Within the next two weeks, Babcock plans to huddle with head coach Justin Fuente, deputy athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois, senior associate AD John Ballein and senior director of football operations Danielle Bartelstein to examine non-league schedules that have 35-of-36 dates booked from 2017-25.
"I wouldn't expect a lot of drastic changes," Babcock said.
Personally, I like the random OOC home & home's. I love going to random road games, seeing new campus and tailgating with other fanbases that we would rarely interact with otherwise.
Hopefully, we drop ECU, or at least play them not every year.
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When it was looking like Memphis was a candidate for the Big 12, I said we should get them on a 2-and-1 deal that would probably cover the transition period. Plus, it'd be the nice homecoming story.
Not gonna lie, I am looking forward to this ODU home and home stretch
Me too. Living in Richmond where all my friends are VCU grads, they really hate those guys, so I think it could be a fun matchup for the fans. I'm impressed with what they've done with their football program in such a short period.
I went to the ODU/Hampton game this year. I don't know how it's going to handle a Virginia Tech game. It's so small and from my understanding the only people allowed to tailgate are season ticket holders/donors who get a pass to the small parking lot outside the stadium.
There is tailgating in all of the lots that are not in a parking garage. My sisters have season tix and I will be just tailgating since there will be VERY few tickets available at a decent price!
yep that'll happen when a 20,000 seat stadium hosts a team with 750,000 fans in the area.
I don't mind playing ODU but I really, really don't want them to turn into ECU part two. We're signed up to play them 7 out of the next 9 seasons and that's pushing it for me. I know that we hope it will help with recruiting that area and maybe it will but that's just a lot for me.
I get it because:
1) 757 kids can play in front of their family/friends twice during their career. I'm not saying that will swing the region to our favor, but it can't hurt.
2) I'd like to think ODU would replace the "cupcakes" we traditionally have on our schedule. I'd much rather play ODU every year instead of a Liberty, W&M etc.
Would love to get out of ODU and ECU. If we want to contend we need to be playing the big boys. Would also be nice to play Louisville, Clemson and FSU again too...
Playing at ODU will help with our recruiting in that area. I am not gonna fight you on the ECU part. Bloody Pirates
Nah, ODU won't have any impact on recruiting.
Agree - if anything, VT playing in their tiny stadium validates their attempt as D1 program. I hope we destroy them once or twice (tops) and then buy-out the rest of the games.
Base in Va Beach, I'm tired of hearing about how odu has the best team in the state.
via GIPHY
Why would it not? They are right in the middle of the recruiting hotbed that FSU has been stealing from us for years. Going to play down there will be great for recruiting, especially if we can beat up on the Monarchs.
Bunch of dudes on team Monarch dressed up in uniforms identifying them by number?
I think we maybe can manage that:
Brock Samson wears Bud Foster pajamas.
Pass the eye bleach fam.
There is a reason FSU has been stealing recruits from us, and it has little to do with not having a game with ODU. We may well be years off from this, but if we want to play big time football in this committee era then we need to play big time programs. Further, outside the top 5, this year has shown that recruiting is important, but not everything. Development means just as much. My post from earlier this year.
The VT schedule is riddled with P5 matchups. People again seem to think it's easy to get home and home with any team the VT fan base wants. It's not happening.
We should be riddled with P5 match-ups, we are a P5 school. No I don't think we can have a match-up with whoever we want, but is your argument if we reached out to 25 good schools we would end up with 0?
EDIT: Should have said "would you argue that if we reached out to"
No what I'm saying is #InWhitItrust
I trust him an incredible amount, but we do get to comment on our team as fans. My opinion is just that I don't think that ODU is a net benefit to our team given what I believe they are capable moving forward. Said differently, the stronger your SOS, the more leeway you get with a trip up here in there, and trip ups do happen unfortunately.
Little bit longer post. It's not easy to schedule marquee home and home games. Certain teams UF don't like leaving their state, others Bama want neutral site games most times. Others only want to play so often or want 2-1 games. I think for the level Tech has been at the last 5 years the P5 schedule is looking great with home games against some great schools.
VT has certainly improved in this area.
They're doing a decent job, but doesn't hurt to indicate a preference for more P5 matchups, and to tap the brakes on an every-year ECU or ODU matchup.
Getting rid of ECU/ODU is just going to get difffernt G5 teams in their place.
