College football 2016 - aSECendency

[HokieStone]

Well, that Clemson-Louisville game lived up to the hype.  I wasn't sure who to root for...I'm not a fan of Dabo's clownish antics (or his religious zealotry)....but I also think Petrino is a dirt bag, and those of us at Virginia Tech with long memories remember Louisville leading the charge to kick us out of the old Metro basketball conference. 

So, other than the proverbial meteor hitting the stadium, I had not particular rooting interest in the game.  I think it turned out to be good for the ACC...definitely keeps the door open (slightly) to getting two ACC teams in the playoff.  Of course, I hope my Hokies win the Coastal Division, and then upset Clemson in the ACC title game (unlikely...but I can dream...)

 

[DireWolfSpirit]

Ive lost count of how many upsets we saw this week, damn good Saturday is all im gonna call it.

 

Dantonio.......losing to the Hoosiers, thats some painful stuff right there lolol.

[JonSnow4President]

I live in College Station, TX.  Of course I'm going out of town next weekend, when Gameday comes to town.  Have to love the timing.

[DireWolfSpirit]

And your Week 6 rankings are- http://www.espn.com/college-football/rankings

[dbunting]

Michigan - Wisconsin game was an old fashioned def struggle. Frustrated as hell watching all of those missed field goals since that can come back to haunt you at some point. Nice to see Michigan win a tight game.

As to the rankings, 4th is just about right still. I can see Michigan being undefeated going to Columbus for the last game of the regular season. Imagine that hype from the media. I do not however see Michigan beating the bastards from Ohio though, they just look like a well oiled machine.  

[Kalbear]

The only thing worse than the Oregon team this year is the Oregon uniforms this year. Christ.

[S John]

On 10/1/2016 at 8:05 PM, Michael Seswatha Jordan said:

Monkey off of Back!!!!! Stilll, Crawford is clearly our best back, give him the damn ball!!!

FINALLY!.   

Awesome to finally beat them.  I really love this win, it was huge for this program, imo.  K State a hard team to beat, no doubt about it.  They are well disciplined, physical, and their style just makes it very difficult to run away with a game against them, but still there was no excuse to be 0-4 against those guys and I'm really glad that we aren't 0-5.  Much needed victory for WVU.  I had this one circled in my head all off-season as a game Dana really needed.  Having finally outfoxed the wizard, I think if we can get to 8-9 wins Holgs likely gets a nice extension.  And I love the fight in this team - the inability to win close games is what has been the difference for us since joining the Big 12, but thus far in 2016 we have been able to find ways to win.   

 

Agreed on Shell but he had a great game last year against Texas Tech and I think he'll get at least half the carries against TTU in 2 weeks after yet another bye week.  He's a load to bring down as long as he goes straight ahead, and I think TTU's defensive front will probably give him the best opportunity to do that so far this year.  I expect us to use both backs and probably lean on the run game more than we have in a few weeks against TTU.   As much as Shell's ill-timed fumble might have cost us the game this week (and I think he should have been benched for the rest of the game), I really like the 1-2 punch of Shell and Crawford. 

I'm nervous about Tech only because its on the road and I remember the meltdown WVU had the first time we went to Lubbock as an undefeated team... but this is a game that WVU should win.  Week off to prepare, and playing against a D that we can probably push around both on the ground and through the air.  Their O is more potent than ours, but I believe ours is more physical and I believe that our D is better than their D.  We play ball control and run it right at them and we will win.  We need to take a page out of Old Man Snyder's book.  Long sustained drives, keep the chains moving, protect the ball, and churn the clock.  

We have the personnel to beat TTU that way and I really hope that is the game plan because if we decide to get into a shootout with them then we are playing their game at their stadium and could definitely get ourselves beat.

33 minutes ago, Kalbear said:

The only thing worse than the Oregon team this year is the Oregon uniforms this year. Christ.

I'm on record as seriously hating about 95% of Oregon's flashy uniform combo's, but I actually really liked the 'actual duck' one they did this year.  

[Michael Seswatha Jordan]

@S John, kinda funny how us Mountaineer fans was excited for the "Air Raid" genius, now we want ball control.... Its how we're gonna be competitive in the BIGXII. Like you said, if we try and have a shootout, our chances in winning decrease drastically. And, its why I have faith in Holgs, he's actually beginning to figure it out. We're never going to have the talent overall like Texas, OU and so on. We have to have solid defense and a capable, mistake free offense. Howard has won me over this year. He's not elite by no means, but he is tough and resilient. And, has a better grasp of the offense, looks a lot better. 

