Collegiate Times

Tech quarterback Tyrod Taylor tries to stiff-arm Virginia cornerback Vic Hall in the Hokies' 17-14 win. With the victory, Tech claimed the ACC Coastal Division and earned a place in the ACC Championship game.

What a difference a week makes. After last week's debacle, many were already looking forward to the future guidance of this year's standout-recruit quarterback Joseph "Ju-Ju" Clayton while writing Taylor off as a bust.

Taylor may never live up to the expectations that were bestowed upon him when he first stepped foot on Tech's campus, but his performance against UVa proved that he is still capable of being an outstanding college football player and an above-average quarterback.

While Taylor seemed to almost completely redeem himself in the eyes of the Hokie fans who were present at the last home game of the season, redshirt senior quarterback Sean Glennon could have found a much worse way to go out in his final collegiate home game.

Though Glennon was widely disapproved of at many points of his collegiate career, he received a standing ovation from the crowd during the Senior Day introductions before the start of Saturday's game.

"Some of the guys on the sidelines were joking with me and said that it took to the end of my senior year for the fans to really appreciate me," Glennon said. "I guess it's better late than never. It was definitely a good feeling. I know things haven't always gone my way with the fans."

Glennon was worked into the game for a little while in a move that was speculated to be based purely on the fact that it was the senior's farewell. He went 3-for-9 for 39 yards, with one interception that held no importance on the outcome of the game.

But few paid any attention to his statistics and there was a bittersweet sense of closure when the senior -- whose relations with the Hokie faithful these past four years have been a long series of ups and downs -- ran to slap hands with all the front row fans in the south end zone after time expired.

Although it was a chance for seniors including Glennon and Harris to say goodbye to the fans, the UVa game was, most importantly, the end to a long, drawn-out transition period that was the Hokies' 2008 regular season. Through all the growing pains and all the position changes, Tech found a way to achieve success.

Do they have enough to beat Boston College this time around? Who knows. But the fact that a team that lost 12 starters had enough muscle to get back to the ACC Championship speaks volumes by itself.

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