A few more thoughts on the Hokies’ 2013 schedule
After a long, long wait, the ACC finally put out its full 2013 schedule yesterday. I wrote about it on the blog here.
Now for a few more thoughts about it …
Follow me on Twitter and Facebook.
– Even the most ardent Virginia Tech fan would say it’s a pretty lame home schedule. With the marquee matchup of Alabama being a neutral site game in Atlanta, that doesn’t leave a whole lot of meat on the bone for the Hokies’ home slate.
Western Carolina and Marshall are snoozers, from a fan’s perspective. Tech gets Duke at home for a second straight year because of a scheduling quirk. Maryland might generate some interest, just because it’ll be the last time the teams play as ACC foes.
The two best home games are probably North Carolina and Pittsburgh, both of which beat the Hokies soundly last year. Those matchups come in back-to-back weeks in October.
The Tar Heels, in Year 2 of the Larry Fedora era, will probably be the tougher matchup, particularly with Bryn Renner back. But the Panthers always seem to play the Hokies tough, regardless of location.
– The Hokies’ opener against two-time defending national champion Alabama is just part of a big opening weekend for the ACC.
Before that game takes place in the Georgia Dome that Saturday, North Carolina opens up with a Thursday night game at South Carolina. Saturday also features Georgia playing at Clemson, Penn State vs. Syracuse in MetLife Stadium and BYU at Virginia. Even Louisiana Tech at N.C. State could be interesting.
That’s a big weekend for the league in terms of national reputation. A solid showing could give the ACC some momentum to start the season, rather than having to put up with the same old jokes from fans of the other major conferences.
To top it off, Florida State welcomes Pittsburgh to the league on the Labor Day night game. If it was in Tallahassee, it’d be no contest. In Pittsburgh, though, who knows?
– Tech’s easiest portion of the schedule has to be the three weeks after the Alabama opener. It plays Western Carolina, at East Carolina and vs. Marshall. Those are three games the Hokies should be able to win, regardless of how they fare against the Crimson Tide.
– All the talk about the schedule has been about the lack of Thursday night home games, but the Hokies still have a Thursday night game at Georgia Tech on Sept. 26 to start ACC play.
That’s only five days after their matchup with Marshall. Fret not. The Yellow Jackets host North Carolina five days earlier.
The Hokies have never had less than a week of prep time before the Georgia Tech game. Recent seasons have either positioned the matchup coming off a bye or, as was the case last year, in the season opener, allowing for extra preparation time. Certainly, having less time will make it harder to prepare for the Yellow Jackets’ spread option offense, but such is life.
As I wrote last year, the bye week advantage/disadvantage is largely a myth. That said, Georgia Tech’s offense is so unique that having less time than normal will surely make it tougher than usual.
– The Hokies have a three-game homestand after that, playing North Carolina, Pittsburgh and Duke in a row. It’s an odd setup. After Oct. 26, Virginia Tech has just one home game.
That means in the 48-day span from Sept. 15 to Nov. 1, Tech leaves Blacksburg just once (to face Georgia Tech in Atlanta).
– Three of the last four games are on the road, with trips to Boston College (again), Miami (again) and Virginia.
On the surface, that looks like a tough way to finish the season, but the home game during that stretch is Maryland, which means three of the final four games are against teams that didn’t make a bowl last year (BC, Maryland, UVa) and combined to go 5-19 in conference play. That’s certainly a manageable finish.
– As you’ll notice, there’s no Clemson and Florida State on the schedule. From the fans’ standpoint, that’s probably disappointing, since it makes the schedule less appealing. From a competitive standpoint, particularly for a team coming off a 7-6 season, its worst in 20 years, avoiding those two teams probably isn’t the worst thing in the world.
– For fans bemoaning the lack of marquee home games on the schedule, remember that Virginia Tech is scheduled to host Ohio State in 2015 and Wisconsin in 2016. Notre Dame will be on the schedule soon, although it’s unclear where that first matchup will take place. And Jim Weaver has said on Tech Talk Live that he’s had conversations with a Big Ten team about a home-and-home in the future.
