BLACKSBURG -- Everything was so familiar.

The slow-motion replay, seemingly so incriminating.

The gasps from the crowd.

The consensus confusion: What was he thinking?

Virginia Tech fans, sadly, know all about this feeling.

In a perfect world, Aaron Rouse would have been taken out of the game, right then and there. At the very least, sit him down. Cool him off. Make him think about his helmet-to-jaw bludgeoning of Duke quarterback Thaddeus Lewis.

Agree with the call or not, that was the second roughing-the-quarterback penalty on Rouse in the first half. That's not just a yellow flag -- it's also a red one.

Tech coach Frank Beamer left him in. Again, familiar. And for a program that has made a point to preach discipline, it smacked of the old mixed signals: Say one thing, do another.

All that was left were the postgame activities, where under the recent Hokie formula for dealing with controversial play, Rouse would either:

A) Not show up; or

B) Defiantly defend his actions.

And this is where the refrain took a refreshing turn Saturday.

"If the ACC wants to come down on me, I completely understand," Rouse said after his team's 36-0 win. "I'm willing to take responsibility for my actions."

Now, I know what you're probably thinking. Damage control. PR. Try not to cough on all the smoke he's blowing.

But I don't think so. I think it's progress.

The Hokies are a lot of things, but they aren't poseurs. Their players generally speak from the heart. If they disagree with a call, they'll say so. If they think they're in the right, they'll say so.

And truth be told, Rouse did think he was in the right. He thought Lewis was going to tuck and run, he said, and it was too late for him to stop his momentum. He was playing full-speed, and he was sprinting, and he lowered his shoulder. ...

Bam.

That's football.

But a major sign of growth, maturity and leadership -- three words normally attached to the 2006 version of Rouse -- is understanding your feelings aren't all that matter.

What is Duke coach Ted Roof to think when he watches the replay and sees Rouse raise his forearms just before the hit? What is Lewis to think when he's recovering from a concussion? What are viewers around the country to think when they see highlights of the hit, which appears to come well after the throw?

And this is where Rouse deserves praise. He couldn't change the play. But everything he could do to influence those perceptions in a positive way, he did.

Unprompted, he visited Roof after the game -- Roof confirmed the meeting, if that also sounded a bit too familiar.

"I let him know that it wasn't intentional," Rouse said, "I'm just out there playing. I spoke with Coach Beamer after the game also, basically he said the same thing. You have to play within the rules of the game.

"I really hope that player's OK. I guess I'll see Coach Beamer on Wednesday morning."

That's a reference to Beamer's discipline rules, new for 2006, which call for a 100-yard sprint every Wednesday morning for each penalty yard garnered on a personal foul.

These are fine. But what really matters is their effect.

Beamer said he plans to reiterate to his team that if you have to take more than one step after a throw is made, you have to pull up. That's fine, too. But what really matters is whether the players listen.

I, for one, think they will.

Because the things we've been used to seeing are beginning to change, little by little.

And the best thing you can say is this: The familiar ending isn't a given any more.