jlh@5941ux.UUCP (08/29/83)
Hi there, fellow college football fans. After reading all those articles about big football schools, I think it's time to respond to the call for the "bottom twenty" predictions. It's a terrible oversight to talk about bad college football without considering the Old Dominion. The state of Virginia sports six "major college" football teams, none of which have ever been ranked in the top twenty as far back as I can remember. However, the real "class act" in the state for bottom twenty football has to be the Wahoos of the University of Virginia. Perenially ranked in pre-season bottom twenty polls, the 'Hoos have responded with only two winning seasons since 1953 (7-3 in 1968 and 6-5 in 1979, my last year there). The 'Hoos have finished all but two of the last eight years with either one or two wins (We usually defeat VMI in a barnburner). After Kansas State's trip to a bowl game last year, Virginia remains alone among Division I schools who have never made it to a bowl game. When one considers the schedules that Northwestern and Kansas State face, Virginia's record seems only more remarkable. While they lose most of their games to big name schools in their respective conferences, we are losing to teams of all abilities. Sure we lost 68-0 to Texas a few years back (in a game in which our quarterback said, "The game wasn't as close as the score indicated"), but last year we pulled off a 21-17 drubbing at the hands of James Madison, a former women's college that didn't play football ten years ago. All this from a team in a major college football conference. This is getting long, but I have to make a comment about Georgia's chances without Herschel Walker. The last time Georgia played a season without Walker, who do you think they played in their (Georgia's) homecoming game? That's right. Final Score: Virginia 31, Georgia 0. One final note. Most experts agree again this year... Virginia to finish with one or two wins. Wah-hoo-wah Jeff Heatwole ..!houxm!5941ux!jlh
pvs@houxh.UUCP (08/29/83)
Well, well, well. Now we have an arguement about the bottom twenty football teams in the country. I don't think such an arguement can go by without the mention of such greats as Oregon and Oregon state. Two classic teams in one state. Almost as good as Virginia. Lets not forget army or even Colorado(or was it state?) either. Oregon state always seems to successfully pull through with one or no victories every season, but I will say they went to a bowl game in recent years. Does anyone remember the Japan bowl two years ago when they played UCLA and got cremated abroad? Now Northwestern is another story. They dissappointed the college audiences last year by winning a few games and ruining their unblemished non-winning streak. I have lost total faith in them since they are predicted to finish strong in the Big-10 this season. I mean who can I look toward for such odds, I know OSU, but again you never know about those guys. Good thing those two never played each other in the near past. Pradeep