Hokies Nearly Earn Storybook Lane Ending for Frank Beamer, Drop Home Finale to UNC 30-27 in OT

Tech very nearly knocked off the highly regarded Tar Heels, but had to settle for a bittersweet home finale for Frank Beamer instead.

The Hokies carry retiring head coach Frank Beamer off the field following his last home game. [Mark Umansky]

Ordinarily, a painful, last-chance, overtime loss to a division rival would send fans fleeing from Lane Stadium in droves before the clock could even hit zero.

Not today.

Today was one last chance for the Hokies' faithful to thank the only head coach many of them have ever known, and as he strode to midfield to salute what he called the "greatest fans ever," he was serenaded with the crowd's cries of "Beamer, Beamer, Beamer."

"I saw a lot of signs there that said something about appreciating me, but I appreciate them," the departing head Hokie said after the game. "I'm thankful that I had such appreciation from the fans today, rather than wanting to run me out of town. A lot of people, when you change jobs in this profession, you got run out of town."

The Hokies couldn't quite manage a storybook ending for Beamer, coming painfully close to the mammoth upset of No. 12 UNC in a 30-27 OT loss, but the team carried him off the field as if the team had emerged victorious after all.

"It wasn't planned, it just felt like the right thing to do," said QB Michael Brewer. "With him having his last home game and everything that he's built here, the tradition that is Coach Beamer and everything he's done for the university, we felt like it was the right thing to do."

But even with an ending that evoked a magical win instead of a crushing loss, the disappointment in the air was palpable after the game.

"The guy is Virginia Tech," said defensive coordinator Bud Foster. "I just really wish we could've pulled out today for him, that would've been the icing on the cake."

If the Tar Heels and their electric offense had merely blown out the Hokies, that would've been one thing. But for the Hokies to claw their way out of a 24-10 hole late in the fourth quarter, only to fall at the last second? It added an extra sting to a bittersweet day.

"We definitely knew this game was in our grasp and we let it slip away," said DT Corey Marshall.

Making matters worse was the controversy surrounding UNC's game-winning touchdown. Replays showed WR Quinshad Davis seemingly losing control of the ball while falling out of bounds, yet the referees saw fit to leave the call unchanged upon review.

"It is what it is," Foster said. "We've had those calls kind of go either way, and it didn't go our way. The guy made a nice catch at the end of the day, I can't say anything else."

That frustration contributed to what was already an emotional afternoon for the team. Between one last "Enter Sandman," keyed by a special video send-off from members of Metallica, and the roars of "Thank you" from the north and south endzones echoed by cries of "Beamer" from the east and west stands, the tributes to Beamer very nearly overshadowed the game itself.

"It's been an emotional two and a half weeks," said offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler. "It brings me back to my days whenever a legend walked out the door. You see the people that clean up the building in the morning with tears in their eyes, you see people that have been around here forever, you look at Bryan Stinespring, you look at Bud, you look at Charley Wiles. I'm an outsider looking in because I've only been here three years, it just reminds me of when Coach (Lloyd) Carr stepped down. Coach Beamer's been great."

But the game itself did not lack for drama, in what was supposed to be an easy win for the Tar Heels.

Tech started out sluggishly, with a quick three and out, and UNC made a quick statement.

The Hokies forced the Heels into a 3rd and 13 situation, yet QB Marquise Williams managed a 32 yard pass to WR Austin Proehl to keep the drive alive. RBs Elijah Hood and T.J. Logan ran for 7 and 11 yards respectively, then Williams fooled the defense on an option play, and walked into the end zone on an 18-yard run. UNC's offense seemed to deliver on all the hype, staking the Heels to a 7-0 lead just four minutes into the game.

The Hokies then picked up two first downs on Travon McMillian runs, but a first down sack of Michael Brewer, courtesy of virtually unblocked LB Shakeel Rashad, put Tech in an early hole to force another A.J. Hughes punt.

But the defense responded to force a quick three and out, giving the offense the ball back on its own 29.

McMillian gave fans a scare, exiting the field briefly with the wind knocked out of him, but J.C. Coleman ably filled in and managed a first down. Quick passes to Bucky Hodges and Isaiah Ford got Tech to UNC's 49, the offense's first time in Tar Heel territory. Brewer completed a pass to Ryan Malleck to get to the Heels' 28, but the drive stalled after another McMillian run.

But even with good field position, the Hokies came away empty handed. Joey Slye just missed 46-yard field goal wide left, and Tech stayed scoreless.

