Hokies At 11-1 Still 'Don't Get Any Respect'

I'm sick of the national sports media. I've cringed over the years as the national sports media kissed Joe Paterno's butt. How'd that work out?
Here's an update, 'Bear' Bryant doesn't coach at Alabama anymore. You can stop kissing his butt, too. Here's another update, many of the schools that the media adores that have been awarded championships have been cheaters. Look it up.

I've got a chip on my shoulder because I grew up in Blacksburg, Virginia and I'm a Virginia Tech fan. I watch a lot of college football. There aren't that many teams this year as good as the 11-1 Hokies. Still, when the national media goes over national championship scenarios, they leave out the Hokies. The NYC sports media has called the Hokies a 'fake' good team. WTF?
How many teams have won 10 or more games for the last eight years? None. With Paterno fired Hokie coach Frank Beamer is now the winningest active coach. Still no respect.
I've heard all the arguments national media types use. Goes something like this. "We like conferences that give us big TV ratings. We love Notre Dame, the SEC, the Big 10 and Texas schools. We love TV ratings. We love TV ratings."
A small market school tucked away in the mountains (Boise State fans know what we're talkin' bout) gets no respect. It's all about hype, entertainment, and ratings. It's sickening to see all these fired coaches and ex-jocks make fools of themselves every week, trying to sound like they know what they're talking about.
Against the University of Virginia, the Hokies had to win to get to the ACC championship game.
They won 38-0.
The Hokies ran the clock out in the red zone, with Beamer,as he always has, refusing to run up the score. With Logan Thomas and David Wilson, the Hokies have two of the best offensive players in the nation. They have the top two receivers, Jarrett Boykin and Danny Coale, in school history.
Virginia geared up to stop Wilson, Boykin and Coale, so Thomas hits receiver Marcus Davis for 36 yards on the first offensive play. Thomas caps the drive with 14-yard run to put the Hokies up 7-0.
Then came the game's turning point. The Cavs took the ensuing kickoff down to the Hokie seven-yard line and went for it on fourth down. The Hokies defense stopped them.
At the start of the second quarter, with Boykin and Coale covered, Thomas hit Davis on a 52-yard pass. Three plays later, Thomas hits Boykin for a touchdown and the Hokies go up 14-0.
Receiving the second-half kickoff, Thomas guides the Hokies down the field, completing four passes to set up a 27-yard burst by Wilson for a score. Game over. Wilson runs amok the rest of the game, finishing with 153 yards, and the second unit gets to play much of the fourth quarter.
Next up for the Hokies is Clemson. The Hokies have lost to a team in the regular season before and won the rematch in the championship game (Boston College fans know what we're talkin' bout). It should happen again. If so, the 12-1 Hokies deserve to be considered for the national championship game. Will they?
Probably not.

Hokies Off to A Good Start in Downing Appy State

1-0 is better than 0-1. Every time. Last year, the Virginia Tech Hokies opened against powerhouse Boise State on a neutral field and lost.
This year, opening against Appalachian State at home, the Hokies did what you are supposed to do. They won big. When you win big you can make those opening day mistakes and not have them cost you the game. When you win big you can play a lot of people and develop depth you'll need as the season wears on and the inevitable injuries strike.
Last season, the Hokie defense just wasn't that good. Fortunately, the offense led by Tyrod Taylor, was so good the Hokies won 11 games. But in the BCS bowl game against Stanford, the Hokies mediocre defense was torched.
What was bothersome about the Hokies defense last year was that they didn't appear to learn from their mistakes. They kept making the same kind of mistakes all year long. They were out of position, they would over react and leave their lanes, they appeared to be easily fooled by clever offenses.
Even though it is only one game, the play of the Hokies defense is encouraging. They appear disciplined and stay in their assignments. The team speed on defense also appears to have picked up, especially at linebacker. Appy State had a good offense and a very good, athletic quarterback. Against the Hokies, he never got going.
The game was over at halftime with the Hokies up 38-0. Besides the defense, the offense and special teams look like they can be, well, special. Tyrod Taylor is playing for the Baltimore Ravens. His successor, Logan Thomas, appears to have amazing upsides. All he lacks is experience, which he will gain quickly. At 6-6, 250, he is going to run over defensive backs and be able to throw over the out-stretched arms of rushing lineman.
And we haven't got to the best part, yet. That is David Wilson, the running back who is threat to score EVERY time he touches the ball. He may not sustain a 10 yard per carry average throughout the season (162 yards on 16 carries) but he should have his share of long runs. What is incredible to watch is that even with his great speed, Wilson runs well right up the middle.

