VT's chance to prove themselves worthy

Yesterday, the Hokies of Virginia Tech football team defeated the Hurricanes of the University of Miami in a torrential downpour at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia.
Aside from the game played between Pennsylvania State University and the University of Iowa, which was covered by ESPN’s College Gameday, the game played between Virginia Tech and Miami was arguably the biggest NCAA football game played this weekend. It was a titanic matchup between two teams looking to take control of the Coastal Division in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Miami was ranked ninth in the nation in the Associated Press Poll rankings while Virginia Tech was ranked eleventh. The winner would take the top spot and would almost certainly be in the top ten in the AP rankings that come out after all the games are played. Based on these facts, both teams put a lot of importance in this game.
The previous week, Virginia Tech had narrowly defeated the University of Nebraska (16-15) in a game filled with numerous errors, turnovers, and penalties. Had it not been for a dramatic Touchdown pass made by Tech’s Quarterback, the Hokies might not have won against Nebraska. They were truly lucky to pull that one out of the fire. Throughout that game, they would struggle with their offense. One of their touchdowns came as a result of good field position after a good return on the opening kickoff of the game. They would struggle consisitently afterwards and would not have another important play until the final minute when Tech’s Quarterback completed an impressive pass that put the Hokies deep into Nebraska territory where they would eventually scorethe winning touchdown. Tech’s offense wasn’t the only problem in that game, their defense gave up huge amounts of yardage to the Nebraska running game (even though Nebraska only managed 15 points and never scored a touchdown). With all of these problems, Virginia Tech looked highly vulnerable against an increasingly resurgent Miami team.
Two days before Tech’s thrilling win over Nebraska, Miami played Georgia Tech University and won the game quite handily (33-17). After giving up a field goal early on in the game, the Hurricanes took control of the game and were never threatened for its remainder. They looked exceptionally well on both offense and defense and dominated in just about every phase of the game. Miami’s performance represented the days when Miami played that way on a consistent basis and won championships as if they were expected to. They looked well prepared to take on Virginia Tech.
With Miami’s increase in both their strength, speed, and confidence combined with Tech’s problems on offense and defense made the game between them appear as if it were a mismatch largely in favor of Miami. The experts and journalists were greatly impressed by Miami’s performance and favored them greatly over Virginia Tech. Almost all of them picked Miami to not only defeat Virginia Tech on Saturday but to also win the Atlantic Coast Conference. They had written off Virginia Tech and said that they would have no chance against Miami.
On Saturday, the day of the game, their was a steady and consistent rainfall, everyone walked to the stadium wearing poncho’s and carrying umbrellas. Some people did not go to Lane Stadium and watched the game in their dorm (like me). Despite what everyone said about Tech and Miami, the game unfolded quite differently than they had expected. Tech’s defense forced Miami to fumble the ball which led to a Hokie touchdown a play or two later. Tech’s offense also showed great improvement as they scored on a long touchdown pass. Not only was the offense and defense running well for Tech but their special teams play also had an important role in the game as well. They blocked a Miami punt in the second quarter in which a Tech player scooped the ball up and took it in for a touchdown. Miami would score a touchdown in the third quarter but it would be too late, they had fallen too far behind and Tech had all the momentum on their side. Tech would score another field goal as well as another touchdown to complete their rout of Miami. The Hokies dominated the Hurricanes by a decisive score of 31 points to Miami’s 7 points.
The victory not only silenced Tech’s doubters and other prognosticators but it also changed the rankings of the two teams as well. Miami has fallen from being ranked ninth in the country to being ranked seventeenth in the country with a record of two wins and one loss. Virginia Tech, on the other hand, has risen from being ranked eleventh to sixth with a record of three wins and one loss. The win also puts tech at the top of the division where they control their own destiny in the conference race. It was a great game for Tech, not only because they won but also because they proved that they could play well and make up for poor performances. It will be interesting to find out where these two teams go from here.