What? We do this as much as any team in the country. UT, OSUx2, Nebraskax2, Bamax2, LSU, Boise in the last 10 years. Very few teams have that OOC.
I'm not talking about the last 10 years. I am talking about future scheduling for which we are in a long-term ODU scheduling agreement starting 2017.
We have a bunch of big ten schools in our OOC as well. We are allowed to schedule weak and strong.
2021 looks like it may be painful.
Have you actually looked at the future schedules?
Wait the future schedules actually get announced? Damn, now I'll have to go back and actually look at them to make a point you make not agree with.
Interesting analysis. I'm in agreement that top 10 isn't required. Note that of the 37 classes that are outside the top 10, only 13 are outside the top 15. Then again, there's a huge amount of bias in the recruiting process. Over the years, a number of recruits have gained a star or two by simply getting an offer from a team like Bama and lost a star or two, if they commit to a team that's not in the SEC and not one of the "storied" programs.
Not one recruit is going to pick us because we play one game in Norfolk. It's a game for the 757 fan base, sure. But it doesn't impact recruiting.
Know what else helps with recruiting? Winning big games.
FSU and Alabama are able to out recruit is in the 757 because they win big games.
Top recruits want to be a part of something special.
I see traveling to ODU as being a financial loss for the program with very little to gain.
Pros: Local Hokie fans get to see a game close to home, Hokie Fans in Eastern NC are closer to a game, 757 high school coaches and players can easily see a game in their backyard
It would be nice, but we don't really have that much control over which ACC opponents we play
Agree with you on those two.
We could schedule them as a non-conference game like Wake and UNC did
Less ECU. All I'm asking.
I was hyped until I read this. I agree , I like playing different P5 teams. I would not mind ecu if it was just every 3-4 years. What was Weaver thinking? Please dump them Whit!
I'm for it. We've had some exciting OOC match ups over the years,
at some cool venues.
It's exciting to have a big OOC game to begin the season, like UT
or OSU.
agree
I'm glad they're doing this, and I'm even more glad that Teel points out that some of these OOC match ups can get stale.
I'll reiterate my longstanding policy: I will not donate to the Hokie club until ECU is off the schedule.
So...
Never?
To be fair, they've improved the OOC schedule. But I agree with you that ECU shouldn't be on it every year. That's just plain laziness.
When they're off the schedule, we'll expect proof of membership :p
Deal. Talk to you in 2050
LMAO
This just in per twitters:
/s
edited for clearer sarcastica font
Obligatory
This is the exact opposite of what I wanted to hear. I'm over ECU.
Maybe we're negotiating to give them an extra home game in exchange for canceling games in other seasons?
I think the ACC's vote to stay at 8+1 vs 8+2 or 9+1 had a lot to do with this. If we went to a 9-game conference schedule I have little doubt that ECU would be gone. Now, we really can't afford to drop them because we would probably be scrambling to find replacements for so many years on our schedule. I do support removing as many FCS games as possible. Frankly, no one wants to see them.
the /s is there for a reason, people
The quote box (edit:wow....just wow)
throughthrew me off but the saddest thing is it's 100% believableIf Weaver was still AD...
Oh man. I can't believe I fell for that.
Before the edit, it read as '/s?' - It appeared that someone had actually said this on twitter, and VTMaroonOrange was saying "not sure if this was sarcasm or not?" - hence the confusion.
Me before I saw the /s
I really think the main focus of this meeting should be the the future games against ECU and ODU. In the next decade, we play both of these teams almost every year. Its bad enough that half of our OOC schedule repeats each year and even worse that we half to play them. As many have said, I too wouldn't mind playing each team every 3-4 years and I don't have a problem with playing a couple cupcake games a year either, but half of college football is the opponent and the countless combinations of matchups possible each week.
Home and homes with other big schools are the best thing about college football. Neutral site games can suck an egg.
I tend to agree. Neutral sites are only good if it's the only way you can get a Bama or uT to play you. It's best if a neutral site is combined with a home/home for a rubber match game. We should have done that with uT. (I think that's what we did with wvu.)
More power 5 home & homes, preferably against big time opponents. Screw scheduling for wins, put together some great games, drop annual opponenets (unless we want to make Tennessee a permanent rivalry), hell even drop fcs if you have to. And for the love of god think of the fans and get rid of ECU. At least rotate AAC programs! Memphis, Temple, and Cincinnati would be awesome places to play and great for the fanbases to visit.