The Hokies have agreed to neutral site games with marquee opponents in the past (Boise State, Alabama twice), but it seems like it would behoove them to get those matchups as home-and-homes if possible to bulk up the schedule, particularly in an expanded ACC when they’ll miss Florida State and Clemson more frequently.
They could probably take a cue from Virginia, which has scheduled home-and-homes with BYU, Oregon, UCLA, Stanford and now Boise State in the future. At the very least, it has generated a ton of buzz among the fan base.
February 26, 2013 - 9:07 AM
The schedule is what it is. Tech football has other problems to be addressed.
Let’s go Hokies !
WOW…coming off a sub-par year and they get one of the better schedules possible. Say all you want about this….bottom line if VT cant win big this year….when will they?
Bama first game..ok…good luck…but the rest of the way…come on.
Another long football year in the valley…if they win…who have they beaten…if they lose..oh no…the world will come to an end.
We had a disappointing season last year. A fairly poor home schedule. A horrible basketball season. A horrible economy. If there is ever a time for fans to drop out, this would be it.
The schedules for several years have been reflective of Jim Weaver’s absolute dismissal of fan interest. It’s just that people have ignored it while savoring the high of the (flimsily constructed) ten win streak. It’s been four years since a ranked OOC team even visited Lane Stadium. Before that, it was five years. Weaver has been content to bilk the fan base with a steady diet of directional schools and FCS opposition.
If Weaver is negotiating with a B1G team, my bet is that it is probably Indiana or one of the other bottom third teams.
Weaver needs to go!! He’s bringing both programs down!! Knocking off Bama would help cure some ills though and generate more excitement in Blacksburg…but those are pretty slim odds.
While “fans bemoaning the lack of marquee home games” is a worthwhile topic, I would think the greater concern is Hokie fans bemoaning the lack of “marquee” WINS – home or away.
CR, I agree. It’s not butts in the seats that counts for Weaver but tickets sold and revenue. Too many snooze fests with the likes of directional teams (especially W. Mich where he once worked), Marshall etc. I know there are Weaver proponents but I just have never thought he’s been about the fan experience (not sure if he had anything to do with the new scoreboard but props to him if so) and his hires have been uninspired, to put it nicely. I will give credit where credit is due. VT has played Bama, Boise, S. Cal. and now have Ohio St. and Wisconsin on the schedule for the years 2014 through 2017 (again notice the Big 10 geographic preference which I’m not to thrilled with).
Chris, let’s hope Beamer’s new hires will help in that respect.
Not football-related, but thought commenters might be interested. A UNC rape victim is now being threatened with expulsion and honor code violations for filing a complaint about UNCs handling of the case and allowing the alleged suspect to remain there. UNC is going down the drain.
You know, really, who cares? Just win the damn games.
Pitt played ND really tough last year. Their record did not show any reason why that should be. ND still went to the title game. What matters most is the record at the end.
As far as the Wimpy Bees of Atlanta goes we have played them now a few times with the guys we have on D and Bud has seen them now a few times. I think the mystery is pretty much over. Call me when MEGATRON rejoins their WR lineup.
This coming season will be about what improvements we have made in our schemes and execution.
Weaver’s last job prior to coming to VT was at Western Mich. which has played VT now three times and are again scheduled in ’14. Two of those games were played at VT and the combined score of all three games is 124-0. That is not one of my usual typos; they have not scored on VT in three games . Now I can see how Weaver would use his contacts with that team for a “fill in” game but next year’s is #4. Unless I’m unaware of any other reason than the fact Weaver used to work there, I see no reason to keep playing this team which by car is 589 miles and 9 1/2 hours away and plays in the MAC. Is there anything compelling about this game that is going to draw those folks who are “on the fence” about going for whatever reason? All dyed in the wool Hokie fans are going to come unless they have mega miles to travel like the folks I bought tickets from last year and live in Alabama. They won’t come and who is going to buy tickets for that game?
