Virginia Tech Hokies @ NC State Wolfpack Football Recap

In these days preceding the Major League Baseball playoffs, one could use some country-hardball talk to describe this past Saturday's consequential contest between Virginia Tech and North Carolina State. The Hokies whiffed throughout the first half, but they brought the heavy lumber and hit the ball out of the park in the second half. As a result, there is no joy in the Mudville called Raleigh, North Carolina. The not-so-mighty Wolfpack have again struck out in their attempt to win an ACC Atlantic Division title for the first time in school history.

Before saluting the victors from Virginia Tech, a few words have to be devoted to the team that lost on its home turf at Carter-Finley Stadium. For so long, Tom O'Brien - whether at NC State or in his old stomping grounds at Boston College - could simply never win a season-defining home game against an upper-tier conference competitor. O'Brien never broke through at Boston College, failing to win a single Big East or (after the school's transition) the ACC while serving as the head man in Chestnut Hill. When O'Brien took his considerable credentials and his gleaming bowl-game record to Raleigh, NC State fans were hopeful that they might improve over the schizophrenic tenure of former coach Chuck Amato and move up in the ACC pecking order. However, after this dispiriting come-from-ahead loss to coach Frank Beamer's resilient Hokies, it seems that - at least for one more year - NCSU will fall short of first place in the division standings, thereby losing a shot at contesting the ACC title roughly two months from now.

It isn't quite as old as the scriptures, but it is as old as the past six seasons: In the ACC, Virginia Tech regularly finds a way to win, while a Tom O'Brien-coached team somehow finds a way to lose a meaningful home game against a foremost in-conference competitor. Such is the cycle of life in this part of the United States.

This game started so well for North Carolina State. Firing on all cylinders and powered by a massive tidal wave of adrenaline, O'Brien's boys stormed to a 17-0 lead with conviction and self-belief. Blocking and tackling far better than the lifeless and shellshocked Hokies, the Wolfpack looked like the ACC's best team and had the home crowd worked up into a frenzy. A Virginia Tech team that suffered the season-opening stomach-punch against Boise State and then failed to rebound against James Madison looked like a team on the ropes. A runaway was unfolding in the Research Triangle area, and there was good reason to think that the Hokies would lack both the mental frailty and the proper technique needed to mount a comeback. A lament in the Virginia Tech camp all season long has been the Hokies' inability to spring runners with key blocks.

> Check out our great selection of Virginia Tech Apparel & Merchandise!