After what happened this week, how does Virginia Tech's football program go on? How should the media cover the Hokies now? Do mid-majors get the short end of the stick in the preseason rankings? Was Auburn an elite team last year? These and much more in the latest Ask CFN.
By
Pete Fiutak
Fire over your questions to me at
pete@collegefootballnews.com. I might not be able to answer them
all, but I promise they're all read. Any e-mails sent to this
address may be published or edited unless requested otherwise.
(Please put ASK CFN in the subject line, and PLEASE keep the
questions short ... it makes my life easier.)
I have two questions
regarding the Virginia Tech tragedy:
1. Had this happened during the football year, how do you think the
athletic department would have responded? Perhaps cancel the game on the
next Saturday out of respect for the victims?
2. How do you think Virginia Tech football team (the whole athletics,
for that matter) should respond? Will there be extra scrutiny for player
conduct, fan conduct, etc?
-Dan from Boise, Idaho
Obviously sports are the last thing on anyone’s mind in Blacksburg,
but to try to turn it to football for a moment, how will Virginia Tech
cancelling spring ball affect the season? – GK
Does Virginia Tech now become America’s Team going into the season?
I’ll have my VT hat on every Saturday, and I’m a Maryland fan. – GM
A: Originally I wasn’t going to touch the Virginia Tech situation since
it has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with sports (despite
what a certain Boo-Ya Network might want you to believe). Just because
the world mostly knows about the school as the place Michael Vick spent
some time, that doesn’t mean what happened has anything to do with
football.
With that said, and acknowledging the absurdity to discuss Virginia Tech
sports after a horrific week like this one with so much grief and
sadness, this was the main topic of most of the e-mails that came in.
Almost everyone realized the football team and the tragedy don’t go hand
in hand, but this is a football column and Virginia Tech will have one
of the top ten teams in the country to start the season.
First of all, I’m begging, pleading, and desperately asking in vain for
everyone in the media, and I’m pointing this at the Eastern Seaboarders,
to not overuse what happened to lay on the schmaltz like they did last
year covering the New Orleans Saints. Please, don’t see this as your
opportunity to overwork a storyline in an attempt to tug on heartstrings
just to provoke a reaction. Of course, everyone needs to cover the
obvious storylines for the first few weeks of the season. Then give it a
rest.
I’m obviously not saying anyone should forget the victims. I’m saying
the media covering the sports side of Virginia Tech shouldn’t milk the
tragedy for its own gain while pounding it into our heads at every
opportunity. We all know what happened and it’ll always be on our minds.
During the broadcasts, let the football games be the football games and
the tragedy be the tragedy. Give Hokie fans a chance to spend a few
hours thinking about something else, and don’t make fans of the other
team feel guilty.
A few years ago, I wrote an article about how everyone should root for
North Texas to beat Memphis in the 2003 New Orleans Bowl because it
would be a big boost for the Sun Belt. I got an e-mail from a girl who
followed the Memphis football team religiously (her friend’s brother was
on the team) and its hunt for the first bowl appearance since 1971. She
said the season was the happiest, most fun thing going on in her life
that fall. She was going through chemotherapy and was told her
aggressive form of cancer would be almost impossible to beat. Remember,
there are always reasons to root for both sides in any game.
It’s O.K. to want East Carolina to win on September 1st because you like
Pirate football better. It’s O.K. to root against the Virginia Tech
football team if you’re a fan of an ACC team trying to win the
championship. It’ll also be O.K. for Hokie fans to let go and cheer
their lungs out and have fun once the season starts up. Keep the sports
side of things and the school side separate.
There’s no good way to handle the aftermath in a situation like this.
Yeah, the school probably would’ve postponed a game or two had this
happened during the year out of respect to everyone involved (like what
happened after 9/11). There’s another school of thought that says you
play the game and let the community come together and unite in a
cathartic setting (like the NFL did after JFK was assassinated).
Of course the sports programs will do many things to honor the victims.
As far as scrutiny and conduct, what one nutjob did on a sad day doesn’t
mean all of Virginia Tech needs to be on double secret probation or any
sort of high alert. It’ll be business as usual for the way the team,
students and fans act around the sports events. Give everyone time to
heal a little bit.
