There was no change in VT's rank in either the AP or Coaches Poll.
I suppose that's what happens when you meet expectations. Next week there will be a change one way or the other. I don't believe the U is bak and I think this offense is on the cusp of exploding. I saw a lot of things on Saturday night that have me feeling more confident. One of these weeks, hopefully next week, we will see the offense firing on all cylinders.
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I noticed we showed Tuberville that we have a running game.
I think Miami is definitely overrated. They are just squeaking by while we are blowing out.
As a parent of a child in diapers, neither of these sound like good situations.
You'll eventually learn to love it when they just squeak instead of blowing out.
Next week we have a lot of games with ranked teams playing. Clemson @ NCST. Penn St @ Mich St. VT @ Miami. Ok @ OKST. Tex @ TCU. LSU @ BAMA. Oregon @ Wash. Zona @ USC. Great weekend for a birthday!
Ugh, can't wait to see PSU AND aOSU to both get hammered in the CFP. Can only imagine what the B1G loving committee is thinking.
I'm not sure sure either of them would get hammered, I think they're both pretty good. OSU wasn't that great at the beginning of the year, but they've definitely gotten better since.
Isn't that what people said last year when osu lost to Clemson 31-0? I mean, all three B1G teams that "should be in the playoffs" lost last year. OSU beating PSU this weekend was the B1G's first win over a currently ranked team, and it wasn't even a team from another conference. Consider me skeptical of any B1G team this year
So we're dead last among Power 5 teams with 1 loss?
I mean, we have one good win over a decent team, and 6 wins over bad and mediocre teams. OKSt, UW, and TCU all have similar resumes. You could argue that ISU should be above us. We should be in that 12-17 range IMO. I'm not complaining much.
Well, we have lost to the only Top 25 team we've played. That's reasonable considering our schedule thus far is pretty terrible thanks to the near-total collapse of teams in NC this year.
West Virginia?
Not in the Top 25 currently.
If you are ranked in the top 15 at the end of October, the ranking really doesn't matter at this point. Perhaps it gives the team a little more chip on its shoulder. If we win out we will have a shot at the playoff.
Meh. I'm okay with not moving up in the polls. We played a very solid game all around against Duke, but didn't do anything (aside from winning) to really garner a bump. Once we pound Duh U back into the self-obsessed hole it crawled out of I'm sure we'll get our bump.
I think #13 is a little low, I am more along the line of Bitter with having us at #11. There is no way Washington should be ahead of us with a bas loss to AZ State and no good wins. I think we are #12 when the playoff rankings come out Tuesday with the chance to move up to between #7-9 with a win this week. 1-0 Fam.
If we win out I'm extremely confident we'll be in the playoff
Yeah, the way to alleviate this concern is to win out convincingly.
I'm not. I don't think any one loss team controls their own destiny with respect to a playoff birth. With UGA, Bama, Miami and UCF still undefeated, VT, OSU, Clemson, OU, OKst, TCU and PSU will all finish the season with similar SOS. Obviously some of those teams will beat up on each other, but we could be looking at 1 undefeated P5 team, 1 undefeated G5 team, and up to 6 one loss P5 teams.
I will kindly put that UCF has not shot to make the playoff, and I don't really see a chance for a G5 team ever to make it unless they play 3 top 25 P5 teams OOC. There is alot of football to be played but I also agree that if both Clemson and VT win out, the winner of that game will be in the playoff. The PAC-12 has almost no shot at a top 4 team, and it's college football so someone like ND or Georgia will lose an unexpected game.
You're correct that 1-loss teams don't control their own destiny, but in the 3 years of the CFP, a 1-loss Power 5 conference champ has never been left out. Between teams knocking each other off and some upsets, these things work themselves out. Is it a 100% lock that we'd make it in the CFP at 12-1? No, but it's extremely likely- somewhere in the neighborhood of 75%- and could be higher if we get the right results in other games this weekend.
That said, while I'd love to see that, I think winning the last 4 games plus the ACCG is a very tall order given our youth on offense. Going 3-1 down the stretch is a reasonable expectation. Even though we probably would not make the ACCCG in that scenario, we could get to an 11th win in the bowl game, matching our program best season win total, which still puts us ahead of schedule in Fuente Year 2. I'm much more concerned with seeing continu
-ed upward progression.
haha ... nailed it!
I'm starting to get paranoid that we're going to put together the complete season but forces outside of our control keep us out. Situations like Georgia beating Alabama in the SECCG, Notre Dame winning out, and B1G having Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Penn State all at one loss. If all of those things play out and the Atlantic champion ends up being two loss NC State or two loss Clemson we could be in trouble.
Just keep winning and we will get what we get. Anything now is better than '12–15.
So you honestly expect we're better than OSU, PSU, Whisky, Notre Dame, Geowja, and or Bama? I don't. We do not have the DT depth to hold off ND, Bama, PSU, or OSU. Even if we got the berth, we'd get plastered unless the opponent decided to not show, or the BIGTEN really is as bad as the non-conference schedules would suggest. Take the New Years Six or whatever they call 'em bowl berth and have a shot at winning and getting better.
