Come strong this morning. I want to know your one bold prediction for the 2018 Virginia Tech football season. It can be a breakout player, upset win, unfathomable loss, statistically based, or whichever direction you want to take it.
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I've already said it before. Crazy upset and shock as we win the ACC during a year where most are just expecting a mediocre season.
Go undefeated and win the Natty! (Did I do that right?)
We beat either FSU or Miami by 20+ points.
And the other by 14.
we beat Georgia Tech...but still fail to win the coastal :-(
Dalton Keene is going to have better numbers than any tight end VT has ever had this year.
Josh Jackson's QBR is top 10 in the country at the end of the season.
and we still question if he should be the starter.....
Pessimistic - We lose to BC this year and Scot Loeffler does a pelvic thrust at midfield. In depression, I maintain a .25 BAC for the remainder of the season.
Optimistic - We smoke FSU by 3 scores (capping it off with a pick 6 in the 4th). In celebration, I maintain a .25 BAC for the remainder of the season.
If both those things happen, does that mean a .50 BAC after the BC game?
This did in fact happen.
We have one game thread where everyone is reasonable and level headed.
Now you are just being ridiculous.
Second bold prediction: Busch will become the official beer sponsor of TKP by season's end.
That would make me hang up my TKP keychain. (Which I never actually found. Joe, can I buy another?)
If Busch Beer decides they want to sponsor TKP you will not balk at it. There is alot of money potential there.
Aye, I will. The site owners may not, but I will.
I will not drink Busch in a can.
I will not drink Busch with a fan.
I will not drink Busch here or there.
I will not drink Busch anywhere.
Not in a house.
Not with a mouse.
Not in a plane.
Not on a train.
I do not like Busch in a can.
I do not like it wasknick-I-am.
I don't like it either and often crack on Nick for loving it so, but I'll be damned if I'm turning down Busch $$$. They have plenty of it and if they wanted to give TKP or me some, I would jump at the chance. If that makes me a whore, then slap my ass and call me Sally.
If they want to give the site money, that's fine. Doesn't mean I have to drink it. Nick says I will not balk at it, and I'll be damned if that's true. ;^)
I won't balk at taking that money. Drinking it...well...
You misunderstood me. I was never asking you to drink it. I just said if they became the Official Sponsor of TKP don't balk at it, because $$$$. I could not give an ever-living shit what anyone drinks aside from myself.
Fair enough. But I'm still leaving up the photochop. ;^)
I would never ask you to take something like that down. It is hilarious.
Also, through late night Revelations. He eventually tried green eggs and ham and loved it. Just something to think about...
How many Busches did it take you to come to that Revelation? ;^)
I did not have an alcoholic beverage last night, unfortunately.
I always knew those Fall cans had some Hokie in em'.
Ahh what a treat it is every year when these come out.
.
Picard, probably not. But you know Riker drank some Busch Light
Well... he did grow the beard and got the costume designers to alter the uniform to hide the fact that he got fat after the first season....
I'll allow it
Probably the one after we beat UNC by 30
We beat FSU, Notre Dame and Miami, but lose to either UNC or UVA
Man, you said wins over FSU, ND, and Miami...but a potential loss to Uva still made my stomach turn.
At some point we're going to drop one to the Hoos. Feels like this year's team (young in key spots, lots of unknowns) will have some major highs and some baffling lows.
lose both FSU and Miami but win Notre Dame in a classic. Finally nut punch Chinballs in a shootout.
is that just a punch to the face, then?
Bold prediction... 9-2, lose Coastal on tiebreaker to Miami. Throughout the season there are multiple freakouts about supposed bad defensive play despite wins, overlooking how much the offense has grown because we still struggle a bit to get the ground game going. Accept invitation to Belk Bowl.
Which game gets cancelled?
UNC. All of the allegations and investigations finally come to a head right before the game and they get the death penalty
jk --they would never fact any actual repercussions for their violations
I refuse to acknowledge the ECU series
I'll be dead in the cold, cold ground 'fore I recognize Missourah!
We go 3/3 against Florida State, Notre Dame, and Miami, but we lose to two ACC also-rans and miss on the Coastal title because of it.
At this point I feel like 8-4 is a bold prediction
Josh Jackson performs as one of the top 5 QBs in the nation.
