The Roanoke Times

File 2008 Virginia Tech's Jarrett Boykin (81) celebrates his first-half touchdown against Duke last season.

Perhaps it's all those new local television commercials he's been doing lately. Certainly, Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer has become pretty adept at reading from a prepared script.

At Tuesday's news conference discussing the sixth-ranked Hokies' trip to underdog Duke today, Beamer was fully prepared for the obvious first question: How does his team avoid a letdown coming off emotion-filled conquests of ranked Nebraska and Miami at home?

On cue, Beamer pulled out a sheet. Then, promptly speeding up his verbal delivery to a pace rivaled by the sales pitchmen who inundate late-night TV, Beamer proceeded to zip through a rat-a-tat list of examples on the subject.

"You know, BYU beats Oklahoma, then loses to Florida State; Florida State beats BYU, loses to South Florida; USC [Southern California] beats Ohio State, loses to Washington; Washington beats USC, loses to Stanford; Oklahoma State beats Georgia, then loses to Houston," said Beamer, pausing to catch his breath.

"You know, it's probably human nature to let down after you've had great success. But we're trying like heck to make sure ... our coaches and players are taking Duke very seriously."

Beamer has been down this road before. Tech has opened seasons 4-1 or better eight times since his 1999 team made it to the national championship game. On half of those occasions, the Hokies swooned thereafter, losing at least three of five games.

Last season, Tech started 5-1 and then dropped three of four before rebounding to win its final two regular-season contests, which parlayed with some major help from Miami and Georgia Tech, enabled it to steal the Coastal Division title. The Hokies then won a second straight ACC championship game and capped off a 10-4 campaign with their first Orange Bowl triumph.

Now back up to No. 6 in the polls, Tech (3-1, 1-0 ACC) is in position to still have a shot at playing for a national title. If the Hokies can run the table -- they figure to be no less than a touchdown favorite in every game but their Oct. 17 date at Georgia Tech -- and capture a third consecutive ACC title, they still could get to the Jan. 7 BCS title game in Pasadena, Calif. Sure, it would take some help from a few other contenders, but as Beamer fully knows, there are no givens nowadays in big-time college football.

Beamer said his players had better not be talking "national title" in the locker room or anywhere else right now.

"I'd be very surprised if you heard our guys talking about anything other than Duke," Beamer said. "I know that the last time we played for a national championship, I don't know how many times we talked about the bigger it gets, the smaller you think. Think about how you can get better today. Think about Duke, and concentrate on the things you can control. The way we can affect the national championship is to play great against Duke, so hopefully that's where our kids are."

Tech's struggle with Duke last Nov. 22 in Blacksburg has helped Beamer deliver the message to his troops. Playing without injured starting quarterback Thaddeus Lewis, the 17-point underdog Blue Devils trailed 7-3 before Macho Harris' interception return for a TD with 1:23 left solidified a hard-earned 14-3 Tech win. The Hokies helped Duke's cause by turning over the ball five times, four by quarterback Tyrod Taylor.

"We had a lot of turnovers," said Beamer, "but a lot of that score went back right to them, the way they played."

The Tech players sound like their listening to their boss.

"Last year, on paper -- and I guess on film -- and just the program itself, we were the better team," Tech tailback Ryan Williams said. "They came in here and showed they were able to play with us through the whole game. It just proves anything can happen."

Hokies senior linebacker Cody Grimm seconded the notion.

"There are so many examples around college football of teams that were expected to win losing," Grimm said. "We know any team nowadays has good enough athletes to beat you. There's so much riding on it. There's as much on this game as there was on the last game. You can't let down."