Who's the best college football program of the 2000's? Ranking the top 25
Kinda wild to not have Bama at 1, but I guess I see their methodology if they are favoring consistency throughout. The Saban era didn't start until 2007 and they didn't win a natty until 2009, so that would skew the whole first decade of the 2000's against them.
As a Hokie fan it's nice to see our name in the top 25, but it also stings a bit knowing how far we've fallen since.
25. Michigan State
24. Washington
23. Iowa
22. Utah
21. Oklahoma State
20. Boise State
19. TCU
18. Virginia Tech
17. Penn State
16. Wisconsin
15. Auburn
14. Miami
13. Notre Dame
12. Florida State
11. Michigan
10. Florida
9. Texas
8. USC
7. Oregon
6. Clemson
5. LSU
4. Georgia
3. Oklahoma
2. Alabama
1. Ohio State
Comments
Riding the first decade. Imagine if we capitalized on it instead of thinking it was a given to keep happening
Sigh...what could've been.
You know, I've been thinking that this Metallica concert which was a rousing success, is kind of the VT admin's swan song to us. I don't think this will be the start of them taking things more seriously/trying to have more live concerts. Instead, given our leadership, I think it's to soften the blow before they announce we are joining the Sun Belt.
Blacksburg isn't exactly a destination. Metallica is clearly an exception. That was purely for our fanbase. There's no other artist that would make sense to do something like that. Also, wasn't live nation heavily involved and the only way that the financials worked? This was a once-in-a-lifetime thing (regardless of how competent or incompetent our current or future leadership is)
Yeah I know but I feel like it was a long-wanted Christmas present that we got that will cushion some disappointing news soon. Like Whit to retire with full benefits and ACC documentary, VT to Sun Belt.
Also I disagree on the destination bs argument. Blacksburg is right off the 81 corridor. It's because it's in the mountains that people say it's remote. Do you know how many big bands' tour caravans go right through that 81 corridor every year? Lane stadium could be the premier arena concert venue for SWVA. But again, small town mindset.
I've worked in local govt enough to know that if your proximity is right, you can be the destination. Just look further north in the 81 corridor. Augusta and Botetourt counties are booming with growth, and little ol rockbridge in the middle still has declining population. You know why? Stupidity and choice.
The question is not how many bands will pass by - the question is how many fans will attend. Metallica is special to VT fans for obvious reasons, thus this was a destination for a lot of fans. How many other artists are going to attract fans to travel hours to Blacksburg, get a hotel, etc for a concert? Not many.
If Blacksburg becomes a destination for non-Hokies (think like an Asheville or Chattanooga or Athens) then I could see it. But it's not that. Becoming that requires way more than just the school buying in.
This would be ideal, not disappointing.
Yep. The Harvester Performance Center in Rocky Mount gets surprisingly big names in all the time. Is anyone out here calling Rocky Mount a destination? It's arguably harder to get to than Blacksburg, and there's nothing to do there except drink and go to the Harvester. You can do one of those two things anywhere.
The "location" thing has always sounded like an excuse.
The Harvester Performance Center in Rocky Mount has capacity for ~1500 per google. Lane has capacity for 66,231, if I recall correctly. Doing a show at Lane is not the same.
Not my point. Those acts could just as easily come to Burruss Auditorium.
And really, my beef with the "location" talking point is a more general one that goes beyond the specific topic of this conversation. I'm tired of hearing it cited as a factor in every bad thing that's happened to VT athletics in the last 14 years. I fall more on the VTJ side. < 30mins from an interstate doesn't count as hard to get to. Besides, if you want to be somewhere bad enough, you won't care what is or isn't there, you'll move heaven and earth to be in that place. And we aren't going to move the campus stone by stone to Winchester or Warrenton or Loudoun/Fauquier/Fairfax. We have to work with what we've got.
To their credit, they've been trying to do this (This Is Home etc). I just think it's all in how you look at it as to whether it's an advantage or a disadvantage. And I choose to look at it as an advantage.
Or the Moss Arts Center that we made, in part, to host such events, but your main point stands.
Absolutely right. The Moss Center is still new enough I forget it exists, haha.
Not sure I've ever heard of it. Though the name sounds vaguely familiar. Of course, I'm 55 and graduated in 1991.
Think of the location of Schultz Dining Hall. That's the Moss Arts Center location. They have hosted Wrestling matches on the stage their.
Dang, I wish I had known last summer. Would have swung by when we were showing my daughter the more northern campuses on our whirlwind tour. She likes the arts and would have been good to show it to her.
Did they teardown Schultz to build it or it's just in the area?
Schultz is gone, and a moment of silence is due for Schultz breakfast.
Let's see 3 years at 30 weeks (15 a semester) and 3 times a week is 270 times I ate Schultz breakfast whcih cost me $324 total. I still miss that breakfast.
