ESPN just put up a piece on title Or consistency. we are the poster boy for consistency with a little hick-up this year. Does anybody else feel maybe we have been spoiled with the previous seasons going well, or should we always ask for more. I think the ultimate goal is to win a national champion, but its not make or break like the few schools in the SEC. my opinion on consistency is you're not getting any BETTER or worse over time. some changes will need to happen for either to happen or we will always be right on the edge looking in like previous years
here is the link http://espn.go.com/college-football/hot?id=8685623
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Title
Here's a follow up question
Would your opinion be different if we had won a title before?
I think I would value consistency more if we had a title before.
TITLE
We've proven consistency alone can't get you a title, but a title (with other elements we already possess) can get you added consistency.
Now, if you're question is either/or: I'd still take great seasons with a title here and there in exchange for lean years versus 10-win seasons and zero titles
Title
The best way I can answer is: I like being VT. I would like to be Auburn. I would love to be LSU.
I like being VT = "Virginia Tech fans know their holidays are always going to include a trip to a bowl game, which is a heck of a lot better than most programs."
I would like to be Auburn = It would suck to win a title then completely flop, but the championship and Heisman trophy won during that year have the ability to keep them relevant for the foreseeable future, so we shouldn't be too quick to judge them. They could be back in the championship in two years.
I would love to be LSU = they have championships and they're consistently at the top. They have the best of both worlds.
If I had to pick one, I'd pick title. Just because you win the championship doesn't mean you can't be consistent for the following years.
It's complicated.
You always want your goals to exceed your reach, so to say "VT's goals should be to fight for ACC titles, be nationally relevant, beat UVA" then it would be really easy to fall short of those goals.
Personally, I don't hold a national title as our "goal" per se. I don't go into the season thinking we're going to win them all and play for the big title. I don't care about the empty trophy box and I understand why it was put up and why it won't come down. If, by chance, we get another shot, then great. But we don't have the resources to contend every year.
So, I wouldn't say I'm a Title guy because I don't expect it will ever happen. But, I understand if it is a "goal." I also greatly value consistency and I feel that our 10 win streak was golden. We should never have done that, it is far better than we should have ever expected. We're a school with 4.5% African American population in the middle of nowhere. I expect we will never see anything like it again.
Care to discuss...
I'm confused by the African American comment? If you mean that it will be hard to get athletes (mostly black these days) to come to Blacksburg, I say this: If we win big games, show these young black guys that we can put them in real national spotlight, and get them drafted to the NFL, then they won't care where Blacksburg is or what the black population is. These kids want to play in good programs and go to the NFL. As long as we can do that, they'll come. Plus, once they get to Blacksburg they're local celebrities, black or not.
I'm confused as well but agree...
I don't think any university's general student demographics really relate to their football program.
Well, maybe not the university's population but I think the surrounding area's can. Opposing coaches have used the notion that the NRV is racist against us in recruiting for years. Most of the big SEC schools have an HBCU nearby so the athletes have somewhere they can feel more comfortable that's close to campus.
But I agree with 757, once they get to Blacksburg, they're celebrities so who really cares. All the booze and girls you could ever want along with all the glory on Worsham Field.
It's been mentioned I recruiting before that.....
The minority community isn't as vibrant or deep.
We need a new word besides "consistency"
I'm so tired of hearing the word "consistency" coming from the Jameson Athletic Center. Perhaps we just need a qualifier term to go with "consistnecy". You can be consistently bad, consistently mediocre, consistently good, or consistently great. I think we have cornered the market on being consistently good. What we want is to be great (aka winning a title). The ultimate place to be is consistently great.
Title
Poing being we have been the most constitent team in the whole nation for the past 10 years, coming close to a title but lost it on a last min play, but if the overall end game is a national title then you need to do whats nessacary to win that. We dont bring in the recruits, we dont ever play up to par on a national stage, and we seem to lose to a team we should beat year in and year out. 2nd point is GT, we seem to be the only team that has a problem with them every year, sure we have pulled out the wins, but byu is beating them 49-0 and other no name teams as well as our foes in the acc, this seems strange to me that we always have a knock out drag out with them every year. My goal is for us to be like the sec without being the sec. We can win titles but I really dont think that is the preperation every single year. Maybe when Beamer thinks we are stacked then maybe he gets into the NC title talk, but year in and year out we dont play like the world is gonna end and there is no tomorrow and with that we underachieve every year.
Title
In VT's case I'll go with Title.
VT consistently goes to bowls, but doesn't consistently win them.
VT consistently does well in the ACC, but everyone thinks the ACC sucks.
Flags fly forever
Give me the title. However, all you can really do is what VT has done over the last 15 years- be really good nearly every year, and hope the breaks go your way one season.
Both. I'd like to consistently be in the title hunt every November.
Consistency good, title is better
I think ESPN is right to say that Virginia Tech have been somewhat a staple of consistency for a good part of the past decade. One thing we can be a bit proud of is we outlasted Texas in consistency. Virginia Tech and Texas were often mentioned as the most consistent programs in the nation, but then Texas flamed out, and Virginia Tech went on for a while.
The down year, I think, which was coming for a good while finally hit, and boy did it hit us hard.