Not really? I'm not sure how I set you off. I'm just laying out the scenarios that could keep us out of the playoff if we win out. Nothing more.
I think the Big Ten is slightly overrated every year, especially Wiscy, I think they are similar to Miami in playing bad schedule and not looking impressive doing it. Bama and Georgia are solid and Notre Dame is probably the most improved team last year but some part of me just can't seem to believe they still don't have some of that 4-8 team in them from last year. VT certainly doesn't have the overall talent but from a schedule standpoint, if we win out and beat Clemson, we will probably get in at #4 playoff spot. In reality I think we either lose to clemson in ACCG or go 10-2 and get into Tier 1 bowl. Our offense is still too young to makes us a complete team but I think we will get to an elite offense in the next year or two. Just gotta keep fielding top 5 defenses.
Ditto, serious lean to the tier 1 bowl and 2 losses. I expect, with the class we're bringing in, we need DL depth to get there.
Yeah, after the past couple performances though I lean more towards winning out with a loss to Clemson again in ACCG game but either outcome is encouraging in what is an offensive rebuilding year.
Well, we beat ND at their place last year, and I really don't think we've taken any steps back, especially on defense. They are playing well, but they're very beatable. Neutral field, I'd take us over ND. IMO USC was overrated and beaten' up when ND beat them, just like when Wazzu beat them. I'd take us over any of those teams. Bama is the only one of those teams that I would back down from, but even Clemson last year proved they're beatable. I just don't think we have the offensive firepower right now to do much of anything against Bama's defense.
Wisconsin? Most certainly, aside from Miami I think they're the biggest frauds in the top 10. Their schedule is so unbelievably soft. I cannot wait for them to make it to the B1GCG only for 2014 to repeat itself all over again. Be it OSU or PSU.
The bad thing about that is that I can see the press interpret a Wisky blow-out by promoting OSU/PSU instead of recognizing that the Badgers were a paper tiger.
To be fair, VT could benefit from the same logic by beating The U this weekend.
Maybe not but you never turn down the opportunity to play the best even if it hurts. I don't think you would hear Fuente or Babcock saying, "God I wish we did't make the CFP this year. We're just not as good as those other teams."
I would definitely put our defense up against J.T. Barrett. He hasn't progressed much and Ubran Meyer has almost said as much. PSU is kind of scary. I'd say the jury is out on Wisconsin. Bama and Georgia are a different story.
Again though, you never turn down the opportunity or stifle the desire to compete with the best at the highest levels.
Can't do worse than aOSU or MSU the last 2 years.
There's a pretty high likelihood that we face one of those teams if we get to the Orange Bowl. I'd rather be in the playoffs than the Orange Bowl against the same potential set of teams.
Maybe not, but Cutcliffe gave us some high praise.
We certainly wouldn't be favored against the teams you mentioned, but I'd like to think that we'd have a puncher's chance. If a scenario like that were presented to the team, I'm sure they'd give 100% effort and wouldn't embarrass themselves against top competition.
Miami looked like ass against a team we beat 59-7 last week and they moved up to 6 in the Coaches Poll.
At least the playoff poll comes out this week so the others are rendered meaningless.
Agreed. There is a lot of sloppy play and luck involved in these wins. Rosier is ripe for the picking if you know what I mean.
Miami move up because teams ahead of them lost. It's as simple as that. Should the voters take a look at how they won? Yep, but if they did that, Miami wouldn't be Top 10 to begin with. With their sched, to date, Miami should be viewed the same way that G5 teams are viewed. Maybe it's the turnover chain. That definitely tells everyone about their bakness, so perhaps they really are #6.
On the plus side the teams that are ahead of us are pretty vulnerable. No one may have fallen below us but the top of the rankings just got a bit more volatile now that the list of undefeated teams is appreciatably smaller. And I can think of at least one undefeated team who I think won't be that way for the next set of rankings.
Think how much beating an overrated Miami will help our SOS though.
Winning takes care of everything.
Win out, and everything will take care of itself.
Plus, I will have even more cannon fodder for my 16 team (every conference champ gets in, plus 5 at-large bids) playoff model that the NCAA should adopt but are too gutless to adopt, even though every other level of football and every other major team sport uses something similar.
I'd be happy with 8.
Might also be worth mentioning that we did gain votes in both polls. While not enough to overtake anyone it is movement
We weren't even 7-1 at this point last season, with what many of us would call a more talented team.
I've said this all season: I think we beat Miami, perhaps even convincingly. However, the GT game scares me 100 times more than Miami...
^^ Same here. Barring injuries I expect to beat the U and lose to GT, finishing 10-2 and having Miami back into the ACCCG.
Oh, and that's my 1000th leg! I'm now a millipede
Now you're a mutated millipede.
When I take a step back, I'd be ok with a GT loss if it meant taking the rest of the schedule. Yes it would suck to miss the ACCCG, but this was shaping up to be a rebuilding year after Isaiah, Bucky, and jerod declared early. 10-2 regular season? Thank you very much.
Now, what I want Is to win out and have a shot at the CFP.
