Chalk up another 10-win season for the Hokies.
Virginia Tech shut out rival University of Virginia Cavaliers 17–0 Saturday. The win marks the Hokies’ finish for the season with a 10–2 regular season record and sent their neighbors from Charlottesville home for the holidays with a 5–7 record.
The win propels the Hokies to another 10-win season for the third straight season. Only two other teams in football can say that — USC and Texas.
“That puts us in pretty good company,” said Tech head coach Frank Beamer. “I feel like we’re going to a great bowl game this time. We were young on offense from the line to the quarterback. I’m proud of this crowd.”
His whole team, both offensive and defensive, proved to be too powerful for a hot Cavalier team that had won three of their last four games, including a win over Miami. The chance to send your rival home, keep a shout-out and have a 10-win season was more than enough to inspire seniors like Noland Burchette.
“We knew coming into this year that we were going to carry this season,” Burchette said. “We had a goal at the beginning of the year to hold teams to 13 points a game. When the offense started to struggle, we changed it to zero points per game. Then we changed it from zero points per game to us scoring once per game. We’ve structured the whole team around the defense, and that’s how we play.”
That defense is based on the lunchpail mentality set forth by defensive coordinator Bud Foster. Since the two-game losing streak to Georgia Tech and Boston College, Foster kept the defense’s symbol in his office, forcing his team to earn it back. Since that point, the Hokies have allowed only 29 points in the six games since the two losses.
“Nothing has changed about the lunchpail, and if anything, it’s grown stronger,” Foster said. “We’re keeping it where it is because we’re on a roll right now. What we came back, that’s what the lunchpail signifies. It’s about commitment, accountability, assuming responsibility and togetherness. That’s really what we did as a football team. We came back and did those things. We had a heck of a streak down the stretch there.”
That stretch continued when the Hokies allowed only 112 total yards for the day. Virginia only snapped the ball one time in Tech territory, on a punt.
“Even though the lunchpail’s not there with us every day, it is referenced every day,” Foster said. “That’s what the lunchpail is about.”
On top of the shutout, Tech’s offense shined without their leading rusher in Branden Ore. The tailback tandem of Kenny Lewis Jr. and George Bell picked up the slack, combing for 120 yards and the winning touchdown by Bell.
After leading 7–0 at the half, Tech continued to pour it on in the second half with Brandon Pace’s 22nd straight field goal, a feat that will be hard to match for years to come at Virginia Tech.
“It really hasn’t sunk in now,” Pace said. “I’m guessing it probably will when I think back on it. I think I should make every single one of them, because that’s the mindset I have when I go out onto the field.”
Like all streaks, Pace’s came to an end when he missed a 47-yard field goal with just under seven minutes left in the game. On fourth down and four, the Hokies called a timeout for Beamer to talk it over with Pace.
“He asked me if I wanted to kick it, and I said, ‘yeah,’” Pace said. “I have confidence in myself, and I was going out there to kick it and make it. But, it didn’t work out like I planned it.”
Before the missed field goal, Tech put their second score of the day up on the board thanks to the Westfield High School connection of Sean Glennon and Eddie Royal. The former Bulldog teammates connected on a 47-yard touchdown in which Royal missed a defender and darted for the endzone.
“We ran a similar play like that in high school,” Royal said. “After the touchdown, I looked back and saw him with a big grin on his face, and we did the chest-bump. It was a great feeling.”
The feeling of winning against your rival and a 10-win season is more than the Hokies could have asked for after losing two consecutive conference games. Even though Tech won’t be playing in the ACC Championship Game, they can still look forward to a big bowl game.
“Whatever bowl game that picks us will be a good bowl,” Beamer said. “One thing the bowl people know is that our fans will be there. I think we know we’ll take a lot of people with us.”
Before Tech travels to the Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta, Ga., the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla. or the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, Fla. the senior class still has a chance to hang their hats on another set of double-digits in the win column.
“I can’t even begin to explain how it feels to have 10 wins this year,” Burchette said. “It takes a lot for you to win that many games year-in and year-out. If we can win 10 in our ‘rebuilding year,’ then other teams will have trouble for years to come. I expect this team next year to be fighting for the national championship.”
