Going forward into next season

[NickVT10]

in conference schedule
@ A&M - 11-2 (6-2) last year
vs Ole Miss - 7-6 (3-5)
@ KY - 2-10 (0-8)
vs Ark - 4-8 (2-6)
vs Tenn - 5-7 (1-7)
vs LSU - 10-3 (6-2)
@ Miss St - 8-5 (4-4)
@ Auburn - 3-9 (0-8)

is their in conference schedule really that bad?
Opponents have a combined record of 50-50 last year, half of their SEC opponents finished below .500

Yeah it's the SEC, a conference with 2-3 really good teams, a bunch of middle of the road teams that are no better than other AQ middle of the road teams, and a few bottom feeders, that are just as bad as the other bottom feeders in the country.

This

 

[hokiegrad]

Yes, I'm aware that the SEC is a tough conference, but we were talking about OOC schedules. My point is the majority of BCS teams don't schedule more than one big OOC game a year. With a few exceptions there's one tough game, a 1-AA game, and then 1-2 games against MAC/Sun Belt/WAC/C-USA teams.

I have never understood why people want to look at OOC schedule alone as much as they do. The only thing that looking at OOC schedule gives you is a way to judge the strength of one conference against another. It doesn't do anything to tell you the strength of one team against another. Only looking at the full schedule can do that.

If you play in a strong conference, you can get away with weaker OOC games, because the conference schedule will make up for it. If you play in a weak conference, you need to offset that by playing tougher OOC games. It makes no sense to compare OOC schedules between a team in a tougher conference and a team in a weaker conference.

 

[hokiegrad]

in conference schedule
@ A&M - 11-2 (6-2) last year
vs Ole Miss - 7-6 (3-5)
@ KY - 2-10 (0-8)
vs Ark - 4-8 (2-6)
vs Tenn - 5-7 (1-7)
vs LSU - 10-3 (6-2)
@ Miss St - 8-5 (4-4)
@ Auburn - 3-9 (0-8)

is their in conference schedule really that bad?
Opponents have a combined record of 50-50 last year, half of their SEC opponents finished below .500

Yeah it's the SEC, a conference with 2-3 really good teams, a bunch of middle of the road teams that are no better than other AQ middle of the road teams, and a few bottom feeders, that are just as bad as the other bottom feeders in the country.

Last year was an outlier. Alabama did get a very light schedule in 2012 compared to other years. That's the way it goes... some years you have a tougher conference schedule than others.

But I have to disagree with your last paragraph. We discussed this several months ago, and the evidence actually shows that over the years the ranking for the SEC's 4th best team averages higher than that of the 4th best team in any other conference, same for the 5th best team, same for the 6th best team, all the way down the line.

 

[757Hokie83]

Last year was an outlier. Alabama did get a very light schedule in 2012 compared to other years. That's the way it goes... some years you have a tougher conference schedule than others.

But I have to disagree with your last paragraph. We discussed this several months ago, and the evidence actually shows that over the years the ranking for the SEC's 4th best team averages higher than that of the 4th best team in any other conference, same for the 5th best team, same for the 6th best team, all the way down the line.

I was looking at Bama's '13 schedule.

sure, if you want to go with the flawed rankings that give the SEC an undeserved boost every year by placing 10-12 SEC teams in the preseason top 25

 

[Ray]

Yes, but one quality opponent doesn't justify multiple cupcakes in a given year. Florida State already plays Florida.

I hope VT does schedule ND. Now we're talking.

doesn't ND play 5 acc teams a year, that means at least once every 3 years we'll play them so yeah 2015 could be the year

 

[jgHokie]

is their in conference schedule really that bad?
Opponents have a combined record of 50-50 last year, half of their SEC opponents finished below .500

Yeah it's the SEC, a conference with 2-3 really good teams, a bunch of middle of the road teams that are no better than other AQ middle of the road teams, and a few bottom feeders, that are just as bad as the other bottom feeders in the country.

