Since we are officially available on championship weekend what are the odds that we get a 12th game scheduled? Is it too late in the season or has Whit had something in his back pocket and just hasnt announced it while we had an acc chance?
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We have to beat Miami or UVA for it to matter.
(Although the city and local businesses will benefit from a rescheduled home game via increased revenue, regardless)
I feel like alcohol sales in Blacksburg should be setting all time records this season
So when we've won six games and gone to "just another named" bowl, you always hear how great it is to get extra practice time even if it's a crappy bowl, so one more week of practice and game experience for this young bunch wouldn't be good, whether it's to become bowl eligible or not?
I really don't know the answer, just posing the question.
There is already too many bowls and too many crappy teams getting into bowls but it is always better to have an extra month of practice, ESPECIALLY with this young of a team we have.
Let's see what the available pool of teams would be. If bowl eligibility is a concern, we can't use FCS teams because only one FCS win can count towards eligibility, and W&M already gave us that.
I see nine teams who had games cancelled due to Florence: ECU, NC State, UNC, UCF, WVU, Marshall, App State, Southern Miss, USCe.
ECU, NC State, and USCe have already scheduled replacement games. (ECU vs. NC State, and USCe vs. Akron who is replacing their cancelled Nebraska game) We already played UNC.
UCF, WVU, and App State are still in the hunt for their conference titles.
There is no incentive on either side for UCF or WVU to come to Blacksburg if they're not in their conference title games.
App State is second place in their division of the Sun Belt with a 5-1 conference record. Troy is first place at 6-0. They play each other Thanksgiving weekend. There's a 75% chance that the game will be winner-take-all for the division.
Southern Miss (4-5 overall record) and Marshall (6-3 overall record) are both out of the running for their respective division titles in C-USA.
Currently, the only team that we could outright schedule now is Marshall. They are already bowl eligible, and C-USA doesn't have a bowl hierarchy that an extra loss would affect. The only rule I see for their bowls it that all 7+ win teams will be placed in bowls before 6-6 teams.
App State is also bowl eligible, but won't know their availability for at least another week, but most likely two weeks.
Southern Miss is an interesting possibility with the risk/reward aspect for them. They could be 5-6 coming in and risk not going to a bowl, but would get a payout from us either way.
Extra wrinkle - the cancelled game was Southern Miss at App State.
I'm kind of the notion Tech miiiight be able to get in at 5-7. Schedule a makeup game against Southern Miss after the Miami game ends and play it the Friday after Uva or early Saturday Dec 1.
After losing 5 straight I don't see why the bowl committee would even want to touch our ice cold corpse
There is no bowl committee, and any bowl would love to have us because our fans travel well.
Our fans aren't going to travel well to see this team.
I like Annapolis
I'd go to Annapolis. Just sayin'.
Should we carpool?
So true. Though it looks good all around to have two solid teams playing in your bowl, the bowl's sponsor ultimately cares about how many bodies they can get to the city and how many butts they can get in the seats. They love Virginia Tech because it's a reputable program with fans that travel near and far for bowl games.
So where does this magical 5th win come from?
I'd say go ahead and schedule Marshall anyway.
I don't want to schedule Marshall to get bowl-eligible and then lose to them
That would be the most Virginia Tech thing.
Like I said to someone on here about a week ago...
You'd rather skip bowl season than schedule Marshall, because you're scared of Marshall?
I mean, even if they are likely to beat us (and they are), better to have fought and lost that to not have fought at all.
I mean I'm scared of playing Old Dominion again so hell yeah im scared of Marshall. This team can lose to anybody.
This team should be scared of App State. They run misdirection on offense, and they play solid defense. They're currently wrecking things in the Sun Belt.
I watched them beat (but not on paper) Penn State in person. They'd wreck us right now.
If we don't win both of the next two, do you really want to see this team get a chance at a bowl game?
If they can qualify then yes. The streak has been part of what is special about the program as well as our dominance of UVA. It's not just a matter of this year's team.
IMHO, given the current status of our team, I just gotta ask "Who here thinks we can beat one of our remaining two opponents?" Fellow Hokies, our team cannot stop the run; I know Miami has a rushing attack worthy of concern and UVa has a pretty good dual threat QB that will gash us for critical yards. So what is the point of scheduling either Marshall or Southern Mississippi? I hate to say it, but I don't see our beloved Hokies beating either of these ACC teams, hence we are looking at 4-7.
