Exhaling After a Spectacular Virginia Tech Win

I watched Virginia Tech silence the 'Shoe. I soaked in Frank Beamer's accomplished glow as he addressed the media following Tech's 35-21 upset. I saw a focused Virginia Tech squad not even blink in LeBron James' direction during its warmups. I got chills when I heard Hokie Nation's "Let's Go Hokies!" chant takeover Ohio Stadium. I got sad when I couldn't lend my voice to the effort. It was tremendously difficult to observe press box etiquette and not scream during every momentum swing in a back-and-forth game.

Once it was over I should have stayed late in the rafters of the stadium and worked. I should've written about the emergence of Bucky Hodges as a red zone weapon. Tech hasn't had one of those in ages. I should've penned some words on Scot Loeffer's brilliant game plan to isolate his playmakers in space. Ryan Malleck seemed to find a soft spot in the defense on every play (6 catches, 64 yards). I should've shared my jumble of thoughts on the defense's epic performance. Bud Foster didn't just push the pedal to the metal last night. His defense was on fire, and he road them at warp speed right through the teeth of Ohio State's offense en route to Sack City. Tech finished with 7 sacks, and held the Buckeyes to 21 points and 327 yards despite defending a short field on many drives. I was downright giddy when Foster sent Kendall Fuller on a corner blitz with less than 3 minutes to go as Tech tried to contain Ohio State QB J.T. Barrett and hold its 28-21 lead. Foster played Clark, Fuller, Facyson, and Riley on an island all night long in order to stuff the box with eight men. It was a sound defensive effort which hinged on every man completing his assignment knowing help wasn't around the corner. Bud Foster doesn't need a Michael Bay budget to create chaos, just 11 men and a lunchpail.

I didn't write about any of that last night though. Instead, I wanted to get out of Ohio Stadium as quickly as possible, and transform from impartial observer of the media to fan again. I wanted to slap hands with everyone in maroon and orange. I wanted to drink a victory beer. I wanted to make loud noises and celebrate a program changing win for a football team that's tasted more sour than sweet as of late. I wanted to scroll through Twitter and look at every picture of Downtown Blacksburg under siege from a fan base that desperately needed this shot of adrenalin.

Look at how spectacular this is and know how much your support meant to a team that traveled 300 miles and grinded for 60 minutes in the 'Shoe.

Honestly I can say hokie nation has the best fans! pic.twitter.com/LitNYtP06L— Kenjamin Ekanem (@Ekannibal) September 7, 2014

Every Buckeye I talked with yesterday emphasized that Hokie Nation traveled with more fans than they could remember.

@thekeyplay how about the road hokies pic.twitter.com/ap0vLa5Dtp— Stoney Klughardt (@HokieStoney) September 7, 2014

It was impressive, and made me proud to be a Hokie.

Frank Beamer put the win in perspective during his post-game presser.

"If we don't take anything off of it and build off of it, it doesn't mean anything," Beamer said. "It's not a conference game. It's a big game. It's a national game. But we need to take this and keep on building. And I think with as many young guys as we've got, we can keep on taking steps. So we'll see. That's the goal right now."

He's right. Even though the victory is sure to earn Tech national respect, it doesn't secure travel to Charlotte in December. This team is still depending on a lot of young players across the board on offense. The defensive depth is still shallow at all non-#DBU positions. It's only September.

However, this team does give off a special vibe. There isn't a stat in the box score to measure Michael Brewer's poise and elusiveness in the pocket. The best we can do is talk about his exceptional performance under pressure last night for a long while. I don't know how to rate an it factor, but it's enough said when Frank Beamer says with a big smile, "I really like that guy." And after last night, I concur this team has "balls of steel".

Tech fought until the end, didn't buckle when a juiced Ohio State scored a pair of early second half touchdowns to tie the game at 21, and win or lose that's all anyone can ask for.