A FRICKEN MEN!! finally..someone else that can see through the bs. this "tough sec schedule" crap has gotten on my nerves for years. they don't play any tougher of a schedule than anyone else. agree with all your points 100%

 

[HoHumHokie]

Yeah it's the SEC, a conference with 2-3 4-5 really good teams, a bunch of middle of the road teams that are no better than other AQ middle of the road teams, and a few bottom feeders, that are just as bad as the other bottom feeders in the country.

Edit

 

[hokiegrad]

I was looking at Bama's '13 schedule.

sure, if you want to go with the flawed rankings that give the SEC an undeserved boost every year by placing 10-12 SEC teams in the preseason top 25

wasn't... that old conversation was using the Sagarin rankings. Here's the link: http://www.sportshoopla.com/forums/virginia-tech/71167-realignment-thread-8.html#post2026157

 

[hokiegrad]

doesn't ND play 5 acc teams a year, that means at least once every 3 years we'll play them so yeah 2015 could be the year

nobody is saying that it couldn't be. But don't forget that ND is going to play out their already scheduled games with ACC foes, which throws a wrench into the early scheduling. Also, one-game-every-3-years on average really means two-games-every-six-years, since we'll play home-and-away.

 

[rockhead44]

A FRICKEN MEN!! finally..someone else that can see through the bs. this "tough sec schedule" crap has gotten on my nerves for years. they don't play any tougher of a schedule than anyone else. agree with all your points 100%

Baloney. Any SEC schedule this season is tougher than ours.

 

[757Hokie83]

wasn't... that old conversation was using the Sagarin rankings. Here's the link: http://www.sportshoopla.com/forums/virginia-tech/71167-realignment-thread-8.html#post2026157

i'm just saying i dont put a lot of stock into rankings, or even the sagarin rankings...i go by what i see on the field. aside from a couple top teams, they are a bunch of easily beatable teams....

i mean hell, Sagarin #7 UF almost lost to #62 UL Lafayette, #4 UGA narrowly got by #93 Kentucky, #10 LSU, squeaked by #81 Auburn and #65 Arkansas

they are not heads and shoulders above everyone else like people prop them up to be is all i'm saying

 

[hokiegrad]

i'm just saying i dont put a lot of stock into rankings, or even the sagarin rankings...i go by what i see on the field. aside from a couple top teams, they are a bunch of easily beatable teams....

"Easily" is going a bit far, unless you mean more than 2 when you say "a couple". Aside from a [smaller number of] top teams, [every other conference] is a bunch of easily beatable teams.

i mean hell, Sagarin #7 UF almost lost to #62 UL Lafayette, #4 UGA narrowly got by #93 Kentucky, #10 LSU, squeaked by #81 Auburn and #65 Arkansas

That's the way football works. Pick pretty much any team and you can find a lowly-ranked team that they barely got by.

they are not heads and shoulders above everyone else like people prop them up to be is all i'm saying

Depends on what you mean. How do you define "head and shoulders above everyone else"? If you're objecting to crazy SEC fans saying any SEC team is better than your team because they play in the toughest conference, yeah, I agree with you. If we're talking about which conference has the toughest conference schedule, the answer is clearly the SEC, or at least it has been in recent memory. How much tougher is where the debate should be. Or whether that will continue.

 

[awaz]

"Easily" is going a bit far, unless you mean more than 2 when you say "a couple". Aside from a [smaller number of] top teams, [every other conference] is a bunch of easily beatable teams.



That's the way football works. Pick pretty much any team and you can find a lowly-ranked team that they barely got by.



Depends on what you mean. How do you define "head and shoulders above everyone else"? If you're objecting to crazy SEC fans saying any SEC team is better than your team because they play in the toughest conference, yeah, I agree with you. If we're talking about which conference has the toughest conference schedule, the answer is clearly the SEC, or at least it has been in recent memory. How much tougher is where the debate should be. Or whether that will continue.

agree.. last year IMO it was:

SEC


Everyone else

------------------------------------------------

but most people thought:

SEC














Everyone else

 

[ckhokie]

Baloney. Any SEC schedule this season is tougher than ours.

