Thursday, September 27, 2007
In dire need of bookmarks
Randy King
Randy King's Tech Insider is exclusive to roanoke.com and is posted by 5 p.m. Thursdays in season.
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A week ago Monday, Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer told his players that this team wasn't good enough to win the ACC this season.
Know what, I totally believe him now.
While it must be noted that Beamer also told his club that he thought it had the potential to become good enough to win the league, this team has yet to play one game at the precision level that the masses expected and predicted a month ago.
The players keep saying that everyone is not on the same page. Well, this isn't kindergarten class, boys. Turn to Page 5 now. Everybody there? That's Page 5, kids. Are we all there now?
Right now, more than anything else, I think somebody needs to crack the whip and get this bunch's attention fast. The Hokies appear to be mired in some kind of malaise. And if they don't shake it soon, a team that returned 16 starters off a 10-3 club from last season won't have a prayer at winning a league that already has substantiated itself as the worst of the six BCS conferences.
Sure, this club's dreams of contending for a national title -- what a joke of a thought that must be to all those outside of Hokie Nation now -- were turned into gumbo at LSU. Still, though, there's plenty left to play for. OK, the neighborhood crown might not sound like much, but at least it will be enough to allow this senior-laden team to leave Blacksburg with its head held upright.
"It's a lot of seniors on this team and, trust me, we want to win an ACC championship," said Josh Morgan, the only one of the highly touted quartet of senior wideouts who has caught more than eight passes -- that's a robust two per game -- thus far.
"We wanted to go to the national championship game, we wanted to be great, we wanted to make everybody remember this senior class.
"Do we need a shakeup? Not really. We wake up and we're ready to go, so we don't need a nothing like that. People don't know what's going to happen yet. This is our first ACC game Saturday [vs. North Carolina at Lane Stadium].
"We know we have all the talent in the world on this football team. We know we can win the league."
If only they all can get on the same page at the same time.
Where's the Beamerball.com-licensed bookmarks when you really need them?
Of course, unless Tech's porous offensive line starts blocking some people this team will have no shot at winning the ACC.
I confess to wondering all through preseason if this group could get it done. My skepticism was tempered when I bought into comments made by the Tech defensive players.
"Oh, this offensive line is much better than last year's," they said universally. "Oh, this offense is going to be a lot better this year," they said in unison.
If anyone should know, it had to be these guys, right. Well, I bought it all. Hook, line and sinker.
"We scrimmaged against them all summer and all spring and, at times, they looked dominant ... like they were pushing us around," whip linebacker Cam Martin told me Tuesday. "I haven't lost faith in any of them because I know what they can do."
So what needs to happen for Tech finally to start playing well as a team?
"It's just a fact that everybody has to be on the same page ... every play, all the time. Once we get that down, I think we're going to do big things this year."
Paging those bookmarks now, fellows.
MONEY-BURNERS: In addition to being upset about the Hokies' uneven performance so far, many of the Tech backers can't be happy about taking a bath at the betting window, too. Tech is 0-3 vs. the spread. There was no line on last Saturday's contest against I-AA William and Mary.
It's a stark turnaround for Beamer's clubs, which in the past have been among the best teams in the nation to back in September. Going into this season, Tech had covered the number in 29 of its 38 September games with official Las Vegas spreads in the past decade. That computes to a very profitable 76 percent for those wondering.
Tech was perfect in September against the spread in 2005 (4-0), 2003 (3-0), 2002 (5-0) and 1998 (4-0). The last time the Hokies cost their loyal patrons money in September was in 1996, when they were 1-3 vs. the spread.