I very much agree with this. Recruits want to play in big games. Fans want to attend big games. TV networks want to broadcast big games. No one cares about VT/ECU.
Not sure if they could possibly swing it, but man I'd love to see us play Navy every once in a while. The Military Bowl game at Navy-Marine Corp Stadium was a great atmosphere and could help with our recruiting presence/exposure in MD. Our military presence with the Corp of Cadets could make for a fun storyline as well.
We already play enough triple option teams for the year. No thanks.
That is the downside. They're not the most sexy opponent with that offense, but the venue and proximity to DC/Baltimore fanbase would be a nice addition IMO
Maryland is a better fit to appease the DC/Baltimore fanbase.
Yeah but UMD are ACC deserters. No respect for that athletic dept
I'm actually cool with this. Let's play Navy and GT in consecutive weeks. We'll be better prepared for both if we maximize the number of times we play triple option teams. Usually we have to have a ton of preparation for playing just one of them, but if we play both then we can use a little more time on it and the investment will pay off double.
Personally I think the triple option will be dead at GT after this year. I think PJs time is up.
Look, I don't have a problem with ECU and ODU being on our future schedules. Where I have a problem is when they're on the schedules EVERY. FUCKING. YEAR.
At the very least, scrap half the matchups and schedule some other opponents. Its bad that I long for the days where we played at places like UCF and Western Michigan because it at least allowed a little bit of variety to our schedules. ECU is not a rival. We don't treat it as a rivalry, and really, neither do they. That's a series that should be played as a spread out home and home of 2 matchups every 5 years. ODU we could probably afford having that home and home spread out over 8 years. Then mix in a variety of other Group of 5 programs from around the country to fill in the rest.
Its not that I don't think we should be playing against teams like ECU and ODU. Its that scheduling those teams every year makes our schedules get stale quick for the fans. I'd much rather see teams like Southern Miss, SMU, Louisiana Tech, Navy, Army, etc sprinkled in rather than just re-upping with ECU every chance we get.
What really sucks is next year's OOC schedule - after the neutral site WVU game, a solid dose of ODU, ECU, and Delaware. And ODU/UD are both at home. That's a third of our home schedule, and other than UNC and the big Clemson game at home next year, I really feel like season ticket holders are getting the short end of the stick.
Odd numbered years kind of suck for VT home games ever since the ACC screwed up the schedule rotation, and put GT/Miami/UVA on the same cycle, and then the NC schools on the other.
Last year's home slate was only saved by Ohio State. Home games were OSU, Furman, NC State, Duke, Pitt, and UNC.
2019 is even worse. Furman and ODU at home, with Wake Forest being the home crossover.
Used to, if I could only go to one game a year, I could usually alternate between GT and Miami, and know I was getting one of the big games of the year. Now, in odd years, we're at the mercy of the rotating crossover or out of conference. (That being said, I really look forward to 2021, and hope they don't change that schedule.)
I plan on bringing a large contingent of UDel fans to Blacksburg to see what a real football stadium and school looks like. I'm looking forward to it
This is pretty much where I'm at. A "drastic change" would be to eliminate ECU. That won't happen, period. A less drastic change would be to cut a few of the games, maybe causing the remaining ones to be spread out by a couple years, so that it's not the "oh look, it's mid-September, time for ECU" monotony. I could see Whit doing that.
Yeah, the way I see it, take the current scheduling agreement and take the games we've already agreed to and just spread it out over a much longer period. I don't care if ECU is on the schedule until 2040 if that means we only play them 7 times between now and then.
I'll go along with that.
"I thought the conversations were excellent in the room," he said. "Everybody was prepared. It was cordial, but certainly opinions on both sides. Personally, I don't have a desire to reveal my vote. I'm certainly not afraid or embarrassed at the stance. I'm just of the opinion that when you come out of the room and you've voted, then we're all on board."
I really like Whit Babcock. He gets it.
But I agree with most everyone here that we don't need to play ECU every year. And we shouldn't play ODU and ECU the same year. For me, it's the same slot on the schedule.
I'm in favor of more P5 teams on the schedule, so go with the 8+2 model as much as possible, even if the rest of the ACC isn't on board. Notre Dame counts as one of the two in those years.