10-2 regular season would be nice, but this program really needs a statement win over a top 10 team. I think that would go a long way in continuing to boost the perception of the program with media and recruits.
I think we are getting that statement win this weekend. We all know Miami isn't a top ten team despite the polls, so it will count.
Agreed, but if we follow up a signature win against Miami by stepping on our dicks against GT, then is it really a signature win? Winning against a top 10 opponent is always a good thing, but to shake some of the specters of seasons past we need to follow up a big win by taking care of business against the unranked teams.
There is no doubt one thing I am looking at with respect to this new staff is winning games we should win. Last year we dropped GT and Syracuse. To some extend GT may be understandable. So far this year we are taking care of business. We had some uninspiring wins against lesser competition but I don't think the outcome was ever in question. Part of becoming a great team is not losing to bad teams.
Syracuse beating Clemson this year pretty much invalidates the "Syracuse was a team we should never have lost to" issue. Clemson is still a great team.
Syracuses 4-8 record last year validates that. Syracuse beat Colgate, UConn, us and BC (6-7). Clemson is a great team but Clemson does not lose that game if Kelly Bryant stays in. It shows how vulnerable even the best teams are to losing a starting QB.
Clemson never led that game, even when Bryant was in.
It's interesting you bring that up because Syracuse was 4-4 (2-2) last season before losing their starting QB, Eric Dungey, early against Clemson. He missed the rest of the season and they lost all 4 games to finish 4-8.
Fast forward to this year and Syracuse is sitting at 4-4 (2-2) with the win over Clemson. Everyone seems perfectly willing to forgive Clemson's loss with the narrative that Syracuse is a drastically improved team. But perhaps the loss of their starting QB was a much bigger factor than anyone cared to consider last season. No question winning a national title will help a team get the benefit of the doubt but I think it's something to consider.
Notre Dame right now scares me the most. SEC, Big, and BigXII will all take care of themselves and put one team up for the CFP. Pacwhatever sucks and has already cannibalized itself. I think Miami sucks and ND does the same thing they did to USC (after, knock on wood, we stomp them at the OB or whatever they call dophins stadium these days). Navy's not gonna beat ND in South Bend, and see my above comments regarding Stanford.
So ND's got a 1 point loss to Georgia, wins over now ranked MSU, then #11 USC, then #14 NCSU, Ranked U, and possibly top 15 Stanford. We've got a 2 touchdown home loss to Clemson and wins over then #9 Miami and Clemson in the ACCCG, to go along with a win over woovoo that is losing a lot of luster as the season progresses.
The only reason I think we'd even be in the conversation is because we'd have the ACC title. Everything else leans heavily ND.
All that being said. Take care of business and go 1-0 this week, and things will work out themselves out one way or another.
(when the clock hits 0:00 saturday night, we all become reggretably huge MIAMI!!11 fans)
I agree with others that say win and it will take care of itself, but if I have to look ahead I would say we have to have the Big 12 cannibalize itself to have a realistic shot at the CFP. I think there is a good chance of it happening; however, a 1 loss VT competing with any combination of a 1 Penn State, 1 loss UGA, or 1 loss ND vying for 2 spots would not leave me feeling comfortable at all.
The PAC 12 has already completed their cannibalistic ways. Iowa State is single-handedly eliminating the entire Big12, and the B1G is starting to consume itself and a weak non-conference slate doesn't help them. I can see the playoffs potentially being SEC Champion, ACC Champion, SEC runner up, and ND if we all win out.
I'm not worried about the BIGXII. OU OKSt is this weekend. OKSt still has ISU (lol). OU still has TCU. Then the top two have to play in the BIGXII's fucktarded '1 true champion cannibalistic rematch' championship game. Pretty decent chance BIGXII winner has two losses.
I think the only way Tech's not a DISTANT fourth after 1 loss PSU, 1 loss ND and 1 loss UGA is if Clemson gets to the ACCCG WITH a healthy Bryant and we win somewhat convincingly. Otherwise, lolfuk.
ETA: I fully acknowledge that I contradict myself from earlier. The BIGXII is a little bit of a wildcard, but we fucked if there's a bunch of 1 loss teams.
If we win out I don't think there is any reason you can keep us out with our lonely loss being to a #2 ranked Clemson a win over #6 Miami and win over top ten ranked Clemson. If we did make it it would be more than any of us thought we would achieve this early with Fuente but man the future would look bright (not that it doesn't now but you know what I mean). We would however HAVE to not embarrass ourselves a la OSU last year in the first playoff game as to not hear the replayed story of Tech not being able to finish the season or win big games (even though we would have two top ten wins). If we lost but close we'd be good and of course winning one and getting to the NCG would be unreal. If Fuente didn't get coach of the year again someone should be fired.
I do like our chances against Miami. They have not looked like they can overwhelm anyone. As with most here GT worries me because of old PJ and diving at knees. Gotta day I will be pulling for UVA to at least batter GT's QB this week even if they still lose.
I'd be okay if we got blown out as the ACC Champion. Don't forget that OSU jumped the B1G Champion only to get blanked by Clemson. That just looks bad. I understand that the B1G champion was a 2 loss team but still error on the side of the champion if you want the conference.