Game Values: The Despised Loss

Countdown to Kickoff: 5 Days...

As a disclaimer here, I'm not considering Elon, Duke, or Alabama A&M, which are the 3 games that we can all agree that a loss would keep us from showing our faces perhaps ever again. It's not even that Duke is the third-worst team we'll play -- they're probably not. It's that Duke has such a stigma when it comes to football that we would hate the idea of losing to them, even if they had a 10-win season. Now, for the other 9 games, the candidates...

Virginia Tech, September 26 (Thursday)

It's been too long since we've beaten these guys. In 2010 they won and took Joshua Nesbitt away from us, in 2011 they won after Jeremiah Attaochu lost his cool, and in 2012 they won because Al Groh. This year we get them at home in what should be one of the best environments all year, and it's time to win this game again. I don't want to see us lose to Frank Beamer and his whining band of merry men in another game that we should win .

Miami, October 5

In my time in college, the Hurricanes have become my second most-despised team to our rivals in Athens. I can't stand their fans, I can't stand their program, and I can't stand the fact that we haven't put up much of a decent showing against them since I was in high school. Last year we straight up gave the game away after 3 years of terrible showings, and I'm tired of losing to these guys.

Pittsburgh, November 2

Last year's Homecoming contest left a bad taste in everyone's mouth -- we were run out of our own building by BYU. There's no other way of putting it. It's the only Homecoming game we've lost in my time at school, and I don't want to lose a second time on Homecoming. Heck, Homecoming in my time in school has brought huge wins in years past -- let's not let last year become the trend for Homecoming games.

uga, November 30

This is the obvious one. In-state rival, haven't won in 4 years, in our house, generally disrespected by them, and on and on. You know the drill by now.

Verdict

I'm going to start by eliminating uga due to the fact that I'm already preparing myself for a loss in that contest. In my book, a "most hated loss" has to be one you're not expecting. That's why I'm also eliminating Miami, who is predicted the favorite in our division and is pretty much always going to be more talented than Tech. That leaves us with Virginia Tech and our Homecoming showdown with Pitt. I really hate losing to Virginia Tech, and especially would hate doing it so early in the year. However, I think the verdict here is that I would most hate losing to Pittsburgh, due to the fact that I think we should beat them AND it's our Homecoming game after we laid an egg in last year's game.

I want to be clear -- I would really hate to lose all of these games. I just think that a Homecoming loss against a team I believe we should beat is the one I'd be most dissatisfied with.

Which game would you most hate to lose? Is it one I didn't even list here?