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Virginia Tech vs Georgia. Virginia Tech vs Tennessee. Virginia Tech vs Florida. Virginia Tech vs South Carolina. LSU. Alabama. Those sound like incredible Chick-Fil-A Bowls. They would be regular season games.
National Championships aside. ACC championships aside. Fans having to travel further aside. Academics aside. Cash money aside. 10-win seasons aside.
Being in the SEC would mean that VT would have an epic regular season, year in, year out. Period. What is not to love about that as a fan?
How competetive would we be? I believe with the extra cash and energy, and with our current brand and tradition, we would be able to recruit the heck out of the mid-atlantic.
^^^these points are all great .. to clarify -- i don't think it's necessarily a gentleman's agreement with the whole conference, just an agreement among certain universities who do not want to have to compete with another in-state (namely florida, georgia, south carolina, kentucky) ... without those 4 .. i don't think that the remaining had enough votes
so that basically puts fsu, miami, clemson, ga tech, and louisville out of the picture .. it's VERY obvious that if the sec looks to expand past 14 that they'll be looking to grab a piece of the NC pie and DMV pie ... barring the near-zero-percent possibility that ND joins the SEC
NCAA Football has been a disappointment since the 2006 version (2005 was INCREDIBLE and still to this day the best EA Football simulation I've ever played- could look off defenders, create separation with receivers and corners, and going undefeated in Heisman mode was nearly impossible but a 1 loss team could go to the NCG) and though NCAA '12 was a good game overall, many fixes are required:
1) Commentary has been awful since 2005- no Gameday? No ABC/CBS/Fox coverage? NOTE: I do like what they've done with the new ticker/update
2) Neutral site games- you have a decent amount of opening week kickoff neutral site games that need to be incorporated. Its ridiculous that no CFB Kickoff game or Allstate Kickoff in the Capital game is in the game.
3) Super linebackers
4) suction blocking
5) no-look picks going for six where the CB can break tackles better than a RB with 99 "break tackle" ability
6) No varying pass speeds
7) WAY TOO EASY TO WIN A NATIONAL TITLE- even with teams like Duke or Colorado one can go undefeated, even in the SEC or Pac 12, in their first year with a D+ roster,
It seems that the staff has actually experienced a massive changeover and is attempting to fix many of the old issues. I think I will buy it again this year to see how the changes appear in the game. Madden, though having many issues in its own right, is by far superior to NCAA and this needs to be changed. EA got it right with the NHL series- maybe move those design teams over....
Completely agree. If we go to the SEC, we would be in the East and I think we are more prepared to compete with those teams right now. We would have way more night games and occasionally get Bama & LSU to play in Lane. Remember the amount of hype around the 03 & 05 Miami games? There would be much more of that type of hype surrounding a home game multiple times a year.
There are only positives surrounding this rumored conference switch in my opinion and I'm too ADD to post them all.
Plus it will be cool to have Kentucky come play us in basketball in Cassell.
I don't see how UF would even allow conversations on Miami. I could see NC State, but certainly not Miami.
The Show is an awesome baseball game with great simulation value but the NHL series is by far the closest to actually simulating a sport as is the FIFA series (I know- soccer and hockey). But yes, EA Sports has done nothing really new with NCAA Football or Madden minus update graphics engines.
That's the goal, but I don't think we'd be all THAT bad for the first 4 years. It's not like we weren't competitive with Alabama 3 years ago. I think we'd do better than most people expect. We're very similar to USC.
Also, what people seem to have trouble realizing is that we'd stand to make maybe as much as 10 million more per year. For an athletic dept that already operates in the black with what we have now, this could be huge. It would trickle down to every other sport, and the department would get better as a whole. It happened when we joined the ACC, and it will happen again if we go to the SEC.
As far as UVA and the SEC jump? I doubt that happens at all. I doubt UVA even wants to join the SEC, and given today's landscape, I think there'd me more tolerance for us doing what is best for us. There's no use in holding us back because UVA can't come, that helps no one. Better to see one do well. But that's my next question. If this DOES happen, and we go, who else do you think would join?
I wouldn't mind Miami. I love playing them every year, and hate them so much. NC State would be a decent fit, but not too much of a threat. I also bet they just want to give Duke and UNC the finger and be on their way. I can respect that. I just hope we continue to schedule UVA each year.
I agree on most points minus the academic argument. If we fit in the ACC, then we fit in the B1G- top two academic conferences and ACC has academic standing requirements to even be a member (can't forget FSU was a good school/had a solid academic reputation (especially for their graduate programs) when they originally became a member). The B1G floats around the specific accreditation desires; however, we cannot forget that is based on endowment amount and Liberal Arts reputation/research until very recently: Texas A&M and Georgia Tech JUST received membership invitation within the last three years even though both have incredible national reputations- sorry I cannot for the life of me remember the name of this accreditation award- I bet Virginia Tech receives an invitation in the next ten years as patterns show a new focus on sciences and engineering research as well as undergraduate liberal arts research (all in which VT has made incredible strides over the last 20 years to become a very highly respected academic institution).
