Hokies Finally Go High-Tech With Blowout of Miami

The groundswell of Hokie folk fever began Saturday afternoon at the Gobblertown Tavern on Market Street, when news of Tennessee’s loss to Arkansas--”Go you Hogs!”--set the football stage and sent Hokie folks streaming up the hill.

They filled Lane Stadium, 53,130 strong, chanted their fight song, “Hoki, Hoki, Hoki Hy,” and watched wildest dreams unfold.

Forget the weak schedule and, for now, the bowl championship series calculations.

Virginia Tech has entered the arena.

After spotting Miami a 10-0 lead, the Hokies scored 43 unanswered points en route to a 43-10 victory that had plenty of head-rams and ramifications.

“I think we changed a lot of perceptions,” Hokie quarterback Michael Vick said. “We’re for real. This was a big-time game, and we came out to play.”

The Hokies (9-0) seized an inside track to the national title game in the Jan. 4 Sugar Bowl.

Virginia Tech, miffed last week when one-loss Tennessee nabbed the cherished No. 2 spot in the BCS rankings, now appears in control of its own fate.

Arkansas’ 28-24 win over Tennessee took care of the guesswork.

Monday’s BCS rankings will likely appear as such: No. 1 Florida, No. 2 Virginia Tech, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 Nebraska.

If the Hokies win at Temple on Saturday, and at home against Boston College on Nov. 26, they should win a trip to New Orleans.

Assuming Virginia Tech beats 2-7 Temple, the Hokies could move to No. 1 if Florida beats Florida State at Gainesville.

There is still a chance, however slight, that one-loss Florida might earn the top BCS ranking and a one-loss Nebraska might overtake Virginia Tech for the second BCS spot but, frankly, Hokie fans are sick of trying to figure out the math.

“BCS my [expletive]!” a Hokie fan shouted from the stands at game’s end to a group of reporters standing near the end zone. “We’re the best team in the country. We own this part of the world.”

Well, that much is a fact.

The Hokies didn’t start off like a team that wanted to prove the world wrong, spotting Miami a 10-0 first-quarter lead, the first time Virginia Tech had trailed by more than one point all season.

But six Miami turnovers, four in the first half, helped turn a 14-10 game at halftime into a wipeout. Virginia Tech’s lead was only 20-10 before it blitzed Miami with a 23-0 fourth-quarter burst that included a 64-yard punt return by Ricky Hall, a 51-yard fumble return for a score by Ike Charlton, a 42-yard field goal by Shayne Graham and a wild exclamation point in which Andre Davis recovered teammate Andre Kendrick’s fumble in the end zone for a final touchdown.

The Hokies, of course, knew what Tennessee’s loss meant.

“We knew that we controlled our own destiny,” said Vick, the Hokies’ sensational redshirt freshman, who completed 11 of 23 passes for 151 yards and rushed for 46 yards in 15 carries. “That’s what I told everybody, ‘It’s up to us.’ ”

Hokie Coach Frank Beamer insisted that the Tennessee defeat was not discussed before the game.

“I told them there were a lot of big things flying around,” Beamer said of the national implications. “I said, ‘Let’s enjoy them, but the only thing that makes a difference is how well we play against Miami.’

“We got the job done. It wasn’t a pretty game, but we got the job done.”

Virginia Tech’s victory addressed a lot of questions for skeptics who believed that the Hokies had used a cream-puff national schedule, ranked 60th in the BCS last week, to worm their way into the national title race.

And though Miami fell to 5-4, the Hurricanes were a decent benchmark, their previous losses coming to No. 1 Florida State, then-No. 2 Penn State and East Carolina.

“They should have beaten Penn State,” Virginia Tech’s Corey Moore said of Miami. “They gave Florida State all it wanted, had an unforeseen letdown versus East Carolina. I thought they should have been undefeated coming in.”

Miami left in tatters, a victim of costly mistakes and penalties.

“For a long time our defense kept us in the game but they broke our back with big plays,” Miami Coach Butch Davis said.

It didn’t help that quarterback Kenny Kelly hobbled through most of the second half because of a bad ankle sprain, but Davis says Virginia Tech is for real.

“They are a very complete football team,” he said. “They are outstanding on defense. Their offense has explosiveness. They have a quarterback that is very mobile.”

After Saturday’s emotional win, Virginia Tech would seem primed for a letdown against lowly Temple, except that, last year, in one of college football’s great upsets, the Owls beat the Hokies, 28-24, at Blacksburg.

“I think that’s kind of got us motivated,” Vick said. “We’re going to be pumped up against them.”

It was hard to believe Miami seized first momentum with its 10-0 lead on Andy Crosland’s 28-yard field goal and a seven-yard scoring pass from Kelly to Andre King.

But it was short-lived.

Clinton Portis’ fumble at the Miami 12 late in the first quarter all but handed Virginia Tech its first score.

Miami actually stopped Virginia Tech on third and goal at the one, but a personal foul gave the Hokies a first down. From there, Shryone Stith score on a one-yard run to make the score 10-7.

Later in the quarter, Anthony Midget intercepted a Kelly pass at the Miami 41. Two plays later, Stith broke through the line and scored on a 41-yard touchdown run to put the Hokies up, 14-10.

It also put the world on notice.

“We’re a very good team,” Moore said. “Enough said.”