Defense still finishes the year ranked in the Top 15 all around
Counterpoint: We struggle the first half or so of the season and QP starts however many games that doesn't burn his redshirt at the end of the year.
If that happens this team wins 10-11 games
VT goes into the ACC Championship game with one loss to Pitt and beats Clemson to make the CFP.
We have a running back lead us in carries for the season for the first time since 2015.
We start slow and finish 8-4, but all the youth gets it together in time to beat Miami at home in November.
This offense is the best offense in Tech's history, despite having inexperienced players all over the field. This defense is the 3rd worst defense of the Bud Foster era due in large part to lack of experience and depth. Team finishes 8-4.
The ACC Wheel of Destiny is broken out by week 6
Everyone is proud and emotionally exhausted and has good reasons for eagerly looking forward to the next season.
We lose to Florida State, but gel later in the year. FSU is the only game we lose until the ACCCG. We win our bowl game too. 12-2 baby.
Yep, I've been pessimistic all off-season, but now that the season approaches I've got orange and maroon tinted glasses baby. ...god, this is why losses hit me so damn hard every time. Oh well, go Hokies!!
Win 2/3 between FSU, Miami, and ND.
This has been my answer when all my friends ask how Tech is gonna be this year. I think this is a good barometer of where we are and I think that will be a major success. I also think we lose one we shouldn't but we take down Captain Chin-balls and the Chop Blocks this year.
This is a bold predictions thread, I would never tell my friends my bold predictions.
That said this whole season is pretty up in the air. I think we have the ability to compete with all 3 of those teams from a personnel standpoint, limiting errors due to lack of experience is where we'll run into issues. For that reason, I'm out. We'll probably lose all of these and drop a dumb game because we do that.
ND and da U will likely both be good enough that we can't possibly have a bunch of freshman mistakes, luckily those games are not week one. Unfortunately, we have FSU week one who I think will be the weakest of the 3, they have dudes but a new coach. We'll probably still stumble and end up losing a pretty close game.
If we drop the only game I'm making it to (BC) I will not be returning home and you can find me in TOTS, Sharky's, or Hokie House for the remainder of the football season.
I hear that this is a bold predictions thread, but I don't think this is all that bold. Even young and in Tallahassee I think we do enough to win a close one. Somebody said it will be a weird game and I agree with that. We finally find traction on the ground and the 'Noles aren't ready for that so we squeak one out. Then I think we lose to ND, I want to say it will be close but I don't have a lot of confidence in that.
Miami comes into town and we take care of business. We win 2 out of 3 and lose one to either BC or Pitt and might drop another. Some might view that as bold but I think that's where we are. That being said, if we do lose 2 of the big 3 I still don't think that's a failure.
I'm thinking 4 losses is the floor unless we underperform far worse than anticipated.
Going bold with a long shot prediction here:
We lose to Miami, Notre Dame and Duke to finish 9-3. FSU loses to VT, Miami and Klempson, also 9-3.
Camping World Bowl picks FSU over us despite the head to head win, and we go bowling in Nashville to pick up the 10th win over A&M.
I need some of what you guys are smoking.
UVA wins at least one game
here's a few, bold predictions: Hunter leads team in INTs, Deluliis leads team in TDs
breakout player: Farley (yes, even moreso than Hunter and Deluliis)
upset win: VT beats ND
bad loss: VT loses to BC (might not be unfathomable)
stats based: JJ has >3500 yds and 30 TDs; Gaines has double digit sacks
If JJ has 30 TDs... I'm guessing 2 of them would be against BC... which is probably enough to beat Leoffler and that awful QB of theirs in Lane. Even if their RB breaks a couple.
Here's my bold prediction. If healthy, Damon Hazelton will smash single season receiving records this season.
All 5 Heisman finalists will be Hokies.
3 of them will be soph. 2 of them will be defensive players.
Eh, I don't know, 2 defensive players seems a bit far-fetched.
Top 5 offense in the country gets us to the CFP. Lack of depth and experience gets us bounced by Bama.
I love this prediction
6-6
Wins: FSU, ND, Miami, UNC, GT, UVA
Losses: W&M, ECU, ODU, Duke, Pitt, BC
All of TKP suffers liver failure
Do you remember what this site was like in Frank's Twilight days before he announced his retirement?
