When everyone except Phil Martin is picking the Miami Hurricanes to win,
it’s easy to dismiss them all as bandwagoners and hypesters who are all too
quick to jump on the Miami’s-Back-Baby bandwagon. That’s true of some people,
but not everyone out there is stupid. A lot of the people who picked Miami to
win were doing so on sound, fact-based analysis, yours truly included.

Both Miami and Virginia Tech did things Saturday they hadn’t done all season,
and in the case of the Hokies, they did something they hadn’t done since 2006
(more on that later). The secret to the Hokies’ considerable success on Saturday
was reversing statistical trends both teams had established in this admittedly
young season.

Of course, this is why they play the games. Conditions, matchups, strategies,
and — last but not least — emotions all play a big part in the outcome of any
given game.

On Saturday, Virginia Tech drew four aces and a king. This is without
question one of the best-planned, best-executed, and even luckiest games the
Hokies have played in a while.

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