Friday: Weaver talks realignment; Predictions for Hokies-ECU? How about UVa-Indiana?
(Update: 11:45 a.m. — had to steal this “Coach” video below from Bill Simmons’ blog. Too funny.)
JUST NEED A WINNER AND MARGIN OF VICTORY for either game or both. Winners will get to choose the lead photo(s) for Tueday’s briefing. This is your chance, should you so choose, to make fun of your rival through art and have it sanctioned by an employee of The Roanoke Times. Or have us post a picture of Sinbad. Whatever, your pick, within reason.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
-Here’s Mark Berman’s story today that has Virginia Tech AD Jim Weaver talking about the possibility of conference realignment. “Our [pro-ACC] comments are predicated upon our belief that the 12-member ACC is still intact. If anybody does [leave], we’ve got to talk.”
-Here’s Randy King’s story on Tech offensive lineman Greg Nosal, whose father is a Navy officer.
-Ninth-ranked Oklahoma State jumps out to a quick 21-0 lead and cruises to a 37-14 victory over visiting Arizona.
NFL
-Defense wasn’t much of a factor in the NFL season opener — at least until the end. The Packers outscore the Saints, 42-34, preserving the victory with a key goal line stand. Aaron Rodgers throws for 312 yards and three touchdowns, while Drew Brees goes for 419 yards and three scores.
-Peyton Manning could miss most or all of the season after undergoing neck surgery for the third time in 19 months.
-Giants Pro Bowl defensive end Justin Tuck could miss Sunday’s opener against the Redskins.
-And now, for no apparent reason, the movie trailer for the 1970s film “Coach”:
MLB
-Possible playoff preview continues tonight as the Brewers host the Phillies. Philadelphia took the first game of the series Thursday, 7-2, behind a four-hitter from Cliff Lee. Roy Halladay and Shaun Marcum are your scheduled starters tonight.
NAME THAT TUNE
Tough one today, but I’m giving you the first verse and leading you right up to the title.
We’re not scared to lose it all
Security throw through the wall
Future dreams we have to realize
A thousand skeptic hands,
Won’t keep us from the things we plan
Unless we’re clinging to the things we prize
And do you feel scared – I do
But I won’t stop and falter
And if we throw it all away…
September 9, 2011 - 12:44 AM
Let’s get this started…VT 48- EZU 17 and UVa 27- Indiana 24
OK, I think I know the song but I can’t get the tune because I have the Phineas and Ferb theme stuck in my head. I’ll keep trying.
ECU 24 – VT 21
UVA 28 – Indiana 7
“There’s 104 days of summer vacation…”
AM did Robert Anderson do his high school predicitions this week? I can’t find the article and haven’t gotten my paper out of the box yet.
35-14 Hokies win, with Wilson getting over 150 yards of rushing, much of it coming on a long TD run.
Things Can Only Get Better. Howard Jones
rpotts12 nails it. Nice job. No way I thought that one would be settled by 8 a.m.
O.G. — Yeah, Robert wrote one, but I don’t see it online at the moment. Among his high-profile picks: Franklin County over Salem 24-21, Northside over Cave Spring 14-13, and PH over Pulaski County 20-14.
Anybody else have a problem with the Saints last play. I mean, Brees breezes down down the field to the one yard line rolling out and scrambling around and then on the last play hand off to a rookie running back who runs into half of the Packer defense-like they knew what was coming. This coming from a risk taking coach who, I believe, used an onside kick to start the Super Bowl 2nd half. A role out there at least gives you more then one option. On that play the Saints certainly didn`t come marching in. No idea on song but it looks petty good-will You Tube it. Tech by 20 IU by 3.
Ralph as a Packers fan I wasn’t upset with the last play but the pass interfence call was a joke. The last play should have never happened.
I’m thinking VT by 21 (41-20), and IU by 4 (20-16).
There was no defense in the game last night at all, pretty much, except maybe the last play. Given that the game has evolved to where the running attack is so diminished, I’m not sure I understand the final play call that much. Granted, they failed on a 4th down passing play earlier, but still, put the ball in the hands of your playmaker and let him try to make the play.
VT 54 – ECU 20 ; UVA 20 – IN 17 .
Conference expansion is getting crazy. When the speculation reaches the point that the ACC would add teams that don’t even touch the Atlantic coast, the crazy talk has really started. Much like Weaver’s comment about Kansas or Kansas State joining the Big East.
