Saturday, December 01, 2007
This season ranks as 1 of Beamer's finest
Aaron McFarling
Recent columns
BLACKSBURG -- So here they are, right where we thought they'd be, right where the preseason voters said they would be. The Virginia Tech Hokies are Coastal Division champions. Today, they play for the ACC title.
The problem with expectations is that sometimes they blind us. Without them, we'd have a much clearer view of the facts. And here is one we shouldn't overlook: With a win today, Frank Beamer will have completed one of the finest coaching jobs of his decorated career.
First, the obvious qualifiers. Tech has two losses, two more than the Hokies want and one more than they feel they deserve. And the Hokies have not been in the national title conversation since Week 2, even in a season where perennial afterthoughts such as Kansas and Missouri have been.
But when was the last time you felt this confident about Tech heading into a big game? For the second straight year, the Hokies are playing their best at the end of the season. They're clearly getting better, week after week, a trend that is a direct reflection of coaching.
And think about the things we're not talking about. We're not talking about penalties. We're not talking about disciplinary matters. We're not talking about a quarterback controversy, even though the Hokies play two quarterbacks.
That's coaching, too.
Beamer's challenge started early this year, and he couldn't have responded better. On a week he was supposed to be presiding over the spring game, instead he was comforting shocked players, visiting the families of shooting victims and putting on a brave, resilient face in front of the local and national media in the wake of the April 16 tragedy.
We've watched Beamer win football games for years, but it was during that week that his true leadership qualities were revealed. His inspiring mantra did not change: Tech will not be remembered for the tragedy, he said. It will be remembered for the response.
And "response" has been the theme of the 2007 Hokies. We often debate which is the more difficult loss for a team to take, the blowout or the last-second heartbreaker. Well, how about both? Tech's losses to LSU (48-7) and Boston College (14-10, despite 10-0 lead with 5 minutes to play) have been devastating in their own special ways.
Tech's come back strong from both, and that is a credit to a coach who couldn't always claim rebounding as a strength. Let's not forget that 2003 team that entered the season with national championship hopes and crumbled in the final two months.
"Coach Beamer talks about that," Tech safety D.J. Parker said. "They had the [most talented] team that Tech's ever had, DeAngelo Hall, Kevin Jones and those guys. Those guys went 8-5 and went to the what bowl was that?"
The always illustrious Insight Bowl.
"Yeah, Insight Bowl in Arizona and lost to Cal," Parker said. "So we don't want to be one of those teams they say tanked it."
And Beamer doesn't want to be the coach known for that, either. He's clearly advancing in that department, even though he's taken other hits along the way. The 2005 team was favored by two touchdowns over Florida State but lost in the ACC championship. But quarterback Sean Glennon, who was a redshirt freshman that season, says Beamer has learned much from that experience.
"I think obviously he has," Glennon said. "I think he realizes how talented that 2005 team was, but we beat ourselves in the championship game. We only lose by 5, and we commit 130 yards of penalties and have two or three turnovers.
"I think Coach Beamer probably made a promise to himself that he was going to do all he could not to let that happen again."
Beamer brought back 6 a.m. running on Wednesdays and introduced bowl fines for personal fouls, a system that's not popular with everybody.
"But whether you like the system or not," Glennon said, "it's working."
It is. The Hokies still hit hard, but they play within the rules.
A year after finishing the regular season with six straight wins, the Hokies enter today riding a four-game winning streak. Beamer's already beaten FSU's Bobby Bowden for the first time. He stiff-armed Virginia's Al Groh last week, preventing an in-state uprising.
Groh won ACC coach of the year in voting that concluded Sunday. Include me among the writers who voted for him. Given expectations, Groh's 9-3 record was outstanding.
But Beamer's 10-2 record is better. Expectations shouldn't get in the way of acknowledging that. And if the Hokies win today, my vote changes in my head, even though my ballot is long gone.
Beamer gets the nod.
