Instant Analysis: Virginia-Virginia Tech

Upstarts from North Carolina and Georgia Tech wanted to knock them off. The old powerhouse from Miami wanted to steal their thunder. Even Duke gave them a battle royale in 2008. But when another regular season ended, an old stand-by defended its ACC Coastal Division title. Yes, the Virginia Tech Hokies earned the right to defend their conference crown.

It’s entirely appropriate that Virginia Tech will play for the ACC championship next week in Tampa against Boston College or Florida State (pending the outcome of the BC-Maryland game later today in Chestnut Hill). Frank Beamer’s team, ravaged by injuries and beset by inconsistency at quarterback and placekicker, barely reached the finish line first in a division that—like the ACC at large—has offered one unending parade of mistake-filled and uneven football. Saturday’s three-point triumph over a game but impotent Virginia team provided a perfect case in point.

The simple reason why the Hokies conquered the Cavs was that Virginia, and not Tech, made the last big miscue of this contest. Whereas great offensive shootouts come down to which team can score last, today’s brutal battle in Blacksburg came down to which offense would shoot itself in the foot at the latest possible point in the proceedings. That was the somewhat perverse yet undeniable reality of a rivalry game that, while producing typically spirited and vigorous action, proved to be painfully lacking in precision and polish.

Virginia Tech shouldn’t have allowed this commonwealth collision to come down to the final minutes, because the Hokies reeled off three drives of 13 or 14 plays that penetrated the UVA red zone, and yet scored absolutely nothing. A missed 22-yard field goal by up-and-down kicker Dustin Keys threw one drive down the drain. A Sean Glennon interception stopped another drive in the end zone. On a third foray deep into Cavalier territory, the Hokie braintrust mystifyingly took the ball out of the hands of effective scrambling quarterback Tyrod Taylor and watched “wildcat” running back Greg Boone get stuffed for a four-yard loss on a fourth-and-goal from the 1. At the very least, Tech should have had a nine-point lead in its back pocket entering the home stretch, but because of several implosions, the Hokies enabled the Cavs—always gallant despite their offensive shortcomings—to stay within three points of the lead heading into the final six minutes.

It was at this point that Virginia put an agonizing twist on the old “whoever has the ball last” line of reasoning.

The inspired running of defensive back-turned-wildcat-runner Vic Hall brought Virginia to the Tech 22 with just under four minutes left in regulation. At the very least, it seemed that coach Al Groh’s team would forge a tie and make the Hokies sweat bullets in a Tampa-or-bust overtime filled with pressure.

Instead, the pressure of the moment got to Virginia’s downfield passer, quarterback Marc Verica.

Anemic in his team’s previous loss to Clemson, Verica—on the sidelines for most of the day, due to Groh’s shrewd move to have Hall run the ball from the wildcat formation—was asked to convert a third-and-13 at the Tech 25. If nothing else, Verica had to make sure to avoid a turnover that would enable his team to kick a tying field goal. But in a moment worthy of this sloppy and silly ACC season, Verica couldn’t display ball security. He lobbed a pass into double coverage in the end zone, and Tech’s Dorian Porch picked off the pigskin with 2:15 left, sending Lane Stadium into a frenzy. Despite failing to crack the 17-point mark in each of their past three games, and despite an inability to surpass 23 points since a win over cupcake Western Kentucky on Oct. 4, the Hokies—the princes of parity in the ACC—finally claimed a Coastal crown that no one seemed to want.

Don’t expect a pretty ACC title tilt next week, but the Virginia Tech football family rightly won’t care. As long as they keep winning with their resolute defense and immense willpower, they’ll find themselves back in the Orange Bowl for a second consecutive season.