Because that's what this site would be like again.
Poster#1: Does any one think Fuente should step down?
Poster#2: Are you CRAZY we're just having an off year because insertseasonswhy. Get out of here, you're not even a real Hokie fan.
Insert some random kneejerk reaction nonsense, some massive downvotes for somebody, some meme'ing, some non-stop gif'in, and somebody complaining about said gifs, and, baby, you got a stew goin'.
When you realize this thread was more accurate than expected.
*guy behind wall*
I think this record is more likely than any of the positive bold predictions.
Gaines leads the conference in sacks and is 1st Team All-ACC.
NC State finishes second in the Atlantic due to losing tiebreaker to Clemson. Tech finishes second in Coastal with losses to Miami and Pitt while beating ND, FSU, and winning the loluva scrimmage.
VT finishes the regular season 6-6, with losses to FSU, Miami, GT, ND, BC, and Pitt.
honestly this is where my head is at. Maybe Duke instead of Pitt.
Going back through old predictions, and damn this was almost 100% right :(
We beat F$U by more points than we beat ODU (something like 2 scores over F$U and 4 points over ODU). We lose to Duke in Raleigh and lose to BC later in the year. Beat NCSU in the ACC Championship. Miss out on playoffs because Clempson and the U both shit the bed leading to "ain't played nobody" arguments. Win a NY6 game in a squeaker over some B1G team.
Now that is a bold prediction
Pretty bold prediction.
Edit: *Slowly bows head and puts on cone of shame.
Justin Fuente's offense frustrates Pat Narduzzi so much that he gets booted from the game for 2 unsportsmanlike penalties. He also spikes his headset... picks it up... spikes it again before finally being pulled away and exiting the field with his assistant.
God I hope that happens.
Ashby and Rivers get 90% of the burn at the traditional LB spots, Dax shows flashes on STs and against ECU/WM but is not a starter all year.
I don't think this prediction is very bold, bud.
One bold prediction? How about one guess at the whole schedule...
FSU - Tallahassee at night is going to be a tall order. The Hokies will have some good moments, but this one ends weird in OT 30-27 FSU.
Bill and Mary - The press will talk about JMU twice as much as the Tribe this week, and the Hokies deliver a sleepy 34-13 win.
ECU - FuFense will hang 70 on the Pirates this go round. Ryan Willis comes in for some garbage snaps and the first smoke plumes of QB controversy are spotted. 73-21, Hokies.
ODU - Hokies roll into Norfolk and roll on the Monarchs, 45-3. Young Defense feasts on ODU and records a pick-6 and sacks galore.
Duke - Hokies get a little too big for their britches and stumble a little vs. Coach Cutliffe. They squeak by 17-14, Jackson has a bad showing, and the QB controversy smoke plumes morph into the first flickers of flame.
Notre Dame - The offense struggles early to get first downs, and defense wears down in the second half. Valiant effort in the 4th qtr, but the Hokies fall 31-24. The first "Free Willis!" signs are spotted in the crowd.
UNC - Hokies run down to Chapel Hill and proceed to Fuente Fedora... 38-17 Hokies. Defense has another big game and a score. QB play is mediocre, so the win does nothing to quell the QB quandary.
GT - CPJ continues to live in Fuente's head causing him to switch QB's midstream. Hooker gets in the game because of his running abilities and the Thursday night crowd wills this game in favor of the Hokies, 27-22.
BC - This game gets pegged as a nooner, and the Hokies struggle with the Eagles. AJ Dillion goes wild, and the Eagles pull out a stunner 24-23. Willis and Hooker get reps, and TKP blows up all week long over who should be QB.
Pitt - Fuente goes back with Jackson this week, and the receivers have huge days, and Dalton Keene has a breakout game. Hokies take this 38-24.
Miami - Miami is rolling, and this game gets the Saturday night ABC spot as it is billed as the ACC Coastal Champ game. Foster attacks Stacy Searles green O-line with impunity. The Canes can't get anything done on offense, and the offense does enough to take this one 24-10.
