Saturday, December 02, 2006
10-2 season was par for Tech
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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Overcame adversity ... finished strong ... rescued the season ... saved face.
Yeah, I'll buy any or all of the above in terms to the Virginia Tech's 10-2 regular season. That said, just don't dare tell me the Hokies were big-time overachievers this fall.
OK, if they beat Georgia in its backyard in the Dec. 30 Chick-fil-A Bowl, I might give the Hokies a pass and a possible lean towards membership in the overachievement crowd.
While finishing 10-2 was admirable work after standing 4-2 following what could have been season-wrecking, back-to-back ACC losses to Georgia Tech and Boston College, Tech can't possibly be viewed as an overachiever in this book. Not when the numbers from the bookmaker's book say otherwise.
Ask the Las Vegas wise guys. Their line to you will be the Hokies were favored in all but one of the 12 games. Tech was an underdog once in the dozen games -- a 3.5-point 'dog against then-unbeaten, No. 10-ranked Clemson at home on Oct. 26. Fact is, the Hokies would have been favored in that contest if not for their meltdown against Georgia Tech and BC.
OK, I'll give the Hokies credit for a pair of road wins in which they went off as the slightest of favorites -- a 1-point chalk at both Miami and Wake Forest. That's just a shade off the odds of winning two coin flips in succession.
Still, the only game they won that they weren't supposed to win was against Clemson. They were crushed 38-27 at home by 8.5-point underdog Georgia Tech. They were a 2-point favorite in their other loss, a 22-3 whipping at BC.
Now, I'm throwing the Hokies plenty of props for regrouping and winning their final six games. Shoot, they easily could have folded the tent and limped home at 8-4 or even 7-5.
Before his club entered its final two games -- at Wake Forest and Virginia last Saturday at home -- Tech coach Frank Beamer said "it would be one heck of a job by these coaches and players if we can just finish this up" at 10-2.
Beamer's statement prompted me to ask: "So does that mean you didn't write down 10-2 on that piece of paper of yours at the start of the season?" Every year, see, Beamer looks at the schedule and evaluates his team and writes it down a record on a sheet he puts away and then pulls out at the end of the season.
"Did you write down 10-2?" replied Beamer, reversing the question.
"Yeah ... it was in the newspaper!" I bellowed.
"You're lying," a grinning Beamer responded.
"No, I'm not," I retorted. "Shoot, Doug Doughty [my longtime Roanoke Times cohort] had you going 11-1."
"Really?" answered Beamer, suddenly wearing an incredulous look on his face.
"Well, maybe we didn't do such a good job," said Beamer, triggering a roomful of laughter.
"Did you guys study that offense ... how many returning starters we had ... a tight end who was going to be a freshman anyway you looked at it ... a new quarterback? Did y'all study all that? Wow!"
I forgot to mention that Aaron McFarling, our sports columnist, had Tech going 12-0. "Glad you didn't bring that up," McFarling later confessed.
Still, 10-2 is not overachieving for this club. Not in a year in which the ACC was as watered down as the first Jack and 7 you order at a strip bar. Not in a year in which it played eight of its 12 games in the friendly confines of Lane Stadium, one of the biggest home-field edges in college football. Tech was one of only six Division I-A team teams with eight home dates. The others were LSU, Auburn, Alabama, Florida State and Kansas State.
I figured Tech would go 8-0 at home, or, at worst, 7-1. I had them losing at BC and Miami when making my 10-2 pick.
Still, it was a good year for Beamer & Co. A victory over an 8-4 Georgia club in Atlanta could be enough to sway me to use the term "overachieve" come January.
Speaking of Georgia, the 'Dawgs will be helped by the fact that they will be playing in their home away from home -- the Georgia Dome. On a totally neutral field, my Las Vegas source in the know told me Friday that the Hokies would be a 4-point favorite in the game. Add in the price of the Georgia-friendly venue and the opening line figures to be Tech "in the neighborhood of 2 points," he said.
It's a big bowl for Tech for several reasons. While they've gone bowling the past 13 straight seasons, the Hokies are 6-7 in those games and have never won two straight. A Tech victory also would help salve some of the season's wounds for the ACC, which was 1-5 vs. the SEC this season, the only win being Wake Forest's triumph at Mississippi in September.
Georgia, which started 5-0 and was ranked 10th in the Associated Press' Week 6 poll, may have slipped up against long-time SEC pantywaists Vanderbilt and Kentucky, but the 'Dogs finished strong with a head-turning 37-15 romp at Auburn and by beating Georgia Tech 15-12 at home last Saturday.