Once again, the defense came through, with the Heels' drive stalling after a fumbled snap by Williams. To start off the second quarter in earnest, Brewer got the next drive moving with a 10-yard pass to Hodges out to the 35, then hit Ford for 44-yard bomb that was almost out of his reach.

But after two short Sam Rogers runs, Brewer very nearly connected with Cam Phillips in the end zone. Yet the receiver couldn't quite hold on, leading to a 32-year kick from Slye to put Tech on the board, 7-3.

UNC looked to get right back in the game with a 20-yard completion to Hollins. But on the very next play, Corey Marshall managed to bring down Williams and force a fumble — the Heels' first turnover since playing UVA back on Oct. 24.

That gave the Hokies the ball on UNC's 30, but the Hokies wound up shooting themselves in the foot, repeatedly. A holding penalty on third down backed Tech up to the 35, then a sack forced the Hokies to punt from the 43.

The Heels and Hokies showed no interest in moving the ball much on each of their next two drives, cordially yielding the ball to each other after three plays apiece.

After two quick first downs, UNC seemed to hit its stride, getting out to its own 45. But Williams failed to convert a 3rd and 1 on a QB sneak, giving Tech the ball back on its nine-yard line.

With a chance to burn the remaining 1:43 off the clock, the Hokies managed just two plays and allowed another sack to move backwards and use just 30 seconds in the process.

That gifted the Heels some great field position with just over a minute left in the half, and they came painfully close to making a big play down the field. Yet Chuck Clark was able to lay a mammoth hit on Ryan Switzer as he leapt to reach a Williams pass, and Tech escaped. A false start put UNC behind the sticks, and Williams very nearly managed a conversion on a 14-yard scramble, but fell just one yard short.

They punted the ball away, and the Hokies were likely downright thrilled to go into the half down just four points. In all, the defense yielded a paltry 156 yards to the Heels' explosive offense, with 65 coming on their first drive alone. But by the same token, the Hokies only managed 68 yards of total offense, with four sacks allowed.

Even with a series of emotional Beamer tribute videos on display at halftime, Tech's defense emerged from the locker room on fire. Hood managed a quick first down with a 12-yard gain, but UNC could only managed two more yards before punting the ball away.

Tech then came back with a real winner of an offensive series — it included a holding call and another sack, capped off by the Heels blocking Hughes' punt to get the ball on Tech's 38.

Dadi Nicolas then single handedly helped the Heels drive down the field. Not only did he jump into the neutral zone on a third down, but as referee Ron Cherry called that penalty, Nicolas bumped the ref and gave him a bit of the business to earn an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

"I didn't mean to, I didn't mean to hit him," Nicolas said. "The center moved the ball, so I thought they were going to call it, they called it on me."

Williams took full advantage of Nicolas' generosity, rushing for 19 yards to the goal line, but just missed the end zone. From there, the defense collected itself, stopping the Heels cold to force a 20-yard field goal. With the make, UNC's lead grew to 10-3.

"It was a crucial moment in the game, it was an unfortunate call," Nicolas said. "If anything, as a team, we stuck together and held them to a stop."

On Tech's next drive, the offense seemed to wake up a bit. Brewer avoided an oncoming rusher with a five-yard flip to Hodges, followed by an eight-yard run by McMillian. A 15-yard throw to Ford down the sideline got Tech near midfield, then a 10-yard catch by Phillips moved the sticks. Brewer then took a shot to Hodges in the end zone, and a UNC pass interference penalty got Tech to the 26.

Rogers found a bit of daylight to notch an 18-yard run, and two plays later, Brewer stumbled into the end zone for the game-tying score. That capped off a 10-play, 81-yard drive that seemed unthinkable just minutes earlier.

UNC didn't do much to turn the tide on its next drive. The Heels led things off with their fifth false start of the day, then had to punt after a Ken Ekanem hit on Williams produced an incomplete pass (that was very nearly a fumble) on third down.

By contrast, the Hokies started their next effort hot, before disaster struck. A quick gain of six by McMillian and a nine-yard pass to Phillips got things rolling. Then, McMillian found daylight, and it looked as if he had a gain of 18. Yet the refs flagged Hodges for holding.

Rogers gained back some of those yards on a 10-yard gallop, but then coughed up the ball on the next play to give UNC the ball on Tech's 45 as the third quarter came to a close.

The Tar Heels seized the opportunity. Even with Corey Marshall in the process of wrapping him up, Williams kicked things off with a 10-yard completion to Switzer. The Hokies continued to pressure the UNC passer, but he continued to stand tall in the pocket, finding Quinshad Davis for a 21-yard gain on a 3rd and 9.

Hood then took the ball into the endzone from 13 yards out, thoroughly deflating the Hokies' crowd and giving UNC a 17-10 lead.