In terms of our home, I bet that Tech ends up in the SEC, FSU and Clemson go Big XII, and UVA/Maryland/GT (*) go B1G (*- B1G has a geographic "guideline" that needs to be changed- all members need to be in states touching one another)- I doubt we follow WVU to the Big XII and the B1G just doesn't feel right "culturally" as VT is not a mid-western school with "Middle America ideals." Hell, Penn State doesn't seem to fit in that well as a northeastern school. Going to the SEC would obviously be a tough move in terms of competition level (and we would see an immediate drop in wins totals) but would be great for football in the future. Though we may only compete for an SEC title once every five years, in those years we would be a true national championship threat. As a member of the ACC we do not enjoy that luxury (minus '99, '03, and '05).
The numbers on that page are chapter numbers (assigned sequentially at some point, then added as new chapters were founded). My experience working with alumni outreach for some large student organizations is that the only SEC area with any sizable VT alumni representation is Atlanta, and North Carolina dwarfs ATL (though of course NC could drive to Columbia and Athens pretty easily). But both of those (and all the other Southeastern states) are in turn dwarfed by the flow to Northern VA, DC and Maryland -- even farther away from the SEC.
You're kidding yourself if you think academics has no impact. Look at the Big Ten -- their academic arm, the CIC, is a research funding powerhouse. That's what the ACC-IAC is intended to become for the East, and that's money that university presidents go to war for. And ask our coaches whether our academic standards affect our recruiting -- they'll be very clear that they do, and that all but a couple schools in the ACC play by the same rules where virtually no one in the SEC does. That won't change if we go SEC; all it'll do is put us at a competitive disadvantage to the teams on our schedule.
Those words will forever roam my mind, stirring up feelings of anger as I would argue with the bouncers "dude, it's only 1:15..."
We have to remember that "Virginia Politics put us in the ACC". If we were invited to another conference would lawmakers get in the way again? Would we be forced to take UVA with us? Could this be Karma? Do you really think UVA would just let us go?
fast forward to hear about VT-UVA-Politics 7:15
http://www.wralsportsfan.com/999thefan/audio/11127843/
but playing in a watered down acc or whatever its going to end up being called also is going to diminish our chances of playing in a national championship as well once this playoff situation is hashed out. We might as well take our chances in the sec. I think right now as a program we compare favorably to South Carolina and they have done pretty well in sec east the past couple of years. So I think we'd be ok.
Agreed, but I'd rather not get hung up on a national championship. Of course everybody wants to win one, but we should be thankful for the team we have and realize that a move to the SEC would drop our chances of a nc for the first 4 years or so dramatically. In the ACC, we can win out with decent out of conference games (Bama, for instance), and have a shot. We were almost in the running this year if things had happened differently with Clemson and the LSU/Bama game before the championship.
I guess I should rephrase that portion and mention that Miami is just in the list because of the $$ their football program brings in, not necessarily their atmosphere or following.
Another post makes a good point about Miami's sanctions - it seems unlikely that Miami would get an offer from another conference because of what is going on with them at the moment. This is only the case because with FSU and Clemson out of the ACC (hypothetically, of course), things need to happen FAST, and nobody can sit around and dilly dally with Miami's possible future. Then again, SEC schools buy athletes all the time, so maybe they would actually realize that and reconsider Miami...again, this is only if UF agrees to this, which is unlikely with the "gentlemen's agreement."
I think that's why most people believe they want a Carolina school. That's exposure to the Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville makert (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_media_markets_and_college_football). If they nab NC State and Tech they'll reach from Flordia to DC, and from Florida to Texas.
I only think all bets are off if FSU and Clemson leave. Also remember Miami isn't a state school, it's private. I'm sure there are alumns with political power, but it won't be part of the public agenda.
and staying in it with hopes that FSU and Miami would be good again, but this was before league decision-makers decided to bring in Pitt and Syracuse, basically screaming from a mountain top that they want to be a baller-first conference. Homey don't play dat, so at this point, I'm salivating over the potential of being in the SEC. Wanting to stay in the ACC because it's "easier to win" is just about the most backwards thing I've ever heard considering where the last few national champions have come from. Also, it's not an attitude that's very becoming of a team/fan base that wants to win a national championship. People get too hung up on the fact that "We havent one big games", maybe that's because we don't play enough of them, and we're not prepared or battle-tested. The SEC can offer that.