UVa - The dominance continues. Bronco gets canned on Saturday morning.,
ACCCG - The Hokies can't hang with Clemson, and lose badly 31-7.
Bowl Game - The Hokies get an invite to the Belk Bowl in Charlotte to play USCe. Fuente and squad torch the 'Cocks 45-6. QP gets to play, and really puts on a show... Leading to way, way too early hype for 2019.
This had me laughing at work. Nice well-thought out predictions.
I would really like a bowl game vs USCe. In fact I would like most of what you predicted in this season guess.
Correction for the ECU projection:
2016 - 54-17
2017 - 64-17
2018 - 74-17
The numbers don't lie.
I like the cut of your jib, son.
Justin Fuente finally beats this guy
This is all I really ask for. I'm just so done with my family correcting me when I say "Tech".
(Point of Information: The rest of my family are GT fans, and our standing bet on the football game is that the winner gets to refer to their team as "Tech".)
I have a similar situation with my family and younger brother who went to GT. Here's my argument
Virginia Tech: founded 1872
Georgia Tech: founded 1885
Boom. Roasted.
10-2 Regular season; Losses to FSU (1st game jitters and lots of young guys) and Notre Dame (Big time game)
We can beat Miami and the rest.
ACC Championship game: Loss to Clemson (it'll be hard to beat them)
Bowl Game: An Orlando Bowl, Against Texas, win
11-3 Overall
Bold prediction #1: I make it to 3 games this year
Bold prediction #2: Offense breaks into Top 30
For prediction, see 2010 Virginia Tech Hokies football season.
minus the baffling JMU loss.
I could see us making a run after the FSU loss, ...but I damn sure don't see us beating Clemson in the ACCCG. I'm buying into the hype of that D-line, it's fucking scary. Next year though, the ACC will be between us and FSU. ...maybe Miami if they get a good qb.
With D Lineman being such a premium in the NFL and how short football careers are, you wonder (hmmmm) why ALL of those guys stayed at Clemson after being projected first round picks? Hmmmmmm
To win another one, man. Dabo is selling something special over there, he's got these guys believing.
Telling guys who are first and second round picks to come back is not a coaching staff selling what's best for their players. They are selling what's best for Clemson, and for some reason it worked. Who knows, maybe that's why they are so good at recruiting as well.
I see us winning 9 games, making it to the ACCCG, winning, and going to the playoffs, why? because....bold prediction....college football is going to have a crunk year, think 2007 but crazier.
CFP: UCF/Boise, 3 loss ACC teams, yep, we're getting 2, 3 loss B1G team. PAC12, Big12, SEC get locked out.
The SEC will never be locked out of the playoffs. In fact the "playoff" was created in part to help the SEC get more than 1 team in the MNC mix...see 2017. In the old plus one system, It would have been Georgia/Clemson in the MNC game, and Bama would have been out. So no, no chance the SEC gets left out of the top 4- barring some super freaky stuff, like Bama losing 4 games.
All of our concerns about inexperience on defense wind up being silly in hindsight as the youths ball out and remind the country why we are DBU. "Next man up" resonates all across the roster, and the next men do indeed step up. Multiple All-ACC seasons from first-time starters.
Hokie Dynasty, Year One
Edit for clarification:
We look back at 2018 as the year VT began it's true domination of college football, racking up 3 National Championships in a row, being in the college playoff every year for 6 years in a row, and, though he's no longer coaching, Coach Frank Beamer finally gets to see a trophy in the case of the house he helped to build.
EDIT: bad juju in my original post
There will be no decline from Jackson this year as he manhandles FSU and Miami and comes through in the clutch in another nail biter against the Irish.
My bold prediction is that French finally begins a love for all things cheese.
Of all the wrong comments in this thread, yours is the wrongest.
it may be the wrongest, but i want it to be rightest
We open the season 6-1 becoming bowl eligible after beating down UNC in Chapel Hill. The one lose comes to either to ND or FSU, both are close game but in one we can't quite keep the edge. Following the season opener in Tallahassee we come home sleeping on W&M and almost repeat the JMU debacle, managing to get get it together enough in the 2nd to hold on for a victory.
The following 3 games give us fits.
