Virginia Tech Hokies @ Miami Hurricanes Football Recap

Virginia Tech 31, Miami 17

They began their season humiliated, beaten-down, fatigued, and lost.

They're now on the verge of making history in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Once again, even in their darkest out-of-conference hour, the Virginia Tech Hokies can still be trusted to take care of business in their own neck of the woods.

Yes, after a brief absence from the ACC Championship Game, coach Frank Beamer's boys from Blacksburg, Virginia, will once again contest a conference title. Virginia Tech will travel to Charlotte on Dec. 4 to take on the eventual winner of the ACC Atlantic Division in a one-shot battle for a BCS bowl berth. That's because the Hokies clinched the ACC's Coastal Division flag with a 14-point win in Sun Life Stadium against a fired-up but frail bunch of Miami Hurricanes. Once again, an ACC foe offered a determined effort, and once more, Virginia Tech was able to turn back the challenge. The reality of this joyful moment for the Virginia Tech football family stands in such marked contrast to where this team was in the middle of September.
You might recall that Virginia Tech lost two games in six days to start the 2010 campaign. An emotionally devastating loss to Boise State briefly sapped this team's will on Labor Day, and when the Hokies - drained on so many levels - lost at home to FCS-based James Madison just five days after the Boise stomach-punch, national writers and pundits buried Tech in an avalanche of withering criticism. It was as though Virginia Tech's three division titles in the past five ACC seasons, plus three league championships in the past six ACC campaigns, didn't really matter. Sure, Virginia Tech is the only ACC program other than Florida State to have won a BCS bowl in the past decade (Miami won BCS bowls as a member of the Big East before joining the ACC in 2004), and yeah, the Hokies have succeeded whereas so many other college football programs have failed, but after the Boise-James Madison double-dose of hell, few pigskin commentators seemed willing or able to cut this program some slack. Spirits were low and hearts were broken in Blacksburg, and it was legitimate to wonder if Tech's players could pick up the pieces.

My, how they've done so in the following two weeks.

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This win over Miami on the road gives Tech a 7-0 ACC record. With a win this upcoming Saturday over archrival Virginia, the Hokies could become the first ACC team since (yep - you guessed it) Florida State in 2000 to win all eight regular-season ACC contests. That's how consistent Virginia Tech has been in 2010, and that's how impressive Beamer's ballclub has proven to be since the two-game stumble out of the starting blocks. Not always dominant but regularly cool in the clutch, Virginia Tech found answers on yet one more Saturday to deny Miami a meaningful triumph in what has been an utter failure of a season in South Florida.

Miami was counting on a win in this game to restore lost luster and rebuild a winning image. The Hurricanes were not likely to win the Coastal, but a triumph over Tech would have at least kept them in the fight for one more week, forcing the Hokies to win against Virginia in order to close down the chase. Now, though, the Canes are 7-4 and limping toward the end of the line. It's all because Tech possessed more staying power, as has been the case in the ACC since 2004.

The big play of this game was not hard to pinpoint. Miami had taken just 97 seconds to tie the score at 17-all after the Hokies grabbed a 17-10 edge in the third quarter. With an even-steven scoreboard stalemate in progress, one team needed to make an impact play that would tip the balance of power in one direction.

Enter Ryan Williams.

Virginia Tech's workhorse running back made two superb juke moves at the first point of contact, followed by a decisive cut and then pure breakaway speed up the middle third of the field, between the hashmarks. Williams covered 84 yards and reached the goal line before an orange-shirted Miami defender could catch him, and in a flash, Tech regained a seven-point lead at 24-17. In the final quarter, with his team trailing and in need of something special, Miami quarterback Stephen Morris - filling in for normal starter Jacory Harris - finally cracked. The youngster had made very solid decisions in the first three quarters, but in the final 10 minutes, the house fell down for the still-learning signal caller. Morris tossed three picks in those final 10 minutes, and that's what enabled the visitors from the Commonwealth of Virginia to once again make their way to the ACC's final showdown.

Another year is about to end in the world of Atlantic Coast Conference football. The new boss in the ACC Coastal is the one that's normally ruled the roost over the past six years... but leased out the division to Georgia Tech last year. Now, Virginia Tech is back in control of its domain, and stands as a football force that's prepared to march to the Orange Bowl one more time.

By: Matt Zemek
ACC Fans Staff Writer