4-1

The chilled air, rain and wind whipping around Lane Stadium made Saturday's slap across the face sting that much more. It was a sobering wake up call. It was the same as it ever was. That game should have been remembered for the tremendous defensive performance orchestrated by Bud Foster. Freshman sensation Sammy Watkins was a non-factor, Tajh Boyd didn't distinguish himself. In their previous four games Clemson gobbled up yards with ease, Saturday night they had to claw for everything they got. Clemson wanted to run 80 plays, they had to settle for 67. Instead, I'll continue to try to answer the "what ifs" floating around my head.

What if David Wilson hadn't fumbled? What if Nosal hadn't jumped on 3rd and goal? What if Logan's shoulder was one hundred percent, would he have ran more, would we have called more running plays for him, would he have been more accurate? What if Eddie didn't blow his coverage, would it have taken some of the pressure off of the offense? What if Demler could've pinned Clemson deep? What if the offensive line played their last 30 minutes as well as their first 30? What if the offense's game plan was as airtight as the defense's?

The losses that are best summarized by unanswered questions are cruel. They eat at me for days, weeks, years... There's something just when your head is lopped off clean. It hurts just as much, but at least I'm certain we never stood a chance at winning. With the players we have on our roster, we had just as much right beating Clemson as they did beating us.

Now the view over the horizon is dark. On Monday morning Hokie Nation are a bunch of doubting Thomases, or are we just doubting Thomas? Logan had an awful game. He didn't throw a single ball Saturday that justified the preseason hype. He looked nervous, like the big stage got the best of him. That's harsh, but it's how I feel. However, I'm not quitting on this kid just five games into a more than promising career. He deserves the opportunity to learn from his mistakes, and grow into the leader we need him to be. I believe he can do it. Everything else we did wrong Saturday is fixable. We laid down on the turf, looked up at our own ceiling and got ran over by a team we were capable of beating. David Wilson has gone a game without fumbling, Demler has boomed a punt, the offensive line has controlled the line of scrimmage and kept Thomas's jersey clean.

I spent all of Sunday moping around thinking about everything that could go wrong the rest of the season. Fuck me, and fuck that. This season is not over. Last season wasn't over when we lost to JMU, 2007 didn't end in Baton Rouge and '95 never looked back from zero-and-two. Virginia Tech may have a history of coming up short on the big stage and bumbling around madly on offense, but more than anything else we are resilient. We take a punch to the face, but we pick ourselves up off the ground.

It's Miami week, and I don't care who's dressing for that team because all I see on the outside is orange, green and that damn "U". Everyone get your shit together and let's go.