TAMPA, Fla. -- On the surface, it elicits a sense of deja vu. Maroon and orange nation has been here before.
The No. 21 Virginia Tech Hokies (9-4), by virtue of an easy 30-12 win over the Boston College Eagles (9-4) on Saturday afternoon at Raymond James Stadium, captured the ACC Championship for the second straight year -- earning a return trip to the Orange Bowl in Miami.
It's their third championship in five years of conference existence.
Yes, it's becoming commonplace. But ask any player, ask any coach -- the route that 2008 took to return here doesn't exactly resemble anything Tech has seen.
There were injuries to key components: Brandon Dillard, Kenny Lewis Jr., as well as both quarterbacks going down in the loss to Florida State.
There were team dismissals: Brandon Ore, Zack Luckett and Ike Whitaker.
There were coaches under duress: Defensive coordinator Bud Foster was courted by Clemson, while offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring was continuously under fire for "predictable" play calling.
A successful season -- in most fans' eyes -- appeared in question after an opening-game defeat to East Carolina, and unlikely after dropping three of four. After a loss to Miami in Dolphin Stadium on Nov. 13, not many would have predicted that the Hokies would be taking that very same field for their season finale on New Year's evening.
Even a squeaker over Duke didn't do much to silence the doubters.
Well, they're mute now.
In a year in which nothing came easy, Saturday's win did.
Going into the game, Tech's average margin of decision was just 7.3 points, ranking lowest in the nation.
However, the Hokies learned from their previous mistakes against BC this year, beating the Eagles in the 2008 redux and letting their head coach exhale easy as the clock wound down.
"I don't care how we win them," Frank Beamer said. "These guys find a way to win, close or by a bunch. It was good to be able to breathe at the end of the game for a change."
It was Tech's most complete win of the season and a "team victory," as Beamer emphasized after the game.
All three phases played a role -- most notably the offense.
His stats may not look impressive, but quarterback Tyrod Taylor's impact overrides any numeric value.
In capturing the game's Most Valuable Player award, Taylor scored a pair of first-half touchdowns on third-down situations in the red zone that helped the Hokies seize momentum early in the game.
Both touchdown runs were initially designed as passes, including the second one in which he avoided a blitzing Mike McGlaughlin.
"I was going to throw it," Taylor said. "The guy reached for my leg and clipped me. So I either had to get rid of the ball or get up field quickly."
Taylor posted arguably his most accurate passing performance of the season on this team's biggest stage to date, opening the game by completing 7 of his first 9 passes to loosen the interior of a rushing defense that had allowed the third-fewest yards in the nation (57) over the previous five games.
Tech tailback Darren Evans'10-yard touchdown scamper in the third period was his 10th rushing touchdown of the season, tying the most by a Hokie freshman. He also carried the ball a total of 31 times to set the ACC Championship game rushing mark with 114 yards.
"I love the role that I have and the confidence that they have in me," Evans said.
Evans' success was partially thanks to the effectiveness of the offensive line. Not only did they spring big holes for Evans, but they also gave Taylor the necessary time to pass and or run. Overall, they chauffeured Hokies runners to the tune of 150 rushing yards on 53 tries against a stout Eagle defense -- one that is ranked sixth nationally and had allowed its past five foes an average of just 57 yards on the ground.
They also all but silenced Eagles defensive tackle B.J. Raji. Named to the All-ACC First Team, Raji was limited to just four tackles.
Overall, Stinespring's offense -- harshly condemned all season long -- outsmarted and out toughed the BC defense.
Nobody this entire season nor in quite a while has questioned the Hokie defense's effectiveness -- at least not since Foster has been enthusiastically roaming the sidelines.
As per usual, his group caused havoc on the opposing offense -- especially two players in particular.
Their game plan going in was to stop the Eagles' running game. Plan executed. Tailback Montel Harris and any other player who probed into the stingy wall of Tech defenders were unsuccessful, held to just 45 yards on 24 attempts.
