That said, let's talk about the second half, when the Jackets pulled away. We've had several instances in both football and basketball this season in which the Hokies have collapsed and gotten run over -- most notably, the 47-14 loss to Pitt in football, and four of the Hokies' five hoops losses this season.

I have noticed, as you point out @hoosnowahokie , that in these instances, the announcers pivot and heap praise on the winning team, as if they have suddenly unlocked the secrets to the sport. In most cases, they have not. Pitt was a mediocre football team: 6-5 (5-5 ACC). Their win over VT was more a function of VT deflating after failing to score on second and goal from the one, then flat out collapsing and quitting. Not to mention that the VT coaching staff only gave nine carries to one of the best running backs in the country, Khalil Herbert. (If I'm forgetting an injury or something to Herbert, please remind me.)

But there was no discussion of VT's failure to compete once they didn't score from in close, or anything related to VT. It was time to lavish praise on Pitt, as if they were an ACC Championship contender. Same for Penn State, a mediocre basketball team that (a) was a bad matchup for VT; and (b) got crazy hot because of it. Same for Syracuse hoops, and Pitt hoops, and now GT last night.

I'm not complaining or criticizing. It appears to be from the Broadcaster 101 playbook. And maybe you don't want announcers overly criticizing college kids when they have a bad game, so they just heap praise on the winners, even if they are clearly playing above their heads or are just having a good night. If that's the case, I get it. It's definitely a thing, though.

The other thing you need to watch for is the home-team bias in football. In a normal non-COVID year, announcers arrive a day or two early and spend a lot of time, relatively speaking, with the home-team coaches and players leading up to the game. This leads to "home-team bias," where they have just cozied up to home team personnel, heard all the stories, etc. I think that "flavors" their coverage during a game, especially if the home team plays well.