On the football field, and once again I’m doing this with the full
understanding of how crazy it is to deal with Virginia Tech football
right now, this is a top five team we’re talking about. Just like a
national-title level LSU team had to deal with the football side of
things after the Katrina disaster, down the road, Virginia Tech will
play football again.
How will this affect the season? It remains to be seen. If Frank Beamer
thought cancelling spring practice was the right thing to do, then
that’s it. A few extra practices shouldn’t make that much of a
difference and it would’ve seemed a bit insensitive to simply go on as
if nothing happened. That would’ve suggested that football is above the
university, not a part of it. The team will just pick up where it left
off in a few months once this has had time to settle down and people
have had time to grieve and mourn. (Of course, this will only happen if
those raging asshats at NBC stop glorifying
Cho Seung Hui in the name of higher ratings by giving him his say
with that videotape every chance they get. Let’s set the wayback machine to
last Wednesday evening and let me help Brian Williams and the boys with
this one. “We received the videotape and the manifesto with
Cho Seung Hui's words and ramblings, but out
of respect for the victims, their families, and the entire Virginia Tech
community, along with a moral responsibility to not give anyone else any
ideas of committing a similar tragedy with the desire to be heard, we
will do the decent thing and not show the video or photos sent to us.”)
In the salary cap era of NFL football is a
high draft pick a bigger opportunity to strengthen your team or to waste
a lot of money that could be better spent elsewhere? Where do you think
the best place to be is on the draft board if you wanted to get the most
talent for your dollar? – Alex, Las
Vegas
A: Either really early or really late in the first round. To me, the
middle is a no man’s land because you’re getting guy that could probably
go several picks later saving you millions of dollars. A first round
pick needs to be a starter and a star for your team for several years. A
top ten pick has to be a difference making Pro Bowl performer. At the
end of the first round, the money you’ll have to crank out is far, far
less and you’re still going to be able to fill a need. That’s part of
the reason Chicago didn’t jump all over Washington’s offer of the number
six pick for Lance Briggs. If it were up to me, I’d spend my money
keeping my top guys happy. Free agency is as hit or miss as the draft. I
want known commodities, and if I like my guys, I don’t want to lose them
to other teams (as long as I’m not doling out huge dough for an aging
star).
I'm a nit-picker. That said, your statement that Auburn
wasn't an elite team last year bugs me a bit. Of course you just said
this in passing when discussing Florida, but, being an annoying Auburn
fan, I still feel compelled to say something. Auburn went 11-2,
finished in the top 10, and had the 2 best wins in the nation (#1
Florida and #3 LSU). Lumping Auburn into the same category as
good-but-not-elite Tennessee isn't fair. – Matt
A: Guilty as charged. While that wasn’t the greatest of Auburn teams
last year, and it underachieved partly because it couldn’t get its
groove back after shutting it down midseason against a string of bad
teams, 11 wins is 11 wins. You’re absolutely right. If you win
double-digit games, especially if you’re an SEC team, you had a great
season no matter what.
For how many more years are we going to hear that such-and-such team
could be
"this year's Auburn?" – DJ
A: Until someone else is the jilted odd-team out in a true three-way
BCS slugfest. Until then, getting “Auburned” will refer to the national
title worthy team that didn’t get its chance and was the number three
team in the mix. In 2003, it would’ve been called getting “USCed.”
Which question do you hate more: 1. Why are you biased against my
alma mater or 2. Why doesn’t my alma mater get any respect? - Erich
A: The bias thing annoys me more only because if means someone isn’t a
regular reader of the site and they don’t realize/accept that I
love/hate every program equally. My rule when it comes to readers
searching for respect: if you have to ask for it, you don’t have it, you
probably won’t get it, and if your team really is that good, you don’t
need it.
I know schools would have in interest in this, but what do you think
about teams, instead of a spring scrimmage with each other, they
actually schedule a real scrimmage with other teams? The game of course
would mean nothing, but it would give teams a chance to schedule top
competition and simulate a real game environment without worrying about
rankings and play some very untraditional matchups. Imagine Ohio State
scrimmaging with LSU or USC and Florida. Again, I understand why
coaches and schools may not be interested, but would you as a college
football fan want to see that, even if the players don't play with full
intensity? – DC
A: Like there aren’t enough problems now with the preseason rankings.
