Collegiate Times

LSU Story

Baton Rouge, La. — Saturday night was one of the ugliest nights the Virginia Tech football team has seen in some time.

The LSU Tigers bested the Hokies in all aspects of the game, and it wasn't even close from the get-go.

"We just got destroyed here tonight," said Tech head coach Frank Beamer. "We played a great football team that was hitting on all cylinders ... I thought they played a great football game."

After the Keiland Williams 67-yard run, the Bayou Bengals were averaging better than 10.5 yards per play on offense - that's ugly.

"We played a very quality opponent and we played well," said LSU head coach Les Miles. "We had no turnovers and our defense played really well from start to finish. Our offense paid attention to detail and executed."

Despite such, there are some silver linings that come with Saturday evening's bayou beatdown at the hands of LSU.

First and foremost, the Hokie Nation got its first glimpse of the next potentially great Hokie quarterback, Tyrod Taylor. The Hampton native looked comfortable at the helm while on the road facing one of the most intimidating crowds and defenses college football has to offer.

Better yet, the new starter has three very winnable games ahead, during which he can get acclimated to college football before Tech makes its a trip to another "Death Valley" for a tough road game at Clemson.

Furthermore, the bayou blowout shouldn't worry Tech fans too much, because there is absolutely nobody in the Atlantic Coast Conference that can hold a candle to LSU. Let's face it: the ACC has a decent number of competitive teams, but no great ones.

That said, there is no reason at all why the Hokies can't win the conference. No team in the conference is anywhere near the tall order LSU was. Every single team on Tech's remaining road is a very beatable team.

The next tough game, for which Taylor looks to have three cupcakes to prepare, is at Clemson on Oct. 6. Clemson is likely in the conference's upper third of teams, but is very vulnerable. In actuality, the Hokies can even lose at Clemson and still control their own destiny in terms of the ACC Championship picture.

The Boston College game is a tough one, but the Eagles come into a tough environment on a Thursday night in Blacksburg. Lane Stadium will be rowdy and the Hokies will be pumped; Tech will have a definite advantage.

Back-to-back home games against Miami and Florida State sound tougher than they will be. Both Florida teams have talent, but neither presents the challenge it would have six or seven years ago.

The moment of truth for the Hokies this season should be the nationally televised Nov. 1 contest in Atlanta against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. The contest looks to be a play-in game for the ACC Championship exactly one month later in Jacksonville.

The Hokies will watch the LSU film, learn from it and move on. There's going to be a lot to learn from this tape, and you can bet your drinking money that Frank Beamer's staff finds the problem areas and addresses them.

"We will have a lot to learn from this tape," said right guard Sergio Render. "They came out here (and) they kicked our butt ... (We'll) look at tape and find out what's wrong and fix the pieces."

The Hokies will move on, and fans will see a different Tech team as the season progresses. I'd bet the team that shows up in the remaining big games this season will look remarkably different than the one that showed up in Baton Rouge.

Bottom line: The Hokies got embarrassed in Baton Rouge, but they sure did pick a good game in which to do such. Tech still has a lot to play for and can still accomplish many of its preseason goals.