It’s a brilliant fall day here in Blacksburg, the kind of crisp weather that makes me want to pass a Saturday afternoon by a) playing a pick-up football game while wearing my finest pair of sweatpants or b) going to a pumpkin patch and trying to score some cider doughnuts (alas, I believe these treats from my youth are only available in New England).

But this Saturday offers an even more quintessentially American rite of fall: college football on the great wide-open plains of The Heartland. Weekends like this—and last year’s trip to Louisiana State—are the reasons why I love my job, even if Saturday’s game is an 8 p.m. deadline killer, and I have to spend a couple nights in the Lincoln La Quinta Inn (Spanish for “bath towels that feel like sandpaper”) because all the other hotels in town are too pricy.

I’d like to hear from those of you who are heading out to Nebraska for the game. What are you anticipating most about the trip?

I’m expecting nothing short of a postcard atmosphere, 81,000-strong filling Memorial Stadium (reason No. 4,367 why college football is better than the NFL: classic stadium names that aren’t beholden to the fleeting fortunes of corporate America) ... just as 92,000-plus packed Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, creating the loudest natural noise my ears have ever been blessed to hear.

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BEAMER CHIMES IN ON THE CORNHUSKERS AND OTHER MATTERS

Now on to some quick hits from Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer’s Monday morning teleconference with we media swine ...

- Beamer did his best Billy Fuccillo impression while discussing Nebraska’s size. “One of the biggest football teams I’ve ever seen,“ he said. “Their wide receivers are big, their tailbacks are big, their linemen are big. They’re huge.“ Here’s a sampling of some of the Cornhuskers’ larger starters ...

TE Mike McNeill—6-4, 220
RG Matt Slauson—6-5, 320
WR Nate Swift—6-2, 200
WR Todd Peterson—6-4, 215
FB Thomas Lawson—6-0, 250
RB Marlon Lucky—6-0, 215
NT Ndamukong Suh—6-4, 300
DE Zach Potter—6-7, 285
CB Anthony West—6-0, 200

- Nebraska was off last week, while Tech played. As to the impact of that, Beamer said, “I think early in the season it’s big. I think it’s certainly an advantage.“

- Five Tech drives in Saturday’s game at North Carolina started after punts. Three of those drives began at Tech’s 1-, 7- and 11-yard lines after return man Victor “Macho” Harris (Highland Springs) opted to let the ball bounce over his head, only to see the Tar Heels down it and pin the Hokies deep. They didn’t score on any of those three drives. “We’d like him to get up there and start catching those,“ Beamer said. “That’s a bad place to be starting. We’re gonna work on that some today.“

- Starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor is OK after rolling his left ankle in the fourth quarter Saturday. Sean Glennon replaced him. Once again, Beamer is putting both players off limits to the media this week.

- The Hokies and Huskers have played just once, the 1996 Orange Bowl, which Nebraska won 41-21. Beamer was still elevating Tech’s status back then, having defeated No. 9 Texas 28-10 in the 1995 Sugar Bowl—probably the most important win in school history. But the Nebraska game—in which the Huskers’ depth overwhelmed the Hokies—made Beamer realize how much farther he had to go. “We kind of understood what it took to be big-time after that bowl game,“ he said.

- At this point in the call, Beamer began rattling off stats about Nebraska’s storied history. I couldn’t type fast enough to keep up with him, but fortunately for me, he was reading off a sheet provided by Tech sports information czar Dave Smith, who was kind enough to e-mail me the stats after the call. I will get to those in the next blog post. Beamer has never been to Lincoln, but he clearly has a lot of respect for what Nebraska has accomplished. “Growing up, and I still feel this way, you think Nebraska, and you think college football,“ he said.

- Tech’s 70-man dress roster for North Carolina included 34 freshmen or sophomores, so how those young Hokies handle the noise in Lincoln clearly is a concern for Beamer. He plans to bring his offense into Lane Stadium on Thursday and pipe in noise to simulate an environment that will force the Hokies to use non-verbal audible calls.

- Will last year’s trip to LSU—despite Tech’s 48-7 loss—help the players who were on it, because they might be used to a noisy stadium? “We’re trying to forget LSU from last year,“ Beamer said. “We don’t even bring that up from last year. The problem I’ve got [is] I’ve got 34 guys who probably weren’t on that trip. I think most of our kids enjoy a great atmosphere. I do.“

- Beamer on how rewarding this season, and Saturday in particular, has been for him personally. “We’ve made some gutty plays,“ he said. “Finding a way to get it done, that’s just kind of a real rewarding feeling for me. We don’t always play well. But so far we’ve played hard. ... That’s one of the more satisfying wins. I think that was one of the really good wins for this program.“

- Right tackle Blake DeChristopher (Clover Hill) played 48 of 64 snaps after missing the previous two games with a bruised right kidney, knee and thigh. “He did OK,“ Beamer said. “It’s good to have him back. He’ll make a difference in our football team. He’ll be better this week than he was last week.“

- As for the Harris-at-receiver plan, Beamer said, “I think it’s a little bit hard to get this thing done.“ That’s because the coaches don’t want to detract from Harris’ duties as a cornerback. But Beamer wants to keep plugging away, because he believes Harris can help the Hokies at receiver. Beamer hopes the impending cooler weather might help Harris play more snaps at receiver, because he’ll tire less easily than he would in the heat.

- Beamer was pleased with his offensive line’s performance on Tech’s penultimate drive Saturday, a seven-play 59-yarder that resulted in zero points but burned 4:23 off the clock. “If you do it one time, you do it every time,“ he said. “That was what we’ve been looking for. That was it. I’m hoping we can take that and play with great effort up front play after play after play. That’s the key to it, consistently getting it.“

- Nebraska coach Bo Pelini was LSU’s defensive coordinator last year. Beamer said he could examine the Tech-LSU tape from last year to study what Pelini’s Nebraska defense might do (of course, the Huskers have already played three games, in which they showed their defense with their current personnel). Beamer downplayed the importance of Tech’s familiarity with Pelini, and vice versa. “We’ve got a different team, and he’s got a different team,“ he said. “I know this: This crowd he’s got now is probably bigger than those guys at LSU.“

Posted by Darryl Slater in • College Sports • Virginia Tech
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