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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. |
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.
Instead, the Hokies rediscovered how to play aggressive, hard-hitting but clean football--and they haven't lost since. They clobbered then-No. 10 Clemson in Blacksburg, scored a late touchdown to nip longtime rival Miami on the road and blanked Kent State before their surprisingly lopsided win at Wake Forest.
Now Virginia Tech, which had dropped out of the Top 25 after its second loss, is ranked 17th and has the inside track to represent the ACC against an SEC team in the Chick-fil-A (formerly Peach) Bowl Dec. 30 in Atlanta.
"Our backs were up against the wall and that's when you see the best of Virginia Tech," Morgan said.
Even the loss of workhorse tailback Branden Ore wasn't enough to derail Virginia Tech's momentum Saturday night. Ore, who had carried the ball 114 times for 561 yards over the previous four games, left the game after suffering a sprained left ankle in the first quarter and didn't return.
These newly resilient Hokies simply carried on without him.
Glennon was at his mistake-free best, passing for 252 yards and touchdowns to Morgan and Eddie Royal. Ore's backups, Kenny Lewis and George Bell, combined for 102 yards and did enough to keep Wake Forest's defense honest. And Virginia Tech's defense, which has now allowed just 29 points in its last 20 quarters, held the Demon Deacons' tricky misdirection ground attack nearly 100 yards below their season average.
"We came in here and beat a good football team," Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said. "We had a tremendous setback with Branden Ore, but the team overcame adversity and I couldn't be more proud of them."
The Hokies likely will have to prove they can win again without Ore, who will wear a walking boot this week and is considered doubtful to play in next Saturday's regular-season finale against in-state rival Virginia.
Still, Glennon likes his team's chances.
"If we can win next week, we'll be 10-2," he said. "You can't say too many bad things about a team that's 10-2."
To reach JIM McCONNELL:
Email: jmcconnell@freelancestar.com
Virginia revels in run, but knows
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