The real problem with conference expansion is just like NCAA Tournament expansion. Once it starts where does it stop? If 16 teams works and makes a lot of money, who’s to say the SEC will not decide in a few years to become the first 20 team mega-conference.
Tech wins 27-10. UVA squeaks by at 17-14.
Pearl Jam, Warren G and Howard Jones? Nice mix up of tunes this week AM.
Song – Things can only get better. Score – well as an ECU grad I am pulling for the Pirates even though it may be a long shot! ECU 24 VT 21
Hokies by 24; Hoos by 10
Hoos by 17 and Hokies by 13
Go Hoos!
We could use more stories on the Wahoos, main sports page has nothing today!
Hokies by 17. BooHoos by 3. Go Skins!
I still cant believe Doughty picked App. St. over the Hokies. Sounds like a UVA homer!
Hokies by 14, UVa by 3.
Hokies by 10 (tougher environment than many think, and still need to see what this defense can do); Cavs by 10.
28-27 ECU
17-14 UVA
Hokies 48 ECU 10
Hoos 17 Ind. 14
rpotts12, did you go to NHS in the early 70′s??
VT 35 ECU 17
Hoos 24 Hoosiers 17
Personally, I don’t like the idea of large conferences. I think it reduces the intraconference rivalries. My preference is a conference small enough in which each team plays every other team once in football and twice in basketball– the old ACC. I learned to hate every other conference school during the season. Its hard(er) to get pumped about a game when school X only rotates on the schedule every other year, or third year in a mega-conference. I also think large geographical conferences reduce the commonalities among schools; commonalities that bind groups together. What does Iowa State have in common with UVa, UNC, and Duke? What does UMD have in common with Wisconsin and Minnesota? Size, maybe, but the students would have nothing to fight over. Though, I certainly understand the draw if it means more annual payments to schools. P.S. a mega-conference would hurt Tech the most; there would be fewer non-conference spots for them to play the local high school. ha.
Hokies 42 ECU 20 ECU gave up a boatload to South Carolina last week.
UVA 31 Indiana 14 Hoosiers are really, really bad right now.
Which game tonight, Aaron? Or are you on the road already?
No game for me tonight. Nappy and I are hitting the road early in the morning. A lot of good ones on the slate, though.
Here’s the link to swami Robert’s Timesland picks: http://www.roanoke.com/sports/highschool/wb/297960
Hokies 52, ECU 10- I believe in this defense- granted it was only one game but Applachin State has good speed-to shut them out like that with your first and second defense is better than most realize. UVA 21, Indiana 17.
Hokies win by a few, Hoos loose by a few.
Whether the SEC invites Clemson or not is irrelevant. If FSU moves to the SEC, ACC football becomes irrelevant. If VT doesn’t go with FSU it becomes a big fish in a small pond and slowly becomes one of the other small fish in the small pond. Weaver says Lane is too small to bring in the revenue to compete with the SEC schools, well, who decided to spend $45 million to add 100 seats in private boxes instead of 10,000 seats? And, in an informal poll of SEC coaches last year they wanted VT included in any expansion plans.
Hokies by 13
Hoos by 10
Finally got free for me to log on and to share my thoughts for this wonderful blog.
First – the game from last night. I was supremely impressed with Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. They had very little trouble moving the football down the field. Drew Brees, likewise, had little trouble either. I didn’t watch the 2nd half as I went to bed, but what I saw made me think we are watching two potential Super Bowl contenders in the Packers and Saints. The defense needs shoring up, but otherwise, a very solid start for both teams. My biggest lamentation is the amount of touchback. Ugh, ugh.
Second – my pick. Since ECU gave up 131 passing yards and 220 rushing yards to South Carolina, I think this might be another blowout. Virginia Tech over ECU by 23 points. I expect for UVa to beat Indiana. If they lose to Indiana, I will be laughing so hard I might need resuscitation.
Just remembered a line from John Feinstein’s latest that I had to share.
In a college football world gone mad, it is good to know there are some things you can count on: the NCAA letting cheaters off the hook, conference commissioners speaking in gibberish, and Duke being awful.
Here’s the link to the full article if anyone’s interested.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/consolidation-talk-follows-trauma-of-college-footballs-offseason/2011/09/01/gIQAkmOT2J_story_1.html
Thanks for the clip of Cathy Lee Crosby. Terrible movie but beautiful lady. Hard to believe she was briefly married to Joe (I didn’t win the) Theisman.
I did not see a blog for the Beamer contract article. Too bad. I had a comment. Yes, Beamer is a great budget for Tech. He maximizes revenues and give us 10 wins (of assorted value. Alabama to Ark. State) but with Beamer we will never beat a top ten team. Of course it could be worse!! . . . and better.
