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Lol I'm saying create it as a niche product just for the purpose of being able to advertise, kind of like Heineken 0.0.
Fuck all I want to drink a 0% alcohol whiskey.
If we can manage a 2-0 start, Maryland should be a decent broadcast 4:00 start and have good ratings (FSU vs Bama is definitely going to be the primetime game).
Yea, I guess that is my point. It's a good schedule outcome for the amount of traveling.
When the schedule was first released without dates, we knew it was a lot of miles. And worse case traveling scenarios would be something like a three week schedule of: @BC, @Cal, and @Miami. Instead, VT has a home game or bye in between the travel.
I missed it and then edited before you posted, leaving you hanging. my bad
There are only 2 games on this schedules that are preseason L's. Miami and SMU. Every other game is winnable. Not guaranteed but definitely winnable. And the ACC actually gave us a pretty decent travel schedule. We'll, about as good as it could've been. It is still shit but could've been worse.
Um. At Cal?
one of the ACC schools. probably SMU hoping we wouldn't notice the difference on the schedule.
Who did we add in place of JMU?
Yes but for a team that is pretty geographically centered, we still log a ton of miles again going @ BC and @ Miami in the same season, only way to make it worse would be @ Cuse instead of BC and they toss in @SMU and @ California for good measure. So nearly have to travel to the most Southern, Western, AND northern conference opponent. There are 6-7 teams that are a bus ride away. could have had us travel to UNC instead of BC our SMU.
This season, I thought that ESPN was upset about having such a weak championship game in primetime, until I realized that they probably didn't mind having a weak counter to the Big Ten game on Fox.
But this year, Big 12 is on Friday, Big 10 is on NBC (probably in primetime). I guess no matter how you slice it, putting the ACC at noon is a better draw than going against the Big Ten in primetime. If the ACC game sucks again, it's buried at noon, and one of the G5 games will probably get buried by the Big Ten. If it's good, it's not against another power conference game.
I counted this 40 times before I realized SMU was in two categories
I agree with this assessment though
The ACC did at least recognize the travel burden and provided a more manageable travel schedule. No two week on the road back-to-back except for Week 3 and 4. Provided a bye between @ Clemson and @SMU. VT has an 8-day week for traveling to Cal with the Pitt home game on Friday the week before.
Short week for a Friday game at Miami though.
If SMU ends being on Friday, that would be three Friday games on the season. I think that's good for viewership. Idk how Fridays generally do, but probably better than midday Saturday on the ACC Network.
Definitely going to SMU this year. That looks like a fun place
I like that the season ramps up competitive wise throughout the year. Very winnable games in September, should be good competitive games in October and then a "prove yourself" November. I expect 7 wins but would love to eek out 9.
80% not under Franklin he was 6-6
November is brutal. I think there are 7 or 8 wins there for Franklin but he's gotta start hot to get there. If we go into November at 6-2 or better I think that would be a great start. Then November could be a defining month for us.
What caught my eye is how HOKIE Nation will be rocking Bank of America Stadium for a nooner on December 5th!
Looking at the schedule, my best guess - and I would be pretty happy with it - is going 6-5 through 11 games, then closing out the season with wins vs. Virginia and the bowl game opponent to go 8-5.
Penn State seems to win about 80% of their bowl games. Probably not that high, but it feels like it to me given that they are my most disliked team in any sport at any level. Thinking Franklin will bring that 'take the bowl game seriously' mentality that a lot of other coaches don't and we pull that out.
Anything better than 8-5 is very good and I'd be very happy barring something really skewed like starting 9-0 and then totally folding up at the end to go 9-4 or 10-3.
Would ideal for George Mason to stay on a tear and eat up the A10. Would also be nice for VCU to show some semblance of life.
So I ended up with a combined 6" or so of snow/sleet to the NE of Blacksburg. It took nearly 6 hours to get the driveway and walks cleared. Of course my drive is also a half mile long.
With Franklin being a high profile coach coming into the conference, I'm a little surprised there wasn't more effort to try to open the season with a more high profile game. Maybe its just not logistically possible for the conference to shift things around hoping to get a profile spot on ABC/ESPN window week 1 or week 2. Football wise, that wouldn't really benefit us. It's kinda nice opening up with a soft schedule with so many new parts. But ratings and money wise, that could have been a worthwhile boost.
I don't think he's good enough to play at the P4 level
My prediction 7-5
Wins: VMI, ODU, UMD, BC, Cal, Stanford, UVA
Losses: SMU, Miami
Toss-ups: Pitt, GT, Clemson, SMU
I think we lose the toss-ups, but we could pull one off to finish 8-4
Brutal road schedule, at least BC is in September so we don't have to brave the elements.
OK... I volunteer...
I will, with reasonable compensation, hit the road for VT athletics... from SWVA to NOVA to Richmond to the 757 and everywhere in between to figure out the best sponsors for VT athletics!