Down Goes Nebraska!
In what was one of the worst games I've ever seen Virginia Tech play, they managed to squeak one out at the last minute against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. You probably know that, since it was over a week ago.
What you didn't know until right now is that I just posted the pictures from the tailgate.
I Watched This Game on TV
Does that count as being there?
Virginia Tech and basketball. A tradition... of a few years.
Worst Job Ever
I think I have decided what the worst job ever must be.
This guy had the worst job ever, apparently.
I think I read on Monday that the New York Jets were interested in interviewing Jeff Jagodzinski. Apparently the Boston College staff also heard that the NYJ were interested in interviewing Jags, and immediately issued an ultimatum, which amounted to do the interview, and you'll be fired.
There's all kinds of things wrong with this. In no particular order:
- Jags hasn't done anything but proven he can win with another coach's players. Why the heck would the Jets be interested in him? Why did he actually think an NFL team, even if it is a crappy team like the Jets, would be interested in him?
- Why would anybody threaten to fire an employee if they took an interview?
So that was funny. But not nearly as funny as when Jags took the interview anyway, knowing that he'd probably be fired.
“Despite the threat from athletic director Gene DeFilippo, Jagodzinski plans to do the interview with the Jets, the sources said. Those sources said that in the event Jagodzinski is fired, B.C. would promote offensive coordinator Steve Logan to head coach.”
Three years ago, Tom O'Brien, coach of the BC Eagles for ten years stunned ... shocked ... mildly amused the ACC by leaving a job at an "up and coming" ACC school for a program that was, well, crappy. North Carolina State hired him away - a crappy team in the same conference (sorry Jeff), that had none of the potential that O'Brien had built in his years at BC. In a nutshell, he went to a worse football program, in the same conference as his old football program, for less money. It was kind of shocking, honestly - leaving a solid, secure job and legacy for a decidedly uphill battle.
Well - maybe not so much surprising now, given this new situation. A guy was making a million dollars or so a season, knew if he took an interview he would be fired, took the interview anyway, and was then fired. So BC's old coach left for an effective rival school with a serious paycut, and BC's latest coach willingly walked into the firing squad. What the hell do they do there in Chestnut Hill?
So, Jags was 20-8 over his career, and O'Brien was 75-45 - but he started from scratch. Not too shabby. Both more or less willingly left. So clearly, it's the worst job ever.
Full disclosure: Boston College is one of Virginia Tech's main rivals, as most of you are well aware. This is why I find this so amusing, as they've been our opponent in the last two ACC championship games. I love that the program is so ridiculously messed up that nobody actually wants to coach there. Part of me wonders if Jags knew that recruiting had dropped since O'Brien left, and he was out of good O'Brien talent and knew the run was coming to an end, so losing the job and saving face in this manner was the best thing possible for him. He comes out smelling like roses, while BC comes out like the crazy ex-girlfriend that West Virginia was when their coach left last year.
Champs
We go to a certain bar to watch VT games. It's where the alumni meet.
We also share with Oklahoma and Florida alumni. I imagine they'll be quite busy on Saturday, with championship games at 1, 4, and 8.
On Things Football
Virginia Tech barely beat a pesky Duke team this past weekend. The score was 14-3, and is misleading at that, because it took an INT with 1:43 remaining in the game for Tech to get its second touchdown. Let's go down history lane:
2004 VT beats Duke 41-17
2005 VT beats Duke 45-0
2006 VT beats Duke 36-0
2007 VT beats Duke 43-14
2008 VT beats Duke 14-3
This is, arguably, a better Duke team than VT has seen in years. Duke has won games that it has normally lost this year, and if you go strictly by numbers, their record stands at 4-7. In the past three seasons, I think Duke has won two football games. Historically, they're due to get better, and with their new coach, they probably will.
If their "star" quarterback hadn't been injured on Saturday's game, Duke would've won. That offense is a different offense with an athletic quarterback who can make plays on his feet when he has to. And we've had difficulty defending that kind of guy this year.
Lots of fans have been complaining about the offensive coordinator this season. Before I give you my opinion, let's just look at a little graph I put together:
With the exception of scoring offense, you can see the trend and its direction.
Granted, part of this is player turnover - this year we have an extremely young team who scored its first passing touchdown (to a wide receiver) this past weekend. That means in ten games, we have had one traditional offensive pass touchdown. We have young running backs, a senior quarterback who has never been that great, and a sophomore quarterback that is turning out to not be so great. But there's talent there.