Our week off gives us the stamina and persistence to beat GT in the closing seconds of a low scoring match-up.(7-1)
Lefty comes to Blacksburg looking for blood and finds it, BC starts clicking on offense early and proves to be too much for our defense to handle, we drop this game by 10 points missing a FG late in the game to get us within shooting distance.(7-2)
Following the frustrating lose BC we roll into Pittsburgh ready for a fight, sadly pitt happens and it turns out the curse wasn't broken 2 years ago just temporarly dispelled as we drop another game in ketchup field.(7-3)
After dropping 2 games in a row to inferior teams and with a powerful Miami team looming a large part of the fan base starts to write off the season, the most extreme segments loudly begin calling for Fuente's head. Tech Sideline is declared a Digital Superfund Site by the EPA.
With an ACC championship birth almost out of reach the hokies find their second wind for the season, a Miami team that has dominated all of their ACC opponents thus far, is made to look foolish throughout the first half of the game leaving the hokies with a substantial lead going into halftime. Midgame adjustment's by Miami quickly close the gap transforming the game from a blowout into a close contest. Hokie fans despair as Miami takes a late 4th quarter lead but rejoice as the Hokies score to close the game and send the Canes home defeated.(8-3)
Fresh off of their Miami Victory spirits are high in Blacksburg as the hoos roll into town, unfortunatly the combination of the short week and thanksgiving dinner hangover leaving the hokies as the proverbial paver in a UVA summer camp. UVA takes an early lead that they never relinquish and as the clock hits zero they rush the field in blackburg and host the commonwealth cup for the first time in 14 year. On Saturday November 24th @CommonwlthCup tweets out "University of Virginia has held the Commonwealth Cup for 1 day"(8-4)
The lose to UVA crushes the team and hokie nation. We are selected to the belk bowl where we face a mid-major SEC team. We aren't able to muster much of an effort and are easily knocked off leading to a mediocre 8-5 season where the lows don't seem to offset the highs
So we are going to beat Miami and either FSU or ND, but lose to Uva AND BC? Please pass me what you are smoking.
I fit as many bold predictions into one post as I could...
...was that not the assignment?
I don't know what you've been drinking, but I don't want any.
Urban Meyer retires again only to pop up as Head Coach for Texas in 2019.
So Texas and OSU trade coaches
Let's add some bold spice...
Urban Meyer is outed at Ohio State and pops up as the new head coach in Cleveland, because, you know... O-HI-O!. His first move is to proclaim that "Tyrod Taylor is MY guy." and then he deals Baker Mayfield , Nick Chubb, and Harold Landry in order to get Logan Thomas, all the Edmunds' and both Fullers. David Wilson looks up from the couch at all this commotion and gets a 1 gallon PRP shot for his neck and comes out of retirement to join the Browns. In 2019 the Browns go 16-0 and win the Super Bowl; which is played in Lane Stadium, because Whit Babcock put in a secret bid for this year, as he saw this coming, because he is a wizard chess master and chief knower of all things.
Sounds like Miracle in Blacksburg Pt. 2.
In the anals of history, people are going to be talking about three things: the discovery of fire, invention of the submarine, and the Blacksburg, Virginia Super Bowl.
psst, it's annals
Not if you ask Jackie Moon.
via GIPHY
Not so bold prediction: LOLUVA comes to Lane in November needing one win for bowl eligibility, but go home with crushed spirits and brutalized dreams.
That's bolder than you're willing to give yourself credit for.
Hazelton has a monster break out year. His 2019 Heisman hype train departs the station by the end of the season.
We will play football, and manage to win some games and lose others.
Wait, am I doing this right? Why is no one else writing in bold?
That's so Leonard.
JJ does not finish the year as the starter.
Damon Hazelton has over 1000 yards receiving and Deshawn McClease has over 1000 yards rushing, and the offense ranks higher than the defense nationally at the end of the season.
I think we see a well balanced Offense, that appears stronger in all positions from last year, and will be more fun to watch.
Our O-Line will be much better, and this season we get to see a glimpse of what it is like to have depth along the front 5.
As a result, our "Mediocre" RB from last year, appear to be a tough force to deal with.
The WR corp can take the top off this season (last years top, 15 yards), and we see receivers that can win those 50-50 balls that were lacking last year. Hazelton and Patterson are the stars.
