I'm feeling strangely positive for a guy who covers a team that just went 6-6.
At the end of Virginia Tech's 2-6 stretch, when the Hokies were 4-6 overall, had just lost four straight, and had been blown out multiple times on the road and at home, many Hokie fans were freaking out. (Yep, I really reached deep into my vocabulary there.)
I was asked over and over what I thought was going to happen at the end of the year. Was Fuente safe? What about his assistants? Were the players quitting? Etc., etc.
I told everyone the same thing: "Let it play out. The conversation if the Hokies are 4-8 or 5-7 is very different than if the Hokies are 6-6 and going bowling."
Here we are. I've watched enough football at this point to know that all kinds of things can happen. Like many people, I wondered at 4-6 if this team was going to win another game. There were games where they were simply horrible (Pitt was the pinnacle of horrid for this team), and it was a legit concern that they were going to finish out 0-6 and wind up 4-8 on the year.
I picked the Hokies to beat UVA in our game preview, and I legitimately thought VT could win. A loss would not have surprised me, but I could see a pathway to victory, so I picked the Hokies to win 21-17.
The comments on that article were split down the middle. Many Tech fans bravely also predicted a win, but there were many comments along the lines of:
"Will-I give you credit for being a loyal Tech fan, but nothing, and I mean NOTHING, that has happened over the last 4 weeks points to the Hokies having a chance in this game. You just aren’t being realistic."
"Will please do not be a 'homer.' How can you actually believe that we will beat UVa. Could a win happen, maybe, but our team with ZERO emotion will get beat by 10+. All year, in Hoo-ville, it has been 'Beat Tech' and our coach has said we are improving and future is bright. He is delusional! Perkins will kill us and the Cavs will 'pound their rock'! Sad!!!"