The biggest football game so far for the modern ACC is coming up on bye week Saturday and I was having an internal debate about who I want to win. I think FSU will win (reminder for Pick Six) but debating who I think is going to win is a lot easier for me than deciding who I want to win. Of course most of the debating in my head goes to the thinking of if VT makes it to Charlotte to play the winner as well as who I rather see in anguish this weekend. I'm not saying VT will make it since there's of course a strong Miami team and potential for a trap game but to make this exercise more entertaining I'm going with that assumption.
In my mind I think that VT fans should be rooting for FSU to win this weekend. This sentiment comes besides the fact FSU fans keep thinking they should give us advice on throwing legendary coaches out like hot garbage or that they have this huge arrogance always forgetting that VT has won more ACC championships in the last decade. I want the Lunchpail Defense to have a shot at derailing a Heisman hopeful phenom RS-FR quarterback the way that FSU derailed Vick in the National Championship way back. I've honestly been very impressed by Jameis Winston and if FSU beats Clemson then Winston will probably be the leading Heisman candidate going into the last weekend of the year giving Foster's defense the prime time spotlight it deserves to hopefully prove its the best in the land. Also every time I've seen Florida State on the schedule I always think a small piece of revenge is needed from the biggest game in VT history.
There are reasons to want Clemson to win but I don't feel as if they are compelling as reasons hoping for Clemson to lose. Maybe I'm being sadistic but I rather see Dabo Sweeney and Clemson fans feel the pain of losing their hopes on their home turf after rubbing their broken rock. In regards to if VT would make the ACCCG to play Clemson, there is a part of me that would want some revenge for the last 3 games but I just don't feel that passion of playing against them but just want to see them fail. There's of course the appeal of playing against VA native Boyd for the fourth time but feel as if Jameis Winston might already be the better player.
What do you guys think? Either way I have very fond memories of an extremely cold, rainy, winter night in Charlotte and would love if that could be happen this year with VT hopefully derailing a team's national championship hopes while the humbling a Heisman candidate.
Comments
I am also conflicted, and agree that FSU is likely the winner. But in the end, I want 1 more chance at Boyd to shut him down and finally get that monkey off our backs. I won't be actually rooting for them but I hope we get that chance at Clemson again.
I would rather play FSU in the ACCCG, and also would rather unbeaten Miami beat an unbeaten FSU so that we can therefore defeat the aforementioned unbeaten Miami team. Preferably.
I think beating an undefeated FSU in the ACCCG would do wonders for the football program. Especially because FSU would absolutely be in the national title conversation.
I'm rooting for FSU to win out, until they play Tech.
If we beat both undefeated Miami and Clemson, that means we'd beat two teams that defeated FSU this year. I could live with that.
What I really want is for FSU to beat UF and Clemson to beat USC. I just want the Hokies to rock one of their dreams in the ACCCG. Doesn't matter who, but I'm hoping they're undefeated.
I think we beat FSU in Charlotte. Florida boys don't like cold. However I think the ideal situation is Clemson beats FSU, Miami beats FSU, VT wins out, beats two undefeated teams, and I win the lottery.
I want:
Clemson to beat FSU
Miami to beat FSU
VT to beat an undefeated Miami
VT to beat an undefeated Clemson in the ACCCG
I mean, how sweet would it be for Logan Thimas to end his senior year by getting revenge AND crushing Clemson's NCG dreams?
Not to mention what winning out what do for our ranking and recruiting..
^ This. We would then be beating 2 undefeated teams ranked higher than if we were to beat a 1 loss Miami and an undefeated FSU in the ACC Championship. I said this in the bowl projections post, but if Miami is still undefeated when we play them, they will likely be ranked between 5 and 8. If Clemson is also undefeated, they will be ranked no lower than 3rd obviously, but I would argue that they could be ranked 2nd (assuming Bama doesn't lose to LSU and is still #1). Change the situation, if FSU wins out, they will likely be ranked 3rd when we play them and Miami would be ranked somewhere between 12 and 15 after losing to FSU the week prior to us playing. Just playing a numbers game here and it makes me hope for a Clemson win.
