Notre Dame to the ACC

This morning it was announced that Notre Dame is going to join the ACC in all “non-football sports”, or should I say all money sucking sports plus basketball.  Anyways, joking aside, I think this is a good move for the ACC and here are 4 reasons why.

1) Any association with Notre Dame is good publicity.  Notre Dame is one of the most respected and admired schools in the country.  Before you go all crazy on me hear me out.  This isn’t because they are the best school or have the best athletic department or are particularly relevant recently; it’s actually just a simple issue of supply and demand? Any chance you remember learning that in college? Well, that is what is happening here.  Notre Dame has been and will continue to be the most demanded school in college sports solely because no one can have them. They're football program is "not for sale". And, this has caused their value to soar through the roof.  Today, that value remains high because no conference (including the ACC) has yet to “own” their football program.  But, they do have their other sports and 50 million+ buyout.  The ACC will have the Notre Dame association for a long time and Notre Dame will continue to be valuable making the ACC more valuable. 

2) The addition of Notre Dame will bring in more money.  I saw it written today that the ACC expects each team to earn an extra 1-2 million dollars by adding the Irish.  I’d do that in a heartbeat! I would bet that money could be well used in funding a few cool new facilities around campus or to pay a top level coach.  More money is always good and will be good for the schools in the ACC.

3) The ACC will get to play Notre Dame five times each year in football.  A game with Notre Dame is a huge coup for any school and will draw a lot of media attention to the ACC.  I do realize that this is really only one more game per year for the ACC, but the best part is that teams like Clemson, Florida State, and Virginia Tech will get a chance to play another nationally televised game.  Also, many lesser teams will have a chance to host the Irish, dramatically increasing average ticket sales for non-conference games. 

4) Non-football sports will be better.  Notre Dame has been traditionally good in many sports, particularly men’s and women’s basketball, women’s soccer and lacrosse.  The addition of another quality opponent will both help current ACC schools to perform better as well as increase the public perception of the ACC overall.

Guest Post: Mrs. dallas hokie (Part 2)

If you missed part 1 of today's post you can check it out here.  Mrs. dallas hokie gave us some great info about Oklahoma State and this coming football season.  

In this post I ask her to make some predictions for the upcoming season.  I've read them and while I might not agree with everything, I can't argue with her logic.  

5) So we all know you hate OU and think Landry Jones is overrated, but who do you think will win the Big 12? And do you have a preseason pick for Heisman? If so, who? If not, why won’t Landry Jones win it? Also, who will play for the National Championship? Who will win?

Let me just say that as I have gotten older, I don’t hate OU – I’m just tired of OU because sometimes they just whip right into why their football program is better than ours (Not disputing that, it is historically better than ours) rather than having a good debate about our program and other Big 12 teams programs. But they should be cheering for OSU/Baylor/Kansas State to be better in football so our conference has more parity; it makes our conference more exciting. It’s kind of boring with Texas and OU always duking it out. I have had solid discussions with OU fans about our program and other Big 12 team’s programs, though. I respect their team and program and their history. And what annoys me most about Landry Jones is that molest-stache. Bothers me on Derek Holland. Bothers me on Landry Jones.

Honestly, I really have enjoyed watching Matt Barkley. Although I really think Collin Klein from Kansas State is such a talented, old-school style QB. He probably won’t win because he doesn’t put up the snazzy numbers that RG3 did/numbers that seem to win Heisman’s, and he plays for Kansas State. But he is so incredibly consistent. Landry Jones won’t win because he just hasn’t seemed consistent enough to me. I think a Heisman candidate shines when his team is losing/loses – and when OU lost to Baylor, TX Tech and OSU, he seemed to collapse into himself. But I could be incredibly wrong – his off-season could have been very productive and I wouldn’t know. So he could win.

As far as who wins the Big 12: I don’t know, I mostly think preseason predictions are a crapshoot anyway, because this is anyone’s game at this point. On any given day, any team can beat any other team. We can give preference to “Powerhouse” programs, but how many times do we see the mighty fall? Besides, I cheer for the underdog at all costs; I mean, I went to what is considered the “Little Brother” school in Oklahoma. Despite us having 50 National Championship, which is the 4^th most. That fun fact was for free.