Foster stacked the line with eight, sometimes nine players, daring young freshman quarterback Dominique Davis to beat them with his arm.
"He's got a live arm -- a little wild right now, and it kind of showed today," Foster said. "That's ... what we felt going into it if we could get little pressure on him, which were able to."
Tech's defense recorded five sacks coming from five different players.
Davis did a fine job against Maryland. But turtle power doesn't match the force that the orange and maroon defense brings.
In just his second start in for the injured Chris Crane, Davis showed incredible inaccuracy in the conference championship, especially in the second half of play. He went 17-for-43 overall and with a woeful 10-for-33 mark in the final 30 minutes.
That imprecision led to interceptions, of which Davis threw two.
In fact, turnovers came often for the Hokies, much as they did in their previous meeting on Oct. 18 when they had five takeaways.
The critical one in the first half came when Victor "Macho" Harris kept the momentum pendulum from swinging in BC's favor.
Boston College receiver Rich Gunnell seemed poised to score before Tech's boundary corner knocked the ball loose and into the end zone, recovered by Cam Martin.
Granted, the Eagles scored just prior to halftime, but Harris' strip denied a tie score and a changed mindset at intermission.
Tech then produced 14 points off turnovers in a second half where BC committed three. The first came off a Stephan Virgil interception return to the 10-yard line, which was promptly taken in on the next play by Evans. The second -- which gave Tech a 30-10 lead -- came on an Orion Martin fumble return to the end zone. It was one of the five sacks on Davis -- this one by Jason Worilds -- that resulted in fumble that the senior defensive end took back 17 yards for the final touchdown.
"It was a great play by Jason," Martin said. "He came around the corner and made a great play. I was there to scoop his score. I had the easy part."
Even the special teams came through, with Dustin Keys booting a 50-yard field goal. It was the longest of his career and the longest in the brief four-year history of the title game.
Keys has not been mentioned much, mainly because the talk about special teams has been negatively focused on blocked kicks and poor coverage.
But he kicked the game winners against Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Virginia -- three games that Tech needed to have in order to get to where it is now.
Now that they have triumphed in Tampa, Tech will plunge further south to face No. 12 Cincinnati in the Orange Bowl. The champions of the Big East Conference finished the regular season 11-2, including a come-from-behind 29-24 win Saturday evening at Hawaii.
Adulation aside, Tech must still take care of business in the Orange Bowl. Despite the fact that no one expected them to be in this position at several points in the season, more work is in order to prepare for Jan. 1.
This is the case considering the fact that the Hokies have lost their last three BCS games -- including last year's 24-21 stumble against Kansas.
Tech bears the weight of the conference's floundering reputation in post-season contests as it also tries to quell critics who say that they struggle in big bowl games.
Beamer was certainly focused on the road ahead of them even before the Gatorade dried.
"We are going to enjoy (the ACC Championship) because this is really special," Beamer said. "But we are going to go right back to work and concentrate and get ourselves ready to go down to the Orange Bowl and play a great football game."
If they play the Bearcats as they played Saturday, the Hokies would remain in elite company.
There is still a chance for Tech to get its 10th win for the fifth consecutive season. Only Southern California and Texas can boast that current run of consistent success.
And this double-digit season may be the most improbable of them all, especially when you consider that 41 percent of the travel squad for the season opener in Charlotte was composed of freshmen.
"It's the youngest football team we've had in some time with the toughest schedule, with some key injuries, and some people that kind of gave up on us," Beamer said. "But this football team hung together."
Yet, this youthful squad didn't beat itself as one, recording the fewest penalty yards in the ACC and in the history of the Frank Beamer era at Tech.
"We got our eyes straight ahead," Beamer said. "And don't pay much attention to some other things."
The Hokies took a licking in 2008 -- from fans, foes and fate. But they kept on ticking all the way to another ACC Championship.