Dave Sez

Congrats To The Hokies

Somehow I've managed to avoid congratulating Virginia Tech on wrapping up their first ACC Championship this past weekend. They couldn't have earned it in grander fashion, beating Miami in the Orange Bowl to win the title outright.

I'd have to say that the job that Frank Beamer did with this team has to rank among the all-time best coaching performances in ACC history (it's up there with Maryland in 2001, Georgia Tech in 1990 and Clemson in 1981). This was a team picked to finish in the bottom half of the conference. They lost their first game of the season (albeit in a good showing against #1 USC) and then were beaten up in their second ACC game by NC State. You may recall that the State defense sacked Bryan Randall ten times in that game. Ten times! So the Hokies lost to a team that ended up not even being bowl eligible.

But then, the Hokies got better. And better. And better. Each week they improved a little, which is the best sign of outstanding coaching. That offensive line, the same one that gave up ten sacks to the Wolfpack, is now as dominant as any in the conference. The Hokies can run the ball and they can keep you from running. Randall can throw the ball and they can keep you from throwing.

In their last two games, Tech beat two of the three other teams that had a shot at the title (they never played Florida State this year). You can't do any better than that - beating the contenders straight up. Both Florida State and Miami, the two giants of the conference, lost to lower teams in the conference. Twice. Virginia was never upset, but they lost to all of the other top teams.

The Hokies won the ACC and they couldn't have deserved it more. Hokie, hokie, hokie, hi.