Aaannnnnddddddd......
if Clemson is undefeated, it means that they have knocked off Georgia and USC, both highly ranked teams from the $EC. That gives the ACC some street cred this year, and beating them adds to our undefeated-besides-Bama-who's-number-one claim to climb the rankings.
Definitely the best possible situation for movin' on up. This, with a little BCS chaos, and good things could happen for the Hokies. You know the thing about chaos? It's fair.
i think i'm going to hope for FSU to beat Clemson to continue to be highly ranked, then Miami beats FSU to increase their rank, then VT beats Miami to shoot up the polls. Then we get Clemson in the ACC championship, still dash their dreams, and we throw a wrench in BCS by beating a highly ranked MIA and probably top 10 Clemson.
If FSU beats Clemson, in order for us to play Clemson in the ACC Championship FSU must lose 2 other ACC games and Clemson can't lose any. You say that Miami beats FSU, but then Clemson and FSU are tied at 1 loss with FSU winning the head-to-head tie-breaker. FSU would have to lose 1 out of NC State, Syracuse, or Wake. I get that they have sucked recently against Wake, but I don't see that happening this year. The winner of Clemson/FSU will be in the ACC Championship game.
fair enough. i still want FSU to win against Clemson, have MIA beat FSU, then VT beat MIA. ACCCG will be a tough opponent regardless.
Just curious how other Tech fans may be viewing this, (I admit there are a lot of ifs, ands and buts) but suppose Tech runs the table, wins the ACCCG by beating an unbeaten FSU or Clemson, and ends the season with a 12-1 record. Our only loss would be to Alabama. Would that give us a shot at the NC Game if Oregon and/or Alabama loses between now and then?
Please no rocks and bottles - serious responses only!
No, I don't think they'd rematch us.
It would still go to Oregon, one loss LSU (Ga) they'd prolly be the one's that beat Alabama in your scenario, tOhio St.
I wen through this scenario over on the bowl predictions thread, but in summation, a lot has to happen. We would definitely have a solid resume, but major things would need to happen. Some of them I think are possible. I think Ohio State could drop a game. Northwestern gave them quite a fight. They could very well lose the game against Michigan or perhaps Penn State. Stanford could beat Oregon as well. LSU could beat Bama. Too many things have to happen for us to get in, even with our only loss being to Bama. I follow a mindset of "what have you done for me lately" and in that scenario, we would be one of the hottest teams in the country riding a 12 game winning streak, but there are way too many other variables. Let's revisit this after November 9th when we have played Miami, Bama has played LSU, and Oregon has played Stanford. After that, the other major games are Championship weekend, A&M/LSU, and Ohio State/Michigan.
I don't think Oho State loses, and even if they do lose one, them at one loss and B1G champs gets them in over us at one loss and ACC champs (we'd probably have the better resume but people were drooling over OSU after last years undefeated season and I think that would get them in above anything).
If Stanford beats Oregon, they finish their season (likely) with one loss and they probably get in over us because they would be Pac10 champs with one loss (being to a lesser oppenent than Alabama but probably a slightly more impressive resume).
Even if LSU beats Bama, a one loss SEC champion gets into the title game, no questions asked. Two losses and it gets interesting, but that just doesn't seem likely to happen.
There are too many if's here to say for sure and again, I'm being very pesimistic and I know that, but I can just see the media saying, if we win the ACC, "Clemson, FSU, and Miami crumbled to weaker teams at the end, proving that the ACC is still not a premier conference." I really think the media and voters have put all their eggs in those three teams and wouldn't accept another team coming out of the ACC a legitimate national title contender.
I just can't see a one loss tOSU (to a B1G opponent no doubt) getting picked over a 1 loss VT (assuming we ran the table and won the ACC) ....our SOS would heavily outweigh theirs and our only loss would be to the number one team in the country (at the time... I'm banking on LSU to beat Bama this year folks)
The B1G is pretty average, if not a 'tad' bit better.. Meanwhile one could argue that the ACC is the second best (or at least in the discussion for second best) conference.
