MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech tailback Ryan Williams, who ranks eighth nationally in rushing yards, logged his fifth 100-yard game in the Hokies' loss on Saturday night. That's a school record for a freshman.

Bounced from national-title contention by Saturday's 28-23 loss at Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech now finds itself in a precarious position in an attempt to capture a third consecutive ACC crown.

The Hokies were 14th in the first edition of the BCS standings released Sunday, leaving them behind their prime competitors in the ACC's Coastal Division -- Miami (10th) and Georgia Tech (12th) -- should all three teams finish 7-1 in the league.

In that scenario, since all three teams finished 1-1 against each other, the Coastal winner would be determined by the ACC's seventh tiebreaker -- the final BCS standings. The lowest-ranked team then would be eliminated. If the other two are separated by five or fewer spots in the BCS, the head-to-head winner advances to the ACC championship game. If the gap is six or more, the higher-ranked team goes regardless.

So if the season ended today, Miami (5-1, 2-1 ACC) would be the division champ despite the fact it lost 31-7 to the Hokies (5-2, 3-1).

Of course, the ACC's three ranked teams aren't even leading the Coastal at the moment. That honor belongs to surging Virginia (3-3), which is 2-0 in the league. Georgia Tech is second in the Coastal at 4-1, followed by Virginia Tech (3-1) and Miami (2-1).

"I think for us right now, it's go on and be as good a football team as we can be and see what happens," Hokies coach Frank Beamer said Monday. "I think there's a lot of football to be played, and we need to take care of what we can control."

Georgia Tech (6-1, 4-1), which lost to Miami 33-17 on Sept. 17, has three conference games left: at Virginia on Saturday; Wake Forest at home (Nov. 7); and at Duke (Nov. 14). Miami has home games against Clemson (Saturday), Virginia (Nov. 7) and Duke (Nov. 21), and contests at Wake Forest (Nov. 7) and North Carolina (Nov. 14). The Hokies have UNC (Oct. 29) and North Carolina State (Nov. 21) left at home, plus games at Maryland (Nov. 14) and Virginia (Nov. 28).

All three teams have some testy nonconference games left, which could jostle each's BCS positions. Georgia Tech has nonleague games at Vanderbilt (Oct. 31) and Georgia at home (Nov. 28). Miami finishes at South Florida (Nov. 28). Virginia Tech has a Nov. 5 date at East Carolina.

This week's open date comes at an opportune time for Beamer's club. The Hokies resume action a week from Thursday when UNC visits Lane Stadium.

"It's kinda midway here, so it's rest our bodies a little bit and rest our minds a little bit, and then get ready for a tough five-game stretch coming up," Beamer said.

The Hokies will have to recover and rebound after seeing their national-title aspirations torched at Georgia Tech. They will have to forget about what might have been.

"Just move on," tailback Ryan Williams said following the crushing loss.

"We can think no further than [UNC]. I think that's a problem with a lot of people -- they look at the bigger picture before they take care of the smaller picture. We have to work and get ourselves prepared to play UNC. We can't skip to the end of the season.

"Before the season, there were so many talks about the national championship. Then we lost [to Alabama in the Sept. 5 season opener]. Then we got back ourselves back in the rankings. We took another [loss]. We have to be prepared to take every week, week by week, and play our A-game."

Tech tidbits

Speaking of Williams, the standout redshirt freshman earned his fifth ACC Rookie of the Week award Monday. Former N.C. State quarterback Phillip Rivers, now a standout with the San Diego Chargers, won the award eight times his freshman season. Williams ranks eighth nationally in rushing yards per game (119.4). Williams' fifth 100-yard rushing performance Saturday is a school freshman record. Darren Evans had four last season. ... Quarterback Tyrod Taylor ranks sixth in the nation in passing efficiency (159.86) and tops the country in yards per attempt (9.8). Georgia Tech's Josh Nesbitt would be No. 1 in that category (11.75), but his 11.4 attempts per game falls short of the necessary average of 15. ... Tech's Dyrell Roberts ranks second in kickoff returns (40.8). ... The Hokies will practice today and Wednesday, then take two days off before starting game-week prep.