MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Tech senior LB Cam Martin will play in his last home game today.

They've won 38 of 51 games. They've won two ACC championships. They won the Orange Bowl last season.

Now, the finish line is nearing for the 21 seniors on Virginia Tech's football team. There are only two regular-season games and a bowl contest left. The first of the three concluding chapters will play out this afternoon when the 16th-ranked Hokies face North Carolina State on Senior Day at Lane Stadium.

"Actually, on that long [bus] ride to Maryland last week, I had time to sit and reflect on it," senior linebacker Cam Martin said this week. "It's crazy that five years have already gone by.

"I've been watching Tech football ever since I was little. So you dream of coming here and playing here in Lane. And now it's like done. So, yeah, it's going to be emotional out there."

No doubt.

Last game in Lane ... last time they will burst out of the storied tunnel leading into the stadium. As always, the entrance will be accompanied by the blaring tunes of "Sandman" and a sellout crowd of 66,233 frenzied fans, the vast majority of which will be standing and hopping and clapping.

"It still hasn't hit me," senior linebacker Cody Grimm said. "It's going to be hard. Coach [Bud] Foster [defensive coordinator] was talking about it the other day ... it's the last time we'll ever put on a uniform in Lane Stadium forever."

Foster said the home finale of any college football player's career ranks in the "special game" department.

"Shoot, I still remember mine and that's been a long time ago," said Foster, referring to his Senior Day experience 29 years ago at Murray (Ky.) State. "I remember I sat in the corner [of the locker room] afterwards with my uniform on for about an hour because I knew it was going to be the last time I was going to take it off and was never going to wear one again. Believe me, you remember that last home game."

There's only one right way to go out. And that's to win another football game. The departing seniors have been a huge part of 23 wins in 26 games at Lane in their four-year run, combining for collective 353 career starts.

"It's going to be wild," Grimm said. "And we'll be ready to play. We've got to win the game."

It will be an upset of major proportions if Tech (7-3, 4-2 ACC) doesn't win. The injury-ravaged Wolfpack (4-6, 1-5) limp into Blacksburg on the heels of five losses in six games, and will go the post today as a hefty 21-point underdog.

Of course, that didn't deter North Carolina, which came into Lane as a 17-point 'dog 23 days ago and shocked Tech 20-17 on a field goal as time expired.

Certainly, N.C. State has the goods on offense to compete. Sophomore quarterback Russell Wilson has thrown for an ACC-leading 26 touchdowns, plus has run for four more scores. The 'Pack averages a robust 32.6 points and 413.2 yards per game.

"I think this is the best offense we've seen since the Alabama game," said Foster, referring to Tech's season-opening opponent. "Wilson is a dynamic player, has a great arm, he's great mobility. I tell you who he reminds me of ... he reminds me of Donovan McNabb [ex-Syracuse and current Philadelphia Eagles star]. From what I've seen on film, this guy is the most dangerous quarterback we're going to face."

Tech coach Frank Beamer said he and his staff looked at Wilson, who starred at Richmond's Collegiate High. The Hokies were heavily recruiting Tyrod Taylor at the time, and passed on Wilson.

"I remember sitting at the Richmond banquet and he was the player of the year in Richmond," Beamer recalled. "He and Tyrod came out together [in 2006]. We were involved with Tyrod at the time, so that kind of got involved. [Playing] baseball was important to him, too, and we didn't know how that was going to affect everything, but there's no question he's been a great, great quarterback for N.C. State."

Taylor, whose game has reached a career-high level this season, said he and Wilson have met. Today, though, will be the first time the two have faced each other in the same game.

"I'm looking forward to the game," said Taylor, who has thrown for 1,720 yards and 12 TDs, with only three interceptions this season. "I'm sure it's going to be a great game and a lot's going to be talked about the quarterbacks."

Plus, there's a running back who will be on display. Ryan Williams, the Hokies' redshirt freshman sensation, needs only 31 rushing yards to break Darren Evans' school freshman record of 1,265 yards in a season set last year. When Evans went down with a season-ending torn ACL in mid-August, Williams took his job.

"A really tough back to handle," State coach Tom O'Brien said of Williams, the ACC's leading rusher. "Virginia Tech is one of the schools that could lose Evans and come up with a Ryan Williams."

Speaking of O'Brien, his 2003 Boston College club was the last team to beat Tech on Senior Day at Lane. It may take a minor miracle for O'Brien & Co. to turn that trick again today. The Wolfpack has lost 12 players to season-ending injuries this season.

"We thought it was bad last year," said O'Brien, in his third year at State.

"It's three times as bad this year as it was last year. It's go to end sometime before I die here. I hope I'm the next one hurt the way we're going."