R.I.P. Schultz breakfast. Damn fine affair
More like the good riddance to the resulting "Schultz Shuffle" 😆
I remember a rumor that the breakfast eggs were loaded with saltpeter to curb the hormonal urges of us cadets.
Reminds of that quote from Band of Brothers. "Remember boys, flies cause disease, so keep yours closed"
I get that. It's a challenge. But it's surmountable.
That said, IMO the challenge (for fans and patrons) isn't just getting to burg; it's staying there. A game day weekend is easily thousands of dollars for couple, much less a family, from out of town.
So bringing it back to this discussion - how many artist are able to make the economics work? How many artist are going to have shows in Atlanta, Charlotte, and DC, but be able to attract fans from those cities to travel to Blacksburg for a show? What artists are in this venn diagram of (a) makes sense for the artist to perform at VT, (b) makes sense for fans, and (c) makes sense for VT? My understanding is that live nation had to subsidize Metallica to get this to make financial sense?
I live in the DC area and haven't been to a game weekend since 2019 when my brother was a student and I had a place to stay for free. At this point, with the costs and time it takes to get there, it's like choosing between a long weekend anywhere in North America and watching us turn the ball over 3 times to lose to Syracuse (or fill in the blank dog crap program)
So location is 100% an issue. But OP's correct in that I would gladly pay that once a year if I thought I would see a competent football team beat a power conference opponent.
Agree
I realize that they aren't the same kind of events, but Burning Man and Coachella are not exactly easy to get to either.
Speaking as someone how does a lot of concerts, Blacksburg is not a priority for any band unless they go out of their way to make it one like Metallica just did. There are TWO places in town/county that can hold a concert hosting 1k+ people - one is Lane stadium which takes a significant amount of investment just to repair the damages on the field, and the other is Burruss which doesn't exactly have a GA pit. In other words, one isn't ideal for the host, and the other isn't ideal for the band. The next location than can host a show of 1k+ people is the Berglund Center in Roanoke. And touring is expensive - when bands setup their tour they are trying to maximize sales at every location and they need a fan base. The entirety of Montgomery County has less than 100k people compared to the metro DC region at 6.3M, or Charlotte at 2.8M which have a much higher probability of a large enough fan base to make a stop and sellout the venue.
I'm guessing it was also the powers that be decided sometime around 2000 that it was too unprofitable for bigger acts to come to Roanoke and even Greensboro anymore as well.
Artists will go anywhere they can sell out. If you can sell 70k seats to a concert in Lane every year, artists will line up to come to Blacksburg. There's plenty of pull from Roanoke and the surrounding towns and cities that Lane Stadium or the Drillfield could easily be the hub of summer concerts for the entirety of SW Va if they tried. They just don't care enough to try
But would we be able to sell 70k seats to a concert for a band not named Metallica?
If you can get 100k+ to show up in Bristol for a NASCAR race you could probably get that many for a Morgan Wallen at Lane (not a fan btw, just saying he could probably sell it out)
A quick google shows that Morgan Wallen is touring and has/had stops in DC, Atlanta, Louisville, and Virginia Beach.
VT fans aren't going to flock to Blacksburg as if it's a top 25 match up just to see Morgan Wallen, especially if he's already doing shows at those other locations.
Perhaps there's 50k Morgan Wallen fans in the NRV/Roanoke who are willing to pay a shitton of money to fill Lane, plus another 16k fans who are willing to travel to the area to see Morgan Wallen instead of seeing him in DC/Atlanta/etc, but I doubt it. If the NRV population was that willing to spend that much money, it would be happening.
Metallica is a unique case. They are worldwide superstars who have an one of a kind connection with Virginia Tech. That connection is what made seeing Metallica in Blacksburg a destination event. There is no other artist who has that connection. I don't know Mehul, but I'm guessing he's not taking a private jet to see Morgan Wallen in Lane. He might be a big Morgan Wallen fan, idk, but if he is, he's probably going to the DC show.
Perhaps the NRV is an underserved market relative to its buying power. Maybe there is enough money in SWVA that it could be profitable for artist to tour there. But I doubt that our alumni who live in DC, Charlotte, NYC, Atlanta, etc are making the trip to Blacksburg to see an artist - outside of Metallica, who is a unique situation - that they can see in their home town.
I mean private jet out of Blacksburg back to DC is probably quicker than getting home from Jiffy Lube, so that might be a perk.
Facts
I do know Mehul, and he's not a big Metallica fan either... but he is a huge VT/Football/Entrance fan, and he helped make this - and all major things associated with VT football happen. He didn't fly to blackburg because hes a big Ride the Lightning guy.
Yep that's exactly what I'm saying.