Go Hokie Real Estate!
Both VT and UVA win in identical fashion: 31-13.
Tech could fill in the corners in Lane Stadium and add another 30,000 seats, easily. And if they joined the SEC, the visiting teams from SEC easily travel 20,000-30,000 more fans than most ACC teams. If you build it, they will come.
My website, http://www.nkscouting.com
follows college basketball and football prospects
in the high schools of Virginia, especially players that
UVa and VA Tech may eventually recruit.
Hokies by 17
Hoos by 14
Logan has a little bit more to say about playing in Salem for Brookville in the Lynchburg News and Advance this morning.
Expanding Lane doesn’t come free, and the fantasy that 20-30K (laughable estimate) fans would come up from SEC schools for every game in Blacksburg is, well, laughable.
There is a lot of logic and input from other schools showing that expansion of Lane is not necessarily a good factor for revenue enhancement. Of course, the fantasy football mentality doesn’t look at the logic behind conference realignment, those boys just dream of playing in the SEC with the fantasy that VT would go 10-3 there every year like we do in the much weaker ACC.
Silly rabbit… Twix are for kids.
hello from beautiful Yuma, AZ. 105 – 115 every day. Its like walking around with a full body blow dryer in your face. Working 14 hrs/day so I have not commented in a while. Off day today so I am back.
Hokies by 21 1/2. Hoos by 2. This is not the year for an early season upset plus Skip Holz is in another state.
Peyton is done. Darn shame but I don’t see how he comes back from this. They may have players who have had the same surgery and still play but I bet they are 10 years younger. I wish him well but after 14 years in the league 35 is the new 50.
As a fantasy player I was happy with that interference call because it gave Ingram a goal-line carry. But I was hurt because he didn’t score. Yes, Ingram was on my team this week….
VT wins by 24
UVA loses by 4
#38 “Expanding Lane doesn’t come free, and the fantasy that 20-30K (laughable estimate) fans would come up from SEC schools for every game in Blacksburg is, well, laughable.”
You might be right but I’m not sure. When I first started attending VT games in the 70′s the stadium seated 48,000 and I have vivid recollection of many games drawing between 35 to 40k. They sold out back then, but only for the marquee match ups. I remember Bill Brill saying, much to our consternation, VT would never stand a chance in the ACC. Then I remember when there were rumblings of VT joining the Big East, Jack Bogaczyk said VT would be a better fit for the Colonial Athletic League, playing JMU, W&M, Del, Drexel etc. Most of you guys remember all that I’m sure. Now VT is in the ACC selling out over 66K a game and is the dominant football team in the conference. They are competitive in B’ball and have one of their best recruiting classes joining the team this year. If you had told Brill or Bogacyzk then that VT, then a middle of the road independent, would accomplish what they have now, they would have said that was laughable, that it was fantasy. VT would never get in the ACC let alone be THE football team. So I am not sure I buy the argument that joining and being competitive in the SEC is a fantasy.
I’ll pick one SEC team, So Carolina. USC, according to their web site, has sold out all of its games since 2001. The stadium holds 80K and for much of that time the team has come to personify mediocrity. On top of that, the more successful in-state Clemson Tigers are only a little more than 2 hours away and their stadium is larger than USC’s. Throw in the differential of the population of the two states and I believe the SEC would look very favorably at VT as being an enhancement to their conference. Not saying VT should or will, but I definitely feel VT would be competitive and could draw the crowds.
VT by 27
Look at the amount of Alabama red in the stands in distant (and much harder to access via plane or car than Blacksburg) State College PA this afternoon….VT is every bit of a draw as Penn State nowadays, and Bama has, easily, 10% of the stadium filled in red. Abdnva, I can only assume that you haven’t lived in the SEC country and you haven’t seen the way their fans travel. 20,000 to Blacksburg may be a low estimate, frankly.
Is Vanderbilt going to bring 20-30K fans? Is Ole Miss going to bring 20-30K fans? Is Kentucky going to bring 20-30K fans? Like I said before, fantasy football is much different from reality. Who’s going to pay for the pretend expansion to Lane?