I know nobody wants to hear this, but Alabama has been one of the most dominant programs in recent memory. However, there was another dominant program, and that was Southern California, winning a few national titles (one being vacated). I think football, like basketball, are cyclical.
Another example would be Florida State during the 1990s, dominant, running the tables, and slapping teams like dogs in heat, during their heydays. Ditto for Miami.
Unfortunately, all of the four schools I mentioned have won it all, and Virginia Tech have tasted it only once.
I think that's what frustrates the fan base. We were in the promised land once, and we want to go back again.
I also think that video game have skewed perspective since it's so easy to set the game difficulty level to easy and beat everybody. I know it because on my Xbox 360, I have already claimed 9 straight national championships and 10 ACC titles. I have Lane Stadium ranked as the #1 Toughest Places to Play. I recruit four and five stars on a regular basis. And that is just pure fiction.
So, maybe it's a combination of video games and unrealistic expectations.
Yep. Video game is too easy. I play on Heisman and I've won probably 90 games in a row... Also have had two Heisman winners, several award winners (including having defensive players finishing 1-3 in the Bednarik, Best LB, and Thorpe award voting...
Really?
i have won 3 national titles in a 7 year dynasty on Heisman difficulty but only once came close to the Heisman with a senior Athlete turned QB won the Maxwell and got snubbed for the Heisman, maybe i need to recruit better offensive linemen
Basically my secret is I just reload all of the position points I know are pivotal to my success (RBs, OL, DBs, QB, WR), getting 4 and 5 stars because of consistently great seasons... And then I just dominate. Except this season (year 2020) my quarterback play has kinda gone downhill and I don't really have a superstar anywhere on offense, more like just good not great talent... I'm still winning all of my games but no big margins like I'm used to.
some QBs on that game just suck in 2014 after Logan left Leal was rated 99 through offseason progression and i couldn't do jack with him and then started 88 rated Gresh most of the season lol.
Really? I did pretty good with Leal. I think he won the Maxwell one of the years I had him. JC won the Heisman that same year.
Win at all costs
and what you can do is put those speedy 5 star recruits at TE. It always works. Linebackers can't stop a 97 speed five star running a deep cross route. They can be liabilities in the run game but that's okay because on the next play, they'll turn a 10 yard cross route into a 70 yard touchdown. I've won multiple championships with that route alone haha.
Hahaha that's awesome. I usually find the hybrid TEs that have the size (above 6'4", 240) and also run a sub 4.6 40.
Title
You play to win the (big) game...Hello?!
Only one title?
To get a Title you have to be consistently great. In other words there has to be an expectation for greatness. The bar is higher and takes an exceptional effort to get over. But it can cause instability in a program. Getting one title means you want more.
The SEC is a perfect example. Even if Nick Saban won five straight NCs he would be fired if he had a 6-6 season. Success in college also attracts offers from the NFL or more money from competing schools. Would we want that kind of turnover?
This is college athletics and the primary purpose of college is education. Consistency is more important for me then the wild gyrations like the SEC schools experience. They are like professional sports teams. I have endured many losing and mediocre seasons and don't wish to go back to that.
The Devil You Know, The Devil You Don't
I would argue that our consistency is what makes our program the one we know and love. Obviously I'd love to have a title, but would you really trade what we have?
As a whole, we don't have attendance roller coasters or fair-weathered fans. We know that 66,233 fans will have butts in seats on Gameday whether we are playing Western Kentucky on a Saturday nooner or Florida State on a Thursday night. Would you rather be Miami, whose most recent title is 10+ years ago? They were truly dominant in the 80s, and yet they can't fill even half their stadium. I'll use ESPN's example, Auburn. They won a title 2 years ago, but would you really be prepared for a 3-win season? Until this season, our biggest complaint this time of year has been "Ugh, the Orange Bowl again?!" If you ask me, that's a good problem to have.
Being consistently good breeds hope. I look at the schedule at the start of every season and know that we should be favored to win all but maybe 1-2 games. I know that with a couple of breaks, it could be a very special season. I have never had the crushing feeling that once the stars of this year's team leave (Cam Newton, Nick Fairley,) our team won't have a shot next year at anything, let alone a bowl game. This season being the obvious exception, I know that our coaches have put the players in position to win. Even in "rebuilding" years like 2008, we can compete and win the ACC.
Consistently good is a little bit of luck away from being occasionally great. I'll take what we have any day.
Have to agree
with you DE, consistency breeds the opportunity for winning a title. We have a number of ACC/BE titles and with one or two breaks, that results in a bid to the National Championship, especially with the expanded format beginning in 2014. I really expect that eventually we will see a larger playoff similar to what the FCS has b/c the financials are just too overwhelming to ignore. Once ESPN sees how much the 2 semi-final games pay them, the temptation to have 4 more in a quarter-final round will be like low-hanging fruit.
If VT maintains a program that consistently wins 8 or more games each year, keeps going to bowl games (and wins more of them please) and keeps winning the recruiting wars in VA, we will get to the NC playoffs once or twice a decade at least. Catch a few breaks, and we will fill that empty trophy case. It all starts with having a winning tradition and a consistently excellent program that has its ups and downs, but never gives up the desire for excellence.