I chuckled seeing the Clemson vs The Citadel and FSU vs. Charleston Southern matchup made me chuckle because itās like theyāre doing their best SEC cos play
ā¦ but seriouslyā¦ donāt know why it is always them.
Edit: I found origin!
āLittle Sisters of the Poorā is a euphemism used in college sports to describe a weak opponent. The term originated from a comparison made by the mayor of Cleveland after Senator Robert Taftās 1950 re-election victory. The mayor compared Taftās victory to the Notre Dame football team beating the Little Sisters of the Poor.
Yeah thereās a reason the Alabamaās and Georgiaās of the world started doing it; people who run those programs generally make smart decisions. When winning your end-of-year rivalry game is of critical importance to your fanbase, you give yourself any edge you can.
Interestingly enough, kind of surprised neither Texas nor A&M scheduled a cupcake for this coming weekend given the historic importance of their game on the 30th.
Itās an SEC thing and I donāt think those programs are wrong for doing it. But Iām also not surprised that Texas or A&M chose not to. Big 12 and Big 10 rarely played out of conference after Oct.
As a coach I can see pros and cons to it. There is an argument to be made for playing Lil Sisters of the Poor and getting out of synch before a big game similar to why I always hated a bye week before the post season etc. Trick is to find a game thatās competitive that keeps the guys tuned in and ready to play but you know you can sit everyone by midway through the third.
In Virginiaās case even in the heyday of the program finding that perfect combination could be difficult.
Iāve always believed that if we scheduled the VT game towards the beginning of the season, we would have won more games over the years. Weāve still been the worse program during that stretch, but I think we could have stole a few victories by catching a less prepared team earlier in the year.
I think Welsh tried this (or Groh?) and ran into a lot of resistance. Folks seemed to like it in that Thanksgiving slot. Whoever tried it, I think it was before VPI joined the ACC.
The only VPI game I ever went to at Scott was the Joe Gieck tripping game, because it wasnāt Thanksgiving weekend (weekend prior).
Actually, looking at this on Wikipedia, and it wasnāt even in that Post-thanksgiving slot (at least on a regular basis) until the early-mid aughts.
I always think of VT in the Thanksgiving slot. But I o recall going to games the week leading Thanksgiving in the 90s. Also remember them testing it on the Day after Thanksgiving which i did not like.
Guess what Iām saying is itās fine in the Thanksgiving slot and I think people (mostly fans) put way too much emphasis on the VT game. Not saying itās not a massive game and the one I want the most, but I think all the ācurseā talk is overblown.
Bud Foster said the same in an interview after he had retired, that they would have lost a few of those games if they were played earlier in the season.
I donāt mind the game being where it is but also wouldnāt be too upset if they moved it to September or October.
Last normal season I remember us trying that was '99, Michael Vickās RS Fr year, when we played them at the start of October (Jazzās last year, my first year), and Vick shredded us. Itās interesting that we chose that year to try it in October, because the rivalry had been pretty even before that, the year prior being the Ahmad Hawkins game in Blacksburg. Maybe it was a weather thing, trying to get it in when it was more pleasant October rather than frigid November (especially at Lane).
(Edit: couldāve been an ACC- or BE-directed thing. Remember Tech was Big East then. We closed our regular season that year against Maryland instead, so maybe the ACC wanted to push that rivalry [and UVA-UMD was a good rivalry at the time] as the grand finale, so VT had no choice but to accept October as an alternative. They finished their regular season against Boston College, at the time also a good BE rivalry.)
Only other time we tried it early was 2020, the pandemic year, when everyone wanted to schedule their high profile games earlier because they felt it gave those games a higher likelihood of actually happening, since the season could fall apart at any time in theory. Of course someone had an outbreak in September and the game happened in November anyways that year.
At this point, the VT folks have no reason to let us change it. No oneās going to make them.
Only way it changes is if one of us leaves the ACC and the whole scheduling scheme starts from scratch.
I think if we really pushed the ACC office to play the home games on some other date theyād accommodate if we could provide a good alternative for Thanksgiving when almost every other team is playing their big (mostly in-state) rival. Probably would need UNC to be part of the plan (and I really doubt that happens).
Itās hard to make changes, kind of like political redistricting. Whichever is currently losing wants to change things and whoever is winning doesnāt.
Though with redistricting, only the side in power can make the changes, so naturally they donāt want to.
NC State
Georgia Tech
North Carolina
Boston College
UConn
Syracuse
SMU
Virginia
Wake Forest
Miami
Charleston Southern
Florida State
Stanford
California
Pitt
Louisville
The Citadel
Clemson
Virginia Tech
Duke