6) Now let’s talk about conference realignment.  How do you feel about the addition of TCU and West Virginia in the Big12 this year? How well do you think Texas A&M and Missouri will fair in the new 14 team SEC?

I’m honestly excited to have TCU, mainly because we live so close to Ft. Worth that we can go watch Big 12 games! Yay! But I’ve always thought they did well in their conference and I’m excited to see what they bring to the table. Plus they defeated Boise State last season – this now makes me a huge fan. Honestly, West Virginia horrifies me. Their coach is our old offensive coordinator, so that’s kind of intimidating when someone knows your secrets. And their fans seem like hoodlums. Burning couches? I mean, really? Throwing snowballs with batteries in them? I mean, really? They realize they’re at a university, not a federal prison, right?

I hope TX A&M and Mizzou do well, because that looks good for the Big 12. Realistically? I think the first couple of years will be difficult for them. It’s an adjustment; especially an adjustment to being pilgrims in the unholy land of SEC. Those folks do not mess around. Football is the sport that counts in that conference, so they take it very seriously. I have my negative opinions about the SEC as a whole, but you can’t deny that their conference is nutso good at football. And neither of those teams have been nutso good at football recently.

7) Which Big12 team ranked in the top 25 will most likely end the season outside the top 25 and why? Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, West Virginia or Oklahoma?

At this point, I don’t know. I want to say Texas because they have struggled pretty badly these last couple of seasons. And of course I don’t want to say OSU, but that’s a definite possibility. I think Kansas State comes in as the underdog, big time. I love Kansas State and hope they do well. Who doesn’t love a 72-year-old coach who wears a 2002 Holiday Bowl jacket?

8) From the expanse of knowledge you now have from marrying a Hokie… If VT wins the ACC, what will be the biggest reason for their success? If they don’t, what will be the reason for their failure?

All of these opinions are all based off of watching the 2011 season, so I’m a little harsh. But I think your defense would be the reason why you win. I saw your defense as reasons you guys won so many games. See follow up question for more reasoning. . .

The biggest reason for failure – Your offense. Last season you guys went 3 & out a ton and tended to not be as productive as you would like your offense to be. There was one game, it was either v. Clemson or v. UNC that your defense would force turnovers or recover a fumble and then your offense would come on and just fart it away. As a football fan, that bothers the crap out of me. I hate it when OSU does it – that’s usually the point that I expletive and yell the most. You have to use what your defense gives you and be productive with that.

9) Finally, who will win the match-up this weekend in Arlington between No. 8 Michigan and No. 2 Alabama?

As someone who has such strong disdain for Alabama and a mediocre feeling for Michigan, can I just say I want the earth to open up and swallow the stadium?

Thanks for taking the time to answer these.  We will have to do it again sometime! Great work beautiful!

Again if you missed part 1: You can read it here. 

Guest Post: Mrs. dallas hokie

In honor of the start of the College Football season, I figured it would be a good idea to let my wife share some witty banter and great insight on the upcoming season.  I have found her insight here to be pretty compelling and really like what she has to say.  Also, I need to give credit to the Pistol's Firing blog for the idea.  

This is post 1 of 2 so keep an eye out later for the second half later today.

1) Do you have anything to say before we get started? 

I attended and graduated from Oklahoma State University and loved all 4 years there. I merit the right to be extremely biased in their favor. I try to be as fair as I can, but you can’t help letting that bright orange, color your disposition.

2) I know you were a huge college football fan when you were in school.  During your time there, what was your favorite sports related memory?

When I was in college our football team wasn’t that great. The favorite game I ever went to was when we beat Kansas State (This was our Homecoming game, which is an over the top big deal at OSU) on a two-point conversion, in the last moments of the 4^th quarter, to win 41-39. I thought I was going to throw up. Because our fans are a lot like Cubs fans: long-suffering, you build a lot of character and are really just waiting for the “Poke Choke” and for us to fart something away and then lose. It was a very exciting game. If it had ended the other way, our fan base would’ve gone to Joe’s and emotionally destroyed a thing of cheese fries and shared memories of Barry Sanders. I had more consistent, exciting sports memories from attending Cowgirl Soccer – those ladies are beastly good. So go support Cowgirl Soccer, Pokes.

