The Conference Worry

[RetroVK]

I played Virginia Tech minus the 3 a few weeks ago against Kansas. Since that time, the ACC and Big 12 have played a lot of bowl games. One conference has looked good and one has looked bad.

ACC
Virginia/TexasTech - Matched one of the better ACC teams of the year against one of the average teams from the big 12. The result was a game inwhich the two teams played very evenly with tech getting the win.
michigan st/boston college - matched an ACC championship team against an average ( though improving ) big 10 team. The result was a fairly even played game , with boston college slightly controlling the action. BC got the win

oregonstate/maryland - matched one of the better pac 10 teams against one of the average acc teams. the result was total domination by the beavers. expected.

wake/uconn - matched one of the above average teams from the big east against one of the above average teams of the acc. wake played slightly better and got the deserved win.

auburn/clemson - matched one of the better sec teams against one of the better acc teams. auburn was the better team and managed an ot win in a hard fought game.

gtech/fresno - mathced one of the better wac teams against one of the better acc teams. fresno smacked gtech in the mouth while getting the win.

fsu/kentucky - matched an above average acc team against an average sec team. kentucky was the better team thoughyou have to consider suspension when looking at this one.

the ACC has been very unimpressive.

BIG 12

asu/texas - matched one of the better teams of the pac 10 against one of the better teams from the big 12. texas bitch slapped asu.

pennst/tamu - matched an above average team from the big 12 against one of the better teams from the big 10. game was played very evenly, with slight edge to penn st. penn st got the win when tamu failed to convert on fourth and one deep.

bama/col - matched an average sec team against an average big 12 team. bama bitch slapped the buffaloes.

okst/indiana - matched an average big 12 team against an average big 10 team. okst dominated indiana.

mizz/ark - matched one of the better big 12 teams against an above average sec team. mizz took arkansas out to the woodshed.




so one conference has played average to below average in their bowl games ( ACC ) and one conference has been VERY impressive in their bowl games ( big 12 ).

how concerned should i be about this ?

 

[Clyde]

Not at all. Kansas is so slow and they will not be able to move the ball against VT's defense.

Mizzou exposed how bad Kansas really is..

VT should win by DD..

 

[E.T.G.]

I don't think so VK and here is why.


Kansas, a great story but that is where it ends. They played the easiest OOC schedule in America (CMU, S.E. Louisianna, Toledo, and FLINT). That is 4 cupcake wins right there. Then they play in the B12-North so wins over KST, Colorado, Nebraska, and Iowa St do nothing for me. That is 8 wins. The teams they did draw from the B12 South, were not the 2 best. They didn't play Oklahoma and they didn't play Texas, instead they lucked up w/ Baylor, TAMU, and Ok St. So if you include Baylor, that is 9 of easy wins. That gives them road game wins @ TAMU and Ok St which happen to be their 2 best wins. Mizz was putting a lot bigger beatdown on them than the final score indicates.

With VT, I think their defensive philosphy will be top notch and think they have too much speed on that side of the ball for KU. I think the offense does just what it is asked to but with an extra month, some more Taylor packages are reasonable to expect.

 

[cubsker]

KU's Defense is very beatable. If Va Tech can pressure with just their front 4, VT will win by double digits.

 

[ISU74]

I have not made my decision about the KU/VT game but Kansas is def worth a look. I think that VT Off is not that great, and the KU defense is more than respectable. KU did play soft OOC schedule and did not draw UT or OU from B12S. They did beat A&M, Colorado, and Okie St all on the road. KU lost 28-36 to Mizzou in KC, turning the ball over 2x which made the difference in the game. I really think KU offensively is better than VT and will have some more success moving the ball than VT O vs. KU D. I would probably make a definate under wager in this one. After that, the team that wins TO/ST battle wins ATS. And before you chalk up the ST to VT I believe KU has a top 5 KR team.

