Tech Sports Blog

It is unbelievable how fast this summer flew by. It feel likes it was only yesterday that I started my new job. That was 2 months ago. While the end of summer is upon us, and that is bad news to some, the good news is that there are only 4 weeks until the Hokies take the field at North Carolina State.

Four weeks!!! I can hardly wait. I can practically smell the peanut oil for the turkey fryer, taste the goodness of a stiff Jim Beam & coke, and hear Lane Stadium rocking.

So, what happened over summer vacation?

• Boston College officially joined the ACC in July.
• The ACC added two bowl tie-ins for 2006. (The Emerald Bowl in San Fransisco and the Music City Bowl in Nashville will host ACC teams starting in 2006.)
• The ACC media picked Virginia Tech and Florida State to win their respective divisions.
• Virginia Tech is ranked #7 in the first USA Today Coaches Poll of the year, ahead of our ACC brethren (#8 Miami, #12 FSU, #22 BC, #23 UVA).

There is definitely a sense that this season could be something special. But along with this hope there is a dose of reality – everyone remembers 2002 and 2003. Talent plus Hype does not necessarily equal BCS. What will make the 2005 Hokies any different? They have arguably one of the most talented teams in Tech football history. However, this talented team will hopefully remember what it took to win an ACC championship. Team United is what they were called last year. If Team United shows up on September 4th, this season will be more memorable than 2004 and possibly more memorable than 1999.

But, I shouldn’t get ahead of myself. The season has yet to begin, so I’m going to try and keep Rose Bowl talk to a minimum. I wouldn’t want to get too excited only to show up in Blacksburg for a game and see the cHokies take the field.

EDIT: I wanted to leave you with links to two articles – an excellent read at TailGateFever.com and Terry Bowden’s ACC Preview at Yahoo! Sports.

I came across this post on the mighty mjd sports blog from about one year ago, just after the USC game.

The mighty mjd referred to this column by Matt Hayes that Virginia Tech hit the ceiling in 1999 and was in decline. While mjd’s reasons were rediculous, I love this prediction: I can’t envision Tech winning a conference championship or playing in a big-time bowl anytime soon. With that, recruiting takes a hit. With that, everything goes down hill. But other than that, I’m sure the ACC will be a lot of fun for them.

It gives me warm fuzzies to read these opinions knowing that we are now the defending champions of the ACC.