WOODY: Hokies had success in year of struggles

MIAMI

Years from now, and given the attention span of almost everyone in these high-speed times, probably even days from now, all that will be remembered about this season’s edition of the Virginia Tech Hokies is that they met their goals.

They won the ACC championship and earned their second consecutive BCS bowl berth.

They won the Orange Bowl Thursday night, beating Cincinnati 20-7.

The victory over the Bearcats enabled the Hokies to become one of just three major college teams to win 10 or more games in five consecutive seasons. The other two are Southern California and Texas, and that’s not bad company to keep.

Perhaps more important than anything else, the Hokies finally won a game in the postseason after two straight years of coming up short.

And the Hokies saved the Atlantic Coast Conference from a completely embarrassing bowl run this year.

All those are heady accomplishments. And none of them came easily.

Winning makes everything look wonderful, and what will be forgotten, sooner and not later, is that none of this was pretty.

The Hokies have been disjointed on offense all season. On some occasions, the game plan seems to have been to snap the ball to quarterback Tyrod Taylor, and let him do the rest.

In some games, freshman running back Darren Evans has looked as if his next stop should be the NFL. At other times, Evans has gone nowhere.

Attrition constantly has challenged the coaching staff and players to battle to be successful in each game.

How hard have things been? Since the end of last season, seven players who would have been starters were lost to injuries or suspensions. And that doesn’t include players who ran out of eligibility.

How ridiculous have things gotten?

In the time between the end of the regular season and the Orange Bowl, Nick Marshman, the starting left guard, flunked off the team. That was in the realm of mind-boggling. Marshman already had graduated and was taking just enough classes to complete his final season of eligibility.

To replace Marshman, the Hokies moved right guard Sergio Render to the left side and put redshirt freshman Jaymes Brooks at right guard.

Brooks had played four snaps all season.

Thursday night, Evans’ game-clinching touchdown went through the right side.

Somehow, the Hokies held things together long enough to beat the No. 12 ranked team in the country. Somehow, the Hokies, with their inconsistent offense, did just enough to get past the quick-strike, no-huddle offense of the Bearcats.

Frank Beamer, the Hokies head coach, should look back on this season with a sense of pride and accomplishment. Winning never is easy, even when you have a team of stars and upperclassmen. But winning does come a bit easier when you can rely on veteran players.

When you have a team filled with young players, who excite the coaches on one play and enrage them on the next, and you still win 10 games, well, that’s something rather special.

The constant for most of the season has been the Hokies defense. Thursday night, that defense produced four interceptions and big stop after big stop.

Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster often has been called the best assistant coach in the country. Few will dispute that after Thursday night.

Foster was not flummoxed by an offense that rarely huddles and prefers to move the ball through the air. After the Bearcats gobbled up yards and scored a touchdown on their game-opening drive, they were held to the occasional big play. None of those plays broke the Hokies defense.

The spread attack is nice for show, but not for dough.

Foster and his players played smash-mouth football against an attack that is based more on finesse than power. The Hokies never backed down.

The best example of that came late in the game, on a fourth-and-goal from the 3. Cincinnati quarterback Tony Pike ran a keeper to the right. He turned the corner and cut toward the end zone, looking as if he was headed for six points.

Instead, he was hit low by redshirt-freshman linebacker Barquell Rivers. Pike’s momentum halted. A host of other Hokies piled on and pushed Pike back.

Now, the Hokies will push into the 2009 season when 18 of Thursday night’s 22 starters are eligible to return.

That, too, should give Beamer a reason to smile.

Paul Woody is a staff writer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.