There are times when the Hokie spirit must be lifted. There are the fourth-quarter breakdowns, when a disappointed hush settles over the stadium and someone must cheer. That task, of course, falls to the cheerleaders.

"Our go to thing is the stadium yell," said Jonathan May, a fifth-year Virginia Tech cheerleader.

"You get half of them going with the LET'S GO!" said Dan Frantzen, another fifth-year cheerman. "And the other half going with HOKIES!"

Last year's late loss to Boston College was a moment for the stadium yell, they said. So was last week's late loss to East Carolina University -- a defeat that hung in the air, perhaps, as the maroon-and-orange crowd gathered at the Roanoke Civic Center Friday evening.

It was a pep rally for the new football season and, for a couple hours, everyone was a cheerleader.

Not just of football, but of Tech's engineering prowess. To one side of the events center, Tech students showed off their projects: a human-powered submarine, a hybrid-electric vehicle, among them. The Hokie mascot and head coach Frank Beamer appeared. Inexplicably, so did Jared Fogle, the Subway spokesman.

The air was filled with pom-poms (the cheer squad), with raised camera phones (the fans), with silver trumpets blaring "Tech Triumph" (the Highty-Tighties marching band).

And shortly, with a "LET'S GO HOKIES!" (everyone).