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Despite scoring twice, Branden Ore (28) left the Georgia Dome dejected after the Hokies' loss.
Injured Virginia Tech left tackle Brandon Frye (74, along with George Bell) could only watch as the Hokies fell to Georgia. |
ATLANTA--It wasn't the national championship game. It wasn't even a BCS bowl, but Vir-ginia Tech's players and coaches still knew the significant implications of their Chick-fil-A Bowl showdown with Georgia.
Saturday's game offered the 2006 Hokies an opportunity to do something no other Virginia Tech football team has done: win back-to-back bowl games. A victory over a perennial Southeastern Conference powerhouse would've been a crowning achievement for a squad that has mostly overachieved this season. It also would've provided a psychological springboard for '07.
Instead, the Hokies' second-half collapse turned a 21-3 halftime lead into a 31-24 defeat, and sent Frank Beamer's team into the offseason with a sour taste in its mouth.
"It hurts a lot," Virginia Tech cornerback Victor Harris said late Saturday night, long after most of the bowl-record 75,406 fans had filed out of the Georgia Dome. "We let it slip away, and we didn't want our seniors to go out like that."
A year after losing nine players to the NFL, Virginia Tech's roster was dominated by underclassmen this season. But it was the seniors --from defensive end Noland Burchette to rover Aaron Rouse to linebacker Brenden Hill--who held things together when back-to-back losses to Georgia Tech and Boston College threatened to tear the Hokies apart.
After clearing the air in a team meeting, Virginia Tech won its next six games. It destroyed a Clemson team that came to Blacksburg with a No. 10 national ranking, beat Miami in the Orange Bowl, dominated ACC champion Wake Forest on the road and blanked rival Virginia for a third consecutive 10-win season.
Life was so good in Hokie Nation, quarterback Sean Glennon uncharacteristically allowed himself to muse about a run at the 2007 national championship.
Virginia Tech certainly looked enough like a contender for the first 30 minutes of Saturday's game. Electric wideout Eddie Royal tossed an option pass 53 yards to Sam Wheeler for one touchdown and returned a punt 54 yards to set up another score. Branden Ore scored on two short runs. The Hokies' top-ranked defense surrendered a field goal on Georgia's first possession, then limited the Bulldogs to 2 yards of total offense on their final five first-half drives.
But Georgia, which had rallied to win three times this season after failing to score in the first half, stormed back into the game with a flurry of big plays on both sides of the ball.
Georgia recovered an onside kick to set up one touchdown, turned two of Glennon's three interceptions into touchdowns and kicked a field goal after a Glennon fumble.
"It's very disappointing to get up by that much and lose," Virginia Tech tackle Duane Brown said. "Some people got comfortable and complacent. We had a lot of turnovers and they capitalized on that, and we started to fall apart after a while."
Virginia Tech's players said all the right things after the game. They didn't use injuries as excuses, even though they played most of the second half without their left tackle (Brandon Frye), a key pass rusher (Burchette) and an all-American cornerback (Brandon Flowers). They also insisted Glennon wasn't solely to blame for the loss.
But if the Hokies really do harbor national title ambitions for 2007, their first step must be addressing the quarterback situation.
Backup Ike Whitaker, a redshirt freshman, is currently undergoing treatment for alcohol-related issues, and it's uncertain if he'll ever fulfill his enormous potential at Virginia Tech. Third-stringer Cory Holt might be better at another position. Hampton prep standout Tyrod Taylor, the state's No. 1 recruit, will almost certainly be redshirted next season.
That leaves Glennon. The sophomore from Centreville had his moments during his first season as a starter and was mostly efficient during Virginia Tech's win streak, but failed to protect the ball in each of the Hokies' three losses.
He lost two fumbles against Georgia Tech, one of which was returned for a touchdown. He had two interceptions and a fumble against Boston College. He turned the ball over four times in the second half against Georgia, aiding a Bulldogs offense that generated just 200 yards but still scored one more point than Virginia Tech's defense had allowed in its last six games.
"It's pretty simple. If you turn the ball over to a good team, you won't do well," Beamer said.
That's the bottom line for a Hokies squad that has most of the pieces in place to become what Harris called "scary."
They're loaded with veteran talent at many positions--most obviously, wide receiver, linebacker and secondary. They lose only a handful of impact seniors, and there are young, eager replacements waiting in line. Their schedule, which features games at LSU, Clemson and Georgia Tech and home contests against Miami and Florida State, will allow them to become serious players in any BCS discussion.
A couple of weeks ago, Royal told several reporters that he expected the Chick-fil-A Bowl to be a sneak preview of what Virginia Tech fans could expect to see from a more confident, experienced Glennon next season.
Royal, who played his high school ball with Glennon, remains the quarterback's closest friend in the Virginia Tech locker room. But based on Saturday's result, everyone who bleeds Hokie maroon and orange has to be hoping Royal was simply mistaken.
"I think I was well prepared. I just made a few bad throws, made a few bad decisions those few plays will be the ones that everybody looks at," Glennon said.
"If everyone has the same attitude I do for the next eight, nine months I'm not going to forget this feeling that I have right now. Hopefully, everyone else is going to have the same motivation."
To reach JIM McCONNELL:
Email: jmcconnell@freelancestar.com
