Hokies Get Corn?

With 5 tentative weeks left until the baby comes, I was able to take a trip that is a dream for a college football fan, to see the Hokies play the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln. One of my roomates from grad school, Gary, went to Nebraska and has season tickets. 20 minutes after the series was announced, Gary e-mailed me offering me a ticket if I would give him a ticket in Blacksburg (next year). So I as able to go with Gary and his wife Tonya (another friend and onetime roomate at NC State).

I don't know if I could have had a better trip. The fans in Lincoln are fantastic. While a few students gave me a hard time, there were probably 100 fans who stopped and asked if I was having a good time and to make sure everyone was being hospitable. I was invited to tailgates, asked questions about Blacksburg, the Hokies, Coach Beamer, etc. While they were excited about the Huskers, they were polite and friendly. I hope we (Hokie fans) can evolve into as good of a fanbase. As memorial stadium accurately reads "Through these gates pass the greatest fans in college football."

We started our tailgate around 1pm, at a Nebraska tailgate with friends of Gary's sister and brother in law. They had smoked 20 racks of ribs the day before and reheated them on the grill. We also had a few beers at Lazlo's so we could catch the scores later in the afternoon. A trip to the bookstore (so I could buy a red "Got Corn?" t-shirt) and tour of the stadium completed the pre-game festivities.

The game was one of the most exciting games I've ever been to, with the Hokies hanging on to win 35-30. Stephen Virgil blocked a punt for a safety. Macho Harris had several great punt returns and a beautiful interception. Tyrod Taylor had his best game all season, Darren Evans continued to have a nose for the endzone with 2 touchdowns, and Dustin Keys was 4-4 on field gols as the Hokie offense stalled in the redzone. The defense played great until the end, and stopped the Huskers exactly enough to win in crunch time. A late hit on Taylor out of bounds and a subsequent un-sportsmanlike conduct penalty on Nebraska coach Bo Pelini set the Hokies up for the final score (Taylor TD on a 1-yard rush) to seal the Hokie victory.

One of the game officials had the same flight back from Omaha as I did, and I was able to talk to him for a few minutes in the Chicago airport. I asked him what Pelini said and he said "whew, a lot of stuff."