Let’s say USC plays Texas Tech in a scrimmage and the Red Raiders
absolutely throttle the Trojans. I mean beat them like a drum even
though Pete Carroll is sitting several of his key players and wants to
give time to some of his reserves. All of a sudden, a few of the pinhead
voters out there would vote Texas Tech ahead of USC, or would at least
put some stock in what happened in the scrimmage. However, outside of
the potential injury factor, I think more coaches might like this idea
than you’d expect just to get their young guys some game action.
I was hoping to get your thoughts on pre-season rankings. I think
they are a huge disadvantage, for example, to one of these mid-major
teams that everyone seems to love. If the BCS rankings don't come out
until week 8 (or whenever), how can pollsters who only watch the Rose
Bowl judge talent before ever seeing it on the field? – Shawn
A: As much as I rail on the polls, I have no problem with them to start
the season. The problem comes during the year when pollsters don’tgo by what’s actually happening because they don’t actually see
every team they’re voting for. The system actually helps the mid-majors
when it comes to ranking teams. Take Boise State for instance. On
talent, it hasn’t been one of the 25 best teams in America. Sure, on the
field, it’s proven to be worthy of the top 25 as the season goes on, but
then the record changes things. Would Boise State have been unbeaten and
in the top ten mix if it had played in a BCS conference? Not a chance.
Would several BCS teams have been unbeaten had they played Boise State’s
schedule? Absolutely. If a mid-major has a great record, it’ll move up
regardless of talent or schedule. As far as waiting until mid-season, it
doesn’t matter. If the pollsters actually do their job, they’ll adjust
the rankings each week even if it means wild fluctuations. Of course,
they don’t do that.
Is it harder for a joke team to become "legitimately mediocre"…or a
legitimately mediocre team to become elite? Dan McCarney led Iowa
State out of the Big XII basement to go to 5 bowls in 6 years, and twice
came within a final game, overtime heart breaker for a chance to play
for the Big XII Championship. What will it take for Gene Chizik to
lead the Cyclones from mediocrity to BCS-caliber? – SA
A: Far, far, far tougher to go from mediocre to elite. A team with the
right chemistry, a few good players here and there, and the right system
can be a winner every year, like Navy. Once in a while a Wake Forest or
a Northwestern can rise up and shock a league when everything comes
together. But to be consistently great, you need several great years of
recruiting and on field success to build the program. A good example is
Wisconsin. It was consistently above average after going to the 1994
Rose Bowl (it was a better than “legitimately mediocre”) and made the
jump up. West Virginia and Louisville are also good examples. In
general, the goal for the downtrodden is to go to a bowl every year and
hope everything comes together in one magical season here and there.
Yo numb nuts, what is the possibility of Boise State and Utep being
invited to join the Mountain West Conference? Also, if you were a hot
dog and starving to death, would you eat yourself? - numb nose
A: Boise State yes, UTEP, not sure. Fresno State has a better shot.
Remember, conferences look to expand based on fan base, stadiums,
facilities, and other business factors. Boise State doesn’t really fit,
but it wins enough to potentially get the nod. A hot dog, no, but if I
was a king crab and I spent all day in a hot tub, one of my legs would
be missing later that day.
Do you think that Diet Dr. Pepper tastes more like regular Dr. Pepper
or pond scum? – Brent
A: At the conference media gatherings each year, the official soft drink
of the league always has its product for free all over the place. The
Big Ten always has Pepsi at the ready during its media days, and the Big
12 always has Dr. Pepper products. I find Dr. Pepper to be underrated,
and I even enjoy Diet Dr. Pepper, but at the Big 12 media days this year
there were several variations instead of the regular standbys. There
were cans and cans of a Berries and Cream Diet Dr. Pepper and some other
offshoot that I can’t remember. Always taking anything that’s free, I
horked several cans and took to my hotel room upstairs for later. They
were so bad that I was grouchy for days after I couldn’t get the taste
out of my mouth. Somewhere, someone actually tested this product, and
some focus group liked the cough medicine aftertaste.
