“All the leaves have turned to rust
The air is getting thin
I can see my breath
The night is rolling in”
—Randy Rogers Band

Another splendid afternoon here in Blacksburg, save for the fact that watching CNN right now makes me wish I had all my 401k cash stashed under my mattress. Oh, well. It could be worse. I could be one of those over-stressed Wall Street guys whose photos always accompany stories about the stock market going down the toilet.

Thankfully, my professional responsibilities consist of delivering college football items to you fine folks—which I’ll take over a suit-and-tie job any day. And away we go ...

- First, the latest “news.“ Virginia Tech’s Oct. 18 game at Boston College will kick off at 8 p.m., the ACC just announced. It will air on ESPN or ESPN2. The decision on that will be made after this weekend’s games. Not like it matters. Anyone who has ESPN also has ESPN2.

- Now, four interesting stats/items, courtesy of Tech sports information guru Bryan Johnston ...

1. Heading into last weekend’s games, Tech had played more total freshmen than all but three teams in the country and more redshirt freshmen than all but one team. Here are the lists Johnston provided ...

Total freshmen played:
Florida State: 31
Georgia: 24
Eastern Michigan: 24
Virginia Tech: 23
Southern Methodist: 23

Redshirt freshmen played:
Colorado State: 15
Virginia Tech: 14

2. Senior cornerback Victor “Macho” Harris (Highland Springs High) has intercepted a pass in each of the past three games. This decade, that has happened four other times at Tech. Brandon Flowers did it last year (Boston College, Georgia Tech, Florida State). Justin Hamilton did it in 2005 (Marshall, Maryland, Boston College). Vincent Fuller did it twice: 2004 (Duke, North Carolina State, West Virginia) and 2002 (Boston College, Rutgers, Temple). No Hokie has intercepted a pass in four straight games from 1999 to now. Harris has 12 career interceptions, tied for sixth on Tech’s all-time list. The career record is 18, which Gene Bunn set in just three seasons (1976-78). The single-season record is nine, set by Ron Davidson in 1967. Harris has three this season.

3. Redshirt freshman Darren Evans has scored eight rushing touchdowns in Tech’s six games this year, including at least one in every game. Evans is the first Tech freshman (since freshmen became eligible in 1972) to score a touchdown in each of the first six games in which he played. In 1979, Cyrus Lawrence scored in the first four games in which he played. That was the previous school record. Lawrence finished his career as Tech’s all-time leading rusher, yards-wise.

4. Tech lost starting tailback Kenny Lewis Jr. for the year (Achilles) on Saturday and now will have two redshirt freshmen (Evans and Josh Oglesby) as their 1-2 punch at tailback, making the Hokies the only school in the ACC to feature two freshmen in the two-deep at tailback.

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM FRANK BEAMER’S TELECONFERENCE

As with every Monday, Beamer spoke to the media vultures for a few minutes. Here’s what transpired ...

- After Saturday’s Western Kentucky game, Beamer was concerned that he might go back over the tape and see his team didn’t play as hard as it should have. But after reviewing the game footage yesterday, he said physical effort wasn’t an issue. “I didn’t think we probably played mentally as sharp as we needed to be,“ he said.

- The Hokies’ schedule for the off week is as follows: They will have meetings today but no practice. The only practices this week are Tuesday and Wednesday. Those practices will focus in part on getting some true freshmen work in full-speed scrimmages. Beamer wants to see if he can get some of his young linebackers and defensive backs—LB Jake Johnson, CB Eddie Whitley and the like—a few more plays in the season’s second half. Thursday and Friday are reserved for recruiting. Also Friday, 26 of Tech’s players and coaches will visit elementary schools around the state and read to kids—part of the Herma’s Readers program, named for Beamer’s late mother, a longtime teacher.

- Pulling Ryan Williams’ redshirt is not an option at this point to fill the void left by Lewis’s injury.

- Redshirt freshman Darren Evans, the new first-string tailback (though he was was getting more carries than Lewis before the injury), had five broken tackles on Saturday. Here’s what else Beamer had to say about Evans: “He might get a little high at times, but he runs with his power, and he’s got a little quick move there where he can make people miss. We thought he was gonna be good, and he has been good.“ During his high school days in Indianapolis, Evans ran for 7,220 yards and 127 touchdowns and had 40 runs of 50 yards or more. “If you’re running against air, those are pretty good stats from high school,“ Beamer said.

- Cory Holt, a fifth-year senior and former quarterback, will get more time at receiver now that Ike Whitaker is suspended. Beamer is looking for more consistency from Holt.

- After the Western Kentucky game, Tech defensive end said the Hilltoppers played dirty, that they were grabbing the Hokies’ crotches. Here’s what Beamer had to say when asked whether the tape showed the Hilltoppers playing dirty: “I thought it was aggressive play. I think they had a week there after getting beat by Kentucky where they wanted to play hard to the whistle and be very aggressive. I thought a couple times maybe they took it a little too far, but I don’t think that was the intentions of the coaching staff or Western Kentucky.“

- Beamer thinks this off week comes at a good time. He said about 10 players are battling nagging injuries and could use the rest. Plus, the final six games (at Boston College, at Florida State, vs. Maryland, at Miami, vs. Duke, vs. Virginia), comprise “as tough a stretch as I can ever remember,“ Beamer said.

Posted by Darryl Slater in • College Sports • Virginia Tech
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