Keeping in perspective this is just one game against a non-conference foe, the signs are promising. The next three games, East Carolina, Arkansas State and Marshall, should give the Hokies chances to keep winning and gaining experience before heading into conference play.
The Hokies are young, outside the O-line there aren't many seniors starting. None of the Atlantic division ACC teams the Hokies play this year are named Florida State.
It's a long year, we'll see how it plays out. But it's hard to argue with a good start.

Derek Jeter and Rod Carew and 3,000 Hits

In 1977, while living in Minnesota and attending the College of St. Thomas, I attended 32 baseball games at the Twins Stadium in Bloomington. The Twins weren't the best team in baseball (the Yankees won the World Series), they weren't even the best team in their division (the Royals won the West Division) but they had Rod Carew.
The 1977 Twins were fun to watch, even if they finished 17.5 games behind the Royals. They could hit (team BA 1st) and they couldn't pitch (team ERA 12th) so most of the games were high scoring affairs.
The big draw was Rod Carew spending most of the year batting over .400. He finished the season at .388. In this pre-steroid era, they had six players hit more than 10 home runs, led by Larry Hisle's 28. Even Carew hit 14, in addition to 38 doubles and 16 triples. Carew played in 155 games, scored 128 runs, had 239 hits and amazingly 100 rbis.
Every day at the ball park, Carew was guaranteed to do something amazing. One game against the Brewers, I got seats in the third deck behind homeplate right in front of the radio announcers. Back then, a younger Bob Uecker was doing radio for the Brewers.
Carew went four for five. After Carew's fourth hit, I looked back at Uecker, he had a big grin on his face, looked straight at me and lifted his hands in surrender as if to say 'we can't get him out, not today, not no way.' As a baseball player, Uecker was clearly enjoying, as we all were, one of the greatest players ever to play, in his prime.
Carew moved on to the Angels, where he never matched his success of that magnificent year. His skills declined as he entered his mid 30's. He retired at 39 after batting .280, with a career average of .328.
Many thought Carew kept playing past his prime so he could reach 3,000 hits. He ended his career with 3,053. They were probably right. Although, it needs to be said, not many players hit .280 even in their prime.
In 2011, I'm living in the NYC area, can't afford to go to Yankees or Mets games, but I watch them on HDTV every night (I make my own popcorn).
The big story in NYC this year is Derek Jeter closing in on 3,000 hits. The wags are on his case because he's 37 and not playing like he was, uh, two years ago. At 35, Jeter hit a phenomenal .334 with 18 home runs among his 212 hits. Not many players can do that at 35. This year, the wags are saying Jeter is washed up because he is batting .257.
I've been comparing Derek Jeter and Rod Carew careers. They are remarkably similar. Here's the numbers:
      Carew    Jeter
AB   9315    9602
R      1424    1725
H      3053    2998
2b      445      480
3b      112        62
HR      92       236
RBI  1015     1157
BA    .328      .312
SB     353       330
OPS  .822     .832

They were both Rookies of the Year, Carew in 1967, Jeter in 1996. Jeter is the better fielder, winning four gold gloves. As Carew got older, he switched from second base to first base. Jeter continues to play shortstop. Jeter has also shown more power, hitting more home runs, while Carew had more speed, hitting more triples.
The local sports talk radio shows have people calling in giving their thoughts on whether Jeter has had a Hall of Fame career. I think he does. Carew was a class act, so is Jeter. Something Jeter said in the paper recently about the enormity of the task to hit get 3,000 hits made sense.
He said that you had to average 200 hits for 15 years to reach 3,000. That means you have to be very good for a long, long time. For my penny, that means Hall of Fame.
Some day, Jeter will be in the Hall of Fame with the great Rod Carew. And he will deserve it.

