(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Point: Virginia Tech is a BCS-caliber team.
As ACC teams go, Virginia Tech is by far the one most familiar with the national title scene. They played Florida State for the NC (albeit as a Big East team) in 2000 and were a late loss to Miami away from returning the following year.
In the BCS era, they've traveled to the Sugar Bowl in '05 and were back-to-back ACC representatives in the Orange Bowl in '08 and '09, winning last year over the Cincinnati Bearcats.
Their just-short-of-stellar play the last few years has made them the premier program in the ACC on a consistent basis, and they've controlled the fate of the conference title for nearly every year they've been a member.
They were ranked fifth coming into this year, and, despite the loss to Alabama, posted strong wins over the upstart Hurricanes and the rebuilt Nebraska Cornhuskers to reclaim the five spot, a recognition of their resilience and talent.
In addition, their recruiting remains on par with the national elites and is arguably the best in the ACC as a whole despite Miami's recent hauls.
Counterpoint: They sure haven't played like one.
Despite its current ranking, VT would have lost to Nebraska if not for the late heroics of Tyrod Taylor, who, until that fateful final drive, had barely a hundred yards passing, rushed nine times for -22 yards, and had no touchdowns. Not exactly the statline of a Tebow or a Bradford.
In their loss, the Hokies were outgained 4:1, and would have been blown out if not for some gift fumbles deep in their own territory by Tide running backs Mark Ingram and Roy Upchurch.
They failed to cover against Duke, narrowly winning 34-26 on the road against a team that can claim one ACC win over the past five years.
The aforementioned Taylor battled with the undynamic, turnover-happy Sean Glennon his first few years with VT, and has failed both to fine tune his pocket presence and to augment the danger his legs supposedly pose.
Their running game is coming along, but again, it relies on two freshman running backs— one a true freshman—replacing the injured Darren Evans. Neither of these players has faced the requisite amount of big-game pressure or adversity.
Point: Tech's defenses under Bud Foster have been stellar, consistently ranking in the top-20 nationally.
Bud Foster's Hokie defense was 13th overall and 19th against the run in 2008, and was +1 in turnover margin, which lead the conference. The Hokie special teams unit was top-10 in kickoff returns, and has scored the most off blocked punts over a 10-year period of any team in the NCAA.
These numbers are typical of a Bud Foster unit, consistently regarded as one of the most innovative in the country, and have been replicated over several years. This is no freak occurance.
Counterpoint: Not this unit.
VT is sitting at 40th in the nation in total defense, and is currently well below half the nation in rush defense. The Hokies gave up 268 yards on the ground to Alabama and 207 to Nebraska, at 5.47 and 5.75 YPA, respectively.
Jumping out early on Miami precluded the Hurricanes' option to run, but there's little reason to believe Georgia Tech's triple-option won't gash them for almost twice these amounts if they continue to execute.
And if a team can't run, they can probably pass. Alabama threw for 230 once Greg McElroy found he had all day in the pocket. But, more alarmingly, Duke (!) hung 359 on the vaunted VT secondary, including two passes for scores.
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