zero good QBs in the conference, and pretty poor coaches.

People over-attribute VT's success from 1996-2010 to VT being such a great program. We also benefited from really weak competition. The Big East was a joke and we landed in the ACC at EXACTLY the right time to have some success. Clemson was asleep, FSU was in a dip, Miami was descending, and the rest of the conference was just waiting for basketball season to start.

Then, football revenues started to become more important, technology and cultural changes created far more parity in the game. Now there's fewer putrid teams -- and a lot of solid teams throughout P5 and FBS. It has become a lot harder to win 10 games per season just by playing good defense.

It is a different world, my friends.