Recent Comments
So sexy.
but it is never coming back. those days are gone, as just pointed out we arent one of those traditional powerhouses with the iconic uniforms. were not now and we wont be. i agree with the gentelmen who said that we should get a modern look. i like the stripes but its not unique. i want a nice looking unique uni set, i want people to be able to say "thats the hokies" without seeing the helmet. id like a couple diff helmets and #allmarooneverything for big games like its always been. again do not underestimate the power of a nice modern uni set in recruiting. nothing too crazy but modern non the less. i loved the boise uni set the all black. and honestly id like to see us have a set similar to the current boise unis, mostly solid color but with highlights, more than just piping. i dont understand the hatred of orange. its a nice change up, not a regular but a change of pace like a goalline rb.
Most Surprising Team: Oregon St, Notre Dame, Penn St
Most Disappointing Team: Auburn (I see Arkansas getting better and Auburn worse)
I'll throw in a Most Overrated Team: Ohio St (Defense is terrible)
Conference Champions (for everyone but Big East and Big 12, Team 1 over Team 2)
ACC: FSU over VT
SEC: Alabama over South Carolina
BIG: Wisconsin over Nebraska
Big 12: Oklahoma
Big East: Rutgers
P12: Oregon over USC
Heisman (winner and two finalists): Geno Smith, Collin Klein...
Homecoming queen???
Best uniform combo ever:
uva's uniform combos have been atrocious. every. single. week.
I'm not trying to put everyone together. I agree that there are a lot of students that love being at the games. I'm a student right now too and love going to every game. Even watching our backups play is fun. I've been a VT fan my whole life and was pumped the first time I walked into Lane (Freshman year, final preseason scrimmage) but I'm not saying I expect everyone to be like that. All I'm asking is that the students at the game actually care about the game, don't throw f-ing paper airplanes. Watch the game, cheer, and be as loud as you can. But most importantly, never give up!
excellent analysis. without homecoming i would never know how hot Danny Coale or any of our other players were
I only graduated a few years ago and my experience was similar to yours.
Students: standing, yelling, dancing/cheering with the band, keys, all of that
Alumni: sitting, only yell on important 3rd downs, only loud when something good happened
I will say this though, students leaving early during out of conference blow outs wasn't a huge surprise. I never left early but a noticeable amount of north stands often left early during blow outs vs lesser competition. My era would have never left in the first quarter though, that's unacceptable.
I attended VT from 1998 to 2001. I held student guest season tickets (mostly north end zone) after that through 2010. Sadly, my younger friends in vet school finally graduated. I would say around 2005 I started to notice a difference in the level of noise and student participation at Lane Stadium. I have always considered the lack of emotion to be partly a function of entrance requirements to the university. Entrance requirements went up sharply after the 1999 National Championship run and have continued to increase.
Most notably, I remember sitting in the south end zone for the first time for the UNC Thursday night loss in 2009. I never heard the stadium so quiet on defense in a big night game environment. I was really disappointed. And nobody around was screaming with me. I was just getting dirty looks.
This seems to be the point of contention, the "traditional look" folks and the "Oregon's uniforms are cool" folks.
I believe you are one or the other. If you are Bama, Penn State, USC or Texas, you stick with what you got. You tweak, but you don't change.
If you aren't one of those traditional uniform schools, you change and you change often. Oregon is the easy example, but Washington, Okie St, TCU, Ariz St, Pitt, WVU, Northwestern, Mizzou, Miami, etc are all schools who believe in change.
I think the VT shipped has sailed for traditional uniforms. What everyone says is "let's pick my favorite uniform from the last 15 years and stick with it." That's arbitrary and susceptible to fashion changes. If you don't have a good basis for a traditional uniform, you gotta keep changing with the times. That will mean there are some combinations you don't like from time to time, but its the hand we were dealt.
Right now, I would like to see us stick with a white helmet because they are very "in" at this point in time. Then I would produce a new modern jersey, something more akin to the MV2 era or Boise game era. I would agree its time to put away the Beamer's Playing Days jersey stripes.
By the way, if you haven't see uva this year (and it's hard, because they never make it on TV), they are really struggling with the uniforms. Orange helmets, orange jerseys, blue pants with orange jerseys....its a clustertruck.