The ACC coastal as a whole seems more competitive this year.
We struggle, and experience typical growing pains against FSU's defensive talent, and can't keep our own defense off the field. lose by 2 plus TDs
We beat Duke, stun the Irish, run UNC into the ground, and GT doesn't TD on 2-3 60+ yard pass plays this year. The train is rolling full steam with BC coming to the 'burg, however, this will be BC's year over us. We are back to fading into a win against Pitt where we really end up impressed with our balanced offense as a whole, with a running game that grabs ~5 yards at will, but Miami is again the team to beat in the coastal and we fail to do it at home.
Losing to UVA is not happening this year, and the commonwealth cup knows better than anyone "This is Home.".
We go into our bowl game 9-3 in the top 25, and win or lose, the hype for 2019 potential is like hot lava.
8-4 regular season with a Super Bowl LIII appearance in Atl on Feb. 3rd
My bold prediction is pretty bold. Bolder than anyone else so far.
Tech goes 7.5-4.5
Fractional game results, in bold.
Coleman Fox has over 1000 all purpose yards and everyone forgets about Dustin Pickle.
My Bold (apparently for this year) prediction is that we don't drop a game to BC (are you kidding me) or UVA (again in Lane) ....basically we beat the teams we should but drop one of the Miami / ND / Pitt games. We beat FSU by 14... I think McCease gets it together and has a break out year. If anyone unseats JJ it's Willis...(Hooker has playbook issues and QP is going to redshirt)
Fuck it, 11-1 and another Coastal crown. I was all 8-4/9-3 before FuBud said they were excited about the youngins on the team. Probably drop the 1 to BC or GT but doesn't affect the Coastal title. Lose a blow out to Clemson and win the bowl game. Final 12-2 overall in preparation for a playoff run in 2019.
My bold prediction is lots of football will be watched and thoroughly enjoyed. Some football will be watched and not enjoyed so much.
Lots of tailgating will be happening in Lot 18. HokieEnginerd will be getting Lot 18 pumped with his Legs and meat...
Danny Coale is my Spirit Animal will roll up in his horse head and Dr. Seuss hat.
Someone in Lot 18 (most likely Danny Coale is my Spirit Animal) is going to be smacked or form tackled lovingly by a sweet, innocent, quiet girl because he did something stupid--like give someone an envelope full of ones ($387 to be exact).
And finally-- Tech keeps the bowl streak alive for another year and LOLUVA begins to wonder if the Commonwealth Cup is real or if they imagined it because it is staying in Blacksburg.
I've heard most recent UVA grads believe the Cup is a myth.
to be fair, no one in cville has seen anything but crappy replicas for almost a decade and a half (soon...soon)
We win the natty in an overtime slugfest against Texas A&M... ... ... 41-34
Or we lose to USCe in russel athletic bowl after going 7-5
Who's to say? I'm ready for some god damn football.
We got dominated by FSU. I dont think it will happen, but to me it is more of a possibility than us dominating them.
Deablo has 6+ INTs
tech goes 15-0 and wins every game by 100+
I'll stand by my original prediction (even though I am quickly losing confidence). 3 losses - to FSU, ND, and Duke. We barely squeak by UNC, go down late against GT, and JJ throws an 70 yard, Tyrod/Nebraska-esk bomb, and we somehow win the game, despite losing in almost every statistical category. The team rallies around that win and manages win out the regular season in ugly fashion, but still manages to stun Miami by 2 TDs. We finish the regular season ranked 21.
Other thoughts:
My bold prediction is JJ has a huge year 3700 yards 30 tds 5 ints leads us to 9-3 he then pulls a settle and declares for the NFL opening up the door for QP to take over next year
Dax Hollifield saves Brooke Shields from drowning. Blows reward money hiring Van Halen to play at his birthday party.
Oh my... we're done here. Excellent job.
FSU beats us by 20 in the opener. Team rebounds to win coastal but comes up short in the ACC champ game.
We will have a 7-5 season and experience growing pains with a youthful team that lacks depth at key positions.
We manage to pull out a big upset to a ranked team (FSU/ND/Miami), get disappointing losses against the usual mediocre ACC competition.
Boston College is the surprise team and challenges Clemson in the Atlantic Division.