Well it happened...again. The third-ranked smurf-turfers give the Hokies the blues with a game-winning two minute drill touchdown. The Hokies lose another heartbreaking opener...but we should have expected this. I know I did. We asked for it.
If you stand on a railroad track in front of a train, and the train runs you over. You got what you deserved, you asked for it. No surprise there. Well same difference for last night's game. If you sign up to play the third-ranked team in the country, who went undefeated a year ago and won a BCS bowl game, and has 19 starters coming back...you're asking for a loss. And we got what we asked for.
We should have learned our lesson last year, but I guess we didn't. It didn't take a stern warning from Admiral Ackbar quoting his famous line of "It's a Trap!," for Beamer, Weaver, or anyone else to realize what we were getting ourselves into. A quick glance at Boise State's statistics from last season and their roster should have been enough to tell us to STAY AWAY. If the 14 and 0 with a win in the Fiesta Bowl didn't give it away, the number of returning players should have given us the heads up. A quick tip for whoever scheduled this game on our part. The little Jr., So., and Fr. letters beside the Boise State players' names on last year's roster meant that they would be returning THIS YEAR you twerps. This was more than just "a very good football team (in Beamer's voice)" we were playing last night. Also it doesn't take a genius to figure out that our defense would be inexperienced, as we lost 7 starters off of last year's non-stellar defense. To me it's a big "No Duh!" that we lost.
I know Bud Foster is the best defensive coach in the country, and I have tremendous faith in him. We ask way too much of him year-in and year-out. He did the best he could possibly do with what he had. It was pleasantly surprising how good his greenhorns played last night, and I can't give him enough credit for that. However, he did make some bad calls in the fourth quarter though. He stopped blitzing and rushed only 3-4 guys during the Broncos final (winning) drive. That's when we needed to bring the house the most. I mean that defense should have turned into one of Santa's reindeer...Blitzen. It was blatantly obvious that the Broncos offense was completely timing-based, and when we put the pressure on it disrupted the whole operation. I wish I knew why Bud didn't bring the heat on that last drive. But once again I don't blame Bud. He did great. He did his job, and exceeded it. He should have never been in that situation to begin with. That's right folks I'm pointing the finger right back at the perennial scapegoat Bryan Stinespring.
I thought with this year's offense that no one could hold us back or slow us up...not even Bryan Stinespring. I guess I was wrong. He sure showed me. Now I'll give him credit where the credit is due. He called a pretty amazing game, until the end where he got scared. The Boise defense crushed us early, but ole' Stiney found a nice rhythm of running and passing to keep the Bronco defense off balance. He made some great calls that resulted in first downs, and most importantly touchdowns. Like the fourth and five touchdown play that gave us the lead. I would have called the exact same play as Mr. Stinespring on that one, pure genius. But when it came down to it, he went right back to what he always does. He plays to punt and hopes the defense will hold (and bail him out). In past years it has worked out alright because Bud has had an experienced lunch-pail defense. In recent years not so much. Go back and look at when we played East Carolina in the 2008 opener. That's what playing to punt will get you...a loss. And that's what we got last night. When the pressure came on, Stinespring abandoned his good offensive scheme to "play it safe." He was playing not to lose instead of playing to win. He chose to hide in his shell instead of going for the throat, and we all payed for it. The predictable two running plays then mid-level passing play to pick up the first down scheme came out. Boise recognized it, shut it down, and got the ball back (with the win coming shortly thereafter). How long can we put up with this passiveness, prudence, and complacency? I know Stinespring is Beamer's friend, and Beamer can't fire him. I'm not asking him to fire him...just demote him. Make him the punt team coach or the victory formation coach because he enjoys giving the other team the ball, and knows how to take a knee. I would even replace Bryan Stinespring with Bruce Springsteen because Baby We Were Born To Run!
The bottom line is history repeats itself. The Hokies are now 0 and 22 against Top 10 teams away from Lane Stadium (my goodness I LOVE that stadium, that's where we do work son...not neutral site pro stadium opening game classic rip offs). Last night was oh too sickeningly familiar as Tech took a one-point lead into the fourth quarter, just as it did last year against Bama (17-16) and in the National Championship against Florida State (29-28). It truly is a recurring bad dream for the Hokies, myself, and the rest of the Hokie Nation. I have this false feeling of hope that we could actually win one of these games, while at the same time having this horrible stomach-ache of knowing that we're going to blow it...and we always blow it. That's why Boise State opted to fly thousands of miles to come play us. They hunted us. They selected us for termination. They sat back and said,"hmm...who can we play that will be easy to beat while increasing our BCS stock? Who's the easiest perennial top-ten team to beat?" I'm sure it didn't take them long to come up with Virginia Tech. They know we're not scared to LOSE to anybody. We've been a quality, easy win on many commemorative National Championship soda bottles...just not our own (except for our 1999-2000 runner up RC Cola bottles). Just look at how many National Champions we've played and lost to over the last decade: in 2000 we lost to Florida State in the National Championship game, in 2001 we lost to Miami who beat Nebraska for that year's title, in 2004 we lost the season opener at Fed Ex Field (sounds familiar) to USC who would beat Oklahoma for the title, also in 2004 we lost the Sugar Bowl to Auburn (who finished the season undefeated and could be retro National Champs pending the USC scandal), in 2007 we got destroyed by eventual champ LSU in the second game of the season, and finally last season (2009) we lost the opener in the Georgia Dome against the Alabama Crimson Tide...the latest National Champions. Wow that's a lot. Hard to believe isn't it? We'll be able to add another team to that list now...2010's Boise State. It sucks. When will we finally get our slice of the pie? When can we finally put a crystal football in the trophy case that sits empty in the Hall of Legends inside the Merryman Center? Hopefully soon, possibly never.
I'm actually your biggest fan.
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