Associated Press

A pass intended for Virginia Tech wide receiver Jarrett Boykin (top) is broken up by Boise State's George Iloka on Monday.

BLACKSBURG -- After his team was stunned 31-30 at home by Mississippi in the fourth week of the 2008 season, Florida quarterback Tim Tebow delivered an emotional postgame speech that forever will be part of college football lore.

Fueled by Tebow's inspirational words, the Gators never lost again, winning 10 consecutive games and beating No. 1 Oklahoma 24-14 in the BCS championship game.

In the wake of Virginia Tech's 33-30 loss to Boise State on Monday in Landover, Md., Hokies senior quarterback Tyrod Taylor was asked Wednesday if he planned to make a similar pronouncement to his teammates.

"I'll save those speeches for the locker room ... talking to certain guys," Taylor said. "I told a lot of guys that losing is nothing you can get used to around here. That's not Virginia Tech's program. Us going out and winning is something we have to do every game.

"That's what we have to show people. A lot of people view us as not being able to succeed in the first game of the year. We have to change that. We have to go out here and win the rest of the games and show people we can play and that we're worthy of our national ranking."

The Hokies will have to run a 12-game rack now, plus get major help from others to have any shot at playing in the Jan. 10 BCS title game in Glendale, Ariz. Although it's a long shot, at best, Taylor hasn't given up all hope.

"Winning is still the motivation," he said. "Win each game from here on out. There's a lot of teams ahead of us that still have to play each other. You never really know how things are going to turn out."

Somber ride home

The team's hour plane flight home from Baltimore-Washington International Airport to Roanoke Regional Airport wasn't exactly a festive occasion.

"The ride back, 24 hours afterwards, it was tough to shake that one off," wideout Danny Coale said. "Emotionally draining, I think, is an understatement.".

"Mostly sleeping ... it was pretty silent," defensive end Steven Friday said.

Friday, Taylor and strong safety Davon Morgan each said they were so wired that they couldn't go to sleep when finally getting to their homes. Players were excused from any classes starting before noon. Morgan said he did hit some afternoon classes.

"I wanted us to let the campus know ... that just because we took the loss, I'm not going to be down about it," Morgan said. "We've got to keep pushing forward. That's the same thing we're putting in the team: Let's keep moving. It was a tough loss, but what are you going to do about it? Keep pouting about it, or are we going to move forward? That's the attitude I had."

Short week

Thirteenth-ranked Tech now faces a quick turnaround before meeting I-AA James Madison (1-0) at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Lane Stadium. The Hokies resumed practice Wednesday and will work out again today.

"As a team, we want to get back to what we're used to, which is practicing and getting back to another opportunity at this thing, to be better this Saturday," Coale said. "The closer and the sooner we can get there, the better for us.

"We want to get back to it. We're going to practice hard and we just need to be better in the game situation. That's Saturday, and I don't think it can come soon enough for us."

On the condensed week, Morgan said: "I'm looking forward to it, actually. I'm here living, so I can't complain. I'm just ready to go out and play some ball."

Yellow flags

Boise State's game-winning 56-yard TD drive to win the game was aided by a penalty flag that was waved off by a second official -- a block-in-the-back call on Jeremy Avery on a punt return -- and a questionable late-hit personal foul on Tech linebacker Bruce Taylor.

"I thought they were hard penalties against us, but that's stuff we had to overcome," Tech coach Frank Beamer said.

Morgan said: "Ah, man, I don't really have a comment on that. I remember sitting in the meetings in the summertime and the officials came and told us: 'If it looks close, they're calling it.' "

Quick kicks

Tech's starting five offensive linemen went the distance in the game. Beamer is hopeful that injured No. 1 left tackle Nick Becton, whose spot was taken by first-time starter Andrew Lanier, can get some time against JMU. "We'll go back and see if Nick can get caught up," Beamer said. "You just felt that Lanier was the guy who needed to play [against BSU]." ... The Boise-Tech game drew big rating numbers for ESPN. The 6.7 share was the network's second highest rating for a Labor Day game since 1990. ... JMU will receive a $450,000 guarantee for making the trip to Lane.