On Saturday the Virginia Tech Hokies smoked the Central Michigan Chippewas by a final score of 45-21.
For the first time this season the Hokies did exactly what they were expected to do. They came out, handled business, and didn't allow the jobbers to stick around. This 24-point scalping was more than expected by everyone in the stadium, including the visiting Chippewas.
I bet you're wondering what a Chippewa is. It always makes think of a chipmunk, but in reality a Chippewa is an Indian tribe. Central Michigan chose the Chippewas as their mascot because of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, which happens to be neighbors to the university.
The Chippewas had their best football season in school history last year, as they posted a 12-2 record. They won the MAC Championship with an unbeaten conference record of 8-0, and defeated Troy by a final score of 44-41 in overtime of the GMAC bowl. In contrast Central Michigan entered this game with an even 2-2 record, and left with their third loss of the season. How (pun intended) could they have went downhill so fast after last season? That's an easy one. The Chips lost their best spear-chunker, Dan LeFevour, to the NFL Draft. LeFevour was a fifth-year senior last year, and his experience made him one of the best passers in the nation. He finished his illustrious career with 12,905 passing yards, and 102 touchdowns. He was the best quarterback to ever play for CMU, and he was irreplaceable. That my friends is why the Chippewas are up a creek in their canoe without a paddle this season. They knew they were bringing tomahawks to a gunfight on Saturday, but they fought bravely to the end.
The Chippewas came out with war drums thumping and smoke signals blazing, as they scored on the first drive of the ballgame. The Hokies would soon extinguish their flames though. The Tech defense held the CMU offense scoreless from that point up until the fourth quarter when the second-teamers started filtering in. I will give credit where credit is due though. The Chippers are one of the rare teams in the country who have a contract with Adidas. They play with Adidas footballs with their flying C logo etched on it. Everyone knows I'm a Nike guy, but I'd sure like to have one of those rare Adidas footballs. And while this is irrelevant and has no impact on CMU's athletic performance, they do get some cool points from me. Back to the game.
On the Hokies first possession, Tyrod Taylor scored on a 72 yard option keeper on just the second play of the drive. The rout was on. Five different Hokies scored touchdowns, as Tech put a John Wayne whoopin' on the Chippers. Tyrod Taylor played like a man possessed. He picked up just where he left off against NC State last week. Taylor finished 12 of 23 with 161 yards and a touchdown. He also led the team in rushing with 130 yards and two TD's on the ground. It was a pretty complete performance from Tyrod. He had a little bit of trouble connecting with his deep passes, but he scored 3 TD's on the day. I can't complain.
David Wilson had a great game as well. He finished with 86 yards off of just 7 attempts. That's a 12 yard average per carry. That's ballin'. He also had a touchdown, which came from a 68 yard dash to the endzone. I love having a trackstar as a tailback. Way to go Running Man.
Darren Evans added a solid performance to round out Tech's rushing attack. He tallied up 36 yards on 7 carries, and added a 6 yard TD. He looks stronger every week. With his strong bursts, tough running, and absence of a knee brace...you would never guess that he had a knee injury. Alright STOP...HAMMERTIME.
Jayron "To Tha House" Hoseley was back in a big way. He ran a punt back 80 yards To Tha House. It was glorious, reminded me of the good ole' days. Jayron looked just like DeAneglo Hall, as he trotted effortlessly to the endzone behind a wave of Tech blockers. He wasn't even running full speed. I quote the great Frank Beamer when I say, "This guy's a special player."
Speaking of John Wayne, Tech has their own man who's tougher than nails. That being offensive guard Greg Nosal. Nosal had the tip of his pinkie finger ripped off early in the game...and he kept playing. His finger got caught in a D-lineman's facemask, and it took the tip of it right off. Nosal said when he took his glove off, he could see bone poking out. You could say he was getting an early jump on Halloween. The team surgeon found his fingertip in his glove and said it could be reattached. Nosal told them to tape up his hand, and he headed back on the field. Once the game was in hand (no pun intended), Nosal came off the field and had his fingertip stitched back on. Now that's tough. That's built Ford tough. (To read Heather Dinich's story on Nosal's incident, click here)
Tech got it done on the ground, through the air, and on...punt returns. It was so refreshing to see the Hokies score through multiple facets again. However, there were some not-so-hot moments. For instance, Tech failed to convert on a single 3rd down in the game. We finished 0 of 8 on 3rd down conversions. On multiple occasions the Tech O-line failed to win the line of scrimmage, leaving our tailbacks with no where to go. And as I stated earlier, Tyrod couldn't buy a long pass. That stemmed a lot from Stiney wanting to throw the ball a mile downfield on third downs. Our offense still has a lot of work to do before they play a decent defense. Wake and Duke should give us enough time to get the kinks out.
Bud Foster's defense did its job. The Hokies kept the Chippewa offense out of the zone, until it was too late to matter. Central Michigan had two late scores in the fourth quarter to soften up the score deficit. Don't you hate it when that happens? I know I can't stand it when we let up or put fresh kids in the game to get experience, while letting the other team score and make the game look closer than it really was. Like the Marshall game in 2002. The Hokies were running the 24th-ranked Herd out of the stadium. It was 33-0 in the fourth quarter. The highly potent Byron Leftwich offense was stopped dead...until the second stringers came in. Leftwich picked on the new guys, scoring 3 TD's in the last quarter. The final score was 47-21, but it would have been 47-0 if we just left the starters in. Back to Saturday's game. The defense bended, but it didn't break. The Chippewas racked up 401 yards of offense, which was 7 yards more than the Hokies. To the defense's defense, the Chippers had the ball a lot longer than Tech. This was thanks to the quick scoring by the Hokie offense. Tech had some lucky breaks too, as CMU missed two field goals. At least there was no threat of a loss in this one. The defense has a long way to go though before I consider them a legitimate Lunch Pail defense.
At the end of the day, it was a good team win for the Hokies. Everyone pitched in and did their job. They looked snazzy getting the job done too. The all white helmets with the throwback jerseys and white pants was a very classy combo. I'd like to see some maroon or orange pants thrown in the mix, but hey we look good. The Hokies are on a roll, and the poor Chippewas are off to see the Medicine Man.
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