Well, that certainly didn’t go the way it was supposed to go.  It was a 3:30 game against a mediocre Georgia Tech team that had allowed 35 and 48 points in the last two weeks.  The Hokies were playing at home, where they had destroyed every single opponent this season, and the Yellow Jackets had lost seven consecutive road games.  VT had a chance to lock up the Coastal Division, so there was a lot to play for, and a lot for the fans to be excited about.  Every single slice of evidence we had pointed to a Virginia Tech victory on Saturday.

Instead Georgia Tech went back to Atlanta with a 30-20 victory, and actually led 30-7 at one point in the fourth quarter.  What the heck?  That wasn’t supposed to happen, and nothing indicated that something like that actually could happen.  But it did.  Why?  Turnovers, bad snaps, a blocked field goal and a dropped fourth down conversions are the main reasons.  Bud’s defense didn’t play great, but they were put in tough spots, and the Hokies certainly could have won the game had they eliminated those mistakes.  More on those miscues later in the article.

Virginia Tech was building some momentum.  North Carolina handed the Coastal Division championship to Virginia Tech on a silver platter on Thursday night.  Tech was ranked #14 in the College Football Playoffs rankings.  They had a great chance to win out and go to the ACC Championship Game as a Top 10 team.  The stars were aligning.

I was really excited in the days leading up to yesterday’s game.  Saturday was going to be a great day.  A 3:30 kickoff, plenty of time to do some great tailgating, one Tech team was (on paper) clearly superior to the other, and a trip to the ACC Championship Game was about to be locked up.  By halftime, my excitement had given way to depression.  I don’t think I’ve gone from excited to depressed in such a short period of time since the 2005 Miami game.

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