The ECU series as a microcosm of our football program

Watching Justin Fuente and Bud Foster dismantle ECU like the mid-major they are inspired a whole host of reactions in me. But the best adjective I can probably use to describe the experience was cathartic. The result against the Pirates this past Saturday represented both the most points scored against them and the largest margin of victory over them since the series began way back in 1956. What we did to ECU this past weekend just felt right. And that got me thinking.

We don't admit that the ECU series is a rivalry. Honestly, it probably isn't. But we talk about them, outside of game week. A lot. Usually to joke about how our grandchildren's grandchildren will still have ECU games to dread when they attend VT. But really, should we care? By all metrics, regular games against the Pirates makes sense. They're a geographically proximate lower-tier program with good facilities. Travel to away games costs next to nothing compared to some of the longer trips we have to make.

The reason we hate playing ECU is because we should always beat them, handily, and we haven't. If we had managed the level of success against ECU that we have managed against LOLUVA over the same period, ECU wouldn't merit a blip on our psychological radar. They would be just another soft tune-up for conference play. Instead, our struggles against the Pirates have been indicative of the struggles of our football program as a whole. While it might pain some of you to do it, let's look back at the most recent resurrection of this series.

2007: Four and a half months after the on-campus shootings, VT and Blacksburg were perhaps more ready for football season than ever, desperate for anything to take our minds off our sorrows. ESPN Game Day made a trip to campus for our season opener, and there were whispers that this was the year the Hokies might finally fill the vacant trophy case. And then the game happened. Able to amass only 278 total yards of offense, leading only 10-7 at the half, it took a fourth quarter touchdown pass to TE Sam Wheeler to give the Hokies any separation. Well before the final whistle, the Lane Stadium crowd was openly booing Sean Glennon, and cheers for true freshman five star Tyrod Taylor echoed through the stadium. I know. I was there. As we exited after a most underwhelming performance, I mused to my friend that I had never seen a win feel more like a loss. Someone behind us opined that LSU was going to destroy us the following week, which proved prophetic.

2008: After burning Tyrod's redshirt in the aforementioned LSU game the previous year, Frank Beamer announced his intent to redshirt Tyrod as a sophomore. That lasted exactly one week, as the unthinkable happened in the season opener, and the ECU Pirates defeated VT by the score of 27-22. Hokie Nation was livid. At the time, I was blogging my musings on the team's performance on my MySpace page. (Don't laugh, that was still a thing in 2008.) My review of the ECU game consisted entirely of this video:

The coaching staff circled the wagons and immediately committed to a two QB system, which brought heaps of criticism and questioning about the decision's reactionary nature. On a personal note, it was this game that started me down the path that would eventually lead me to become a contributor, and eventually the head contributor, at a blog dedicated to the termination of Bryan Stinespring as our offensive coordinator.

2009-2013: The Hokies would not lose again the Pirates over the next four games in the series. (No game was played in 2012 due to the Hokies playing in the Chick-fil-a College Kickoff against Alabama.) However, the results were far from dominant. Outside of a decisive 49-27 win during Tyrod Taylor's senior year, the average margin of victory over the Pirates was just over 8 points. The Hokies managed to score an average of 16 points in those games. The Hokies had to lean entirely on their lunchpail defense to secure wins. That would soon become less of an option, as recently hired head coach and alumnus Ruffin McNeill would successfully install the air raid offense, which would prove to give Bud Foster's secondary fits.

2014-2015: Despite the promise of an increased emphasis on offense, Scot Loeffler was unable to put more than 28 points on the board against the Pirates in back to back losses. While an improvement over the recent results of his predecessor, it was too little, too late. In successive years, when the offense was called upon to contribute to a victory, they failed to answer the bell. After the 2015 loss, with Hokie Nation reeling at the broken promise of a return to form, Frank Beamer's classic "exhibition game" misstep in the postgame press conference, which painted the picture that our beloved head coach was woefully out of step with the desires of the fan base, arguably set the wheels in motion for his eventual retirement announcement later in the season.

Looking back over the series, it's plain to me that the angst over the ECU series has nothing to do with a perceived rivalry with ECU, but rather a belief that a program like ECU should never be a rival for us at all. We were vexed by a team we should easily handle. A mid-major program was going toe to toe with us. Our struggles against the Pirates coincided with the hard decline of our offense, and eventually our program as a whole. The series forced us to consider a truth that we ardently wished to avoid: the program had peaked and plateaued, and would eventually regress.

So does Saturday's 54-17 drubbing of ECU indicate a return to form for the VT football program? That remains to be seen. But what's for certain is that the results of the previous two games have felt exactly how Virginia Tech football should feel: like we are unquestionably the better team on the field, whether in terms of talent, attitude or scheme. So much of the anticipation of this season centered around the hope of visible progress toward a return to national prominence. And while beating ECU by five scores in no way signals the Hokies are playoff contenders, the result makes it feel as though that goal might be in sight. If nothing else, it makes Hokie football fun to watch again.