It won't hurt my feelings at all if Richmond gets dropped from the schedule. I'd rather the Spiders have the chance to beat UVA every year. Because they can. It works out better for me: Richmond gets a D1 win and UVA looks bad. Win-win.
I don't know how I'm going to handle the "pulling for both teams" charade anyway.
What I really want to see is more match ups with WVU (h&h) preferably and a smattering of SEC (UT & Georgia) or BIG (Maryland, PSU) with a sprinkle of local VA teams every other year or so. I just want our OOC schedule to be much more balanced. Its not the worst thing in the world, but for the past few years our the first half of our home games have lacked meaning, not including anOSU. Keeping ECU will restrict way to much of their flexibility of generating new and interesting matchups. I think if he does a big shakeup the fans would be ecstatic.
As one of two public schools with a corp of cadets, I would love to see us cycle through the Military schools, Army, Navy, Air Force, and maybe throw in another here and there with Texas A&M. If they really want to pad the schedule with some warmup games, try to get VMI, Citadel, etc. back on the schedule.
Corps. There is a "p" and "s", even though they're silent, contrary to what ESPNU announcers believe. (Sorry, this was the at least the second post in this thread that I saw spell is wrong, and pet peeve and all...)
I too, think VMI should be a shoo-in for Corps Homecoming. Personally, I think the FCS opponents should be limited to Virginia schools.
We would absolutely kill VMI right now. It would be like GT and Cumberland.
Didn't Cumberland not actually have a football team for that game? Pretty sure they just threw 15 frat stars out on the field against a team coached by John Heisman.
Something like that. But that's pretty much what VMI has these days, except instead of frat stars it's keydets who are kinda good at football.
Wow, I can't believe no one is begging for an annual matchup in Bristol with Tennesee!
I'd be in favor of a regular (doesn't have to be annual) home-and-home though.
Because that wasn't hard enough to pull off as decently (or not) as they did. Plus ticket prices. Every year? Whew.
Every 4 years or so would be nice. Definitely not every year.
Yeah, TKP really needs a sarcasm tag/button, because that was 100% it. But I think it could be cool if VT and UT could continue to hold (at most) a biennial matchup against other P5 schools...i.e. at the very most frequent, VT would play a game there next year, then UT the year after that, then VT after that, etc. Maybe once every 4 years? Would be hard to get other schools to come there though, given it'd be a semi-home game for us (especially UT). But I very much enjoyed the whole weekend/event and would love to do it again. But I also agree that is was pretty ridiculously expensive, and not just for the game ticket.
Ticket prices aside, I would love the VT-UT matchup to become annually home and home, with Bristol thrown in every 4 years.
2017 - Tenn at VT
2018 - VT at Tenn
2019 - Tenn at VT
2020 - Bristol
2021 - VT at Tenn
2022 - Tenn at VT
2023 - VT at Tenn
2024 - Bristol
repeat
This would be cool for everyone ... and gives us a chance for some sweet, sweet revenge.
Too much Tenn. I think a better arrangement would be playing every three years rotating home and home. Eventually Tenn would become another ECU if we played them every year.
I don't think it would become another ECU. The reason ECU games suck are because we're expected to beat them every year and we are in a P5 while they are in a G5. Tennessee is a football school in the SEC. This could become a rivalry if we played every year because both teams would care and it would be competitive most years.
1. Make ECU every other year for the remaining committed games.
2. 8+2. If we don't have 2p5 schools, go get them.
3. Push geographically into Tx, Ark, Ok. It fits our staffs background, lots of good players there.
4. Not many teams left on the wishlist with the future schedules so well filled out with ND, wisky, PSU, Mich, etc. I would be ecstatic with UT, UT, ATM, Ark, TCU, OU, mich st, and Colorado. Any renewals of the recent p5s would be fine; LSU, Bama, osu, neb, etc. AAC teams like Cincy, Memphis or even temple would be preferable to ECU. West coast games are too logistically challenging for travel to be worth it.
I'm all for playing schools in these states, but I don't see the point of trying to recruit there. I think games against UGA, UF, WVU, UT, USCjr, MD, UK and PSU would benefit us (geographically) from a recruiting standpoint.
Recruiting has changed dramatically with regards to geography. You seem to be a savvy football guy, I'm sure you have seen the discussions about the Va recruits going out of state more and the geographically diverse classes VT has been bringing in.