Vick Gains New Fans, Supporters on the Road to Redemption

My partner works in the drug and alcohol rehabilitation field. She is a licensed and certified drug counselor, has a masters of divinity degree and is a seminary-trained ordained minister. She works in the field of Redemption, where people who have made mistakes and messed up their lives try and make amends and become better people.

It's hard work. It requires patience, commitment and forgiveness. It's also not always successful. Life's highways are littered with ruined lives. It's nice to see when someone can get up, dust themselves off and try to walk the straight and narrow.

Weekends, she likes to relax by watching cooking shows and knitting. This past weekend, I watched the first half of the Giants-Eagles game, thought the Giants were going to win and retired to read, turning the remote over to my partner.

It was with some surprise that a few chapters in I heard a "Woo Hoo!" coming from the living room.

Mmm, I thought, must have been a great recipe.

A few minutes later, another "Woo Hoo!" That can't be a cooking show, I thought.

Sure enough, it wasn't. During the commercials for the cooking show, she had turned over to the Eagles-Giants game and watched the Eagles recover an onside kick. The second whoop was from a Mike Vick touchdown pass that brought the Eagles within a touchdown.

My partner is a Mike Vick supporter. She was excited to see him doing well. She had read the Sports Illustrated article on Vick and was moved by it. The Eagles coach, Andy Reid, knows about Redemption as his sons have struggled with addictions.

I sat down with her and watched the rest of the game. It was wonderful to see Vick playing the way I saw him play in college for Virginia Tech. He was unstoppable.

Vick played two years for the Hokies. His record in games he started was 22-1. The only loss came in a national championship game against Florida State.

Vick's fall from Grace has been well documented. He spent 18 months in jail. It has been pointed out that people are more upset and less forgiving of Vick than other athletes who beat their wives, cheat on their wives and sexually assault women.

There are some people who will never forgive Vick. My partner works every day with people who have ruined other people's lives, spent time in jail, and are struggling to become better. She shares Vick's story with those she counsels. They understand.

They understand there are no guarantees, that every day is a struggle and that there will be setbacks. But they get up, dust themselves off and try and walk the straight and narrow.

It's good to see Vick doing well on and off the field.

There are few people that have Vick's athletic abilities, but there are many people that have fallen from Grace. They are in rehab facilities across the country. They are looking to turn their lives around. Not all of them will make it. But like Vick, if they do, they deserve Redemption, too.
Here's a 'Holiday Shout Out' for all those trying to turn their lives around. "Woo Hoo!"

Hokies Smack Seminoles; Win ACC Championship

Eleven in a row. It may take awhile for that to sink in. Looks like we get a month to savor it. Saturday's 44-33 win was the 11th in a row for the Virginia Tech Hokies since the loss to James Madison in September.
I am partying like its 1999. That's the last time the Hokies won 11 in a row. Michael Vick was the quarterback. Virginia Tech went 11-0 in the regular season, the Hokies were in the Big East, and played Florida State for the National Championship.
The Hokies led 29-28 going into the fourth quarter before falling to the Seminoles, then coached by Bobby Bowden. Saturday, the Hokies played Florida State for the ACC Championship, no longer coached by Bowden.
Tyrod Taylor, who reminds some people of Vick, quarterbacked the Hokies, still coached by Frank Beamer, to a convincing 11 point win over Florida State. The turning points in the game, all in the first quarter, set the tone and momentum.
Whenever the Hokies win the opening toss, they defer to the second half, the other team gets the ball, and marches down the field to score a touchdown.
The Hokies start slow, get close at halftime and then dominate the second half to seal the deal. This game was different.
The first turning point was a 3rd and 2 at the Hokies 14 yard line. Safety Eddie Whitley broke up a pass intended for Taiwan Easterling in the corner of the end zone. The Seminoles settled for a field goal. That made it 3-0 Seminoles.
On a wet, slippery field, Taylor had three incomplete passes opening drive and the Hokies had to punt. That was a shame, because Ryan Williams looked good, rushing three times for 31 yards.
One play after the punt, Seminole quarterback E.J. Manuel's pass was tipped by lunging linebacker Bruce Taylor. Instinctively, Jeron Gouveia-Wilson gathered the pass in and ran 24 yards for the score. The extra point by Chris Hazely put Tech up 7-3.
The next turning point was on the Seminoles' next possession. On a 2nd and 8, Steven Friday tackled Manuel for a three yard loss. Manuel's eight yard gain on third down wasn't enough and Florida State had to punt.
After a touch pass to Williams for five yards, Darren Evans burst through the middle for a 51 yard gain. On the next play, Evans scored from nine yards out. With Hazley's kick, the Hokies were up 14-3. They never relinquished the lead and never let the Seminoles back in the game. The Hokies were in control rest of the way.
Remarkably, both teams went on to score 30 points each. Sometimes a bad field can favor the offense.
Taylor was magnificent, throwing for 263 yards and three touchdowns. The Seminoles for some reason decided not to cover Danny Coales, who was wide open for many of his six catches. But Taylor's signature moment in the game was a run.
On a third and goal from the five yard line, Taylor weaved and juked his way through numerous Seminoles for a touchdown. Even a botched extra point didn't detract, putting the Hokies up 41-26.
It has been a joy watching Taylor take snaps for the Hokies these past four years. Knowing there will be one more game, the Orange Bowl, is something to look forward to, a sports memory to treasure.
What a year! It would be nice to be playing for the national championship. Looking at other teams, TCU seems to be the only one that could beat the Hokies. They aren't playing for a national championship, either.
By the way, JMU finished 6-5.

