ESPN was trying to build a brand for CFB and expand it. Their big thing was making Thursday night the must see for CFB fans (kind of an event like MNFB was for the NFL). Keep in mind, at the time, the good ol boys of CFB past were all in trouble of some sort or another so ESPN needed to find new schools to pump.

We were trying to build a brand and Weaver/Beamer saw the chance and jumped on it. Embraced ESPNs marketing machine with full force. Never missed a chance to get press. Created an atmosphere people talked about and the snowball started rolling.

Problem is, once their brand was built we couldn't keep up with the good ol boys national recognition and once the NCAA quit punishing them for the crap they were doing before and never quit doing, ESPN was able to lock them into as the showpieces and we were left sitting on the side of the road and are now just a once in a while story when they can get one of their showpieces in Lane for a big pregame and first half draw.

Today, ESPN focuses the vast majority of their time on the teams that will create the most revenue for the playoff. It has resulted in those teams having a nearly overwhelming talent advantage over the rest of CFB. The playoff expansion is a desperate attempt to make that pool bigger because they have so much airtime to fill and people that don't have a dog in the fight anymore, like us, are turning the TVs off. Back in the day, most of us never missed a Hokie game and since we were there, watched a lot more. Now, we miss a lot more games and have found other things to keep us busy on Saturdays. That is true of a lot of fans. As many sports leagues discover, you can't sustain the huge numbers without a wide audience of casual fans.