By Andrew Jones
FOXSportsSouth.com
December 30, 2010
Facing a second down at its own 31-yard-line and needing just six yards for a first down with only 2:10 remaining in the season opener, Virginia Tech was in position to secure the first leg of perhaps the most special football season in the school's history.
All the Hokies needed were six more lousy yards and they would have salted away an impressive challenge from Boise State. But Tyrod Taylor lost two yards on a run before throwing an incomplete pass, and Tech ended up giving the ball back to the high-octane Broncos.
The newest comer to the block of national big boys proceeded to drive down the field and score a game-winning touchdown in one of the more highly anticipated college football openers in recent memory. And once again, Virginia Tech failed to win a really big game, which is the only hump Frank Beamer's program has been unable to overcome. It is also why the Hokies remain a second-tier big-time program instead of joining the likes of Ohio State, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Florida in recent history.
The Hokies went on to lose at home to FCS member James Madison five days later, a game it would have easily won had they gotten a first down and used up the final seconds on the clock against Boise. No doubt Tech would have been ready for the feisty Dukes. And instead of playing Stanford in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 3, it's conceivable Tech, winners of 11 straight games (it would be 13 if all went according to script), would be taking on either Oregon or Auburn for the national championship.
"I maintain we were probably five (six) yards away from playing in a national championship," Beamer recently said.
But the program that has scaled just about every wall before it over the last two decades still has one ominous height to summit.
Including a 31-7 rout of No. 2 Miami in 2003, Virginia Tech is 1-18 versus top-5 teams under Beamer. Ten of those losses have come with the Hokies also nationally ranked. Boise was ranked No. 3.
For all Beamer has accomplished, which includes taking Tech to the 1999 national title game, six straight 10-win seasons, and four ACC titles in seven years, this blight on the program's resume has become too large to ignore.
Taking on what is likely the best Stanford team in several decades provides the Hokies an opportunity to move away from the stigma that has afflicted the program. Stanford may not historically sound like a great program, but anyone who has watched much college football this season recognizes just how capable Jim Harbough's team is. It will require Virginia Tech's best performance of the season to earn the victory.
"We haven't won a game like this against a (highly) ranked team in a long time," said Taylor, a senior quarterback and reigning ACC Player of the Year. "A lot of people don't expect us to win against teams like this anyway