I'm not disagreeing with you, but if you seperate yourself from the situation for a moment you see tOSU with Urban Meyer at the helm, coming off an undefeated season in which they didn't get a chance to play for the title. They end the season with one loss and are in the debate for #2 in BCS.
Voters will want them in that NCG, because of the name on their chest. Between them and VT, voters choose them. SOS does matter but I just don't see the media and coaches ranking us over them, with the same record.
Should OSU lose to Michigan, that's enough to drop them out of contention since it would be a week before Championship week. That gives them 1 week to get back up to the top 2. Not happening. If Stanford beats Oregon, they still stay outside the top 2 IMO because they lost to unranked Utah. As you said, there are too many ifs to say for sure which is why I say wait until after November 9th. The top 10 will have at least 3 different if not 4 or more different teams in it by then.
Akron scared Michigan not Ohio State. I think the only game they could potentially drop is Michigan only because of the rivalry. Also if Michigan State gets to the conference championship, their D could shut them down.
Sorry, you're right. Fixing that now.
With this scenario, we'd definitely be in talks for it, but I doubt we'd get in. It would depend very much on what the computers do in the BCS rankings with our team at that point.
If, and right now it's a big 'if', our only loss is to Alabama, there's absolutely no way we're not in talks about it (considering we'll have faced and beaten 3 highly ranked teams at that point, assuming those teams don't blow it drastically in the second half of the season), we'll have shown our improvement and worthiness to be considered, especially considering how close (in the eye test) the Alabama game was not counting special teams buffoonery.
I'm worried about Duke. The dookies always play us tough.
See: 2011
I honestly don't think we will find our way into any NCG game discussions. WAYYY too much would have to happen perfectly. I would like to see an ACC team in the national title race though. I don't really care who wins. I guess our best scenario would be Clemson to win, Miami to beat a still top 10 FSU team and us to beat a top 6-7 Miami team. We could potentially get a BCS bid with a loss in the ACCCG because Clemson would likely be going to the national championship.
I will say if we had been ranked in the low to mid teens preseason and lost to Bama and only fell to 18-20, I do think we would have had a chance to climb back into the picture because we would be back just outside the top 10 by now.
People say preseason rankings mean nothing but they actually mean a whole lot. If there should be preseason rankings at all is another story though.
I am just going to call it like I see it. I would rather play FSU over Clemson every year, because of the style of offense each team plays. FSU plays a pro-style offense: 6 to 7 across the line, QB under center or in the pocket, 1 or 2 backs in the back field executing power run, 1 to 3 WR. This plays more into Bud Foster's favor where he can play containment defense, forcing all runs to the middle; stacking the box, squeezing the pocket, his CB play Man, while Safeties, LBs, and the DL blitz the QB all day until he is questioning the reason for living . Great match-ups.
I feel the spread seems to give a Bud Foster D more fitts. Especially with a mobile QB (see Marshall vs. Alabama). You go 5 on the line with 4 to 5 out wide, and maybe 1 running back and a mobile QB. Foster's Gap Defense has a lot of wide gaps to contain. Everything is quick, the DL loses its advantage over an offense that is designed to get rid of the football in a lot of wide open space. It ends up being athlete vs. athlete, and the secondary is always tempted to keeping an extra eye (they don't have) on the QB sometimes giving up coverage.
Not saying Bud isn't good at defending this. Just saying it isn't the best set-up. Last year VT limited Clemson to fewer offensive yards than most. So we know he can handle it. Clemson capitalized on great field position too. I feel a Lunch-Pail Defense shines brightest gainst a more pro-style offense. Where Foster can squeeze the life out of an opponent. That is my two cents.
I hate Clemson with every ounce of my being. That being said, I think they'll win. It's tough for any road team to win in Death Valley at night. And while Famous Jameis is pretty special, I don't think he's got what it takes to go into tigertown and win in one of the top 2 or 3 biggest games in that stadium's history. He hasn't experienced an atmosphere like that yet, but will certainly be a force to be reckoned with for sometime to come. Clemson by a touchdown.