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It's clear we haven't turned any corner, with or without a UVa/bowl win.
Less than ten percent got even 4 picks right! so my 3 actually raised me from tied for 16th to tied for 10th!
Join The Key Player's Club to read comments posted in exclusive content and its members only forum.
Join The Key Player's Club to read comments posted in exclusive content and its members only forum.
Join The Key Player's Club to read comments posted in exclusive content and its members only forum.
Join The Key Player's Club to read comments posted in exclusive content and its members only forum.
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Its a beautiful area I've lived in Beaufort for 2 years now just hoping it keeps its small town feel through its recent expansion. I've fished from Murrells Inlet to the Savannah river and I find the Broad and Beaufort Rivers are the best inshore fisheries in the state.
IF we can't afford to buy out Pry and IF he doesn't fire underperforming coaches, Whit MUST pull rank and hire an analyst that stays on top of this shit in games. Notice how Saban had his OC's on the sideline as opposed to the booth? Their job was to RUN the offense- meaning call timeout when the formation is fucked, save time for 2 minute drives, etc. We need an experienced coach standing right next to Pry helping him keep track of this shit. IF we have that guy now, then he fucking sucks and should be fired and is easily replaceable.
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I wonder what Neil Fucking Brown about to be fired two best wins were? hmmm.
Wouldn't hate that one bit
Since 1950..ECU footballs biggest accomplishments? Beat VT a few times. There is your list.
And 2- while I wish the blue bloods were down, there will be 5 fucking SEC teams in a 12 team playoff this year, so nah... bluebloods still as blue as ever.
Point well taken – we are moving in the direction where instead of all the advantages being focused on about 15-20 schools (8 Blue Bloods and 12ish of the new rich), we're going to see a path for 30 or so SEC and Big Ten schools to become competitive at the highest level. Then there might be 5 to 10 other schools that can reasonably compete.
So the upper echelon of the sport is growing by 50-100%, the size of what is now the G5 is going to balloon by about a third (from 70ish teams to ~100 teams), and there's not really going to be a middle tier left; after all, there's not much separating Virginia Tech, Louisville, NC State, Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU, etc. from, Boise, State, Tulane, southern mass, Fresno State, JMU, Georgia State, State, Georgia Southern, etc - it's just money in the bank now.
however, I think that will change once again when the house settlement is finalized. There will be a very clear demarcation of schools that can afford the 20 million, in schools that cannot. VT may not be in the SEC or Big Ten, but we will be able to afford the house payments.
As much as I like Pry this is so frustrating.
His inability to see the bigger picture of the game. He's confusing tactics for strategy.
I don't know, to me this seems like the easiest part of the game. I have no idea what defense or offense to call based on what I'm seeing, save an obvious one here or there. But plan a game out?? No idea.
But I do know I could manage a dang game in terms of timeouts, fg's, time on clock, etc.
So frustrating.
I dont know what they have for coaches to continue to learn and all that. Hopefully he reviews his decisions after the games as well.
You are giving the coaches too much credit. We can't block Duke up front. Can't, thus Schlee gives you a numbers advantage ramming into the line, so you can get 3 yards. That's all this was. It morphed into that under Fuente too- can't block, can't play up front, so let's see if we can get a numbers advantage. It's shitty football. It's 5-6 football.
Yeah I tend to agree here. PSU, UNC, and Clemson have basically gotten whoever they wanted from VA in recent years. They are all regional mid-Atlantic/southeast schools. There is always the opportunity now for a VA kid to go anywhere in the country, but by and large many college kids make decisions on a somewhat regional basis as far as proximity to home/family. VT just isn't seen as a regional power anymore compared to those schools (UNC is fading fast I will grant you).
I think 'wow we capitalized on a small period of time, and now we're regressing towards our mean'
Maybe 30 years ago I would be on board with this thinking, but VT is no longer a small regional school, its a major university with over 50k students (grad and undergrad combined) and campuses all across the state pumping alumni into some of the most financially ludicrous job sectors out there. There's absolutely no excuse for us to be this consistently terrible in the revenue sports. With better leadership, this doesn't happen.
From top to bottom VT athletics, when it comes to supporting the one sport that should be driving our revenue streams to pay for everything else, is utterly incompetent. It really is no more complex than that, we are incompetent, and we like to pretend that incompetence is not in play by bringing up a litany of excuses to blame literally everything but ourselves to why we can't turn it around.
I was actually surprised at this. I would have thought the plans for the QBs would have been the opposite. Let Schlee throw it more and have Pop run more.
I thought Pop performed well though. OL was a sieve though and Duke's DL came through ALL NIGHT.