I'll take oregon state over rutgers, and unfortunately I agree with the hokies.. or maybe florida state, a lot of people's pick to win the national title loses to nc state? That's pretty disappointing.
we'll learn more about the sec race this week with south carolina vs florida. I think south carolina takes the eastern division, but Bama still takes the sec.
Heisman:
-Collin def gets a vote.
-Geno had it before that debacle at TT that holgorson conveniently blamed on the wind.
-I don't see Te'o winning it at all. He's def the best in the nation on the defensive side, but for a defensive player to win heisman he needs to get a touchdown every two/three weeks or force a turnover every two weeks in my opinion or it's not a realistic chance. He's a beast though, not taking anything away from him.
-I'd throw in Manziel and Braxton Miller too, for the time being.
Dmet, i don't think anyone here is trying to insult the current student body. Just amazed at the apparent drop off in the enthusiasm. You say "but they are at worst half", I'd say that number is HUGE. Not exaggerating, but I'd say maybe 10% would've done that 10 years ago. That's why this talk is happening bro.
Most Surprising Team: Oregon State. Damn that Mike Riley is a good coach.
Most Disappointing Team: Arkansas. They have a ton of talent, but they might be putting it back together for the 2nd half of the year.
Conference Champions
ACC: Virginia Tech over Florida State
SEC: Bama over Georgia
BIG: Wisky over Nebraska (Wisky doesn't look so bad now that OreSt is good)
Big 12: OU
P12: Oregon over USC
Big East: Cincy
Heisman (winner and two finalists): Geno Smith beats out Teo and Manuel.
Well I was there from '97 to '02 so I had a different experience. It sounds like it is almost reverse from what I saw as a student. The students were ALWAYS the loudest and most active. We were rarely sitting down (maybe during tv timeouts and others). We knew the cheers led by the band, had our keys out, never left early. The alumni, however, seemed to be just fine sitting down and just observing like it was a performance for then to watch (they were students when we weren't really that good at football). I always felt like I was part of it though, and I think THAT is what makes a good fan base.
I'd go higher than 75%, especially among skilled players. I like that we can switch up our combinations and wear multiple uniforms throughout the year, but the impact isn't as great when you lose in them.
I think it's funny that Maryland tries to imitate oregon but instead of wearing a cool uniform every week, they were a hideous one every week. At least none of our combos have been hideous. The hokie tracks helmet wasnt spectacular but the uni as a whole wasn't ugly, and I've had many of my hokie-hater friends tell me the all blacks vs boise were one of the best unis out and I agree.
I'm just so upset I never bought one.
Most Surprising: Rutgers/Oregon State (take your pick)
Most Disappointing: Virginia Tech (homer obvious pick is homer and obvious)
Conference Champions
ACC: Florida State over Virginia Tech
SEC: Alabama over Florida
B1G: Nebraska over Wisconsin
Big 12: Snyder Kats
PAC12: Oregon over USC
Big East: Rutgers
Heisman
1. Collin Klein (KSU)
2. Manti Te'o (ND)
3. Geno Smith (WVU)/Kenjon Barner (ORE)
i think the fan base likes these unis as a whole, but we look the same as all those you just said, nothing about them says VT in any color, i dont want to look the same as any school, and do not underestimate the power of unis on the 17 or 18 yr old young men we are trying to get to play here. do a survey of a thousand of those kids and i bet that 75% if not higher love oregons unis and how they are always different
I wonder how many people care about a 3rd string DL's opinion? Maybe it is the uniform that has been holding him back, but I doubt it. The white and maroon jerseys are awesome. They have the classic look of traditional football ala LSU, Auburn, Ole Miss, UCLA, and Patriots, Colts, Jets in the day. We just need to quit with the orange and add stripes to the pants.
i know alot of the alumni base doesnt like them, but i never heard anything but great things from the majority of the younger fan base and players
mocking UVA - so easy, we don't even really have to do it.
I'm guilty of not being a Tech fan before I started my freshman year. I actually disliked college football in general growing up. The closest FBS school to me was Rutgers, only good with Ray Rice. No one cared about it, way too many professional sports teams in the area.
I don't see the "problem" getting any better. Tech needs the out of state tuition and have a goal of 30% out of state students I think. This is the reason I got admitted. My GPA and SAT scores were pretty bad, I didn't belong.
