Smirnoff

I’ve watched almost every Virginia Tech football game for the past 30 years. 15 mostly good and 15 mediocre or worse. The first two Virginia Tech football games I ever watched were in 1995 as a freshman cadet. We lost both of them and my roommate after the game said who knows, maybe we’ll win every remaining game. And guess what? We did, and then the magic of our Sugar Bowl victory that year. I was there when we beat Akron 77 to 27 and I had to do 77 push-ups. I saw Michael Vick’s first game when he backflipped into the end zone. I was there in our final home game in 1999 when we went undefeated, and we all watched the scoreboard to see if Nebraska would lose. When the final score of that game was announced, we all rushed the field after going 11 and 0. I ran right past Ronyell Whitaker and looked at the top of his head even though he was in cleats and I’m straight up 5 foot 10. I rang in the new millennium on Bourbon Street and I was there for our National Title game when we took the lead 29-28 in the fourth quarter. And oh man, if it wasn’t for Peter Warrick, we just might’ve won it. But it didn’t matter because we were so good and I was so young and I knew that we would be back again, probably every year. As time went on, it was pretty much part of my marital contract that I got to watch every Virginia Tech game from start to finish, whether we were up by 50 or losing horribly. I was mowing my lawn when we lost to JMU and I came in in the final minutes in disbelief and listened to it on XM radio. I was there at FedEx Field when we lost to Boise State. I can’t believe that BS penalty on Bruce Taylor, and how could we not get just one more first down to seal it? I had tickets to the Sugar Bowl when we played Michigan but I decided not to go at the last minute and gave away my tickets, and then watched in disbelief as Danny Coale’s obvious touchdown catch was overturned. That moment was the start, apparently, of our slow decline. And even though for years afterwards I would start the season with childlike optimism, telling anybody with even a remote connection to Virginia Tech how this was the year that we returned to greatness, it started fading off. I watched our 10-win streak end, and I watched our bowl streak end, and I watched our streak of beating UVA end. I watched in horror as we fired a good football coach in Justin Fuente because he wasn’t likable, flushed millions of dollars to hire a likable guy who couldn’t coach. Now here we are in 2025… I’m almost 50 years old and my son who’s 20, who watches the Tech games with me and is the most optimistic football fan in the world, only knows Virginia Tech was a good team because I told him and he believes me, but he doesn’t really remember it because it happened so long ago. This year I have to admit, after the second half of the Vanderbilt game, I gave up. I don’t even watch the games this year and I don’t know—maybe it’s a redshirt year or a gap year, or maybe I’m just done. I hope they turn it around, and even though I’ve been a fan for so long, I kind of feel like a fairweather fan for not watching, but I just can’t. Love you all and Go Hokies, but I have to take a break.

If it helps people be more comfortable… Use pry and the OC like the Wizard of Oz for the first year and then after it works, just say “you can go now…”

If I told you, we just hired a coach who is brilliant in cutting edge analytics… You would be happy about that. Think about it like a business… Why are we spending $5 million a year on a coach that could be replaced for a fraction of the cost and we could spend that money instead on something that would contribute to us winning: better players. We should be building this thing now and then just roll it out as a first mover. If we don’t do it, then Stanford or Wake Forest or someone else is going to do it and it will become the norm. The alternative is to keep trying to fight against a bunch of SEC schools with way deeper pockets and lose

Fellow Hokies, hear me out. We’re spending millions on Brent Pry and our OC to call predictable plays while our offensive line gets destroyed every game. Meanwhile, we have one of the best engineering programs in the country. Time to fire them both and try something revolutionary. What if we hired an AI as our football coach? Think about it: -Take half the coaching salary budget -Actually buy a decent offensive line -Use our CS students to build an AI that calls plays without ego -Get massive national attention as innovation leaders The headlines would be incredible: “Virginia Tech Uses Engineering to Revolutionize Football” Honestly, how much worse could AI play-calling be than some of the human decisions we’ve seen? At least the AI won’t have a bad day or make emotional mistakes. “But what about recruiting and motivation?” Easy - keep human position coaches for recruiting and player development. AI just calls the plays and manages game strategy. We’d break the coaching salary arms race and maybe actually protect our QB for once. What do you guys think? Am I crazy or could this actually work? Go Hokies!

… not even sadness just resignation

as is stated in the Game Preview. He was the Head Football Coach for Alabama before Nick Saban!

Somebody will do it eventually…why not us?

It’s the dewpoint. Dewpoint at the start of the Miami game will be 80 which is dangerous. I expect to see a lot of heat, exhaustion and cramping.

I guess I just expected to see more discussion about the game here… I’m super optimistic, but is anybody else very concerned about our linebacker situation?

Maybe we can win our last five games and make the NCAA tournament… Maybe we can win the ACC tournament… Come to think of it we control our own destiny for the national championship :) OK..ok, too much but still that was a good win!

“Tech is the top team in the country when it comes to returning production, according to ESPN's Bill Connelly, returning 86 percent of production from 2023….”

From what I understand if we beat NC State today and Miami beats Louisville, then we are a Virginia victory away from a Florida State ACC championship rematch. I know it sounds wrong, but I think it’s because the second tiebreaker is head-to-head matchups and we would actually be ahead of UNC in that scenario. First, we have to take care of business today and hope that Miami can do their part, but wouldn’t that be great if we got that chance? I’m pretty sure ACC does not want that to happen. Guarantee they want Louisville against FSU or at least UNC or Miami to be the opponent. ** Edited by Smirnoff at 11/18/2023, 10:05:53 AM

It’s too bad we didn’t have Andre Davis out there for those long bombs that he overthrew by 20 yards! Back in 99 it was like Michael Vick would say you run as fast as I can and I’ll throw as hard as I can and it just worked out!

They barely beat BC and needed overtime for a down Clemson team…they are overrated

Can someone a lot smarter than me with football x's and o's explain if our run defense struggles are mostly play calling or lack of execution from the players?

Better than UVA (#25)

1. We can use his high salary to high someone else good 2. Everyone on the o-line regressed last year even proven players. Maybe this is a good thing. 3 I hear Vance Vice is available (I kid…I kid…)

Well, really five because Jones didn’t play today but you get my point

Has been back up for six of the starting QBs that played today: Flacco Allen Mayfield Herbert Watson Jones.

According to the roster management site, we are at 92 scholarships meaning seven current players will be leaving. Who are the seven? Maybe these guys: Chance Black rb Kenji Christian rb Da’waun Lofton wr Jaylen Jones wr Devin Farrell qb Tahj Bullock qb Jaden Keller lb What do you think? ** Edited by Smirnoff at 12/29/2022, 7:22:51 AM

This is what I’m thinking about for the 2023 starting defense. What do you think? some comments I am expecting: We need 11 new starters in the portal! Jenkins isn’t a safety anymore… Delane should be a safety…. Stroman isn’t that good… The correct name of the position is XYZ not ABC DE McRay Portal Superstar DT FUGA! Pollard LB Tisdale Lawson Keller DB Delane Strong Safeties Jenkins Stroman I think this gets the best athletes on to the field… ** Edited by Smirnoff at 12/11/2022, 11:13:36 AM

I say if you can’t be the best, be the worst….we might not have this chance again, right? Ok, we probably will.

Both are athletic enough even with their flaws to get a look I think