Tech v. Alabama, the long awaited Game

I would like to discuss the game played between Virginia tech and the University of Alabama. This was a game that had been talked about for months leading up to its opening kickoff. It was a clash of conference titans; one, Virginia Tech, being from the Atlantic Coast Conference and the other, Alabama, from the Southeastern Conference. Analysts, journalists, news reporters, and sports broadcasters all covered this event. It is evident that this match-up clearly had major ramifications for both the teams playing in the game as well as the conferences that they represent.
Virginia Tech comes from a conference that has taken a massive beating when it comes to football. The Atlantic Coast Conference stance is relatively weak compared to conferences like that of the Southeastern Conference and its record versus quality opponents thus proves the point. Virginia Tech was beaten handily by the LSU Tigers (Louisiana State University) by a score of 48-7 early in the 2007 NCAA football season as was Clemson University when it was beaten by Alabama by a score of 34-10 in the opening week of the 2008 season (and that was a game where Clemson was ranked higher than Alabama.).
Alabama, on the other hand, comes from a strong, respectable and well-rounded conference with a lot of football prestige. Each one of its 12 members, including Alabama, has gone to at least one post-season game (bowl) in the last ten years (including Vanderbilt which, last season ended a bowl drought that goes way back into the 1980’s). At least half of its members have played in a new years day bowl or better in the last four or five years with two of them winning the National Championship the last three years (University of Florida in 2006 and 2008 and LSU in 2007). They seemingly dominate their non-conference opponents year in and year out, especially teams that hail from relatively weak conferences such as the Big East Conference, the ACC, and conferences that don’t have a tie-in to a major New Years day bowl.
The reputations of these two conferences clearly gave the University of Alabama the advantage and Virginia Tech the disadvantage. Most people picked Alabama based on those facts as well as many others. Alabama had a strong, solid defense while Virginia Tech had a young and inexperienced offense. One of their only running backs with playing experience from the previous year, a young man named Darren Evans, tragically tore his ACL during practice, causing him to miss the entire football season. This gaffed Virginia Tech’s already shallow depth significantly, forcing them to rely on their talented, but still inexperienced, freshmen running backs. This made the task of going up against Alabama’s tough defense far more daunting than it already was. Quarterback strength was an issue as well. Alabama’s Quarterback was pretty talented with armstrength and accuracy but, other than that, there was not much more that could be said of him. Virginia Tech’s situation was somewhat the opposite. Their quarterback was very mobile and dynamic; he could run when he couldn’t pass and scramble for the needed yards when he had to. However, his throwing ability has been disappointing and he always finds himself in trouble when he s in a passing situation. These facts did not bode well for Tech, a team hoping to attract the national spotlight and restore credibility to its conference.
The significance of this game was magnified by the fact that both teams were ranked in the preseason top ten. Alabama was ranked fifth in the nation while Virginia Tech was ranked seventh in the nation. Both were, and still are, considered strong favorites to win their division within their conference. It is said that the winner of this game would have a strong chance of making it into the national championship game at the end of the season. This was an especially important game for tech as well as the Atlantic Coast Conference. It was an opportunity to show the nation that their conference was not weak, that they could play with the better and more powerful teams. It was also an opportunity for the Southeastern Conference to assert their dominance over the smaller-name conferences like that of the Atlantic Coast Conference. It also showcased two of the greatest coaching minds in NCAA football: Frank Beamer, who has been coaching Tech for over 20 years, and Nick Saban, a coach who won a share of the national championship for LSU in the 2003 season and also led Alabama to a 12-0 start and number one ranking for a greater portion of the 2008 season. This all made it evident that the game between these two teams was a titanic match-up and a must-see.
When the day of the game finally arrived, the fans came by the thousands. Many attended the pre-game festivities in Atlanta, Georgia where the game was being held, including College Gameday, a show on ESPN where football analysts visit the site of the week’s top game to analyze, dissect, and discuss it as well as the other games. Behind those prognosticators and football analysts were the many fans of both Alabama and Virginia Tech as well as a few fans from other teams that were playing that day too. Many of the experts picked Alabama to win the football game, much to the chagrin of many Virginia tech fans and delight to the Alabama fans; Tech fans booed and Alabama fans cheered as they made their selections.
The game itself was fairly competitive throughout its duration. Alabama stopped Virginia Tech’s offense twice and kicked a couple of field goals only to see Tech take a kickoff return for a touchdown and find themselves falling behind slightly. After a couple more scoring exchanges, Tech found itself leading by one point at halftime, despite some offensive struggles. In the second half of the game, Alabama regained the lead and would not trail for the remainder of the game. Tech made a valiant effort to match Alabama punch for punch but the speed, strength, and depth from Alabama’s team was too much to conquer. Alabama would win against Tech by a score of 34-24 despite careless errors and idiotic penalties that would usually prove to be costly for a team.
There are a lot of lessons that can be learned from this game. For starters, Alabama is for real and have a good chance of winning many games in the season. As for Tech, even though they lost in the end, this game can be seen as a mark of progress for them and their conference. They and the rest of the ACC found themselves on the business end of a blowout many times to teams like Alabama, ultimately humiliating themselves in the process. From Tech’s 41 point margin of defeat to Alabama to Clemson’s 24 point margin against Alabama to only a 10 point margin this time around for Tech. It shows that while the ACC is not ready to compete with the bigger conferences, they are getting close. It will not be long before they are standing amongst the best of the best, it’s just going to take a little more time.