Welcome to the inaugural post for the Hey Hokie blog! I intend to blog regularly on all things Virginia Tech, particularly basketball and football, and maybe throw in some posts about my own life if I feel like you would benefit from that (because let's face it, I know what's best for you).
After the loss to Miami and what appeared to be the end of Virginia Tech's hopes for getting into the ACC championship game, the Hokies rolled off three straight wins to back their way into the FedEx Orange Bowl on New Years Day. Their reward for a hard-fought campaign in the ACC? Playing a lose-lose game against the Cincinnati Bearcats (which apparently is an imaginary animal like the griffin, the yeti, or the Maytag repairman). Actually, after checking Wikipedia.com, I found that there is an animal from Southeast Asia called a Binturong that is sometimes called a "bearcat", but I'm skeptical to think that Cinci's mascot is named after a weird-looking raccoon from the rainforests of Southeast Asia. Now why did I call this a "lose-lose" game? Because VT is expected to win by a lot. That means a loss equals embarrassment and a win equals the status quo. So try your best to get fired up fellow Hokies because this game is going to be boring. How many fans do you think Cincinnati will bring? I place the over-under at 87.
Unfortunately, this Orange Bowl appearance might have saved Bryan Stinespring's job. The offense seemed to do pretty well in the games against Boston College and Virginia, so I can easily see Frank Beamer getting behind his golden boy and supporting him for another year. That's a real shame considering the quality of players VT has been able to recruit since Bryan Stinespring has been our offensive coordinator compared to his inability to turn those players into an offensive force. Have a look at our NCAA FBS (i.e. division 1-A) rankings for yards per game on offense over the 7 years that Stinespring has been the OC (don't call it that):
2008 - #107
2007 - #101
2006 - #100
2005 - #57
2004 - #65
2003 - #62
2002 - #85
There isn't another Offensive Coordinator in the nation who would have lasted 7 years at a perennial top-25 school like Virginia Tech with yardage totals like that. His highest ranking was #57 in the nation and his average ranking was #82 out of 117-120 teams (3 teams were added between 2002 and 2008). It just shows the type of cronyism that is in place on Virginia Tech's coaching staff.
Despite his obvious favoritism, let's all get behind Frank Beamer and the Hokies for this next game. Beamer's boys have had an awful record in bowl games over the past few years, so I really want to see him instill the importance of a bowl win into our current squad. This is not a vacation... this is a chance to represent your school and play with pride. Hokie Hokie Hokie Hi!
4 comments:
Love the blog, Pat... you have achieved RSS subscription status with me after just one post. Congrats!
One quibble, however. You indicate that we're supposed to kill Cincinnati, but I don't that's true in the minds of anyone other than VT fans. Vegas actually has us as an underdog in the Orange Bowl. I think I know what you're saying, though. We've been a major player in college football for the last 10-15 years, and Cincinnati is a relative upstart. To someone who pays very little attention to college football, we should probably be a heavy favorite based on the "name" factor. But we didn't exactly set the college football world on fire this year, so not many informed people would expect us to "kill" anyone.
I certainly agree with your comment about Stinespring. Apparently Beamerball.com had a post over the weekend that indicated there will be no coaching changes made this offseason. If true, it just shows me how insincere Beamer was when he had that trophy case built in the athletic center. We won't win a national championship (or even come close) with Stinespring as the OC.
It's true, I didn't look at the Vegas lines... I just assumed we are the favorite to beat Cincinnati since they are the winners of an inferior conference. The Big East should never be favored in a bowl game against any other BCS conference winner, unless their champion for that year is WVU with Rich Rodriguez as the coach. The two are sort of like mentos and diet Coke... incredible when you put them together, but boring when you keep them apart.
I dunno... I imagine Louisville was the favorite over Wake Forest in 2006. The Big East has won at least 3 BCS bowls since the last time the ACC won one. Just food for thought.
I'll also be following your blog P@. And since I'm commenting, I'll leave my two cents on a tangent of this post.
The ACC is 1-9 in BCS Bowl games, with the only win coming for FSU against VT in the national championship game. I'm pretty sure WVU has won at least two BCS bowl games in that span (against Michigan and Oklahoma) and that Louisville beat Wake Forest a few years back. I'd have to do a little research, but I'd say the Big East has been better in BCS bowl games, since their inception, than the ACC. Just throwing that out there.
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