Another favorite memory was the “I’m a Man, I’m 40” incident of 2007. Being a student during that time was a lot of fun. We had t-shirts everywhere with our Coach Gundy’s rant/famous slogan. As a student, I was so proud of our school and our coach who defended his program and his player. Sure, Bobby Reid ended up leaving OSU because he was embarrassed and really wasn’t that good, but hey – who doesn’t like a 40-year-old man ranting at the media whilst wearing a visor?

3) Pretty interesting year for OSU coming off a BCS win and reloading with a frosh at QB. What are you most excited about?

Ehem, our FIRST BCS game, paired with our FIRST BCS win. Let’s not forget that; we won that tacky, Bedazzled Fiesta Bowl trophy with pride. Todd Monken, our offensive coordinator, is a beast. He’s mouthy and brassy – probably two of my favorite attributes. We had such an explosive offense last year, which was so fun to watch. And when you win that much, it’s fun to watch, too. So I’m just looking forward to how Monken develops our new offense without Weeden or Blackmon. I’m just excited to see how we develop as a team in a noticeable rebuilding year. Plus, the CFB world is finally watching Oklahoma State as a contender. That’s pretty exciting stuff.

4) Rank these players in order of your favorite to least favorite and tell me why: Weeden, Dez, Zac, Blackmon, Barry Sanders, Joe Randle, and Justin Gilbert.  Feel free to add a “wild card” player if you would like.

Barry Sanders – I mean. Duh. Our only Heisman winner, so naturally he goes to the top of the list. He is talked about in hushed, reverent tones in Stillwater, OK.

Blackmon – Obviously, guy has some troubs with leaving the bottle alone, but two-time Biletnikoff winner? No explanation necessary.

Weeden – Say whatever you will about his age/baseball career, etc. But he’s a solid dude and what I consider our most consistent QB. For a while it seemed like he shattered a QB record at OSU a week. Beast.

Broderick Brown/Jamie Blatnick/Basically our whole defense – Naturally, I think our defense is underrated. Big 12 defense is pretty terrible usually overall. We have excellent offense so most team’s defense kind of hits the skids. But Broderick Brown and his pals with all those INT’s in 2011. Holy smokes. This is also discussed in hushed, reverent tones. This clip is from our 2010 Bedlam (That’s the name we give to when we play OU) game. We lost this one, but this should have been a warning that our defense would become a ‘No-Fly Zone.’ Pretty epic stuff:

(Editor Note: Check out the hit put on Broyles after the INT!)

Joe Randle – Okay, here’s where I let my girl show: He is totes presh. He has the cutest dimples and smile (Second only to you, dear one). Brass tacks: he scored 150 points during the 2011 season. WHAT. That’s nasty. It’s second only to Barry Sanders 234 points. This is a dude to watch. Plus, he is a running back. I don’t know why, but I just have an affinity for them.

Kendall Hunter – I loved watching ‘Spud’ in college. Short and brassy and on average rushed for over 30 yards a game. Beast. He was an outstanding player that got to shine even more after Dez left. He was incredible at OSU and definitely didn’t get enough of the recognition that he deserved. And, you guessed it, he’s a running back.

Justin Gilbert – Quick kiddo. I don’t really watch him that much or know enough about him to appreciate him or put him closer to the top, but he is FAST. Which I love. My team plays in the Big 12, so we love that quick-ness. Or at least I do.

Zac Robinson – He was the QB that instilled excitement in all of us sad fans. He did an okay job, but he’s not really a favorite for me. He was just there and was a pretty exciting/productive QB. But now, he pales next to Weeden. At the time, we thought he was the best. And then we got the best and it was all like “Zac, who?”