People have been calling for the offensive coordinator's head this season. I can see that, as the offense has gotten worse year after year - and our offense kept us from going to the national championship last year. Last year, at home, we only put up 10 points against one of the worst defenses in the league - had we won that game, we would've then lost in the national championship.
So the criticism has been loud and often this year. Tech has lost a handful of games this year because they've simply failed to score points. They've been in position, they have the talent, but they just can't get it done. It basically boils down to play execution and coaching - they're not executing and it looks like they aren't coaching. Frank Beamer has gotten so tired of the criticism that this week, he's barred the coaches and players from talking to the media.
My feeling is that our time on the national scene is waning. We had a few chances when we had one or two players that could win a football game on their own merits. Our offense is so miserably bad now that we're going to have difficulty recruiting offensive talent - pair that with bad coaching, and that means there's no hope on the horizon.
Our defense will always be good - but so long as we cannot score points, I don't know how that matters.
So this week we play UVA for the ACC Coastal title - a pairing we've kind of backed into with sub-par offensive performances. We don't deserve to win. We also don't deserve to win the ACC, should we make it to the championship game. And God forbid we make it to a BCS bowl - mark my words, we will get shut out if that happens.
Been Saying This For Years
There was a really long article in the WashPo about the ACC, and "rise" of the Big East. One conclusion:
"The fact that Miami, Boston College and Virginia Tech are no longer in the Big East makes it a whole lot easier for those secondary schools to step up," Farrell said. "Look at Rutgers. They've won for two years. It's not like there's a huge winning tradition there. Is it a coincidence that those two years happened to follow the departure of Miami, Boston College and Virginia Tech?"
If you don't want a WaPo log in, try bugmenot.
A Season Forecast
Well, let's see. Virginia Tech lost a bunch of players to the draft (or free agency!)- basically all of their wide recievers and the majority of their linebacker and defensive line corps.
Then, we kicked our top running back off of the team because he was a douche. Then, his backup, the new starter, got injured.
We had zero WR's this year - they were all drafted. So our projected top WR in the depth chart is now out for the season.
On the plus side, after being absolutely terrible the past two years, our offensive line should be pretty good. Too bad we'll have nobody to run the ball and Glennon to throw the ball. He doesn't exactly fill any VT fan with confidence.
Even though we're going to suck - there's nobody better on our side of the ACC! Hooray!
The Shootening
Obviously it's selfish, but I'm really not looking forward to the political pandering we're going to get from the presidential candidates on April 16. I have the feeling it'll be ridiculously disgusting.
More Hockies
As usual, the Caps are doing just enough to keep my hopes up so that I'll be disappointed.
Our friends Abbi and Matt got to watch this phenomenon firsthand during the ACC basketball tournament, where VT was leading the entire game only to lose in the last second. The whole game I stayed detached, expecting UNC to win at any given point in time. With five minutes left in the game, I was still very convinced we'd lose. With two minutes and an eight point lead, I started to think - "hey, maybe..." With one minute it was close and I started to believe! With 0.8 seconds, we were losing. And then I spent the afternoon being pissed at myself for believing we could ever win.
The Caps were dead in the water starting at Thanksgiving, and with the coaching change at that time have been one of the best teams in hockey since. The only problem was that they went ahead and lost most of their games, if not just about all of them in October and November to that point. So they've been digging out of a hole ever since.
They're perilously close to that eighth (or third!) playoff spot. They're 8-2-0 in the last 10, and past that they're showing a strong 75% winning average. The problem is that all of the teams they are chasing refuse to lose. So they're getting lots of points and wins, but not gaining any ground. The problem was a few weeks ago when I started to believe they could catch division leading Carolina. They still can, but it requires the Caps to win their next three games, and for Carolina to lose two of their next three. That seems more likely than Philadelphia or Boston phoning it in. It's unlikely.
And, even if the Caps do make the playoffs, they'll probably face the Penguins, whom I believe the Capitals always lose to in the playoffs.
The Caps play Carolina on Tuesday night. If they win, they're still alive. If they lose, they're done. It's that simple. So hopefully they lose, and I can go on and watch the Rockies start by losing every game in March and April, only to have an improbable chance of postseason baseball, but enough of a chance that I might believe they can make it.
But I still think they can do it. So they won't! When will I learn?