Ours, yes. But the ACC is crap. The SEC isn't that much better than say the BigXII that they deserve to get a free pass on OOC scheduling every year

 

[757Hokie83]

"Easily" is going a bit far, unless you mean more than 2 when you say "a couple". Aside from a [smaller number of] top teams, [every other conference] is a bunch of easily beatable teams.



That's the way football works. Pick pretty much any team and you can find a lowly-ranked team that they barely got by.



Depends on what you mean. How do you define "head and shoulders above everyone else"? If you're objecting to crazy SEC fans saying any SEC team is better than your team because they play in the toughest conference, yeah, I agree with you. If we're talking about which conference has the toughest conference schedule, the answer is clearly the SEC, or at least it has been in recent memory. How much tougher is where the debate should be. Or whether that will continue.

-well yeah, i meant more than two teams...its typically 3, sometimes 4 really good teams.

-second point, yeah it is the way football works...any team can beat any other team on any given saturday, thats why i dont put too much stock in how good the polls or a computer says a team is...i rely on what i see week to week. and for example a team like Florida almost going down to UL Lafayette, clearly isnt quite as good as everyone thought

-third, i agree with what you said there. i agree they are the best conference, at the moment, but not by as nearly as big of a gap as most of their fans, and disney employees would have you believe.

i guess part of me is still hung up on last years natty...i wholeheartedly stand by the concept that if you cannot win your conference, you cannot compete for the national championship game...i mean that championship game was set up when the regular season ended...there were people saying even if LSU lost to UGA, they'd still be in...just ludicrous, if you ask me.

 

[hokiegrad]

As expected, McKinnon's charge was reduced to a misdemeanor. Should be back on the team for the spring, but that's not announced yet.
http://blogs.roanoke.com/andybitter...isdemeanor-should-pave-way-for-reinstatement/

 

[Sleepy T]

At the top o' heap, the SEC is the best conference. They have won most of the nattys in the last 5-10 years. Their middle of the pack teams are better than many 2-3 teams in other conferences. Until the ACC, B1G, and other conferences start winning the non-conference games (consistently) against the Vanderbilt, Auburn, Arkansas teams...the perception will not change, and honestly, maybe it shouldn't IMO.

It also doesn't hurt that ESPn and every other major sports outlet/network is all over them nutz...they affect the rankings more than anything.

 

[hokiecheme11]

VT Harlem Shake Video started by Frank himself. Can't get on youtube at work, but its linked at TKP

Virginia Tech Football Harlem Shake Video | The Key Play

 

[hokiegrad]

names that are missing compared to last fall's roster:
Logan Baker
Tyler Barfield
Darian Fisher
Justus Hoffmann
David Mellstrom
Joe St. Germain

That last one is surprising. It was reported that Joe had earned a scholarship back in January. Wondering if this is just a webmaster snafu...

Oh, and McKinnon, who's still suspended.

St. Germain is now listed on the roster again.

Bitter also pointed out that Der'Woun Greene has moved from CB to WR (Flanker), per the roster position listings. I went back and checked, and found a few other minor position changes:

JR Collins moved back from DT to DE
Woody Baron moved from DE to DT
Ross Ward moved from OG to DT
Laurence Gibson is listed as an OG, not an OT
Justin Taylor moved from DT to DE

 

[NickVT10]

Just got an inside scoop on a few things. According to some of the players, Grimes' knowledge and understanding is lightyears ahead of Newsome's.(not a big shock but good to hear) Grimes is also apparently a pretty big hard ass pushing and preaching toughness and working the guys in their voluntary stuff the OL does together. (he isnt hands on because he cant be yet but he passes the words on to the players kind of deal). Also the playbook seems to be about 60/40 run plays from what i've heard and Leoffler appears to be a funny guy with the team from what i've heard.

Some notes on players. They are moving a few guys around on the OL to add onto what hokiegrad listed. Wang is getting some work at center and will in the spring. Acree moved to OG. Conte has been working with the first team guys some in the voluntary stuff they do as group. Conte is also up to 295lbs.