We typically see VA recruits move up and down the east coast. It's unusual to see a VA recruit going Ark, TX, or OK, no?
Sometimes they go to the West Coast to places like Stanford, but generally yes.
The problem with ODU/ECU is that we have them plus a FCS team until 2020. I am okay with ODU and ECU if we pair them with 2 Power-5 teams, but ODU, ECU and Delaware (2017) as 3 of our 4 OOC games is just terrible.
I really liked the Bitter plan (I think this was a part of it anyway) of setting up a rotation between ODU, ECU, and Marshall. Play one of them per year and move on.
The problem with that is we have spoiled ECU & ODU into getting home games. I think we would have to give them a home game at some point in that rotation. Maybe we could talk the schools into a 5 year rotation with VT getting 3 of the 5 games at VT with this format. Just for fun I have added App St into the "regional" mix to see what it would look like:
2017: @ECU
2018: Marshall
2019: @ODU
2020: App St
2021: ECU
2022: @Marshall
2023: ODU
2024: @App St
2025: ECU
2026: Marshall
2027: @ODU
2028: App St
If we are doing home and homes with Marshall, ECU, ODU, and App state, we better not be paying them too...
I'm not sure I understand what you are saying... each of the teams would play VT 5 times: 3 at VT and 2 at their place over a 20 year period.
This proposal would essentially give Tech one "regional" G5 opponent for the next 20 years and 12 of those 20 games would be at VT.
I think Marshall and App State would jump all over the idea. Not sure about ODU and ECU as this would be a downgrade to what we already have given them.
I like it and don't mind the addition of App St at all, perhaps at the time the 3-team idea originated they hadn't moved up yet.
I thought about the home games because you're absolutely right, we'd have to give them a home game. I like how you have it set up
I don't think we have spoiled them. I think we are doing home and homes because we can't afford to just pay them to come to us. If we start selling out every game we might get to that point. For a point of reference Tennessee paid Bowling Green 1.2 million to come to them last season.
I generally dislike the Bitter plans - particularly this one. If I were going to set up a rotation, I take a quasi-ND approach. South Fla and/or Central Florida, ECU, and perhaps an SMU or Tulane.
ODU and particularly Marshall serve no good purpose.
As a West Virginian, I'd like to see the WVU rivalry brought back. I know how their fans are and I know that Morganhole is a godawful place, but if we had played WVU every year when we regular contenders in the ACC (2004-2011), WVU would have been a way better rival than UVA or Miami, especially during the Pat White years.
you at least get your wish next year at fedex field
I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty nervous about it. Not only have we been unsuccessful at FedEx Field, but regular season, neutral site games have been terrible for us in general. I can't remember the last time we won one.
Hopefully WVU hangs on to Holgorsen, though. Bud and the defense would feast on that offense, even with Will Grier at quarterback.
Have to think Brian Mitchell is another advantage perhaps
I had to do it. I had to look it up.
The last two regular season neutral site games that VT won:
1995 vs. Temple at RFK.
1984 vs. VMI in Norfolk.
No!
I think it would be phenomenally interesting to be in the room with those folks to hear what kind of things they think are important in scheduling. There's gotta be something I don't understand about it.
Grumble grumble ECU...I would like to see more SEC teams on the schedule
Anyone here who would like to see more wvu games has never been to Organtown for a night game.
I don't have a problem mixing it up, I understand why people aren't pumped to play the same teams (ECU, etc) year after year and I can understand targeting specific areas (ODU). My only concern is that we continue to choose teams that help us get better. We need to play teams that we SHOULD beat, but we can't totally overlook. I've been on both ends of the FCS spectrum, as in I've worked with a team who dominated the FCS during their transition into the FBC and I've also worked with the smallest D1 school in the country, whose entire athletic department functions on the millions of dollars they can pay to get demolished by a P5 school a couple times a year. Sure, it's basically a guaranteed W, but neither side actually benefits. The P5 school is better off scrimmaging their own scout team. The bottom feeder FSC school not only walks away with an embarrassing loss, they almost always come away with at least a few serious, season ending injuries. Too often they are grossly mismatched in almost every way. The shittiest part of the entire process is that a lot of these programs feel like they don't have a choice. Without that money not only would their football program cease to exist, so would the 10-20 other sports, meaning that hundreds of athletes would suddenly find themselves unable to finish school