Sugar Bowl 2012: Why the Virginia Tech Selection Was a Complete Failure

As the BCS selections started to roll out, the choices were understandable and did not raise many eyebrows. 

In the Rose Bowl, the Big Ten champion Wisconsin Badgers would take on the Pac-12 champion Oregon Ducks.

In the Fiesta Bowl, the Big 12 champion Oklahoma State Cowboys will take on the 11-1 Stanford Cardinal.

Next, the ACC Champion Clemson Tigers would take on the Big East champion West Virginia Mountaineers in the Orange Bowl and LSU will play Alabama for the national title.

Oh yea, and lastly in the Sugar Bowl, Michigan would take on Virginia Tech.

Wait, wait?

When looking at the other selections, six of the eight were conference champions and the other two teams were 11-1 and in the Top Five in the nation. Looking at the Sugar Bowl matchup, Michigan ended the year 10-2 and the name alone was attractive enough for the Sugar Bowl to pick them up, but Virginia Tech?

While Stanford has a victory over USC and Notre Dame and Alabama went 11-1—only losing to LSU—the Hokies resume is not as strong as you would like from an at-large team in the BCS.

As you glance at the season that Virginia Tech has not completed, what you see is an out-of-conference schedule that included Appalachian State, East Carolina, Arkansas State and Marshall.

You also can look and see that the only ranked team that the Hokies beat was Georgia Tech, who is no longer ranked and finished 8-4.

Lastly, the Hokies did play Clemson twice and both times the Tigers were ranked in the Top 20. Unfortunately for Virginia Tech, the Tigers beat them at Blacksburg 23-3 and then dismantled them in the ACC title game 38-10.

Where is the signature win? Where is the strength of schedule? Where is the conference title?

The only saving grace for the Hokies is they only have to look across the field in their bowl matchup to find a team that has a similar resume.