Collegiate Times

A slip up preventing such an appearance would guarantee the Hokies’ exclusion from the BCS National Championship game, even if Tech only has one loss.

A team not playing for its conference title has never played in the championship game.

For example, look at what happened in the 2008 Big 12 South Division. In the regular season, Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech were each 7-1 in conference — the conference loss being each team’s only loss.

However, a tiebreaker sent Oklahoma to the Big 12 title game against a very average Missouri team from the North Division.

Oklahoma blasted Missouri 62-21 and went on to play for the national championship while Texas played in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and Texas Tech was relegated to the Cotton Bowl.

This was quite a difference in bowl game notoriety for one-loss teams from the same conference and same division.

The point being, if the Hokies are to play for a national title or even an ACC title, they better pick their losses wisely — or not lose at all, as the Coastal Division will be a battle until the very end.

I would say the best time for a loss would be in the opener against Boise State, because Tech would have plenty of time to learn and recover in time for conference play.

Yet, for the pride of the program and to gain momentum on the drive to the title, this needs to be the year when the Hokies finally win the big game at the beginning of the season — and stay consistent from there.

The 2010 Tech squad has to rely on the experienced offense led by Taylor, the most efficient passer in the ACC last season. He has grown into a smart decision maker who will be relied on, along with star tailbacks Williams, Darren Evans and David Wilson, to keep the defense off the field while they work through growing pains.

With Beamer deciding to play sophomore Wilson instead of redshirting him, I could not think of three more talented backs to ever play together in college.

Let’s hope the 2010 edition of Tech football can live up to the hype and take the program to a level it has never before seen.

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