Niche.com (who I have never visited before) ranked 654 college football programs and VT comes in at #14. Admittedly, I know nothing about this website but I think it can lead to some very interesting discussion.
Full rankings here: https://colleges.niche.com/rankings/best-college-football-programs/
Forums:
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Comments
LOLUVA
This might be the most LOLUVAish thing ever.
I see UVA is listed 30 spots below Appalachian State University. Looks like they nailed it.
+1 on the basis of your first tab alone. If I could give you another +1 for the main point of your post, I'd do that too.
JOE I NEED MORE POWER.
FTFY
So I looked and saw us ranked ahead of Georgia and Auburn and had to find out how they came to this conclusion. These rankings are HEAVILY weighted in terms of BCS bowl appearances. Our 6 appearances really bumps us up the rankings. It should be heavily weighted on championships and BCS wins and it would probably align more with the average college football fan.
whelp, I was pleased for a moment and then these facts come up and totally
on my good vibrations
Well, they got the UVA thing right in regards to football...
I think a certain poster needs to check his stall for cameras
Hahah I'm waaay ahead of you guys
Who you think took the video?
well that explains a lot. I only briefly read through their criteria in that itty bitty paragraph at the top of their page. I wish they'd done it like you said and weighted wins more than appearances.
Its hard to put an exact number on it, but using a tier system I would place us with GT, A&M and Washington
Historically, I think us and Oregon are the two best programs to never win a National Championship. But it's difficult to rank; college football has changed more in the past 10 years than ever before. If you were to rank us by the current familiarity of our 'brand', I would say that we're second tier, behind the Michigans, OSUs, Alabamas and FSUs, etc. I do think we're above GT, given our winning record against them since joining the ACC, and our fans are significantly better. A&M is riding the Johnny Manziel wave, but when was the last time they played in a BCS bowl? Washington hasn't made a splash in sometime.
That's why I'm not weighting this last decade as heavily as you. Otherwise teams like Michigan and Notre Dame would have fallen off, but they haven't. Program prestige is influenced from before the BCS
I mean, ND is 2 years removed from an undefeated regular season. They still have one of the top 10 most recognizable names in football.
I just think you're weighing the bcs era a bit much for branding. We essentially did nothing before 1993, and as such our brand does not directly reflect the success we've had for the last 20 years. Nebraska hasn't done jack in a decade but their brand is much stronger
Washington was great during the early 80s and early 90s. Washington has 2 titles, more bowl games (and wins), more all americans, higher win % etc.
I still think we are are slightly better, but they are definitely on our level
"Historically, I think us and Oregon are the two best programs to never win a National Championship"
I'd argue UGA is probably ahead of us....assuming they haven't won one way back when.
Ever heard of Herschal Walker?
1980 is calling.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Bulldogs_football_under_Vince_Doole...
I think this is about right. I've historically claimed we're a top 15 program, even if the current/recent rankings don't reflect that. Given some of the teams below us, one could rightly claim we're a little lower, probably top 20 at worst.
As soon as I saw niche.com gave VT a B rating in weather, it instantly lost credibility. Blacksburg is beautiful, but I just don't see how during the academic year, we could receive a B in weather.....
Well compared to every Big 10 school the weather is better during the winter. Throw in a quarter of the ACC having bad weather along with a handful of Big 12 teams weather and it sits fairly well.
So wait, there are people that don't like to experience all four seasons in
one dayone trip across the Drillfield?I was about to respond.
Weather? Drillfield.
Wind. You take beautiful weather, add wind and all of a sudden it's "blustery". 4-5 years in it though will make you used to it. I remember being home in the summer and my mom said, "Boy it's a windy day today." My reply was, "It's a 15 mph wind. That's a breeze."
Have you ever heard of Blacksburg weather? Fun stuff when the meteorologists don't even know what is going on 80+% of the time
Blacksburg is like San Diego compared to Syracuse...
They lost me here...
I'd probably rather drive down 81 than down 95 between Richmond and Washington. Maybe that's what they mean...?
Without question! You can get stuck on 95 between Springfield and Fredericksburg for hours. When heading north up to the Cape, I always get on 64 south of Richmond to 81N to 78E, etc. and catch back up with 95 north of NYC after going over the Tappan Zee. In fact, I just gave a friend who was driving up from FL this past weekend that route and he thanked me profusely. Driving on 95 pretty much sucks anywhere, but particularly in that stretch between Richmond and D.C. CT always sucks, too.
Indeed. Dealing with 81 is a massive pain.
Let's be honest... the fact that we've had a few barely above .500 seasons here in town which causes a healthy amount of unrest (enough so that the coach cleans house on one side of the ball) doesn't exactly speak badly for us.
We're a program that expects to do well every year. We play in a conference where you're all but guaranteed a spot in the big playoff should you win it, and we aren't exactly a conference loaded with great programs. And we're a program that has shown we're willing to spend big and put our money where our mouth is from a leadership stance with the salary we are paying our basketball coach. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that we went to a BCS game nearly 1/3 of the time the BCS existed.
Yeah, I'd say 14th is fair. When Beamer retires, there won't be many places more attractive to a head coach than us, and there's a good chance we'll be the top destination that offseason.
Stumbled across this article today from SB nation.
25 Best College Football Teams Since 1980 That Didn't Win National Titles
Interestingly, VT isn't on that list.