 

[Smokebear]

The Big 12 has had a pretty good showing so far. Missouri looked very good but they were playing an Ark team that mailed it in and had no interest in the game and no coach. Mizzou was easily the 2nd best team in the Big 12 and they beat an SEC team that finished tied for 6th in the SEC and a .500 record. The SEC's better teams all went to bigger bowl games because the SEC has better bowl tie ins. If Mizzou would have played GA, LSU, TENN, or FLA we would have gotten a better glimpse of how good MU stacks up against the SEC, but beating an average at best team from the SEC with no coach was just too easy. TTech and Texas had better wins than Mizzou imo. I think Kansas is a fraud and VT will handle them although VT is not all that great either. The ACC has been bad so far but VT has more talent and speed than Kansas and should win by two td's.

 

[M.R. Goode]

Have to agree with erveryone else here, don't worry. Kansas will have trouble with team speed of VT and rust from being off so long with their offense. Their best victory was against my Aggies, when we played somewhat poorly (nothing unusual).

 

[Fondybadger]

Should I be worried everyone is in love with Va Tech? It's my largest bowl play as well...

 

[booger]

After watching BC and VTek in their championship game, i came away so unimpressed with both that i decided to fade them in their bowl games.

Got a fortunate fumble against BC with Mig ST but Sparty did turn the ball over plenty enough to get smoked.

I believe KU got their limelight jitters out of them against Mizzou and am going back to the well on them for a big play tomorrow.

KU is a fine football team. VTek was fortunate to beat BC with a 3rd and 9 TD pass becoming the winning score.

Good Luck on whatever you play.

 

[J Galt]

You didn't watch the game if you think that UVa and TT played very evenly. UVa dominated for 3 quarters until their QB got hurt and idiot Al Groh gave the game away. TT looked like total dogshit in that game.

Also, who are you kidding saying that Oregon St "totally dominated" Maryland? Yeah they shut down the rush game, but they won by a TD on a fluke fumble in the end zone. Anything but domination if you watched the game.

 

[RetroVK]

oregon st dominated that game. crushed them. should have won by 3 td. sorry in this case , you are just dead wrong . no room for other interpretation.

 

[RetroVK]

Don't want to go off an a tangent , but cannot let a completely inaccurate statement go unchallenged. so just want to put forth the facts on the oregon state domination of maryland.

oregon state had 24 first downs to marylands 11.

Want to hear how dominant oregon st was after the first qtr was over ???

After the first quarter maryland mustered a mighty ...... 5 first downs !!!!!

Wait , it gets better !!! One of those first downs was a roughing the punter after a three and out. Another of the first downs was a series of 3 plays that resulted in 1 total yard gained ... but oregon state had two offsides penalties. That means that Maryland had a whopping 3 first downs over the last three quarters from actual successful football plays !!! ummm domination

oregon state outgained maryland to the tune of 383 yards to 224 yards.

yup 383 to 224 . ummmmmm domination

maryland had 164 yards of offense in the first quarter. They had a nice opening drive of the game for 80 yards and they had the flukish 63 yard bomb to heyward-bey. 224-164 means they had 60 yards the rest of the way. By my math that means they gained 20 yards of offense a quarter from the second qtr on. ummmmmm domination.

Hilarious that someone would point to the fumble recovery in the end zone by the beavers offense. The fluke would be if they drove the field and THEN fumbled the ball away. You know , like the horrendous interception in the end zone by Canfield, and the miraculous catch ( questionable whether he caught it by the way, though i think he did )by the linebacker. Maryland won the turnover battle in the game.

Sorry but if this game does not qualify as domination, as a handicapper .... i am not sure what does. shrug. oh well .... guess we were watching different games.

 

[tee*dub]

interesting thread.. opinions against KU surprise me... Mizzou is very good. Very very good.. take away that game, what does KU look like? Ton of value on KU ML IMO but just one man's opinion.

 

[RetroVK]

Well, the wvu domination of oklahoma makes me feel just a bit better about the virginia tech side, from the conference performance standpoint.

great call on that game teedub.

 

[RetroVK]

Anyone heard whether vince hall is at full strength for this game ???

i know he was questionable earlier after injuring himself at the beach of all places.