Bleacher Report - Virginia Tech Football

Virginia Tech: Senior Day For Players and Students

Justin Cocchiola — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:23:52 -0500

On Saturday, Virginia Tech will be hosting NC State in Lane Stadium for what will be the last home game played for some of the Hokies top players. Cody Grimm, Kam Chancellor, Sergio Render and Stephan Virgil are among the group, and are looking to make one last memory on Worsham Field come Saturday.

However, it will also be the last time many Virginia Tech students will attend a home game as a student.

After four years of watching the Hokies hit many highs, and fall a bit to low at times, students on campus are looking forward to attending their last home game.

A lot of students have a hard time believing that four years has passed by so quickly. Seniors right now are stressing about jobs upon graduation, wondering where they're going to live in six months, and juggling class with jobs or job interviews.

Saturday just marks the next step into the future, for many students. The end of an era even. When we're looking back on our college days Tech football games will give us a lot of stories to tell.

We could talk about our first game against Northeastern, or our first Thursday night home game–where we destroyed the 10th ranked Clemson Tigers 24-7.

We could talk about September 1, 2007, which may be the most important Tech football game that has ever been played as it moved the community forward after April 16th.

Football games are just one of the many things students will miss after leaving Blacksburg, but nothing brings together an entire community like gameday at Virgina Tech.

I had only been to one game before arriving at Virginia Tech as a freshman, and I remember stepping out of East Ambler Johnston to walk the game, and I was blown away by the amount of people tailgating.

The parking lot next to Lane Stadium literally looked like a giant party, and it always does for a home game, regardless of the opponent.

Senior Day for the football team has never really meant much to me, other than losing some of our top players.

The activities that take place during the pregame really don't mean much to students, but it's fun to see the seniors run out of the tunnel one last time.

Once the final second ticks off the clock on Saturday it will probably be a weird feeling as I walk down the stairs from section 27 for the last time with a student ticket in my possession, but I'm still excited about it

The Hokies have gone 23-3 at home since 2006. Hopefully, the Hokies can win their 24th home game in four years on Saturday, and top off the end of an era for the players and students at Virginia Tech with a victory.

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Virginia Tech-Maryland: Tuesday Thoughts on the Hokies' Victory

Justin Cates — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:18:26 -0500

As expected, the Hokies were dominant in their 36-9 drubbing of Maryland Saturday in College Park.

Tech held the advantage in almost every category, including total yards, outgaining the Terrapins 484-236.

Admittedly, Maryland is having an awful season, and they’ve struggled to find much of anything to hang their hats on. The Terps have been riddled with injuries, and it didn’t get any better on Saturday; they lost two more players against the Hokies.

One positive may have come in the loss, if you can imagine: Maryland might have found a decent option at quarterback.

Sophomore Jamarr Robinson made his first career start and accounted for almost all of the Terrapin offense.

Robinson completed just 12 of 32 passes for 104 yards, but he also ran 24 times for 129 yards, serving as the lone bright spot on the day for Ralph Friedgen’s club.

For the Hokies, Tyrod Taylor completed 13 of 23 passes for 268 yards and a career-high three touchdowns. Taylor also ran eight times for 81 yards and overall had a pretty easy day against a miserable Terrapins defense.

Another Hokie with a carefree afternoon was tailback Ryan Williams. The redshirt freshman continued his impressive campaign, rushing 23 times for 126 yards, and now sits just 30 yards shy of the rushing record for Tech freshmen, set last season by Darren Evans.

Next up, the Hokies host North Carolina State next Saturday at 3:30 in Lane Stadium.

State is reeling badly, posting just a 1-5 record in their last six games with the only victory coming over Maryland.

Sophomore Russell Wilson has continued his great play at quarterback, but there isn’t much else going positively in Raleigh.

Wilson has thrown for 2,534 yards, 26 touchdowns, and just 10 interceptions this season for an offense that lacks weapons.

The Hokies’ defense has been heavily criticized this season, and while the numbers are a bit lower than normal, don’t expect State to have much success.

Tech has rounded into form defensively, currently ranked 17th in the nation in total defense and fifth in passing defense, the clear strength of the Wolfpack.

The Hokies are still playing for another 10-win season, but focus will be key in their final two regular season games.

With reaching the ACC championship game no longer a possibility, Tech must clean out the ACC basement and defeat N.C. State and archrival Virginia in addition to winning a bowl game to reach their new goal.

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Virginia Tech: Hokie Fans Still Skeptical of the Offense

Justin Cocchiola — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:53:14 -0500

Virginia Tech went into College Park on Saturday and laid down the hammer on the Terp's, but that was expected. Maryland had only two wins this season, and one came to an FCS school (James Madison) in overtime.

But if you're a Hokies fan you have to look at the positives. Tech was a big favorite over East Carolina and scored only one touchdown, and struggled to move the ball through the air.

Saturday against Maryland, Tyrod Taylor had one of his best games through the air and on the ground. Taylor finally didn't hesitate to run the ball out of the pocket and ended up with 80 yards rushing and over 250 passing yards and three scores through the air.

His running ability opens up the pass. Taylor has to continue to do this.

Now the Hokies attention is shifting towards NC State, and many of the Virginia Tech faithful still aren't very confident in their teams' ability. More so, the teams consistency is a major area of concern.

"I just have a feeling, I don't know if it will happen, but I think Tech's going to lose one more time," says one Hokie fan. That comment mirrors that of many other people associated with Virginia Tech football, because, frankly, you never know what you're going to see out on the field.

The Hokies have two more games, one home and one away. If they do lose one of those two games it will be against NC State (4-6) or Virginia (3-7). Tech should dominate both of these schools like they dominated Maryland, and if they do drop one of these games it would be rather embarrassing for the program.

Senior day is this coming Saturday and that alone should provide enough emotion for the Hokies to go out and win one for the seniors taking part in their last home game.

Virginia is their biggest rival, but the two teams are miles apart as far as talent goes. Virginia almost caught the Hokies off guard last year in Blacksburg, when Vic Hall was used as the primary quarterback running a wildcat/spread option offense the entire game.

Now that Jamelle Sewell is back for UVA I doubt we see anything too crazy, but that will be the last game of the season for UVA, and they'll probably approach it as their bowl game. The Cavaliers will be fired up, but the Hokies should be able to distinguish their fire with ease.

Time will tell, but after watching the Tech offense last week I'm a little more optimistic heading into the final weeks of the season.

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