Wake Forest's Rich Belton (35) is corralled by several Virginia Tech defenders, preventing him from securing a critical first down in the fourth quarter Saturday. The Hokies won the game, 27-6. CHUCK BURTON/ASSOCIATED PRESS Visit the Photo Place

Players join choir on Hokies' revival

Almost to a man, Virginia Tech's starters point to one game in which the team changed its fortunes.

Date published: 11/20/2006

By JIM McCONNELL

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.--Five weeks ago, Sean Glennon met with the media after Virginia Tech's rout of Southern Mississippi and said he hoped to look back on the game as the turning point of the Hokies' season.

At the time, it seemed like optimism of the most desperate sort. Sure, Glennon and company had just had their way with the Golden Eagles, but weighed against the all-too-fresh memory of back-to-back losses to Georgia Tech and Boston College, beating a decent Conference USA squad couldn't acquire too much significance.

Or could it?

Looking back, after the Hokies extended their winning streak to five games with a 27-6 victory over No. 14 Wake Forest on Saturday night, it's obvious Glennon knew something about his team that nobody else on the planet could see.

"'Revelation' may be too strong a word," Glennon said with a smile. "We had a meeting after the Boston College game and we all said that it was do or die. We could either turn things around and start playing Virginia Tech football or we could pack it in and say that it's not our year."

It wasn't a multiple-choice exam.

Rover Aaron Rouse, one of the Hokies' more imposing senior leaders, was among several players who encouraged teammates to salvage what they could from the six games remaining on their 2006 schedule. Defensive end Noland Burchette said every game for the rest of the season would be like Game 7 in a playoff series.

"I definitely knew we weren't gonna just go down the drain," Rouse said. "We wanted to make it a great season. We just had to pull together and not let outside influences affect us."

Actually, most of Virginia Tech's wounds were self-inflicted: the arrests and subsequent one-game suspensions of Josh Morgan, Josh Hyman and Chris Ellis; the sideline shouting match between Rouse and linebacker Vince Hall at Boston College; the personal fouls that ran contrary to coach Frank Beamer's focus on discipline.

It was the conspicuous lack of discipline and focus that led many critics to believe Beamer's team was on the verge of imploding.

Virginia revels in run, but knows it must win in Blacksburg. Page B2

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Date published: 11/20/2006