The SEC is an insanely cyclical league, in which teams blow up, have a couple of ok years, and then blow up again. Auburn in 2005 and 2010, as well as LSU in 2003, 2007, and 2012. It's how it works, and it works like this due to the fact that it's so easy to recruit in that league, that you can just have an insane couple of classes that will turn everything around. Also, money. Traveling to away games is hard as it is right now. I usually only go to home games, because I'm never really "thrilled" to see us play at Duke, or UNC. But imagine a game in Knoxville, or Athens? Imagine the potential rivalries we could develop with Tennessee, Georgia, and the types of games we would see come to Lane Stadium. Game day would come a lot more often, we'd get more prime-time match ups, and our recognizability would blow up.
I also think we'd do well with basketball there. People who say the SEC has terrible basketball clearly is hung up on mass perception and not actual records. Florida won two, Vanderbilt is always good. UT was good during the Bruce Pearl era, and, um, KENTUCKY. I think, if things fall apart, that we absolutely HAVE to listen to what the SEC has to offer. I mean, there's almost no limit to what the new contract negotiations could offer each school, but I'm sure it's a little better than $17.1 million.
#3 is a good point. Obviously in the case of the death penalty, Miami has no value to anyone. In other words, they're a perfect fit for the ACC. (ha... kind of)
In the case of #1, How many new markets can they really go after other than DC via VT? There are no other big markets that are contiguous with their footprint. Getting one of the top 10 highest rated teams in football is almost certainly more lucrative than expanding to Omaha or Topeka or something.
In the case of #2, I addressed in another post but if it looks like the ACC is not viable, I think all bets are off. State legislatures and governors will exert a lot of influence to make sure their schools survive just like Virginia did for us.
This. I really don't get any value from watching us beat Austin Peay and William and Mary by 50 points. I'd rather watch us lose a good game vs. Alabama or Tennessee. And sometimes, maybe more often than not, we'd be the ones winning those big games. That would be so much better than anything we have to look forward to now. As far as driving, Yeah we'd be able to travel to fewer games, but I'd rather watch VT-Alabama on TV than drive to Duke.
I agree that VT is in a good spot, but I don't get why South Carolina, Florida and Georgia are any different from Virginia. UVA was the reason we got into the ACC, and if the ACC is crumbling, state politicians will be playing every card they can to ensure the survival of all their state schools.
1. SEC already has a TV presence in Florida.
2. There seems to be a gentlemen's agreement in place among the 14 schools not to invite any school already in a state with an existing SEC school.
3. And this is way down the ladder, looming NCAA sanctions.
Why wouldn't Miami be their #1 choice? They have the best TV ratings by far of the remaining schools, and that is really all that matters. It doesn't matter if their fans suck, if academics suck, if non-revs suck. All that matters is $$$, as it should be.
never thought about our geographical footprint that way, but I believe it to be true now that you mention it.
Miami might sell a lot of t-shirts, but their fans suck. How else do you explain their stadium situation? Clemson and FSU definitely.
Lots of talk about geography. (paraphrasing) "are NOVA alums gong to travel to SEC games for $400 plane tickets?"...
Personally, I agree with the last statement more - our alums are going to NoVa and SOUTH, not north. We have a big following in FLA, GA, and especially the carolinas.
PROOF: https://secure.hosting.vt.edu/alumni.vt.edu/chapter_info/chapterlist.php
Look at the number of chapters and members of each chapter for SEC states compared to others.
I personally would rather drive 10+ hours to watch a good game than get a free plane/game ticket to go up to boston and watch a game against B.C. (Or even make the short drive to Duke and cheer for Tech who seems like a bully picking on poor ole Duke's "football" team with a half empty and tiny stadium)
It is also undeniable that we are an SEC school when it comes to football. If you have ever been to an ACC away game, then you know what I am talking about. Truth is Clemson, FSU, and Miami are probably the only ACC schools that compare to our football tailgating and spirit.
I hope we don't become the Boise State of football and start losing the momentum we have had in the past 10-15 years just because we decided to stay in a conference for "academics" (which doesn't relate to sports) or for "all-around sports" (we are not UVA, and never will be, I love soccer, baseball, etc., but when it comes to Va Tech, it's football, basketball, and then more football).
But the sound byte needs to go away. It represents ideals that will not protect us in the changing landscape. The fact that at this moment in time we are where we need to be won't stop FSU and Clemson from leaving. Yes it is a shame but change is coming, we need to prepare for it in order to stay relevant and rid ourselves of the coaches' speak. Those 50 years are a Golden Age of college athletics that are being ushered out by less noble forces.
It's not UVA that matters, it's the governor and legislature. They want Virginia schools to get as much money as possible, they don't care about the conference. If the state sees its options of having 2 schools in an ACC that's not financially viable or 1 school in the ACC and one school making insane money in the SEC, they will take the latter at the drop of a hat.