As a member of the Football Writers Association of America, I receive email newsletters from (among other organizations) the National Football Foundation. Their latest email letter contains gobs of info about college football TV ratings from the 2008 season. Of particular interest to me is how little of a factor the ACC is/was in the televised college football landscape last year. With the renegotiation of the ACC’s TV contracts coming up soon, this needs to change, or the league will head to the bargaining table without much negotiating muscle. (more…)

Sure, VT Spring Football 2009 is the big story, and we’ll get to that this week with some features closing out the big stories of the spring. But I wanted to jot down some quick notes on the draft yesterday, both Hokie-related and non-Hokie-related. I’m not a draftnik, so don’t expect jaw-dropping revelations, but here’s a couple things that caught my attention.

The Hokies’ only draft choice, of course, was Macho Harris, who was selected in the fifth round by the Eagles (anti-Philly fans, insert your groans here). You’ve probably already heard that’s the lowest number of Hokie draft choices since 1993, when no Tech players were selected, but I prefer to think of it this way: It’s the lowest number of draft choices in the Beamer Bowl era of 1993 to the present.

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I just read something in an Orlando Sentinel blog that got me fired up. It’s a common mistake that college sportswriters make that they shouldn’t make, but almost all of them do. And it drives me bananas. And it reminded me of something else that college sportswriters do that drives me bananas. Here comes a rant.

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ESPN Press Release:

ESPN and BCS Reach Four-Year Agreement

All Games on ESPN 2011-2014; Also Includes Rights For ESPN Radio, Digital
Media, International, Marketing and More

ESPN has reached an extensive agreement with the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), granting exclusive TV, radio, digital, international and marketing rights for 15 BCS games from January 2011 through January 2014. It includes the Fiesta, Orange and Sugar Bowls each season and the BCS National Championship Game in 2011, 2012
and 2013.

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Our beloved Hokies are playing the always formidable OPEN this weekend. OPEN is very tough to score on, so I’ll be taking the under in that one.

But there are some nice sports to watch on the tube on Saturday. Showtime has what could be the card of the year, but don’t SPOIL it for yourself. Oklahoma vs. Texas is always fun, ECU trying to get back up for france, and wvu hosting the “Jiffy Pop Dome” team that could be Will’s best ever gloss.

Let’s take a look: (more…)

Is Virginia Tech a legit MNC contender?

Is ‘Bama a legit MNC contender?

I posit that the correct answer is the same in each particular case at this point in time; albeit for different reasons. Not yet is the correct answer, but lets see what 2009-2010 brings before we get too far ahead of ourselves. (more…)

The Hokies head to the midwest to play the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday. Playing a team so far away during the regular season isn’t something Virginia Tech does a lot. They did play at LSU last year and at Texas A&M in 2002, but generally the Hokies stick to the east coast. To get you better prepared for the game, here’s a quick primer on Nebraska.

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Our Hokies take to the Road to play one of the truly elite and most fabled football programs in all of D-1 pigskin history. When we visit the Nebraska Cornhuskers of Big-12 fame this weekend in primetime on ABC.

Nebraska has the finest offense we will see all year. Period. Full stop. Over, done, through. Can our anemic offense muster enough yards and points to beat Big Red away from Lane; and how do you feel about Bo vs. Bud???

Read on to find out… (more…)

Three national championship game appearances since 2002? Yes.

Two outright championships over that same timeframe? Yes.

A perfect 2008 running the entire table all the way from start to finish? Yes. This is your title team in my book, as the few who could have beaten this C’bus crew have had some hurts and some discipline problems of late, and nobody has a better helmet logo award than this squad does. (more…)

Have I gone nutz? Yah; could be, that’s always in play with me.

But it’s gonna take a lot of points to put this team down, and they easily have the most explosive backfield in all of D-1 and that part is not even close. Could they even have two rushers trump 1,250 yards apiece this year? Not umpossible. They also enjoy the most savage homefield edge in all of college football, they have a revenge game vs. their #1 rival and they catch the other team that could beat them at home in the cold to close the year. (though be aware I had this team 6th before the injury bug bit nearly everyone in front of them this August) (more…)