Dez – I loved him in college, and loved watching him do kickoff returns for a TD (I once saw a 89 yard TD from him. WHAT) and cried outrageous-ness at the NCAA when he was suspended. But now that I’m older, I think he’s a dweeb. He is talented, yes. And he’s annoying and pompous, too. That combo cheeses me off. So I think I don’t like him on moral grounding. Whoops.

That's all for now, later I will ask Mrs. dallas hokie for her thoughts on the rest of college football for the coming year!

Check out the College Football Preview Week Posts while you wait!


1) Conference Race Projections
2) BSC Bowl Projections
3) Power Rankings
4) Week 1 Picks

The "Good" of the BCS

For all the hate that is out there for the Bowl System, it did produced one of the most exciting weekends in college football in quite some time.  The importance of each loss was magnified as 4 of the top 10 teams in the BCS lost, essentially ending any hope of a championship for Clemson, Oklahoma and Oregon.  We also frequently forget that the Bowl System also creates an incentive for teams with less wins to play for the fun of a bowl birth.  This weekend, NC State and Iowa State both clinched bowl birth with their upset wins and Baylor made a case for not having to play in the “New Era Pinstripe Bowl”!

I have been considering the chance of Virginia Tech playing in the National Championship game and while I don’t think they are anywhere close to being the second best team in the nation, I do think they would deserve to play in the game.  The truth of the matter is that in any system you aren’t guaranteed for the champion to be the best team in the nation.  A playoff makes us feel better about the champion; but were UConn and Butler the two best teams to play in the NCAA Basketball Championship Game last year? No, absolutely not.  But, they both deserved to be there.  This is because they performed within the confines of the system.

Currently, I can describe the system is as follows and if you perform according to the system you will get a chance to play for the National Championship, just as if you win 5 games in the NCAA Basketball tournament, you will get to play for the Championship. 

First, the conferences are tiered as such:

Tier 1: SEC, BIG12, BIG10 (a BIG10/12 team can occasionally move to tier 2)

Tier 2: PAC12, ACC (a PAC12 team can occasionally move to tier 1)

Tier 3: BIG EAST, MWC

Tier 4: C-USA, WAC, MAC, SUNBELT

Teams are then ranked as follows:

1. Undefeated Tier 1
2. Undefeated Tier 2
3. Undefeated Tier 3 and 1 loss Tier 
4. Undefeated Tier 4 and 1 loss Tier 2
5. 1 loss Tier 3 and 2 loss Tier 1
6. 1 loss Tier 4 and 2 loss Tier 2

Take a look at the rankings and you will see that this is usually the case.  The real arguments come into play when we need to rank between tiers.  But, if there is 1 team in "group 1" (LSU) and no one in "group 2" (Alabama, Arkansas and Oklahoma State all lose), Virginia Tech or Stanford will have earned the right to be in the discussion for that spot in the title game. 

My Thoughts on College Football Tradition

There are very few times when I would consider speaking ill of my Alma Mater, but this might be one of them.  I have always wished that VT had taken the time to have more ways of showing crowd unity.  And no, the “Hokie Pokie” doesn’t count!  While I’m convinced that the entire stadium jumping to “Enter Sandman” is the greatest scene in sports (I get goosebumps every time!); that’s about where it ends as far as crown unity goes.  We clap together (but don’t know the words to our fight song) and we cheer loudly (but only use the words “let’s”, “go” and “Hokies”).  The problem with all this is that I just don’t see the entire crowd involved in the game in the same manner as I’ve seen at other schools.

The reason I bring this up is that this past weekend I had the pleasure of going to Stillwater, Oklahoma.  Home of the first ever Sonic, great BBQ, Kevin Durant’s favorite place to play flag football and of course Oklahoma State University.  I got the chance to experience a homecoming that was way more impressive than anything I have ever experienced of its kind (checkout this site about their "Walkaround" if you haven't heard of it) and an all-around brilliant football showing by the #3 team in the country.  Needless to say, I was thoroughly impressed by both the atmosphere and the team. 

One of the things that I thought was very cool to see was how involved every fan was at “waving the wheat” after a touchdown and singing the alma mater after the end of the game.  I just think it’s really cool to see any scene where over 60,000 people are united in one cause and one purpose.  Even I couldn’t help but to feel loyalty to a school I had never even considered liking until I started dating my current fiancée.  

