Another week, another lopsided score. Somebody suggested that I just use last week’s Sunday article again this week, and just change “Pitt” to “Miami.” The score differential is similar, but I don’t think that would be fair to Pitt. They are a lot better than Miami, in my opinion. They blew Tech’s doors off from the opening snap. Miami did not.

Virginia Tech was really competitive with Miami last night for a half. The Canes got that late touchdown, but even with that, I thought the Hokies outplayed them. Tech should have been up at halftime, even with that late touchdown. They handed Miami a three-yard touchdown drive after an interception. Still, you had to be happy with how Tech was playing at that point. Miami wasn’t physically pushing them around. It was a good, even matchup.

Then the second half happened, and Miami’s defense asserted itself. Tech’s defense played pretty well last night, at least relative to games against Pitt, Georgia Tech, UNC, ODU, etc. Much of that was due to Miami’s quarterback situation, but as often as we’ve been critical this year, we must also give credit when it was due. Miami only had 339 yards of total offense. They had a three-yard touchdown drive, a punt return for a touchdown, and a short 39-yard touchdown drive. 21 of their 38 points weren’t the fault of the Hokie defense, who I thought played well enough to win.

We all knew that Miami’s defense was the best unit on the field last night, so it’s no surprise that they got it in gear in the second half and shut down the Hokies. I picked Tech to score 17 points in this one. Will Stewart picked them to score 14, and he nailed it. So I wasn’t disappointed. I’m never happy to lose, of course, but when what you expect to happen happens, it’s hard for me to get particularly emotional about it.

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