I guess if we are going to schedule a 12th game, then my vote is Southern Mississippi, gives us the greatest chance for a win.
Because the best thing for inexperienced placers is experience and that is gained in a game.
Our team has had 9 shots at this and from what I see on TV air actually looks like we are regressing. I would rather the program get an extra week to go back to the drawing board and allow the fans to pivot one week early to basketball, rather than waste another week of emotional resources on something that we should already know the outcome of.
Sorry for the pessimism, but this team and coaching staff has scarred me.
Not all fans care about basketball.
Ok fine. Give the non-basketball fans an extra week of emotional therapy and spring game tailgate planning.
True, but those fans might wanna learn how to care about basketball given the direction the football program is headed.
Not a direction...it's one season.
There is no such thing as 9 shots at experience. Experience is experience, and as long there are games to play the players should go out there and learn.
Here's something to consider: Success is a terrible teacher.
The defense seems to be regressing because the talent level is regressing. Seems like every week we are marching another freshman out there for his first taste of college football due to the continued attrition. Not a great thing to be able to say in week 10 of a season.
Dude you're dead on. An extra week of real practice plus another game???? Hell yeah. And if we happen to beat uva or Miami and become bowl eligible another 3-4 weeks of practice and another game would do great things in development, which we obv desperately need. And someone else said it above, to bring more money to local businesses is a huge plus. Also, the ticket holders of the ecu game deserve the reciprocation for the cancellation.
I think we could use an extra month of practice so let's schedule...Marshall? So Miss?
I think staying home would do this team more good than going to a bowl. People are hurt, fans are hurt, moral has to be low. I saw about 37 seconds of Fuente postgame & I thought he was honestly about to cry.
Yeah, it's more experience but there is such a thing as bad experience. Let them go home. Let them heal up. Let them get some size. Maybe they'll be better next season.
After reading this thread, it seems that Marshall and Southern Miss are the two most likely candidates. Both of those teams would win to be perfectly honest.
Those are the two teams we are supposedly discussing within the athletic department. Not sure if we have seriously reached out yet, but it is on the table.
How many tickets would we actually sell to Marshall or Southern Miss? Since the ECU game was refunded this would have to be a separate ticketed event. I imagine on short notice it would likely just be a first come first serve game like the NIT. 25k?
I would go.
No clue. I live 15 min away and unless it's an absolutely gorgeous day I doubt I'd go... and I haven't bailed on a home game yet this season. But being in Pittsburgh this weekend broke me.
Can I have your ticket?
I mean, I'm not buying you one if that's what you're asking.
sorry, I got the feeling from your post that you are a season ticket holder, but didn't want to go to this game.
I am a season ticket holder, but this game is not a part of that ticket package. ECU tickets have been refunded.
I say we schedule the game right now. Football is better than no football. ECU cheated us out of a game and I want that game back. The off-season sucks so why not stave it off for a week if possible? Even if we lose i'd still rather have one more game to cheer for.
schedule the game...
Schedule The Game...
(starts slow pounding on table in time)
Schedule Marshall for me to have at least one last chance of optimism before its crushed by defeat
Having thought about this a little more, I actually would really enjoy a Marshall-VT. This is the first season since I was a toddler where I'm not going to be able to go to any home games, but I could make it for this game if it were to happen. It would be awesome to see the school that I attend playing the school that I grew up loving.
With that being said, I'm almost certain Marshall would win, so Tech would basically be scheduling a G5 school in an attempt to get bowl eligible, only to lose. That would be embarrassing.
Marshall has two running backs that would start over Peoples, and two more that would be second string over McClease and Holston, a good offensive line, and a second or third round draft pick at receiver. It wouldn't be a pretty day for the Tech defense, and I've lost all faith in the offense to score against anyone as long as Cornelsen is calling the plays.
As stated above, this whole premise operates on the assumption that we beat Miami or Virginia.