Now, if Grier is the QB that everyone seems to think he is, I'm all for the Air Raid coming back next year.

[lokisnow]

On October 1, 2016 at 9:27 PM, Ferrum Aeternum said:

That was an incredible game. As hesitant as I ever am to pull for toolbag Petrino's teams, I must admit I was rooting for Jackson to get them the win on that last drive. 

In other news - Coach O had a successful debut with LSU. Most yards ever in an SEC game for them and unsurprisingly all it took was O showing Cam Cameron the door.    It'll be interesting to see if they can keep up this level of play the rest of the year. They looked fired up tonight on both sides of the ball.

Coach o is the best!

[Ferrum Aeternum]

4 hours ago, lokisnow said:

Coach o is the best!

He's just so easy to root for. It would be awesome to see him succeed and win that job. Imagine if he beats Saban in November!

I also admire him because he really seems to have learned from all the mistakes he made in the past and become a better coach and person. So few people in sports have the guts to self-reflect and actually change themselves for the better.

[Mike]

1 hour ago, Ferrum Aeternum said:

He's just so easy to root for. It would be awesome to see him succeed and win that job. Imagine if he beats Saban in November!

I also admire him because he really seems to have learned from all the mistakes he made in the past and become a better coach and person. So few people in sports have the guts to self-reflect and actually change themselves for the better.

 

I want him to get the LSU job because the SEC is now severely lacking in the quotable coach department with the loss of Spurrier and Miles. 

[S John]

15 hours ago, Michael Seswatha Jordan said:

@S John, kinda funny how us Mountaineer fans was excited for the "Air Raid" genius, now we want ball control.... Its how we're gonna be competitive in the BIGXII. Like you said, if we try and have a shootout, our chances in winning decrease drastically. And, its why I have faith in Holgs, he's actually beginning to figure it out. We're never going to have the talent overall like Texas, OU and so on. We have to have solid defense and a capable, mistake free offense. Howard has won me over this year. He's not elite by no means, but he is tough and resilient. And, has a better grasp of the offense, looks a lot better. 

Now, if Grier is the QB that everyone seems to think he is, I'm all for the Air Raid coming back next year.

Yea, WVU has almost always been a 'run first' team and it is interesting how we've evolved back into that even under a Mike Leach protege.  I love the deep ball passing threat that we have, and definitely want to keep up the trend of recruiting great receivers and putting them into the NFL, but I think my favorite thing about Holgs is the evolution back into a run-first team.  It shows that he is willing to adapt the offense to the personnel.  4 years ago I never would have thought a Holgs offense would be grinding out wins the way we have during a couple of games this year and last year.   We were really only a true air raid for his first few seasons and have run more than we throw the past three seasons.  He's realized that you really have to be able to run if you truly want to control a game or win close ones.  

I wish he'd call runs on first down a little more, though.  I hate throwing on first down when the run is working.  Was yelling at my TV about a few times against KSU!  As much as he's improving as a coach and play-caller, Holgs still gets a little impatient at times.  Even though he's willing to run to keep the chains moving you can tell he really, really wants to throw a deep bomb and burn the D for a score and I think we threw away one or two drives because of that against KSU, but he admitted it so hopefully he keeps fine-tuning and stays patient.  

Anyway, fingers crossed that this team doesn't collapse down the stretch.  We are missing a few pieces on D that are out with injury who will be back next year, so the D should be a little better / more experienced (and I really like Tony Gibson anyway).  We'll also return most of the offense and probably get an upgrade at QB.  I do not expect us to run the table or win the Big 12 this year, though it looks like we will be able to compete with everyone, but I think if we can put together a 8-10 win regular season this year that will be a very good omen for a possible run next year.  

[DireWolfSpirit]

On October 3, 2016 at 8:44 AM, dbunting said:

Michigan - Wisconsin game was an old fashioned def struggle. Frustrated as hell watching all of those missed field goals since that can come back to haunt you at some point. Nice to see Michigan win a tight game.

As to the rankings, 4th is just about right still. I can see Michigan being undefeated going to Columbus for the last game of the regular season. Imagine that hype from the media. I do not however see Michigan beating the bastards from Ohio though, they just look like a well oiled machine.  

