Five straight wins leaves Hokies in prime position heading into second half of '08
By: Jimmy Robertson
Like most Tech football fans, Tyrod Taylor glanced at the Hokies’ 2008 football schedule before the season even kicked off.
Unlike most, he fully expected his team to be unbeaten at this point in the season.
“I thought we’d be 6-0,” he said matter-of-factly. “I never think negatively. I’m always a positive guy.”
The Hokies aren’t quite 6-0, but at the halfway point of the season, they’re not far from it either. Following an excruciating loss to East Carolina in the season opener, Tech has ripped off five straight wins, the latest coming on Homecoming when the Hokies lethargically won 27-13 over Western Kentucky University to move to 5-1 on the season.
This probably wasn’t expected, particularly after watching that ECU game. Tech’s staff went into this season expecting to battle inexperience, but then they realized they needed to change plans at quarterback, scrapping Taylor’s redshirt plans in favor of his play-making ability.
They’ve also dealt with a rash of season-ending injuries. Tech lost Davon Morgan (knee) for the year in a win at Nebraska and then Kenny Lewis, Jr., blew out his Achilles tendon against WKU, putting an end to his season. Back-up fullback and key special teams cog Kenny Younger (knee) and expected starting receiver Brandon Dillard (Achilles) went down as well.
Then there’s the schedule. Tech finds itself in the midst of playing four road contests in five games. The Hokies have won the first two of those four.
“If you gave me a choice of 5-1 after our first six games, I would have taken that in a heartbeat, just with how young we are,” Beamer said. “It’s a hard schedule, too. Being 5-1 sounds pretty good, but we still have our work cut out for us.”
“I think we’ve done a good job of turning the season around,” tailback Darren Evans said. “A bunch of people probably thought this was going to be one of those down-the-drain seasons, but we proved some people wrong. We’ve been playing well.”
The Hokies still have much improving to do. After tallying 35 points and 377 yards against Nebraska, they only mustered 27 and 293 against WKU, playing in its second season as a Division I-A team. They got in the red zone six times, but only scored two touchdowns. Defensively, they’ve been solid, but prone to some big plays – 20 of 20 yards or more in the past four games.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do in all phases of the game,” end Orion Martin admitted.
Tech gets two weeks to work on some things before heading to Chestnut Hill, Mass., to take on BC in a pivotal game. The extra week also gives the Hokies some time to rest and to heal.
But to be 5-1 at the halfway point – could Tech fans have asked for much more?
“I don’t think so,” Martin said. “We’ve got a young team. We had to replace a great senior class. We wish we could be undefeated, but to be 5-1 going into the off week, we’ll take that. We’ll try to improve and get ready for the rest of the ACC.”
