Friday, October 26, 2007
Sports columnist Aaron McFarling: From celebration to silence for Hokie fans
Aaron McFarling
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BLACKSBURG -- You will never hear 66,000 people make less noise. Never.
Virginia Tech players walked off the field, staring straight ahead like zombies. Others kept their helmets on until they found the tunnel, not wanting anybody to see the expressions of pain hidden behind the plastic masks. Fans stood quietly in the aisles, their brightly colored ponchos dripping from the rain, their soaked bodies suddenly feeling the chill of late October.
This was an unscripted moment of silence that could last for days. A night of celebration at Lane Stadium had just taken a shocking turn, as No. 2 Boston College scored two touchdowns in the final 2:11 and handed the eighth-ranked Hokies one of their most devastating losses in years, 14-10, on soggy Worsham Field.
Blame. We must find it, right? Let's break down that film, find out why the BC receivers got so open on the final two drives. Let's slow down that footage of the onside kick, the one BC recovered late in the fourth quarter, and figure out why Josh Morgan had it bounce off his chest. Let's scream at the offense for failing to score more points. Blood. We need blood, and we need it now.
Actually, we can save the rage and stick with stunned. Here's the truth: Unlike so many other big Tech losses, where garish penalties and boneheaded turnovers embarrassed them, this was merely a good football team finishing better than another good football team. This, as coach Frank Beamer said afterwards, is "what sports are all about."
The Hokies outplayed BC for 56 minutes, but the four minutes that followed decided the game. Matt Ryan played like a Heisman Trophy candidate for about 20 plays, and those were the 20 plays that mattered. Morgan tried to recover the onside kick and failed. A physical error on a slippery night. It happens.
The question now is what happens from here. With some of their most daunting challenges still ahead, how do the Hokies recover?
They'll try to harness the positives, like Branden Ore's best rushing performance of the season (97 yards on 20 carries) and the defensive line's three-plus quarters of ruthlessness. They'll try to point to quarterback Sean Glennon's turnover-free night, the two interceptions and three sacks by the defense.
They'll try.
"Coming back from this one is going to be tough," Beamer acknowledged, but then he vowed that they will.
But how? That's the question that dominates: How?
With 4:16 remaining, Tech led 10-0 and had BC backed up on its own 8-yard line. It was over, and everybody knew it. The bass cranked up on "Enter Sandman," and the crowd bounced and cheered and saluted the defenders, who danced and waved their arms and gave their love back.
It seemed fitting. The game began with that song, and now it was ending with it.
And then it didn't.
Ryan, who had struggled all night with Tech's defensive pressure, threw a 23-yard completion. Then a 22-yard completion. The crowd buzzed.
Ryan passed for 20 more, ran for 11, then threw a flag pass to Rich Gunnel, who snared it in the end zone to cut the lead to 10-7.
Groans.
Then came the onside kick, which will haunt the Hokies for a long time. Beamer said Morgan probably should have let it go -- it was struck pretty hard by the kicker -- but instead the ball ricochet back toward the charging Eagles.
You know the rest. Ryan drove them down the field again, and on third-and-20 from the Tech 24, he scrambled away from pressure. He floated a deep pass toward the end zone, where Andre Callender was waiting.
Around here, not a word has been spoken since.
