Last night’s victory at Heinz Field was a character building win.  It also cemented quarterback Jerod Evans’ status as the undisputed leader of this football team.

The Hokies generally get run out of Heinz Field fairly easily, but last night’s game was an instant classic that went down to the wire.  It was a complete team win, with all three phases contributing.  When the offense wasn’t scoring touchdowns early in the game, the defense propped them up by shutting down the Pitt offense.  When the Tech defense couldn’t stop the Panthers in the second half, it was the Hokie offense that responded time and time again.  Joey Slye was 6-6 on field goals, the kickoff team forced a big fumble that led to a field goal, and ultimately those three points were the difference in the game.

Sure, things weren’t perfect.  But consider the fact that last night’s contest was Tech’s third game in 12 days, whereas Pitt had an extra week to prepare.  The Panthers were fresh.  The Hokies were weary.  Tech still took Pitt’s best shot in the early second half, responded, and walked out of the stadium with a victory that puts them in the driver’s seat in the ACC Coastal Division.  When Pitt scored 14 straight points to end the second quarter and begin the third, Tech could have turtled up.  Instead, they punched the Panthers right back.  For the first time this year, they won a game in which they faced major adversity.

Here are the Coastal Division standings heading into this weekend…

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