A View from the Sideline: Virginia Tech Hokies vs. Pittsburgh Panthers
It was a myocardial infarction. It was two minutes of the most exciting Hokie football in ages, and it was fittingly settled by the Virginia Tech defense on the goal line with everything at stake.
The 2017 Home football season is in the books. It was another amazing opportunity and the six Game Days flew by. I can barely remember the opener at FedEx Field (a road game) but there were seven games on the live coverage schedule and all were exciting, even though the Clemson game was disappointing, if not understandable.
This week, the View from the Sideline is about Pitt. And if it wasn’t the most thrilling match up for 58 minutes, it certainly made up for it in the final two. It was actually a short game with Tech breaking some offensive molds and actually running the ball pretty effectively, and passing down field. The O finally started converting some third down situations, and even A.J. Bush got to contribute to a scoring drive.
It was Senior Day, and that means some serious sentimentality to go along with the the usual Pitt-Hokies grudge match.
That was the most exciting two minutes in Hokie Football history since the 1978 David Lamie “Hail Mary” that won the game against William and Mary. The defensive stand really shouldn’t have been necessary. The prior 4th down missed tackles (and injury to Mook) should have ended the game around the Pitt 20/25. But Reggie Floyd (Sorry, I can’t run that fast and was on the other side of the field .. darn it, no Star Trek transporter) found some extra rocked fuel and capped an already excellent game with a saving tackle on the Hokie 1 1⁄2 yard line (courtesy of a replay that took the errant TD call off the board).
The rest is now for the Hokie record books. It was a fitting way to end the game with it on the Defense’s shoulders to close.
Friday it’s the Hoos down in Hooville. And that’s the entire season, right there.