In
the late hours of Saturday night, I watched the debate on the message boards
center around my most despised topic: where to place the blame for the loss.
Because it’s always got to be someone’s fault, right? Finding and identifying
the scapegoat for a loss is a critical point in moving on for fans. If you
insist on pointing the finger somewhere, to me, there is no one place to point
it. This was a team loss.

There were flaws in the game plan, flaws in the execution, flaws in the
adjustments, breakdowns on offense, defense, and special teams, and just plain
bad luck. That’s not to say that the team played poorly; they just didn’t play
well enough to win. And it’s not to say that the coaches coached poorly; they
just didn’t coach well enough to win. And it’s not to say that nothing went
Virginia Tech’s way; just not enough went their way to win.

But you have to give credit to Georgia Tech, as well. The Yellow Jackets are
a serious threat to Miami and Virginia Tech’s planned dominance of the Coastal
Division, for at least as long as they’ve got a bull of a QB like Josh Nesbitt,
a solid suite of speed and power running backs, and at least one Calvin Johnson
clone to go up and get the occasional deep ball. That’s enough for coach Paul
Johnson, whom many of you dismiss as a crackpot operating at the margins of
college football, at your peril. More on that later.

For now, unfortunately, we must spend about 10 minutes wallowing in this
loss. There was almost nothing positive to take away from this loss. It was a
bitter disappointment, when you consider all that was at stake.

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