Guys, we are acting like this whole "Rodney Dangerfield" thing is new and unique to us. I seem to recall Boise State having the same arguments a few years ago. They got the same lack of respect we did and not just one season either. Then one hook & ladder play later they were seen as legit. Now, granted, they have dropped a LOT since then, but that was very similar to what we see now. Add TCU and Baylor to that same category. Until you CONSISTENTLY win and beat a few traditional power teams, that is the way it is.
Look, we are sitting at #11 this week after all but giving VT the game yesterday. I didn't watch live, but DVR'd it and watched last night. From the posts here in the game thread I fully expected to see VT mopping the field with us. Well, turns out we pretty much played like crap the first half and then took control in the second half. Where we screwed up was 2 TO's with less than 5 minutes left to let them back in. The first one we were driving it down their throats and had MW not fumbled we would have come away with at least a field goal and milked the clock to the point they would have had no chance. Another TD there and we would be here talking about how great the "blowout" was.
The polls showed what I saw - a team that SHOULD have won handily, but who made costly mistakes and found a way to win. If anything, I think the dook and Miami beat downs were the anomaly and probably gave us more of a skewed idea of what kind of team we have. We are VERY good and should beat moo pretty easily, but, again, they will be on a huge high and we can't overlook them. Any other time we could win going away. At their place and with this being their national championship, I fully expect it to be a nail biter.
And, yes, I am very happy sitting on top of the coastal and playing for the ACC title. I would have never guessed this in a 100 years. Are we getting no respect? Maybe, but lets be honest here, we haven't really deserve it - YET. Beat moo like the red-headed stepchild they are and then beat Clemson and we can talk about respect. I don't expect even in that scenario that we will be in the playoffs, but we should be playing on New Year's Day and against a very good opponent. HUGE strides have been made with this program, so I am going to enjoy what we have now and hope we can consistently stay here. Ask me in a year or two if that happens and we are still left out of the playoffs and I will probably tell you that, yes, we ARE being disrespected. Until then, I am just going to enjoy the ride!
