Hokies Kick Eagles

On Saturday the Virginia Tech Hokies blanked Boston College by a final score of 19-0 in Chestnut Hill.

With the win, Tech picks up their first ACC Conference win and their first road win of the 2010 season.  It was also the first win for the Hokies in Beantown since 2002.  That year Tech, led by the stellar tailback duo of Kevin Jones and Lee Suggs (better known as "The Untouchables"), ran past the Eagles by a final score of 28-23.  To put things in a timeline perspective for you, the Hokies starting quarterback was a scrappy sophomore named Bryan Randall.  Needless to say, it had been a while since we had won in Boston.

The big story from Saturday's game...the Defense.  Bud Foster's crew held the Eagles to 250 total yards of offense, and most importantly allowed NO POINTS.  It was the first shut-out for Tech since 2006, when they stumped Virginia 17-0 in that year's battle for the Commonwealth Cup.  The Lunchpailers, led by linebackers Vince Hall and Xavier Adibi, held the Frenchmen to 112 yards of offense...and of course NO POINTS.  (I don't mean to brag, but Vince Hall autographed my game ticket after that game and proceeded to take a gangster pic with me and my friend Keith...what up).

Back to the present.  Tech's defense looked the best that it has all year.  The new guys are starting to mesh with the veterans, and it's starting to show.  The blitzes really looked a lot better, and in-turn produced 6 sacks.  Bruce Taylor and Steven Friday had David Shinskie (BC's version of Chris Weinke) wishing he was back playing Minor League baseball.  Shinskie definitely had more hits on Saturday than he ever did in the minors, but they were all on him. That's what a Virginia Tech defense is supposed to do...rough up the quarterback.  Chris Drager was a monster up front all afternoon.  His forced/then recovered fumble play reminded me of former Tech-great John Engelberger, and that's an outstanding compliment to say the least.  The pass coverage was great compared to the first 3 games.  Jayron Hosley made a sweet interception in the end zone, which prevented the Eagles from getting any points from their best drive of the day.  Linebacker Jeron Gouveia-Winslow made a spectacular read and athletic catch to jump a BC receiver's route, and get a pick of his own.  It was also nice to see Rashad Carmichael do a pro-wrestling style standing back-drop on Montel Harris.  Roc flipped him like a half-cooked burger.  Would you like fries with that?

When it came to scoring, it was a Boston Three Party for the Hokies.  Place-kicker Chris Hazley had a career day, as he single-footedly kicked the Eagles in the tailfeathers.  Hazley made all four of his attempts, which accounted for 12 of the Hokies 19 points.  You could say he was the player of the game...but he's the kicker and that would be lame.  Punter Brian Saunders could also be in the convo for player of the game, as he pinned the Eagles deep all afternoon.  Once again, that's just lame.  It's a huge hint to our offense that they need to step it up.  I do have to say that it sure was nice to be on the other side of a kickfest.  I thought I was going to pull my hair out in last year's Nebraska game, as it looked like they would beat us with 5 field goals.  Luckily they didn't.  It's just so demoralizing when you're sitting there watching the other team's smallest, wimpiest player tally up 3-pointers on you, and there's nothing you can do about it.  Sorry about that BC, but it couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch.

The punt block/return team was a catastrophe yet again.  How does 7 return yards and 4 fair catches sound?  Pretty whack-o in my book.  My main man Zach Luckett got a 15-yard roughing the kicker penalty, but it should have only been the 5-yard running into the kicker penalty.  He almost got the block.  I'll give him a free pass on this one because he's been our special teams assassin for the past couple of years.  What I didn't like was how Beamer stopped trying to block at all after the penalty.  I mean I can understand why he did (because we get a penalty every time we try to block something), but come on Frank let's get one.  For the good ole days.  For Beamerball.  For goodness' sake.

All griping aside, I can't complain.  It's a win, and not just any win...a SHUTOUT!  I mean those things are harder to come by than decent offensive coordinators...well not quite.  At halftime, ACC Network Reporter Mike Hogewood remarked to BC Head Coach Frank Spaziani that he must be happy with his offense's progress.  It was fun to hear Spaziani reply, "with all do respect, we're not happy," before trudging to the locker room.  I guess you could say the Eagles were "soar" losers.