Hokies Usually Respond When Counted Out

I've always been amazed by Frank Beamer and Virginia Tech's ability to put together a game like the one we saw Saturday right before they hit rock bottom.

Tech played poorly in two of their first three games of 2009 and was called overrated by a lot of people out there. A lot of prognosticators around the ACC, including me annointed Miami the Coastal Division champions and picked them to roll against the Hokies.

We all should have learned our lesson by now.

Tech had been there before. In 2004, it was coming off a five-loss season and was 2-2 before it rattled off eight consecutive wins to capture the ACC crown in its first year in the league.

In 2006, the Hokies suffered back-to-back embarrassing losses in conference play, including an outing in Chestnut Hill where they managed three points and one of their defensive leaders was caught dancing to Sweet Caroline late in the game. That team won its final six games of the regular season, including a Thursday night beat-down of No. 10 Clemson as a home underdog.

After a soul-crushing defeat to BC in 2007, Tech rallied to win the conference. Same last season after losing three of four games. The Hokies won their last four games, including their first ever BCS bowl victory.

I'd rather compare Saturday's win to those teams instead of the 2003 team that beat No. 2 Miami by the same score we saw Saturday. Because after Tech beat Miami on that amazing Saturday night its only win was an overtime win against Temple, which probably shouldn't count.

There's still a chance that Saturday will go down as the high point of this season. But even if it does, hopefully we've all learned our lesson about counting out the Hokies when it looks like they're about to bottom out.