Right now, I don't think we will. What I'm seeing is a team that has legitimately quit on the season. They quit when GT punched them in the mouth in the first half, and they've been going through the motions since. Yesterday's defensive performance, if you can even call it that, was the single biggest shitshow I've ever seen. Between the players constantly being out of position to their awful attempts as a group to tackle, I don't have any faith that this group is going to even slow down Miami or Virginia the next couple weeks. No faith whatsoever. I'm resigned to the fact that it looks like we're finishing the year 4-7, with no bowl game for the first time since 1992.
So.... yeah, I don't think it'll matter if we have any kind of plan to have a game after Virginia. I don't think we'll be in a position for it to matter, and even worse, even if we do play it for the lost revenue, it'll be played in a stadium that might be 25% full.
We could probably make a bowl at 5-7 with the exception.
I thought the same about FSU last year, and yet they were able to claw their way to 6-6. If the offense can put together a consistent performance against either Miami or UVA, that could be enough to eke out a win.
I think it's a good idea. Let's guys who haven't played much take advantage of the redshirt rule. Let them get a taste of the college action.
Let the streak die, then start a new one.
I don't see a point to extending an already shitty season with one game, just to keep a bowl streak alive that (to me) is fairly meaningless.
Even if we make a bowl are you going to spend money and time to watch this marginal team play in some meaningless bowl?
VT should do whatever is best with regards to next season....if that means playing another game in an attempt to play a bowl...then so be it. If it means getting the season over with....then do that. Keeping the streak alive just for its own sake is pointless.
That's not how streaks work! That's not how any of this works!!!
Let me see...will I want to see this team take the field again after we lose our 5th straight game, to UVA no less?
With our luck, two more guys will tear their ACLs and we will lose what everyone will absolutely know is a game we scheduled just to eke out bowl eligibility.
I say we lick our wounds and get ready for next season.
"What? Over? Did you say 'over'? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!..."
- Bluto Blutarsky
After thinking about it, I believe at this point it would be best to just let this season end and let everyone go back to the drawing board. This team looks physically and emotionally defeated, and I don't think the staff has the answers right now. On first glance you would think the additional practices and prep time for a 12th game and possible bowl would be beneficial, but this team is getting worse each week and may be close to completely checking out.
The past three years this team has been struggling to find its identity and MO. We've had one foot still in the Beamer era and another aimlessly pointed toward the next. I hate to say it, but it might be time that the streaks ended. We need to go back to square one as a program and figure out what we are as a team and culture. It's sad and unfortunate, but it signifies the end of the Beamer era. Now it's time to put our collective faith in Fuente to the test and see if he can build something new out of what he has.
I somewhat agree. Hanging our hats on this bowl streak isn't all that great. Yes, before you start telling me how valuable bowl games are, I get it. A bowl is better than no bowl, but at this point bragging about a streak of mediocrity isn't fun. I, for one, as a fan never say to opposing fans "look at our fantastic bowl streak, it's HUUUGE". No one really cares that much... and y'all can down vote me for this if you want, but FSU's bowl streak exists and it's bigger than ours (though it probably ends, too), don't care what the NCAA says bc they're barely involved in college football anyway, they're just a glorified rubber stamp.
Only streak that I really care about is UVA, the others can end and we can start the process of building a new program from the rubble of the 2018 season. Find and identity and build a new culture since we've abandoned the old.
As fans and alumni we need to just focus our energy on one thing at this point. BEAT UVA. How can we beat them? Let's talk about that. If you don't beat UVa...your left with nothing. Don't feel numb...it's only OK to give up if we fail to beat uVa. And if that happens...only give up for a few days. F*%k uva.
Yup, I'd say screw going 1-0 this week, prepare 2 solid weeks for UVA and just try not to rack up any more injuries this weekend. Bad message to send to your players? probably... but the fans are left caring about 1 thing right now...
I care about both games. I want to go 1-0 this week to build momentum for next week.
If eligible, can Landers Nolley play DT that week?
Times Dispatch is going over potential opponents.
Pretty much narrowed potential candidates down to Marshall, App State, and Liberty. However, App State is still in their title hunt. Liberty has a game against Norfolk State scheduled for December 1, so we'd have to pay both of them (and potentially play more Liberty games down the road).
The most interesting piece of news is that Marshall has an insurance policy for their cancelled game. So, either way, they're getting paid for a 12th game.