And with that, another football season is over
The football season is over. Alabama’s dominating 42-14 win against Notre Dame in the BCS title game last night put an exclamation point on the 2012-13 campaign.
Unless, of course, you count the silly season, with coaching changes, which is ongoing. Or recruiting, which heats up over the next month. Or offseason conditioning, which leads right into spring football. And once you finish that, it’s only two and a half short months — full of conference realignment rumors, no doubt — to the ACC Kickoff. And by then the 2013 season is right around the corner.
So it’s not that far off.
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Anyway, Alabama’s overwhelming victory against Notre Dame gave the SEC its seventh straight BCS championship. It also kept the Fighting Irish from joining the BCS winners club. Notre Dame joins Nebraska, Oregon and Virginia Tech as teams that have made a title game in the BCS’s 15 years, but didn’t win (debate however you’d like how USC’s vacated title** should count on this list):
- Alabama 3-0
- LSU 2-1
- Florida 2-0
- Oklahoma 1-3
- Florida State 1-2
- Ohio State 1-2
- Miami 1-1
- Texas 1-1
- USC 1-1**
- Auburn 1-0
- Tennessee 1-0
- Nebraska 0-1
- Notre Dame 0-1
- Oregon 0-1
- Virginia Tech 0-1
You’ll notice Alabama at the top. The Crimson Tide has won three of the last four BCS titles, will be two-time defending national champs and presumably the top-ranked team in the nation when it takes on Virginia Tech in the season opener in the Georgia Dome on Aug. 31.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban, as you’d expect, was already thinking about next season shortly after the title game.
"Two days from now, we've got to start on next year." Nick Saban. #Hokies #Bama 8/31/13 in Atlanta
— VT Football (@VT_Football) January 8, 2013
Virginia Tech cornerback Antone Exum had a snappy response:
@vt_football: 1. He a couple days late. I already started working!
— Antone Exum Jr. (@IAmSwag1) January 8, 2013
Did the Hokies junior just tip his hand that he’ll be returning for his senior season? He’s still made no official declaration, although that tweet seems to indicate he’ll be in a Virginia Tech uniform when the Hokies take on the Crimson Tide 8 1/2 months from now.
Until then, I’ll keep the blog going throughout the offseason, so continue to check back frequently.
January 8, 2013 - 8:56 AM
The immediate conversation starter is the coaching changes, at least for this week. Then recruiting, spring practice, etc. It would seem the most ‘dead’ season would be late spring/early summer.
Hi Andy, thanks for another great season of VT information. Just curious, do you know when the VT Alabama tickets will be available to purchase?
Bama won’t run on a Bud Foster defense like they did on ND.
‘Bama has to replace probably 3 offensive linemen, and O-line was the biggest strength of that team. If there is anything to be moderately happy about, at least Tech gets to play ‘Bama at the BEGINNING of the season when ‘Bama has three new starters than at the end of the season.
Remember when Tech had to play #1 USC to open the 2004 season and was hoping to not get crushed???????????????? Wasn’t Tech coming off a major letdown of a season? Wasn’t Tech without Me-Angelo Hall and KJ, gone to the NFL via the first round? Wasn’t Tech without its only legit receiver Ernest Wilford, also gone to the NFL?
BUT GUESS WHAT USC HAD TO BREAK IN A NEW OFFENSIVE LINE AND THEREFORE VT HELD USC TO 7 FIRST HALF POINTS AND WAS LEADING THE FREAKING GAME 10-7 AT THE HALF! HECK VT CAME CLOSER TO BEATING #1 USC IN 2004 THAN IT DID TO BEATING #1 FSU IN THE 1999 TITLE GAME.
