Collegiate Times

Many venture to Miami for the warm weather, the beaches and any other form of entertainment.

But for the Virginia Tech Hokies, this was strictly a business trip. And the objective was simple: Make amends for last year's disappointment.

They had plenty of stakeholders, too. Most importantly, the entire Atlantic Coast Conference -- whose bowl ineptitude was no mystery. The league had dropped its previous eight Bowl Championship Series contests.

Even more critical was Tech's own reputation of post-season struggles.

For the time being, both were solidified with the Hokies' 20-7 triumph over the Cincinnati Bearcats on New Year's Day in the 75th edition of the Orange Bowl at Dolphin Stadium.

Tech's serious nature was noticed even before it made the trip south.

The practices were more frequent and more intense. When the team landed in Florida, the curfew was set earlier. Beamer and his coaching staff made sure that his players didn't veer  from the task at hand.  

Message sent. Message received.

The quick opening strike by Cincinnati -- one that resulted in a touchdown pass from quarterback Tony Pike to wide receiver Mardy Gilyard -- could have adversely affected the Hokies.

A sense of "here we go again," recalling memories of a 17-0 hole against Kansas in last year's Orange Bowl instead might have been motivation to make sure that dj vu would not be the theme of this game's plot.

Instead, the main characters that most affected the outcome of the game were dressed in maroon and orange.  

One of those was Darren Evans -- the redshirt freshman running back who was participating in his first bowl game. Not a bad opening act.  

He finished with 153 yards, including the six-yard, fourth-quarter score that sealed the victory. All told, Evans competed his season with a Tech freshman record of 1,265 yards rushing.

Evans is just one of many players -- 18 from Thursday's starting lineup -- returning to the Lane Stadium field next season. And for those players, this win did not only cap an improbable season, but also set the tone for an even better campaign in 2009.

And the one player who could be ready to establish himself in the new year is quarterback Tyrod Taylor. His effort against Cincinnati showed his usual running ability when he scampered 17 yards on a third-down situation to find the end zone.

For the final three games -- against Virginia, Boston College and Cincinnati -- Taylor is finding out what it'll probably be like in 2009. It's his team, with nobody sharing the snap load. And as the lone ranger, he's improved and, more importantly, matured.

Taylor had plenty to do with the success this year, one that ended in Tech's first Orange Bowl win as well as the program's fifth consecutive year of 10-plus victories.

That streak -- barring injury -- should run to six by the time the next bowl season concludes. The Hokies have a great chance to start September with their highest preseason ranking ever (certainly in the top 10).  

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