See, there’s a lot more to it than just seeing one game on TV and thinking that translates into six home games year after year after year. There’s a lot more to it than just wishing VT could be dominant in the best football conference. There’s other sports, too, that the fantasy crowd ignores. How much will it cost to send a volleyball team to Baton Rouge instead of Winston Salem? A baseball team? A track team? Soccer? Most of the SEC doesn’t even play soccer, or other sports that VT is building into solid programs. But nobody wants to look at that, they just want to fantasize about playing Bama, Florida, LSU, Auburn, Texas A&M & Tennessee home & away every year. Who needs the reality of schedules in a 16 team conference? Let’s just ignore those pesky details…
I think there is a large alumni base that would pay for it. (This year’s reseating will bring in another huge haul, for instance.) I think this is why the AD started backtracking (somewhat) on the earlier statements that made it seem like they were dead-set against a move.
Also, they have to be considering that a future mega-conference expansion may leave the ACC decimated, and may also drastically alter the current BCS ‘automatic-qualifier’ formula. The ACC may be forced to expand by adding weaker schools (Syracuse & UConn replacing FSU & Clemson, as a hypothetical scenario), which would potentially weaken the conference’s ability to make huge TV money (particularly if the networks sink greater amounts into an expanded SEC or Big 10), also hurting VT’s recruiting. I think it’s a domino effect in either case & the worst thing to do is to be caught flatfooted. And the other sports don’t even weigh into this consideration, given the amount of money involved in football — the NCAA world is purely ruled by football and football money. (see TCU joining the Big East as an example)
Fantasy? Maybe. But I think it’s more potentially reality than you think.
This year’s reseating will not bring in another huge haul. A simple check of the facts show that season ticket sales have fallen off from past years, and that Hokie Club donations are not increasing even remotely close to the way they did immediately after the ACC acceptance.
Also, why just blindly assume the ACC will be ‘decimated’ in a possible move to 16 team mega conferences? See, that’s just the point I’ve made all along – making all types of assumptions just to keep the hype of SEC membership alive. Why do none of the fantasy footballers want to admit that if ANY conference is weakening its’ brand, it is the SEC. They are already the dominant football conference – every other sport they are average or worse. All of the teams being bandied about by the fantasy crowd would not be upper tier teams. They are good teams in their current conferences, but none have shown they would improve the SEC brand in the slightest.
See, facts don’t matter to the fantasy that VT is jumping to the SEC. It’s all guessing, all fantasy.
Some facts on funding – Hokie Club membership has dropped 10% in the last decade. From approximately 12K in 2000, membership has only reached the 12K mark one other time, and then just barely. Membership has held pretty steadily in the 11-12K range every year. In 2010, Hokie Club membership was about 10.7K.
Well, how much have these HC folks been donating? Surely that has skyrocketed, right? No. Since ACC membership, donations have continually held in the low $20 million range. The highest was $25 mil six years ago, and in 2010 the total was $22.9 million.
As for attendance? Official stats say Lane sells out every game since the expansion. Actually, the luxury suites have never all been sold for a season, and many of them are allocated for single game use to various schools (Business, Engineering, Education, etc.) within the university, just to make use of them.
So, what do we have? We have 6K new alums every year for the last decade, that’s over 60K more possible Hokie Club members. Yet we’ve actually LOST a thousand Hokie Club members in that decade. 60K new alums, net loss of about 1200 HC members. Total donations by these excited Hokie fans? Zero growth since joining the ACC, perhaps even a little loss. Attendance by these fans, especially the big dollar ones who could help fund a stadium expansion? We’ve never sold all the luxury suites we’ve got now, how could we sell any new ones?
So yeah, that ‘large alumni base that could pay for it’ is pretty much… a fantasy. Just like the fantasy of 20-30K SEC fans coming to every VT home game, and so much of the rest of the SEC dream.
You’re still not answering my original question….would you rather be mid-level in the SEC or the big dog over a significantly weakened ACC? If FSU and Clemson leave and are replaced with weaker football schools, and considering that Miami will be significantly weakened over the next decate, staying in the ACC would essentially be the same as moving back to the Big East, albeit with arguably better basketball (which hasn’t helped VT a bit, in terms of NCAA tournament births over the past few years).
RP, you’re still ignoring all kinds of facts in order to play fantasy football. Conference affiliation isn’t just about one sport, even football. At least it’s not to schools that use vision. A school that uses vision understands that – despite the myopia of fantasy footballers – there are multiple sports to consider within an athletic department, and multiple concerns for every sport.
You can dream up all types of pretend scenarios that make your wish for VT to join the SEC seem a certainty. That does NOT mean those scenarios have a chance of happening. The only two choices aren’t mid-level SEC or a decimated ACC. But you guys who only think of football and only fantasize about SEC are afraid to look at reality.