Just posted on AMc’s site that another effect of a weak schedule is recruiting. Marquee players want to play the best. Our OOC schedule will not enduce those recruits on the fence to choose Tech. UVA’s aggressive schedule may jeopardize our in-state recruiting.
I think by any definition of the word “best,” Alabama would certainly qualify.
Andy: 1, Tom: 0
scott w, Weaver agreed to the new scoreboards because of the same reason Frank Beamer finally made coaching changes years too late – very heavy pressure from certain moneyed donors.
-
Also, keep in mind that ISP is funding a large share of the updates, so it’s not like Weaver is spending much money on them anyway.
-
As for the litany of ranked teams we’ve played, games played outside of Lane are an additional expense for season ticket holders, as well as a road trip for most of them. Actual ranked OOC teams that have played in Lane since 2004 include WVU that year, and LSU in 2009. That’s it. Otherwise, it’s been a steady diet of directional teams, JMU (OOPS!), AppState, ArkState, etc. That’s typically three of the six/seven home games each season that are provided.
“They could probably take a cue from Virginia, which has scheduled home-and-homes with BYU, Oregon, UCLA, Stanford and now Boise State in the future. At the very least, it has generated a ton of buzz among the fan base.”
You mean like the home-and-home games Tech has scheduled with both Ohio State and Wisconsin?
I mean doing more than one BCS-level non-conference game in a year. UVa has BYU and Oregon in 2013, UCLA and BYU in 2014, UCLA and Boise State in 2015 and Stanford and Boise State in 2017. VT’s second-best non-conference game every year is East Carolina. That is not generating a lot of excitement.
OOC home games for VT since joining the ACC:
-
2004: Western Michigan, West Virginia (#6), Florida A&M
2005: Ohio, Marshall
2006: Northeastern, Cincinnati, Southern Miss, Kent State
2007: East Carolina, Ohio, William & Mary
2008: Furman, Western Kentucky
2009: Marshall, Nebraska (#19)
2010: James Madison, East Carolina, Central Michigan
2011: Appalachian State, Arkansas State
2012: Austin Peay, Bowling Green
-
OOC neutral site games for VT since joining the ACC:
2004: USC (#1), Fedex Field
2008: East Carolina, Bank of America Stadium
2009: Alabama (#5), Georgia Dome
2010: Boise State (#3), Fedex Field
2012: Cincinnati, Fedex Field
-
There’s 2 things to be gleaned from this: 1, VT OOC home game slates are historically weak and mostly uninteresting…there’s just not been many games that are great matchups (2002 was the exception, with LSU and Marshall both ranked, plus Texas A&M in College Station). 2, VT has lost all of those neutral site games.
Other John #18 – Excellent summary. It kind of dovetails with my comment #6.
It’s easier to schedule tough teams if you’re a pushover like UVA
OJ, that is really interesting, only two OOC games against ranked teams at VT since ’04. I think Jerry’s point about UVa having an easier time scheduling those types of games is also valid. Coincidentally VT won those two games.
Just to finish out the OOC summary, OOC road games since joining the ACC:
-
2004: None
2005: West Virginia
2006: None
2007: LSU (#2)
2008: Nebraska
2009: East Carolina
2010: None
2011: East Carolina, Marshall
2012: Pittsburgh
Based on the OOC scheduling, it basically looks like this to me, on average: 1 BCS program, 2 mid-level non BCS schools, and an FCS opponent.
-
I’d prefer to see 2 BCS-level programs a season, with 1 of them a historically good program, for which a win would be considered a solid accomplishment. The other 2 games, those could be against non-BCS programs, but let’s get rid of the FCS schools from the schedule…especially given how weak the ACC tends to be, and that the unbalanced schedule rotation sometimes allows for really, really bad slates of conference games.