Blacksburg, Va. – On a night when third-ranked Virginia Tech had to score style points to impress the nation, the Hokies didn’t score enough points to impress their own fans.
The cream of the Bowl Championship Series crop further separated itself from the field Saturday as Virginia Tech’s cream soured in an embarrassing 27-7 loss to fifth-ranked Miami.
Halt the sports bar debates about the relative worth of No. 2 Texas and Virginia Tech in the universe. There is no longer a need to compare.
The Hurricanes’ defense – or hurricane defense by the havoc it caused – turned Marcus Vick’s evening into the worst of his football life. He committed six turnovers (four fumbles) and hit only 8-of-22 passes for 90 meaningless yards, 57 of which came with Virginia Tech down 27-0.
“Nobody was talking about us before the game,” Miami coach Larry Coker said. “People didn’t give us a chance to win the game. The only thing we talked about was all the hype and all the stuff, the only thing that matters is how we play tonight on this field. This is just exactly like the one you played on in junior high and high school and in the Orange Bowl.”
In fact, their junior high fields were about as noisy as Lane Stadium was when a packed house of 65,115 sat in stunned silence until occasionally booing in the uncompetitive second half. This was the night when Virginia Tech (8-1, 5-1 Atlantic Coast) was supposed to show the nation’s pollsters it deserved Texas’ second-place votes.
Instead, Miami (7-1, 4-1) is in the BCS picture.
“They’re not up to the mountain top yet,” said Miami offensive tackle Eric Winston, who helped Miami outgain the Hokies, 304-167. “It’s tough to stay up there. Anybody can get knocked off, but a real program gets back up there and I think we certainly have.”
It wasn’t all Vick’s fault. In a game pitting the nation’s two top total defenses and two of the top three scoring defenses, Miami’s lines pushed Tech’s halfway into the surrounding Blue Ridge Mountains.
Even with leading rusher Tyrone Moss sidelined with a knee injury in the first quarter, Miami rushed for 152 yards behind backup Charlie Jones’ 97 yards. Vick, meanwhile, was sacked five times and had only 7 yards rushing.
Miami’s defense set the tone on the Hokies’ second possession when end Thomas Carroll clobbered Vick on a sack and linebacker Rocky McIntosh recovered the ball at the Virginia Tech 29.
After Jon Peattie’s 27-yard field goal made it 3-0, Miami stomped on Tech’s throat. The Hurricanes chewed up 8:18 on a 17-play, 82-yard drive with Jones scoring from the 1 to make it 10-0.
The Hokies’ big must was rattling freshman quarterback Kyle Wright. He wound up a solid 13-for-22 for 146 yards and a 9-yard TD pass to Darnell Jenkins to make it 20-0 in the third quarter.
“Did they get a sack?” Wright asked. “I think once when I scrambled and got down. I had all night. They blew up the defensive line. Guys were running the ball all over the place.”
Vick’s night reached ground zero when he fumbled on three straight possessions, the second coming in the end zone and tackle Kareem Brown recovered for another Miami touchdown.
“I don’t think I was forcing anything,” Vick said. “I was just kind of hoping that my receivers would make a play, but unfortunately they didn’t.”
The question is if Miami can make a play in the national picture. It surely will move to fourth in the BCS rankings behind USC, Texas and Alabama.
If this isn’t Miami’s year, at least Saturday’s was Miami’s night.
Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at 303-820-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