VT HAS TO EXPLOIT THE THREE NEW STARTERS ON ‘BAMA’S O-LINE AND THEY HAVE TO MAKE TACKLES WHICH NOTRE DAME FAILED AT MISERABLY DESPITE BEING IN POSITION NUMEROUS TIMES. VT CAN’T HAVE A REPEAT PERFORMANCE OF THAT PITT DEBACLE IN WHICH IT COULDN’T HAVE TACKLED STEPHEN HAWKING!!!!!!!!!!!!
ALSO REMEMBER THAT IN 2009, VT PLAYED A ‘BAMA TEAM THAT WOULD GO ON TO WIN THE NATIONAL TITLE AND HUNG IN THERE AND I THINK VT WAS EVEN LEADING AT HALFTIME BEFORE FALLING 34-24 AND NEVER TRAILING BY MORE THAN 10 POINTS THE ENTIRE GAME. THIS WAS A BAMA DEFENSE THAT ******MADE TIM TEBOW CRY****** I REPEAT TIM TEBOW WAS RENDERED A CRYING BOY BY THAT DEFENSE… AND CONSIDERING THAT VT ONLY PUT UP 155 TOTAL YARDS OF OFFENSE IN THAT GAME AGAINST BAMA, VT PLAYED ABOUT AS WELL AS IT COULD…..VT WILL NEED KNOWLES TO BREAK SOME BIG ONES IN THE SAME WAY THAT DYRELL ROBERTS RETURNED A KICK FOR A TD AGAINST ‘BAMA IN 2009!!!!!!
IT IS TOO EARLY TO LOSE HOPE, HOKIE FANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LET’S GO HOKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Andy,
At a distance from the original Home location, I want to thank you for your work during the season. I find your blog articles valuable in trying to keep close follow up of my beloved Hokies. The off-season should (I hope), bring several topics to write about, the Offensive Staff has to see some changes for Coach Beamer, Athletic Administration and team to deliver on the expectations they have built with an opening in a Trophy case. We should have changes at O-line, and OC, and while appearing to be a very good recruiter we can only hope that young Shane can learn to make a decision on RB and allow one or two to receive more reps in practice and games to learn and develop.
That said, while I look for many improvements during the off season, let’s not get too carried away about what our D will do to Bama.. Pitt, UNC (GIO), Miami and even BC had too much Rushing yardage against our D this past year. And they are NOT equal to -3 OL BAMA.
All the best, Let’s Go Hokies…
“The significant obstacle to becoming great is the acceptance of being good..”
Much appreciation for your blog and keeping the #HokieNation up-to-date; you do a great job Andy. Looking forward to following you for 2013!
Hate to say that I have lost hope already, but what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. If Bama will be so vulnerable because of new O-linemen, then what will their D do to our O-line that has to replace at least two starters (or is it more?)? Any guesses as to who’s got a better shot of having other big sides of beef ready to step in?
Happy Bama wins look forward to playing national champs hype will be great this year hope key players come back ready tp play with new coaches
Maybe Bama will be looking ahead to its Week #2 grudge game in College Station against Texas A&M and Johnny Football and they’ll cut us some slack on the 31st.
There ain’t goin’ to be a ‘Bama / Hokie game !! Good grief ! !
NEHokies, I thought about that too. But VT-Bama is Aug. 31. Bama-TAMU is Sept. 14. There’s a bye in there.
ROLL TIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EXUM needed to start way before he did. I hope he comes back!!
Saban will use the VT/Bama game to see which walkons and third stringers can make the team. You could call it a late spring game !!
Alabama BOMBED Notre Dame, an outclassed and over matched team in the game.
Thank you to Andy for good reporting all season.
Great job this season Andy. I’ve enjoyed posting and look forward to doing so again next season. Pep Hamilton, if that’s the route we are going is definetly an exciting hire. Power running game, play action pass, an IDENTITY again! Get the defensive front ready to pressure the QB and get the secondary questions filled in. Special teams needs to go back to basics, take some chances and go after some kicks. The punt return game hasn’t had the same razzle dazzle it has in the past. BLOCK THAT KICK!
