Virginia Tech (Game 10)

Most of you picked your significant other for a variety of reasons. However, there was probably one primary characteristic that trumped the others in this monumental decision. Was it...

A. Looks
B. Personality
C. Brains
D. Their ability to keep you warm in Winter

If you answered D, chances are very good that you are either a Virginia Tech fan or a resident of the western part of Virginia. This was undoubtedly the ugliest collection of humanity I have ever witnessed that was not in a black & white newsreel. The men were yeti's sporting the grooming-optional look that is all the rage in the Appalachian clubs and the women were...ummm...large and similarly hairy.

According to the fanbase, the weather was perfect...35, windy with overcast skies. Well, my wife is way too thin and I have to put away the Norelco, cuz to me it was cold. Apparently, our secondary agreed. Mickey was yelling "cover somebody" and they were trying to find blankets for each other and let Josh Harper run alone all over Blacksburg. This trend of allowing semi-speedy wideouts to destroy our press coverage while our safeties are wandering aimlessly in the middle of field covering no one has got to stop. Myron's Rolle's job as strong safety has been to basically be a 4th linebacker. Roger Williams is the free safety. He should be helping out every time a wideout gets free down the field. He is failing miserably and apparently there is no one else to turn to. Mickey is not an idiot. If he had options, they would be on the field. Unfortunately our best FS is taking his SAT's right now. So, we need to play a little more zone until we can stabilize this mess, and that is not FSU football.

All this being said, we came out after halftime and absolutely dominated Tech. They had four straight three and outs and the QB was running for his life. Our front seven were whipping their line, and if the ACC refs would get their flags unglued from their pocket when we are defense, we would have gotten about a dozen ridiculously obvious takedowns...err..holds. But, we are Florida State and the only hold called all game was on the play where Dakota Watson returned the pick for the TD...and it was called very late (a conspiriatorialist would say that the hankie fell after the pick). Yes things were going swimmingly until they decided to throw deep...again.

Offensively, what can you say. We were without our Left Tackle, QB, Backup QB and all three tailbacks...on the road against the best defense we will see all season. Tough to win. Christian Ponder showed remarkable poise while taking his first collegiate snaps, and the boy has got some nice wheels. If Decody Fagg and Preston Parker make some of those tough catches early, maybe some more good things happen. Believe me when I say that when we went ahead 21-20, these hillbillies expected to lose. Unfortunately, being in the mountains we decided this was exactly the time to play possum. Two picks and a fumble later, we were roadkill, and probably on a postgame tailgate menu...

The good news is that the odds of us winning an ACC or National Championship in 2007 are not good, but some of the guys who got meaningful snaps in a huge game Saturday may be a part of the reason we compete for one in 2008 & 2009. Time to finish out our regular home season a little better than the Hurricanes did, and that does not mean losing by only 47 points.

Go Noles!