MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech quarterbacks Tyrod Taylor (5), Logan Thomas (3) and Ju-Ju Clayton get instruction from quarterbacks coach Mike O'Cain during a practice earlier this month. The Hokies face Alabama tonight.

MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Defensive back Rashad Carmichael and the rest of the Hokies' defense will have their hands full with Alabama's Julio Jones. today.

The day that Virginia Tech's football team and its legion of followers have been anxiously awaiting has finally arrived.

How big is tonight's clash between No. 7 Tech and No. 5 Alabama in front of a packed house of 71,500 fans at the Georgia Dome and millions more via national television audience?

Just listen to a story told by Tech senior rover Dorian Porch.

"The other day I was sitting at my house watching a movie," Porch said Tuesday. "And I started thinking about the game, and I had to turn the movie off because I couldn't focus!

"I got like the sweats and I'm shaking and I'm anxious, and I couldn't stop it. I had to get up and walk outside. And I was like, 'man, I've got to calm down!' That's how big of a game this really is."

Well, the wait is over. The Hokies are oozing with confidence, and they say they're ready to roll the Tide.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," senior cornerback Rashad Carmichael said. "Man, by the time we get to Atlanta [Friday], we'll probably be at each other's necks. I don't think there's one word that can describe what we feel. Whenever we came together in meetings in preseason, the whole secondary and the linebackers, we were like: 'This is Alabama today!'"

Well, today is here.

Tech will have to buck some serious odds to pull off a victory that would assuredly stamp them as a major player in the national championship chase. The Hokies are 1-24 all time vs. teams ranked in the Associated Press' top-five. They are 1-10 all time vs. Alabama. They are 6 ¹₂-point underdogs tonight.

They realize that not many outside of the some 30,000 Tech fans who will be in attendance this evening give them a chance.

"Yeah, and we don't buy that," Carmichael said. "It's even better that way. We'd rather have everybody against us. We like being the underdog, we like being in the corner. That way we come out swinging. And we're going to swing to the 12th round."

Certainly, the Hokies have more that a puncher's chance in this one. Sure, Alabama is strong. But it's certainly beatable.

In fact, Nick Saban's team enters this contest on a two-game losing streak. The Tide was 12-0 and No. 1 in the polls last December when it lost to eventual national champion Florida 31-20 in the SEC title game in this same building. With its national title hopes doused, the deflated Tide then were embarrassed 31-17 by huge underdog Utah in the Sugar Bowl.

Saban's team is not the same bunch that trounced Clemson 34-10 in this game a year ago, a rout that ignited Alabama's 12-0 start. While Alabama returns most of the parts of its tenacious defense, it lost seven starters on offense, including its quarterback, leading rusher and two All-American lineman.

Tech, meanwhile, has 15 starters back from a club that captured a second straight ACC title and scored its first win in a BCS bowl game -- a 20-7 conquest of Cincinnati in the Orange Bowl. The Hokies' defense is expected to be as strong as usual. A Tech offense that has struggled to produce, particularly in these type matchups, has looked much improved in preseason behind emerging star quarterback Tyrod Taylor.

"I think we have everything it takes to win this game," a confident Taylor said. "Most of all, we think we can win this game."

To pull it off, Tech will need a huge performance by its offensive line, which has been the program's weakest link for years. The Hokies will have to get a hat on a hat in order to have any chance of moving the ball against a defense that includes a front seven that many have labeled as the country's best.

"I think the game hinges on us," Tech right guard Jaymes Brooks said. "I think we can match up. We won't be intimidated."

Senior cornerback Stephan Virgil, who faces the unenviable task of covering the Tide's most potent playmaker, wide receiver Julio Jones, saw what did 'Bama did to Clemson a year ago. There will be no replay tonight, he said.

"Naw, no Clemson slip," Virgil said. "No Clemson here. We're going to be all Virginia Tech. No orange and purple here. This is going to be orange and maroon."

While Tech coach Frank Beamer says this game is "not the season" for his team, he does understand what a victory tonight would mean as far as his program's national perception.

"I think Alabama is one of those elite teams," Beamer said.

"No, question it would do a lot for Virginia Tech, do a lot for the ACC. And we're going to try like heck to win this thing."

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