Curt McKeever: Taylor, earlier tests help Hokies win
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Frank Beamer, or whoever made the decision to bring Tyrod Taylor out of a planned redshirt season after Virginia Tech lost its season opener to East Carolina, deserves a lot of credit for admitting the mistake.
Without the hip-swiveling sophomore, who has plenty of work ahead of him before he becomes a pinpoint passer, the Hokies don’t walk out of Memorial Stadium on Saturday night with a 35-30 victory.
With Taylor as the starter this season, Tech is 3-0.
And for his career, the Hokies are 8-0 with him starting. Very impressive, considering his talent is still pretty much untapped.
But while we’re searching for answers as to why the Huskers came up a little short, we need to move beyond a dynamic athlete like Taylor — who could have put things away in the first half had he connected with two wide-open receivers. Don’t forget, too, that NU has a pretty effective signal caller in Joe Ganz.
No, the difference between these two programs right now, the difference Saturday, is the cumulative effect of someone who’s had 22 years to build things — Beamer — compared to someone who’s just laying a foundation — Bo Pelini.
Of course, it didn’t hurt Virginia Tech that it had been tested far more than Nebraska prior to Saturday. In their last two games, the Hokies survived three-point nail-biters against North Carolina and Georgia Tech, thanks to being plus six in turnovers and having 146 less penalty yards. Saturday, they committed no turnovers and had 39 fewer penalty yards.
Meanwhile, the Huskers had their way with a New Mexico State team playing its first game and had to work deep into the fourth quarter to put away San Jose State. Huge advantage to Tech, which should have gained even more confidence if it had watched North Carolina rally to win at Miami earlier in the day.
So what if Nebraska had a 27-3 record playing under the Memorial Stadium lights? Or, at least that’s the attitude the Hokies seemed to take while building a 28-10 lead midway through the third quarter.
It was obvious early in the game — when he produced a dazzling punt return with a first-step spin move, then snared a pass from Ganz to set up the Hokies’ first touchdown — that senior cornerback Victor Harris was the best player on the field. Someone who could pretty much do as he wanted.
His teammates were quick to follow that lead, too. Save for a quick-strike touchdown drive, the Hokies kept Ganz bottled up until the late going.
To no one’s surprise, the play of their special teams, headed up by the detail-oriented Beamer, also was lethal.
Finally, as game as Nebraska was to make it a contest in the end, Tech came up with the whatever-it-takes mind-set that you’d expect of teams that are used to winning.
The Hokies showed the poise that the Huskers lacked after defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh drew a late-hit penalty on Taylor during the touchdown drive when Tech clinched the victory (the NU sideline was called for unsportsmanlike conduct following the call against Suh).
No, we shouldn’t be that surprised by Nebraska’s first setback of 2008.
Beamer has built one of the strongest programs in the country, one that has played in 15 straight bowl games.
One that is the defending Atlantic Coast Conference champion and, despite losing eight NFL Draft picks and five other players who signed free-agent deals, is picked to get back to the ACC title game again.
“They’re not one of the most successful teams of the past 15 years for nothing,” Ganz said.
Fighting Tech tooth and nail to the finish is a step for Nebraska. But remember this as you look forward to seeing a truly great opponent step into Memorial Stadium this coming Saturday: The Huskers have a lot of steps to make before arriving where the Hokies are now.
Beamer, who’s watched his teams win 16 of its last 17 ACC road games, has a pretty good head start on Pelini.
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
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