That’s weird Feffer’s Perry – Alabama is listed as the first game on VT’s schedule for 2013 on the HokieSports page. Are they wrong? I think Weaver probably knows wo he has scheduled better than you…
Yea just another cup cake to start the season with. For all you pastry lovers out there, take a look at who other top teams are starting with. If you want a good laugh, go back a watch the 04 game against USC. I have never seen a game called so curuptly . It was so obvious that the officials made sure that USC stayed # 1. The fix was in. We lost the ncg to fla st after leading that game. In 09 the hokies gave ala a good game. I bet we look a lot better against them 8/31, than #1 did last nite.
GO HOKIES !!
Who is not on the list…… hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
1. South Carolina
2. UGA
3. Texas A&M
4. Michigan
5. Arkansas
6. Missouri
7. Penn State
8. Clemson
9. UVA
10. 92 other teams who play at our level..
Yup. Our fans are correct. Our program is just awful….. We have played in a game that 101 other teams have not in the last 15 years.
Now it is irritating that the SEC is like 9-1 and the one loss was in a SEC v SEC matchup. But still…….
Boyd is in a dream world, he hasn’t been watching the same Bud Foster defense that I have the past couple of years, i.e., giving up an average of 30 points per game. The Rutgers game was an anomoly because their quarterback was worse than one could imagine, just two bad teams playing in a bowl game that mean’t nothing to most folks. What did he give up against Clemson the past three games, 90+ points. Alabama will have their second string in against VT (if they even play) after the first quarter. VT vs Bama’ is a great story line for opening game just like the media hyped Notre Dame and Alabama as some great contest for the ages. It was for the ages okay, the dark ages. Just another strong argument for a playoff system, the game last night was a joke on all of us.
I think that the 2009 game against Bama was the straw that should have broken the camels back and sweeping changes to the offense definately should have been made after that season (Really I think when the Hokies lost to Kansas in the Orange Bowl the changes should have been made). To me, that 2009 Virginia Tech squad was the BEST that Frank Beamer ever had. Going into the fourth quarter, could you have imagined the horror on Nick Saban’s face if only someone up in Blacksburg had the sense to bring in 6-6 Logan Thomas and line him up at wideout, fullback, or even TE. Personally I would have lined him up at tight end first and then sent him in motion to then line up at wideout just to see what Bama would do. They would have had to call a time out. Bama’s whole philosophy on defense for that game was to stop Tyrod Taylor from scrambling. So they didn’t rush him really, they kept him in the pocket and forced him to beat them. Tech should have gotten David Wilson into the act too. It was a terrible waste of talent and a missed opportunity for the Hokies to make a statement. Tech was good enough to beat Bama that night, but the offense just couldn’t deliver, even though they had the pieces to do it. They should not have been able to key on Tyrod like that. It should have been the Bama defense that was exhausted going into the fourth quarter not Tech. How do you have Tyrod Taylor, Ryan Williams, Darren Evans, David Williams, Logan Thomas, DJ Coles, Dyrell Roberts, Marcus Davis, Coales, and Boykin at your disposal and only muster 150 some yards of offense. Taylor should have had that all by himself. Tech should have spread the field with 3 and four wide receivers and made Bama play defense. The possibilities with that offense were endless, but no one knew how to make it click.
Then on defense, some genius decides that it’s a good idea to move Vinston Painter and Nick Becton from the defensive line and put them on offense before the game that year. The game was lost because Tech got exhausted at the end. Painter and Becton could have been used to keep guys fresh on the defensive line. I don’t believe Painter or Becton played a snap on offense the whole year. The coaching staff up in Blacksburg just does craziness all the time.
The key to next years game is the kid out of Lafayette Thomas Smith and the DE Wyatt Teller. There is no way that Teller should redshirt. They are going to need him. And I was reading that Thomas Smith is now 6-5 230. They have to match him up against the smaller corners of Alabama and exploit them. I really think that Tech has the pieces to pull the upset. But can they exploit Bama is the question?
