\jeff{krimmel}

The Virginia Tech Chokies

Virginia Tech lost to Florida State on Saturday in the inaugural ACC championship game. Virginia Tech was ranked number five in the BCS entering the game; Florida State was unranked. Virginia Tech came in with a 10-1 record; Florida State had lost three straight and was 7-4. Virginia Tech lost the game 27-22.

Entering their November 5 game with Miami, Virginia Tech was one of the four remaining unbeaten major college programs. The other three were USC, Texas, and Alabama. Somehow, at that point, I was not worried at all that Alabama or Virginia Tech would finish the season undefeated. Alabama had been looking shaky for a few games already at that point, barely squeaking out victories against seemingly inferior competition. Virginia Tech, on the other hand, was looking great, blocking punts and field goals like crazy on their way to an 8-0 record before the Miami game.

And then Virginia Tech got beat. Badly. 27-7 was the final score, and from what Bobby was telling me, it was worse than that. Virgina Tech’s hopes for a berth in the national championship game took a big hit that day. Not content to suffer only one gut-wrenching loss this season, the Chokies lost again on Saturday to Florida State.

I know, I know, I’m one to talk. I’m a Longhorn. We get trounced annually by Oklahoma (except this year). We go to the Holiday Bowl and lose to a crappy Pac 10 team (except last year and this year). Still, Virginia Tech knows how to pull out late season losses better than any other major college program.

A team plays about a third of its games in the months of November, December, and January. The regular season ends for most schools in late November or early December, and then the bowl season runs from mid-December to early January. I took a look at Virginia Tech’s record over the last five seasons: 46-18. That’s not a bad record. But let’s look at their record in November through January: 12-14. Virginia Tech is 34-4 in August, September and October, and 12-14 in November, December, and January. That’s classically bad. Yes, a team usually gets its toughest competition in the latter half of the season. But, it’s not like Virginia Tech is playing top ten teams every week in the last part of the season. They’re losing to any decent team they face late in the season, and some teams that aren’t decent. If we take out the anomaly that was their late season success last season, they are 36-15 overall and 8-13 in November through January in four of the past five seasons.

As a college football fan, if your school needs a Virginia Tech loss late in the season, you’re golden. Pop the champaign. I don’t know if it’s coaching, conditioning, talent, or what, but it’s a trend. Five years worth of data supports it. Oh well, better luck next year.