I’m not sure I possess the vocabulary to do justice to Virginia Tech’s dramatic six overtime win over North Carolina.  Saturday’s game will go down as one of the most memorable games in Lane Stadium history, and perhaps the most unbelievable part is that it came just a few weeks after a game we’d all like to forget.

Walking out of Lane Stadium on September 27, I figured Tech was done.  I thought Justin Fuente had lost the team.  I said as much in my column about that 45-10 defeat at the hands of Duke.  The team just didn’t look good over the first four games, and they mentally checked out in the second half against the Blue Devils.  A harsher critic would probably say that they quit.  Considering the work Fuente put in to form good relationships with the players in the offseason, I figured things were better, but that they would also stand a good chance of crumbling if things started to go poorly.  Well, things were going poorly, and the team just checked out against Duke.  It was all over, right?

Apparently not.  The Hokies had a tough week of practice leading up to Miami, and they pulled off that upset, and they haven’t lost since.  But it’s not their 3-0 record that stands out to me.  Rather, it’s the fight they’ve displayed to win those three games.  Sure, Rhode Island is Rhode Island, but the Hokies had to play really hard and execute at a much higher level to beat UNC and Miami, and they did it.

I won’t pat Tech on the back too much for beating those two teams because, if you weren’t aware, both are 3-4.  I think Miami has talent, but I’m not sure about their coaching, and I’m not sure that some of their players are coach-able for that matter.  UNC is very well-coached, in my opinion, but they are also very young.  At any rate, both teams are 3-4, so it’s not as if the Hokies are beating college football blue bloods. 

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