I hadn’t posted anything in this space from yesterday’s game, because I figure we’ve pretty much saturated you all with coverage of it already. There really isn’t anything left to say/write that hasn’t been said/written.

But last night, as I looked back on Virginia Tech’s regular season, and considered how things ended up turning out, one play popped into my head. There are so many plays and moments in a college football season that are the difference between success and failure. So it’s not really accurate to say this play made Tech’s season, but it ended up being very significant.

Let’s start in the present. The Hokies and Georgia Tech finished tied atop the ACC’s Coastal Division, but the Hokies got a spot in the conference championship game because they beat the Yellow Jackets 20-17 in the season’s third game.

You might remember one crucial play from that game—actually, a string of three crucial plays.

The score was tied at 17 in the fourth quarter. On third down and 7 from the Hokies’ 23, quarterback Tyrod Taylor ran for 2 yards. But true freshman safety Cooper Taylor made a rookie mistake on the play by putting a helmet-to-helmet hit on Tyrod Taylor. Instead of having to punt, the Hokies got a 15-yard personal foul against the Insects.

The next play (first and 10 at the Hokies’ 40), tailback Darren Evans ran 24 yards.

The next play (first and 10 at the Jackets’ 36), the Hokies ran a double reverse, on which Victor “Macho” Harris, a cornerback lining up at wide receiver, dropped the ball. Tyrod Taylor picked it up, but Georgia Tech defensive end Michael Johnson tackled him for a 12-yard loss. Ah, but on the tackle, Johnson grabbed Taylor’s facemask—another 15-yard penalty because there is no longer a 5-yard facemask. Instead of facing second and 22 at the Jackets’ 48 (out of field-goal range), the Hokies had first and 10 at the Jackets’ 21.

Six plays later, Dustin Keys hit a 21-yard field goal, making the score 20-17 Hokies with 4:37 left in the game.

That decisive sequence, which ended up helping decided the Coastal Division, was fitting of the Hokies’ season. Despite their youth, they were one of the nation’s most disciplined teams. They rank ninth nationally in fewest penalty yards per game (36.9). Tyrod Taylor, a 19-year-old sophomore, could have pushed Cooper Taylor back after that helmet-to-helmet hit, but he showed restraint.

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We’ve heard Tech coach Frank Beamer mention many times this season that this is the toughest schedule the Hokies have played in a while. To quantify this, let’s take a look at where the Hokies have finished recently in USA Today computer whiz Jeff Sagarin’s strength-of-schedule rankings (the Sagarin archive on the USA Today Web site doesn’t go back past 1998) ...

2008—16th
2007—36th
2006—57th
2005—26th
2004—42nd
2003—60th
2002—56th
2001—58th
2000—42nd
1999—43rd
1998—67th

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A final interesting item of note ...

Seven of the Hokies’ 12 games this season were decided by LESS than seven points. That’s their most ever under Beamer, who is in his 22nd season. Tech went 4-3 in those games. The Hokies beat Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Virginia by three and Nebraska by five. They lost to East Carolina and Boston College by five and Miami by two.

Tech’s average margin of decision this season is 7.3 points—the lowest in the country. It is the only team in Division I-A to have all of its games decided by 17 points or fewer.

Posted by Darryl Slater in • College Sports • Virginia Tech
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