When you’re Frank Beamer and Virginia Tech, the standards are different for you from the rest of the ACC. The Hokies have been the ACC’s top program since expansion. There is no debate about that… None. Again the Hokies won 10 or more games, and again the Hokies went to the ACC Title game. That’s 5 ACCCG appearances in 7 years, but here’s the part that frustrates Hokie fans to no end. They lost again in a BCS bowl. Wash rinse repeat…. win a bunch of ACC games, get highly ranked, lose to the better non-conference teams you play.
Despite all the success the Hokies have had, they have played their role in the conference’s miserable national perception. The Hokies have been to 8 BCS\Major Bowls since 1996. They’ve lost all of them, but one when they defeated the mighty Cincinnati Bearcats in the 2009 Orange Bowl. There are regular season losses to LSU, Boise St, Alabama, USC etc.. You get the picture. The Hokies are always one of the ACC’s best teams if not the best, but they keep losing on the biggest stages.
Against Michigan, Virginia Tech had a shot tied 17-17. The defense was playing well, the Hokies had momentum, when Frank Beamer called literally one of the dumbest plays of his career. You know it the Fake Punt that went horribly wrong at mid-field. The Wolverines took a 20-17 lead, and despite Beamer’s mistake, the Hokies sent it to overtime. The overturned TD pass Danny Coale caught, and yes it was a catch should have forced Michigan to score a touchdown. It didn’t and the Hokies miss the FG, lose the game. Close, blowout, controversial, neutral site, away, close to home, it doesn’t matter against the elite teams, the Hokies so desperately want to join. Virginia Tech finds all manner of ways to lose.
Frankly I don’t know what Virginia Tech can do moving forward. Maybe they are what they are… a very good team that will never reach greatness. I find it hard to believe that a team that’s so close won’t at some point breakthrough, but when? I suppose going 10-3, 11-2 isn’t the worst thing. Sometimes the same old story really isn’t that bad. In fact there are 11 other ACC teams that would trade places with guys from Blacksburg.
Come 2012 the Hokies will again be on the short list of ACC favorites. They will win a lot of games, but will they get that signature non-conference win we are all waiting for?
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