I don’t in any way think that a Virginia Tech fan is any less loyal or the fan base is any less united.  I just think that the difference is that schools like OKState or even LSU, Clemson or UVA have a half century of football tradition.  They are like your stuck-in-his-ways grandpa, while VT is like a teenager looking for his identity.  I look forward to coming back to VT in 20, 40 and 60 years and seeing how our traditions grow grander and stronger.  It’s just that now, we are just kids with no idea what we want to be when we grow-up.  We have energy and vigor and hopefully that translate into a tradition of unity, loyalty and of course winning!

My Letter to Sports

Dear Sports,

Why do you do this to me? You’ve drawn me into your net of deceit by promising me championships and glory only to deliver me to agony time and time again.  I am sick of your silly games – your baseball and your football, your tournaments and your bowl games, your last second buzzer beaters and your fatal collapses.  Only a fool would stick around through all this misery, only a fool would allow themselves to think that one day this will all get better, one day I will get my championship.

It all started on a Saturday in December, 2005.  I was lonely freshman in college sitting in my vacant dorm room watching the ACC championship game.  My #5 Virginia Tech Hokies were coming off of earning the ACC title the year before and were out to make it two in a row.  We were facing an unranked Florida State team and looking forward to another Orange Bowl appearance.  However, as you would have it, that day was meant to be for agony and bitterness.  Florida State won that game and the heartbreak was just beginning.  Later that night the Virginia Tech Basketball team had a date with #1 Duke in Cameron Indoor.  You brought us back from 11 pts down to take the lead with 1.6 seconds left; a sure victory in our hands! You gave me hope that you were going to make up for the agony from earlier.  “One set of fans couldn’t handle that much pain in one day,” I thought.  Obviously, I was wrong.  Sean Dockery received the ball at half court and shot it immediately.  It seemed like the ball was in the air for hours, then “clank”, then “screaming”.  He had done the impossible.  My heart sank.  I hated you and promised I would never again let you hurt me like that.

Yet, I couldn’t stay away from your lure.  Just 2 years later I fell back into your trap and went crazy for my Hokies who were hosting Boston College on a raining and very cold Thursday night.  Lane Stadium was rocking, we were ready to knock the #2 Golden Eagles back to earth.  The game was sloppy due to the rain and my Hokies had a 10-0 lead with 2:11 left.  I was ready to rush the field and had already started moving down towards the sideline from my perch in the upper east stands (row 5Q to be exact!).  Then you struck; you decided to break my heart once again.  Matt Ryan worked his miracle and somehow escaped with a win.  Wet and miserable I found my way home and again promised to get off the your drug.  I never wanted that feeling again. 

My love of the Hokies didn’t fade, I just somehow accepted that they wouldn’t be able to fulfill that dream you promised me.  Then I moved to Dallas and found a new love.  You gave me radio to listen to, scores to check, and articles to read.  I was hooked and fell in love with the Texas Rangers.  I thought that this would be different.  It’s a new team, new place – “I can dream again!”  We won the division, then the ALDS, then the ALCS.  You had me in your grasp and I had you.  This was going to be the year.  This was going to be the chance for me to finally get that elusive championship.  Then like always you broke my heart again.  You failed me.  I had a glance at glory twice! I was one strike away in the 9^th and 10^th innings and you failed me.  I hate you sports and only fools would let themselves continue.  Yet, as the night gets closer and Game 7 nears, I am going to give you one more chance.  You have one more chance to come through in the clutch, one more chance to add glory to the already excellent drama.  One more chance, before I move on.

Ah, what empty threats those are.  You have monopolized my heart.  No reality show or primetime drama could ever fulfill your shoes.  I cannot move on.  I am stuck.  I have fallen into your trap and will never get out.  The truth is, I really don’t even want to get out.  The trill of victory will keep me going and the agony of defeat will only be a hurdle, but its times like these that I wish you were more kind to my often broken heart.

Love,

A Passionate Fan