Hokies Trump Canes To Win Ninth

I watch football games on my computer these days. Partly because my computer monitor works better than our TV. But mainly because we don't get to see the Virginia Tech Hokies on TV much up here in the New York City area.

Even though the Miami-Virginia Tech was on ESPN I still watched it on my computer. Three times. Every time, the score came out the same and the Hokies beat the Hurricanes by two touchdowns.

Based on those three viewings, I offer these 'turning points' that made the difference between winning for the Hokies and losing for the 'Canes.
First, Miami's offensive line is HUGE. They average 6'6 and 318. That's what the program says, but they way they looked on the field, they are much bigger than their 318 average. Tech's defensive line is quick and small. To win, I felt Tech would have to get ahead and force Miami to throw the ball.

Miami's Lamar Miller ran for 163 yards and would have run for more if he hadn't cramped up in the fourth quarter. The 'Canes other three backs ran well, but that is largely due to their terrific offensive line.

Early in the game, Tyrod Taylor appeared stunned at how fast Miami was on defense. I attribute his early fumble and shakiness at the start to playing against a defense as fast as he is. He adjusted as the game went on, a tribute to his senior smarts, and made some key plays. Still, Taylor completed only seven passes for 94 yards, a tribute to Miami's passing defense.

The Hokies also learned early on that they couldn't run wide, either. The big running play by Ryan Williams for the long score was a quick hitter up the gut.

In the first half Miami freshman quarterback Stephen Morris was able to hit standout receiver Leonard Hankerson at will for big plays and one touchdown. In the second half, the Hokie defense limited Hankerson to one catch.

After Taylor hit Danny Coale on a catch and run TD pass to put Tech up 17-10, I was thinking Miami might panic and start to throw the ball. But no, they kept their composure, ran Miller four times for 62 yards and tied it at 17-17.

After the teams traded punts the Hokies were deep in their own territory at the start of the fourth quarter. Then came the turning point of the game.

Williams followed some devastating blocks, the block by Hokie fullback Kenny Younger on a linebacker was key, and burst through the defense untouched for an 84-yard score that put Tech up 24-17.

At this point, Miami did panic and tried to catch up by throwing the ball. After Travis Benjamin dropped what could have been a game-tying touchdown, Morris threw three interceptions in the 'Canes next three possessions and the Hokies sealed the deal.

It was a hard fought, physical game. The Hokies won because they made adjustments and capitalized on Miami's numerous mistakes. Taylor's experience and leadership helped the Hokies win against a talented team with a freshman quarterback who made some mistakes at the end.

It's been a good year for the Hokies. And it could get better.

P.S. What is up with Miami's green helmets? At first, I thought Oregon had taken the field. Huh? Green helmets?