On Monday, the fourth-ranked Stanford Cardinal axed the twelfth-ranked Virginia Tech Hokies by a final score of 40 to 12 in the 2011 Orange Bowl.
It truly was Revenge of the Nerds for Stanford, who has been recognized purely as an academic school...until now.
The Cardinal wins their first BCS Bowl game in just their second try, while finishing the season with the most wins in school history at 12 and 1.
The loss snaps Tech's magical 11-game win streak that started after back-to-back losses at the start of the season. The Hokies finish the season as ACC Champions with an 11 and 3 record, but with the bitter taste of soured oranges in their mouths.
The first half of the Orange Bowl was every bit of the close barn-burner game that everyone expected. The Tech defense applied good pressure on Stanford's all-star quarterback Andrew Luck, and subsequently stopped the Tree offense. Tyrod Taylor made one of the most spectacular plays (if not the most) that I've ever seen on an 11-yard touchdown pass to David Wilson. We were on a roll. If Tech would have kicked a field goal instead of failing on a fourth and one, the Hokies would have carried a 15-13 lead into halftime. Nonetheless, it was close at the half with Stanford hanging on to a one point lead.
The second half of the Orange Bowl was one of the worst halves of football ever played by a Frank Beamer team, and one of the best ever played by a Stanford team. In my opinion, the turning point in this game was a pick 6 that didn't happen. On Stanford's first drive of the second half, the Hokies pressured Luck who threw a pass directly into the hands of Tech's best cornerback Jayron Hosley...but he dropped it. There were no Cardinal players between Jayron and the endzone, so if he would have held on it would have been a touchdown to give the Hokies a 17-13 lead. Instead it was a 14-point swing, as Stanford scored to extend their lead to 19-12. On the Hokies ensuing drive, Tyrod through a rare interception. Two plays later the Trees were planted in the endzone, and the game was over...or we wish it was. Things only got much much worse for Tech. I'm talkin' worse than Tech's first ever Orange Bowl appearance in 1996, which was a 41-21 loss to Nebraska.
It turned out to be a head-scratcher of a game for the Hokies. The one question that resonated in my mind following this game was "what happened?" Why did this Tech team, which was maybe the most resilient in school history, just fall apart in the second half of this game? It just doesn't make sense. Personally, I think the team took a nap at halftime and never woke up.
Besides the initial questions mentioned above, this game left a string of "What If?" questions in the minds of Tech players, coaches, and fans. Such as: What if we would have kicked a field goal instead of going for it on fourth down in the first half?, What if Jayron Hosley would have gotten the pick 6 on Stanford's first drive of the second half?, What if Tyrod's interception would have been a touchdown?, What if we had an offensive coordinator?, What if Metallica would have played at halftime instead of the Goo Goo Dolls?, What if the HokieBird would have chased the Stanford Tree with a chainsaw? They're all questions we'd like to know the answers to, but never will.
My advice to Hokie Fans: Don't let this game get you down. This season could have been so much worse than it was. Frank Beamer did possibly the best coaching job of his career, as he guided his team from an 0 and 2 start to an 11 and 3 conference championship season. The Hokies did what no team in FBS history had done before, they won 11 straight games after losing their first 2. Way to go Tech.
As for this Orange Bowl, The Hokies may have lost, but they went down in style. The orange helmets looked amazing out there, and I can only hope that we'll use them again. And even after a crushing loss like this one, I'm so thankful to be a Hokie. It's just so much better than being a darker shade of Red.