Good post.... also there is a moat around Virginia, but it's not VT getting the talent. It's Penn State or UNC. No different than 30 years ago- hudl, etc. Penn State has no issue walling off recruiting territory now. And 2- while I wish the blue bloods were down, there will be 5 fucking SEC teams in a 12 team playoff this year, so nah... bluebloods still as blue as ever.
SOURCE: East Carolina is planning to promote interim coach Blake Harrell to the full-time job, pending board approval, @TheAthletic has learned. Harrell is 4-0 as interim head coach after taking over for Mike Houston. Players this weekend began calling for him to get the job.— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) November 25, 2024
the state of college football, for a fan of a non blue-blood school, sucks and we're never going to get back anything that resembles what it used to be. Too many to thank for this one, but a special shout-out to ESPN and the NCAA for two very different reasons.
I think it's easy to blame ESPN and the NCAA, but the nationalization of the sport plays the biggest factor for VT in particular:
- Virginia is no longer this basin of unknown talent - due to Hudl, 247, etc, everyone knows (or can easily find out) how good any given VA high schooler is. Unless the kid was injured for 2 years or decides to not play any football outside of high school (ie; their a multi-sport athlete who isn't primarily focused on football recruiting) there isn't much way to stop other schools from discovering him
- Due to social media and the Internet in general, it's easier than ever before for a coach in Ohio, California, Alabama, etc., to build a relationship with a recruit in the state of Virginia
In the past, schools could build a moat around their program where they could sneak good players in and they could never leave until they graduated/were drafted. That's no longer possible - no more building rosters on "diamonds in the rough," and no more trapping players in your program (forgive the negative connotation; just saying it for what it is).
Despite this, my hot take is that the playing field is more level than it has been in over a quarter century.
First of all, the path to program improvement is clearer than it's ever been:
- In the past you needed to be located somewhere idilic (close enough to high school talent but far away enough from other schools that you had easier access to high school talent)
- Then, you had to lobby your way into a power conference (which often requires an opportunistic and/or desperate conference and a ground swell of political support) just to get a chance to get on the national stage.
- Finally, once you were in the club, you needed to compete with everyone around you.
Now, all you need is money - One big booster, one successful startup founder, etc. This is why former G5 powers like Fresno, Southern Miss, Boise, etc. were never able to get a place in a power conference. Now Boise has a clear (not easy, but clear) path to a championship: Just spend more and spend smarter.
But also - just look at what we're seeing:
- Vandy having arguably their best season since the 60's - because they portaled players and hired better coaches
- IU inarguably having the best season in program history - because they portaled players and hired better coaches
- GT is actually beating UGA for recruits - because they paid coaches who are building a culture
- Tulane and SMU are investing in people (not building), and now both have a shot at the playoffs.
- There's one undefeated team left (Oregon - not a blueblood)
- We're entering week 13, and only one of the 8 bluebloods (Bama, OU, Texas, ND, USC, Michigan, OSU, Nebraska) has 10 wins.
- If you look at the Nouveau riche (or as like to say, in a southern accent, New-way-vo-Rich) schools (Da U, FSU, PSU, Tenn, LSU, Auburn, UGA, UCLA, TAMU, Clemmy), only one has 10 wins.
Because of NIL/Transfer Portal, the traditional powers aren't able to stockpile talent. They're hurting for depth.
I also have an unproven hypothesis that Offensive Line play is on the decline everywhere because (due to portal/NIL) there's way less depth at any school - and this is going to result in (a) more parity, (b) more opportunities for defenses, and (c) forcing more creative offensive play design.
Anyways, circling back to VT in particular... our moat is gone:
- We can't keep other teams from discovering the Kam Chancellors and whatnot (because of the internet)
- Our boosters don't like or can't spend enough to make up for the difference in TV money that the ACC is not getting, but the P2 are.
- JMU, Liberty, ODU, are all spending bigger than before - let's say each year each of these programs takes 1-2 second stringers from each year - after 4 years that's nearly a quarter of a roster
There's just no market inefficiency for us to capitalize on any more. We don't have favored-nation status over G5 teams, we can't keep recruits secret from other schools, we're (apparently) cheap... When I look at the situation, I don't think 'the forces around us are conspiring to keep us down' - rather, I think 'wow we capitalized on a small period of time, and now we're regressing towards our mean because we thought we could rest on laurels"
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Amen- any win over UVA- an ugly late FG like we needed to beat fucking clown London in lane stadium, a bonehead mistake like Mendenhall made to gift us the game, or a blow out like last year- we see what that meant for momentum- any win over them signals nothing to me. What is more likely is that Elliott is more prepared than Pry and they catch us napping a couple times and the game comes down to the end where Pry is 1-12 as a head coach. That's the likely scenario.