I have no idea who Morgan Wallen is... and to sell out a stadium / any stadium you need a nationally if not globally recognized name - Metallica, U2, Rolling Stones, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, AC/DC - THAT kind of name recognition.
Well ummm Morgan Wallen just sold out State Farm Stadium in Phoenix. he is a huge country act right now. I'd guess that he, Luke Combs, Chesney for sure would easily sell out Lane.
It also sucks how big he is, considering he is such a douche.
Axl Rose pimped out and raped women, Tommy Lee raped countless women, Richie Sambora is a smack addict... most music stars are douches.
Present company excepted, of course, Mr. About to Play a Gig at Whiskey-a-gogo.
He does have that type of name recognition (at least on par with U2, AC/DC, and Metallica - not the others), you're just old lmao.
Who is Morgan Wallen?
Probably the most popular pop/country star of 2025
Actually learned from my 16 year old that country is very popular at (1) her high school and (2) her old summer camp, where she worked as a lifeguard last summer. Will be back this summer. Honestly had no idea country was 'hip' with the high school kids these days.
It's more like pop-country. Beyoncé dropped a country album last year, and now you're seeing all these artist (Morgan Wallen, Shaboozy, Post Malone) who are using country rifts on hip hop drums and an auto tune. It's pretty catchy, and I hate most country music.
Pretty sure I've never heard of him before this thread. Feel like I should listen to a song just to see. She was saying that it was big last summer at camp and that was what the college aged lifeguards were listening to. She's not a fan either.
Way back in the day, I actually used to listen to Alabama, Charlie Daniels Band, early Eagles (although I liked the late Eagles too). Of course, we're in the 1980s then.
I don't ever listen to country, and I've heard of him, though I couldn't name a tune he sings.
Whiskey Glasses is is biggest hit- think Friends in Low Places bar anthem. And "more than my hometown" is the one he does on shows like the view, gma, etc.
Whiskey Glasses is the only song of his I can even halfway stand.
And now the airwaves are overrun with a bunch of dollar store Morgan Wallens all trying to sound like him. Modern country music's been cooked for a long time
I still think it all sucks, but thats me.
The only reason I know Morgan wallen is because of two teenage daughters. One of them hates him though so at least one of then has some sense 😀
It does all suck.
Wallen's song with Post Malone "I had some help" might be the worst song ever....yes
It's so catchy though... it's such a shameful guilty pleasure. It's the definition of empty calories that you can't stop consuming.
yes. producers have not forgotten how to write/publish hooks like that one. I just can't stand the cheap keyboard sound throughout.
I used the fell the same but as I have gotten older I've started listening to some Alt-Country, with Lucero being one of my favorite bands. As for the Nashville machine pop country bull shit, no thanks.
I'm over here just listening to Merle Haggard and Buck Owens telling all the young kids to get off my lawn.
They tell me I look like Merle Haggard, but sound a lot like David Allen Coe!
I bet the barmaid in the last town that you played in knew the words to every song you'd wrote.
And I can do you every song, Hank Williams ever wrote
on a side note I felt like a broken record for years that no, Chris Stapleton did not write Tennessee Whiskey
Country singer who got in trouble for being filmed saying the N word.
Or conversely,
Country singer who got in trouble for being filmed throwing chairs off a patio onto Broadway in downtown Nashville.
That doesn't narrow it down a lot
When rappers and young african americans stop using it literally every other word, then i'll be outraged. Not a second before that. And no, I don't use it, nor do I distinguish between the bottom of society logic of "soft A".. We walked on the moon, yet in 2025 we justify the use and context of this word. We have regressed. a ton.
I don't know if it's a swan song per se, but I did keep thinking as I looked around at the rest of the East stands and the top of the south end zone that this is the best and liveliest crowd that's been in this building in years. And as awesome of a night as it was, and as great of a lifelong memory as it will become, it would've hit so much harder if we had a good football team right now.
When Papa Het mentioned Pry, somebody a few rows down from me yelled, "Win some fuckin' games!"
And that kind of says it all. The raw material is still here. The fans are still here. We just need someone/something we can believe in.
So out of this context, if we asked the fans if VT was in the same tier as Boise State and TCU, most would think we were higher or be ashamed to admit that we are. I am glad VT was included, but if there were trend arrows next to the schools, ours would be a big red down one.
Clemson will always be a dagger to my soul. They were floundering in nothingness until Tahj Boyd, who was a Hokie fan but rightly realized he wouldnt get any playing time with Tyrod here (ditto EJ Manuel); and who just kinda dottered along on D until the cousins in Morganhole put it to them.
I remember listening to their athletic dept call-in shows in the mid 00s and their fans LITERALLY crying about the prow-grum.
I agree. We owned that program in every way for two decades. Then the tables turned quick.
