2 years ago, FSU football was 0-4, and 8-16 in their last 24

This came across r/CFB today - Two years ago, FSU had just lost 31-23 to Louisville, dropping the Noles to 0-4 (8-16 over their last 24). At the time, FSU had the 20th most talented team, per 247's team talent composite. 20th in team talent composite is bad by FSU standards, but, in theory, any team with a top 20 talent composite should be much better than 0-4/8-16.

After this loss to Louisville, a reporter ask Norvell how he could possibly recruit new players given how poorly the program was recruiting (side note - this sentiment has been echoed frequently on TKP). Norvell calmly provided a measured response around his recruiting strategy, and how (my words, not his) the record didn't matter:

I know VT isn't FSU, but the parallels are there:

  • An Offensive Line Rebuild
  • Being two coaches removed from the guy who made the program, and the coach in between having a rocky relationship with the administration (Insert Pam from the office meme, this and this are basically the same thing).
  • New Coach comes in and under achieves relative to the 'pure talent' on the roster
  • 2 inexperienced coordinators: prior to the 2021 season, OC Kenny Dillingham and DC Adam Fuller had one total season of P5 experience between them - that was Dillingham's 2019 season at Auburn, in which he was not even allowed to call plays (Gus owned play calling).

I don't know if Pry can fix VT (trust me, I have my concerns). I don't know if Bowen/Marve can grow into half the coordinators that Dillingham/Fuller became. But, it does seem that, for every Mike-Elko-amazingly-blazing-fast-overachieving-rebuild, there's a slow, painful, blind-faith-trust-the-process, Mike-Norvell-esk rebuild.

I hope Pry can deliver on the latter, because he definitely isn't delivering on the former. Only time will tell. But he (we) need time.

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Virginia Tech School of Architecture Class of 2014
Fan of Hokies, Ravens, NY Giants, Orioles

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Virginia Tech School of Architecture Class of 2014
Fan of Hokies, Ravens, NY Giants, Orioles

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"Why gobble gobble chumps asks such good questions, I will never know." - TheFifthFuller

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"Runs up the hill! Into the Tech student section! Here in Charlottesville!"

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"Runs up the hill! Into the Tech student section! Here in Charlottesville!"

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~This post has been or will be edited for clarity. This is a write drunk, edit sober kind of account.~

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"Why gobble gobble chumps asks such good questions, I will never know." - TheFifthFuller

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"Why gobble gobble chumps asks such good questions, I will never know." - TheFifthFuller

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"Why gobble gobble chumps asks such good questions, I will never know." - TheFifthFuller

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"Why gobble gobble chumps asks such good questions, I will never know." - TheFifthFuller

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"Why gobble gobble chumps asks such good questions, I will never know." - TheFifthFuller

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"Take care of the little things and the big things will come."

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"Take care of the little things and the big things will come."

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To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
@VTnerf on insta, @BuryHokie on twitter, #ThanksFrank

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~This post has been or will be edited for clarity. This is a write drunk, edit sober kind of account.~

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~This post has been or will be edited for clarity. This is a write drunk, edit sober kind of account.~

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To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
@VTnerf on insta, @BuryHokie on twitter, #ThanksFrank

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To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
@VTnerf on insta, @BuryHokie on twitter, #ThanksFrank

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"Take care of the little things and the big things will come."

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~This post has been or will be edited for clarity. This is a write drunk, edit sober kind of account.~

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From the 2018 VT-uva game-"This is when LEGENDS are made!"

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21st century QBs Undefeated vs UVA:
MV7, MV5, LT3, Grant Wells, Braxton Burmeister, Ryan Willis, Josh Jackson, Jerod Evans, Michael Brewer, Tyrod Taylor, Sean Glennon, and Grant Noel. That's right, UVA. You couldn't beat Grant Noel.

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To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
@VTnerf on insta, @BuryHokie on twitter, #ThanksFrank

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Warning: this post occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors)..