It will be interesting to see how well Brady can get the kicking game shored up. I say give this Blue Chip Freshman a shot, he cant be any worse than the choker they played Saturday.

[dbunting]

9 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

It will be interesting to see how well Brady can get the kicking game shored up. I say give this Blue Chip Freshman a shot, he cant be any worse than the choker they played Saturday.

Yep, and they play Rutgers, bye week, then Illinois before facing Michigan State. Plenty of time and weaker opponents to give the freshman a chance or the normal kicker a chance to get his confidence back.

[S John]

Was doing my pick 'ems and just noticed that Miami is ranked #10.  How the hell did that happen?  They're undefeated but I don't think they have a top 10 resume, 3 cupcakes and a 3-2 Georgia Tech team that is always solid but also always predictable.  Thinking FSU is gonna take them out this weekend.  

[Rhom]

15 minutes ago, S John said:

Was doing my pick 'ems and just noticed that Miami is ranked #10.  How the hell did that happen?  They're undefeated but I don't think they have a top 10 resume, 3 cupcakes and a 3-2 Georgia Tech team that is always solid but also always predictable.  Thinking FSU is gonna take them out this weekend.  

The U is back baby!!!!!

(That's what ESPN is hoping for anyways...)

[S John]

14 minutes ago, Rhom said:

The U is back baby!!!!!

(That's what ESPN is hoping for anyways...)

Just like Texas was back (and ND, for that matter, has been back several times now).... 

Anyway, its just another good example of how arbitrary rankings are.  

The U has wins over Florida A&M, Florida Atlantic, Appalachian State, Georgia Tech.  By my count that is 1 P5 victory.  

Compare with WVU's resume of wins over Missouri, Younstown State, BYU, and Kansas State.  BYU isn't technically P5 but I think most would agree they are a P5 caliber independent.  So that's essentially 3 P5 victories for WVU.  

Now I do not think that WVU should be in the top 10 by any means, I'm not sure how long we are going to remain undefeated.  Could be a few more weeks, could all come crumbling down in Lubbock next game.  But based on any objective measure, right now, the Mountaineers are top 10 if the 'Canes are.  

[HokieStone]

Well, Hurricane Matthew is going to make events interesting in North Carolina this weekend.  All the North Carolina P5 schools - UNC, NCST, Duke and Wake Forest have home games.  Of course, the one I'm most interested in is VT-UNC.  No decision has been made yet, but it seems less and less likely that those games can be played at their current time/location.  The governor of North Carolina has already declared a state of emergency, and the governor of South Carolina is calling for the evacuation of coastal areas.  Even if the storm itself doesn't drastically impact the Raleigh-Durham area, the state of emergency could mean that police, fire department, EMTs, etc - which would normally be working the games - are being put to work in the eastern part of the state.  It seems wise to keep a tens of thousands of people off the street if a hurricane is bearing down.

If they can't play on Saturday at home, the question is, when/where will they do it.  Still at UNC, but move it a day or two earlier...or move it to Sunday or Monday?  Postponing till later in the season isn't an option because there are no other bye weeks.  Postponing to the end of the season, and pushing the ACC championship game back a week is also problematic - they already had to scramble for a new location due to the HB2 issue, and the stadium in Orlando had to jump through some hoops to reschedule High School football playoffs that were originally supposed to be there. 

Of course, an obvious solution (one that VT fans would certainly embrace) would be to move the game from Chapel Hill to Blacksburg.  This is not unprecedented - South Carolina played a "home" game at LSU last year. 

So, we'll see...some interesting decisions to be made in the next day or so.  I haven't checked on any other games that maybe affected, for teams in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

[lokisnow]

5 hours ago, S John said:

Was doing my pick 'ems and just noticed that Miami is ranked #10.  How the hell did that happen?  They're undefeated but I don't think they have a top 10 resume, 3 cupcakes and a 3-2 Georgia Tech team that is always solid but also always predictable.  Thinking FSU is gonna take them out this weekend.  

What I noticed is that Colorado is ranked, when was the last time they were ranked???

[DireWolfSpirit]

9 hours ago, dbunting said:

Yep, and they play Rutgers, bye week, then Illinois before facing Michigan State. Plenty of time and weaker opponents to give the freshman a chance or the normal kicker a chance to get his confidence back.

Omg I cant believe I called Harbaugh.....Brady there lololol.