McMillian used two runs to pick up a first down on Tech's ensuing drive, but on first down, Brewer did the Hokies no favors with an absolute arm punt in Hodges' general direction. UNC's Des Lawrence made the bobbling catch to get the Heels the ball back on their own 16.

The defense just didn't have enough left to respond. UNC kicked things off with a 32-yard completion to midfield, then a steady diet of Williams and Logan on the ground brought the Heels to Tech's 31-yard line.

The Hokies forced a 4th and 2, but a beautifully executed, last-second pitch from Williams to Hood helped the Heels keep the drive going. Four plays later, Hood walked into the endzone, giving UNC a seemingly insurmountable 24-10 lead.

Tech then put together a decent drive on offense, getting to UNC's 29. But Brewer made another poor throw to the sideline for his second interception of the game.

Yet Vinny Mihota managed to breath some life into Tech's chances, forcing a Williams fumble.

Brewer then engineered a speedy drive down the field, using a pair of long completions to Rogers and Ford to get to UNC's 11. He then found Hodges in the back of the end zone to cut the lead to 24-17.

On the next drive, Logan nearly put the nail in the coffin, with a 43-yard dash down the sideline. But a closer look at the replay revealed that he stepped out of bounds after 21 yards instead. Williams then made yet another catastrophic mistake, as Luther Maddy forced another fumble and the Hokies recovered.

"Football's definitely a game of momentum, and we felt it so much," Marshall said. "We were feeding off it, the atmosphere was crazy, the fans were going crazy, I haven't seen it to that magnitude in a long time."

Brewer led things off with a bomb to Ford for 36 yards, setting the Hokies up on UNC's 12-yard line. A pair of Rogers runs got Tech to the four, and Brewer very nearly connected with Ford on third down to tie the game.

On fourth down, with a 1:15 left in Beamer's time in Lane Stadium, Brewer managed to somehow find Ford once more, this time to complete the miracle comeback.

"When we called the next play, I knew I was going to get the opportunity and it was a play that we ran in practice a lot, and if we executed, we knew it would be a touchdown," Ford said.

UNC couldn't do much on its next drive, punting with 30 seconds left, and the Hokies knelt the ball to force the improbable OT.

But the break between regulation and overtime was not kind to Tech's offense. UNC won the toss and elected to play defense, and the Hokies couldn't manage much.

McMillian re-entered the game after a lengthy absence, but his two runs produced just two yards. Brewer found no one open on third down and had to throw the ball away, forcing Slye to kick a 41-yard field goal to make it 27-24.

"He was banged up a little bit, obviously with a healthy Travon, he would've been in there the entire time," Loeffler said. "He wanted to go in in those overtime situations."

The Heels wasted no time when they got the ball, as Williams found Switzer for an 18-yard gain on the first play of the possession. UNC had the ball on Tech's seven-yard line, and though the Hokies forced two stops, Davis came up with the fateful play on third down to walk off with a win.

"It doesn't take away from this team and how hard they battled, I couldn't be more proud of them," Beamer said.

Indeed, Beamer offered a familiar sentiment to his players after the game, even amidst the torrent of emotion.

"We've got one more shot here next week against our in-state rival, so right now it's back to work," Beamer said.

But the stoic head coach did allow himself one moment of reflection. As much as he claims that he kept his focus the entire day on the challenge at hand, not the sobering realization that he will never again set foot in Lane Stadium as Virginia Tech's head coach, he acknowledged that the occasion does have him thinking a bit about his future after football.

"I got some grandkids I look forward to spending more time with, and my wife, Cheryl, that I'm going to spend some time, travel and so forth," Beamer said. "Maybe there's some other things out there too that get my interest and go in a different direction. I'm not a guy that doesn't have anything else to do, I'm blessed with a great family."

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Pain is Temporary, Chicks Dig Scars
Glory is Forever, Let's Go Hokies!!

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Glory is Forever, Let's Go Hokies!!

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Pain is Temporary, Chicks Dig Scars
Glory is Forever, Let's Go Hokies!!

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Brandon J. Carroll
Class of 2010

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"We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their behavior" Stephen M.R. Covey

“When life knocks you down plan to land on your back, because if you can look up, you can get up, if you fall flat on your face it can kill your spirit” David Wilson

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"Take care of the little things and the big things will come."

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Wet stuff on the red stuff.

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You will see this game, this upset and this sign next on ESPN Sportscenter. Virginia Tech 31 Miami 7

His decision was made after a phone call with longtime Virginia Tech assistant coach Bud Foster. All Foster told him was, "We win. They don't."