Virginia Tech Football: Hokies Are 'Chokies' in Embarrassing Loss

The reality has yet to set in.

Virginia Tech has now become the second team in history to lose to an FCS opponent when ranked in the top 25.

So much for all the hype—and I take part of the blame.

I bought into everything. I wrote about how Bryan Stinespring could come through for us. I wrote about why this year could be a positive turning point for the program. I wrote about which games could be trap games.

Then Stinespring decided to throw for a touchdown on 4th-and-2 (and pass on 3rd-and-8 while trying to run out the clock against Boise). Then the offensive line couldn’t open a single hole.

The part that is my favorite, though, is that I came extremely close to listing JMU as a trap game. The situation was right: little prep time, right after a big game, and the other team has nothing to lose. But I convinced myself that there was just too much offensive talent to lose.

Somehow, they still managed to choke twice in a week. The second one wasn't even a choke; JMU just outplayed the Hokies. Another season, another decade, same story.

Statistically, VT won the game. But at the end of the season, all that matters is the L next to the game.

The game was entirely inexcusable. The first half was mediocre at best given the talent at the skill positions, but the second half was disgusting. Both the offensive and defensive lines got dominated, and the linebackers don’t look capable of tackling a person in a wheelchair.

I mentioned last week in my recap of the Boise State game that the trenches needed a wake-up call. At this point, they need a fire alarm. With the loss of Kwamaine Battle for the season with an ACL tear, even that may not be enough. Steven Friday and John Graves are good, but there has to be some type of pressure coming from the other linemen.

Until the Hokies learn how to pressure a QB, open a running lane, or tackle a player in space, there is no hope to do well even in the awful ACC, a fact the conference stated loudly and clearly to the nation last weekend.

But I am an eternal optimist, and I found at least one good thing to come from the game.

The alumni may finally be able to force out Stinespring and/or Curt Newsome, the offensive line coordinator. They did not pay $18 million for a new locker room to lose to players not good enough to play at Tech. Stinespring called a good game for most of the game, but in crunch time, he failed miserably. The line has pathetic for years now as well.

Enough is enough. It doesn't matter how well they recruit; no recruit wants to come to a school that lost to an FCS school. Hopefully this will be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

It will now be next to impossible to recruit a QB. Why would anyone choose to be sacked multiple times a game? Bud Foster may also call it quits for lack of effort defensively. For those of you who don’t know, his restaurant closed this past year in Blacksburg. His departure could easily spell disaster for the program.

But there is one statistic that people should know. The 2007 Michigan team that lost to Appalachian State and the 1995 Virginia Tech team, the last Hokie squad to go 0-2 to start the season, both went on to win at least nine games, including bowl victories over a Top 10 opponent.

But as last Saturday proved, statistics and records are as valuable as the paper they are printed on. Until they prove otherwise, Virginia Tech will be known as the team that has choked in more games than anyone else.