While we are closing the books on this terrible season, ANDY, please tell us how much less Hokie Football made this year, vis a vis last year; and how much less is projected for next season including the loss of the Alabama game on Labor Day. LET’S HAVE SOME ACCOUNT-ABILITY ! ! !
Tech will obviously be major underdogs for the opener next Aug 31. Alabama’s level of talent is unreal. But I like the motivation for the Hokies in the offseason. Hopefully Bama’s thrashing of the Irish will motivate every Tech player to run a little more, lift a little more and watch more film. LSU is probably the only team that can go toe to toe with Bama. But now the Hokies know that anything short of perfection and they’ll look like Notre Dame last night. Get to work boys.
VT scoring Defense by year since 2007.
2007 – 16.1ppg 3rd in nation
2008 – 16.7ppg 7th in nation
2009 – 15.9ppg 9th in nation
2010 – 20.6ppg 26th in nation
2011 – 17.6ppg 7th in nation
2012 – 22.8ppg 31st in nation
Barry this upsets me. I thought you were an honest, upstanding, unbiased commentor on this blog… how fooled I was.
“I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
VT would’ve beat USC if not for the phantom offensive pass interference call.
I think the Hokies will be hungry for this one…might just pull it off.
And I can’t stand McCarron…would love to see Bud unleash the boys against hem.
Enjoy your work Andy. Let us know when some changes are taking place.
For a team to go thru a season undefeated it has to be lucky or very good. ND was lucky in 2012 and could have been had in at least 3 games. The Irish luck ran out when it faced Alabama and the true ND was exposed.
All these comments are good I especially liked the good joke. I believe it went like this, Alabama want run on the Bud Foster defense. That is probably correct because Alabama will run over the Hokie defense. Don’t worry the Hokies will play enough cupcakes to get a bowl game.
Cupcakes like their ACC schedule?
Always makes me laugh when the ND haters get their way. Bama won’t run on Bud’s defense like they did ND? So Bud wasn’t coaching when Pitt ran for 254 or when UNC ran for 339 or even the lowly Eagles of BC for 167? I love Bud and never want him to leave, but let’s at least use facts. This wasn’t his best year and at least he’s the only coach willing to admit it. I do think the defense will be much better next year and with the offense (assuming and hoping for the correct changes will be made) better, that will only help the defense as well.
I’m looking forward to the Bama game next year. VT might not win, but these are games we should be playing. You can’t truly see where you are as a team or prepare for conference games by playing Antarctica Community College.
Andy, keep up the good work covering VT football. Enjoy your research and accurate unbiased insight.Thanks for keeping up the blog.
For Lonnie – yes Bama does lose 3 offensive linaman. What type of recruits does Bama have on the bench. What happened to Tech when Farris was forced off the bench????????????
Great job this year, Andy…………..
And “LONNIE”, please, stop SHOUTING!!!!……Almost your entire blog was in CAPS???????
How ’bout Bud coaching a Tech D that held FSU to -15 yards rushing and FSU having the best rush offense Tech played all year, not to mention best O-line. Why isn’t THAT being mentioned????????????????????????????????
Did I EVER say that VT would win? In fact, in my two examples, VT lost both times.
I’m just tired of this “OH NO THE SKY’S FALLING! WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!” mentality from so many fans when VT has surprised people before with its play.
I get it, it’s certainly possible that VT repeats a horrendous performance like getting crushed 48-7 by LSU in 2007. I REALLY HOPE THAT BUD AND CO. LEARNED A LOT FROM THAT TRAGEDY. But sometimes, VT does play UP to its level of competition which is why I mentioned the two examples that I did. And I didn’t even mention VT playing #1 Miami with all of its NFL talent down to the wire in a 26-24 loss in 2001.
‘Bama thinks its a cake walk… I hope they are still thinking that way on the 31st.
OBB