspirations and generate some buzz by playing spoiler as we get our house in order instead of having it be ho hum same old purgatory
Option 2 and beating Miami to prevent them from winning the ACC is so very tempting, but with this being year 1 of Franklin, lets just beat who we are supposed to beat.
Now there is nothing in Option 1 that says we can't bury some opponents. Winning by 3 or more TDs against ODU, Pitt, GT, and UVA would be nice.
Just be competitive in the other games.
If going 7-5 and the W over Miami is what keeps them out of the ACCCG I wouldn't even consider option 1 a valid option anymore.
Beating Miami hands down, give me option 2. JMMF has made a career on beating who he is supposed to beat, 1 season of not doing that at a new school undergoing a complete transformation in the football and athletic department doesn't do anything to convince me that he lost that ability. Beating one or two teams we aren't supposed to is what will get me excited. That is something we haven't done since Bud Foster and co beat the brakes out of that no name Ohio State guy in... 2014?
We absolutely have to beat Maryland. We are laying in the trenches gasping for air and desperately need a shot of adrenaline.
Give me some HOPE please. Inject it straight into my veins I'm running on life support here. HOPE gets donations. HOPE gets media coverage. HOPE sells itself to recruits. Nobody cares if we go 7-5 beating up on the cellar dwellers and get blasted by anybody with a pulse. Give me some damn HOPE!!!!!