From this chart it looks like we owned them for just 9 years. Its not pretty. https://www.winsipedia.com/virginia-tech/vs/clemson
Dabo made the bold moves necessary while we dragged our feet. He took the gamble on the young, unproven at P5 level, coach in Chad Morris who revolutionized their offense, with his back against the wall (he was on a scorching hot seat after 2010, and the AD tied his fate to betting on Dabo). People often point to Venables (who came a year later) as the big reason, but as someone who grew up in SC and was a freshman at Clemson in 2011, that is BY FAR the most hype there has been around the program in my lifetime. It was a shot of adrenaline that jumpstarted their ascendance.
Then they made another big move in going for Venables, plus they had established their plan of sniping talent from surrounding states whose programs were relatively down at the time (Georgia, Tennessee, Florida schools, NC schools, VT, etc.) with a modernized recruiting philosophy.
Honest question.
Even with everything that the last ten years had brought, how is Penn St ahead of us?
An extra $30-$40M in TV revenue annually for starters.
My numbers might be off, but...
Top 25 Finishes: VT 12, PSU 12
Conference Championships: VT 4, PSU 3
Wins: VT 201, PSU 209
Postseason wins: VT 10*, PSU 9
*Begrudgingly excluding the fact that Danny caught that ball
It's wild how little the Sandusky scandal impacted them long term.
I think dcwilson would have a point to make about how winning never costs too much...
Correct - the ultimate bullet proof program. Although Baylor hoops won a national fucking title after a player murdered another and the coach covered it up. They and Penn State should have been banned for 50 seasons, but money talks.
It's not even that... I thought that recruits would blackball a program that was (best case) ignorant/negligent about a pedophile in the building (worst case... complicit/enabling). But they land a 5-star QB the year after scandal breaks... just wild to think about. I can't imagine sending my kids to play at a program where a pedophile ran freely.
Sensing a theme here? Declan Sullivans parents didn't sue Brian Kelly for millions because they prefer to beat USC in football. Go Blue is much much more important in western PA than pedophilia. If people in Mississippi would donate to their high schools instead of Go Rebels, kids in that state could read a book.
Sad but true.
Isn't there a Metallica thread for that?
To give Mississippi credit they canceled fail forward and started holding those kids in elementary school until they can actually read and write and drastically improved their literacy levels.
Didn't Brett Farve steal a lot of money from the schools too?
Nah, he basically stole (or had officials divert rather) a bunch of money from the state welfare program (poorest state in the union btw) to build a volleyball stadium at his daughters school while she was playing volleyball there.
According to the Netflix documentary, he did nothing wrong. lol. Like most Netflix documentaries- and hour of OMG OMG then ends with "no charges filed, no comment".
I definitely felt for Jenn Stegar after that. He boss at Deadspin a real piece of shit for sure.
Yes sir. It was the first time I added 2 and 2 and realized it was the same woman. I love how Favre just blew that off too- no comment on the whole thing- there was proof it was from his number and he just lied. Also the best line was the green bay reporter told his editor "I don't write fiction" when asked to write a Favre family man story. lol. He's a piece of shit for sure that cheated on his wife hundreds of times and probably has more children out there. The entitled baller industrial complex. Favre was coddled from 7th grade until this day.
It's unfortunate, but not surprising, how the new streaming era documentary is almost exclusively a new version of a "puff piece" curated heavily, or exclusively, by the subject. It's completely against the fundamental ideals of what a documentary is supposed to be.
Its like every time I hear Jeremy Schaap's voice in a GameDay broadcast. Here comes a tear jerker puff piece curated by the school
I call it state media lol
this, to me, is a parenting problem
We bought a lot of goodwill in those first 10 years of the 2000s, cause the last 15...sheesh
There are several publications that had us in the 7-9th range of top programs of the first decade of the 2000's, so this makes sense given that era is still carrying the majority of this ranking on its back.
first of all, these rankings are mostly meaningless. secondly, if you did the same exercise for just the last 10 years I don't think VT would be top 40. It's incredible how far we've fallen since 2010
Stop being generous
in 2010s VT was 30th in winning percentage. Which is far from10th in 2000s. Also in 2000s only Oklahoma won more games. Last 5 years we are 92th. Ahead of 12 P4 schools.
last 10 years we are 66th un winning percentage
"Last 5 years we are 92th. Ahead of 12 P4 schools."
Given what VT had accomplished between 1995 - 2010ish, it is so frustrating to think about where we could have gone if we had put some effort and money into it. Instead, we are likely destined to be a middling ACC team fighting to stay somewhat relevant.
Somebody needs to get angry enough for us to "be bak"
If that were all it took the combined rage of the TKP commentariat alone would've accomplished this a decade ago
Shit, DC alone would have got us there
Haha true, but I meant somebody other than the fans
Wait, are you implying DC is a fan?