Virginia Tech Season Review 2008

Whew. This was a crazy season. In all rights, it should go down as one of the greatest seasons in the history of Hokies Football with another ACC championship (2 in a row and 3 in 5 years in the conference), a win against UVa, and a win in a BCS bowl givng us 10 wins for the season. Especially after losing so much talent to the NFL and also to injury. Here are some of my thoughts about the year:

• Disgruntled: Many Hokie fans seamed to just be upset with the team, and the coaches. Spoiled fans with "Out of Whack" expectations? To me, thats a big part of it. But the offense was just plain bad much of the season, despite the return of an experienced offensive line.
• Controversy, Part 2: Tyrod Taylor was going to redshirt, but after an opening game loss to ECU, the coaches (and Coach Beamer in particular) decided that Sean Glennon couldn't get it done behind the bad offensive line. It's a shame for Glennon, who I think could be a very good QB behind a good line. The coaches were probably right, because our best play for the next 9 games (until UVa) was Taylor running away.
• Defense! The defense was supposed to be the weak link, as we lost 8 starters, many to the NFL. However, Bud Foster proved (again) that he's the best defensive coach in the country by developing a defense that ended up top 10 in the country. It started out slow, but for the last 4 games played as well as any VT D ever.
• Roadtrip! As I reported earlier, my trip to Nebraska was a college football fan's dream trip.
• Parity: The ACC was even top to bottom, and every game was a battle. By the end of the season, though, the Hokies proved they were the cream of the crop.
• Dustin Keys: R-Sr placekicker finally made the team, earned a schollie, and had a great year. His parents used our tickets for many of the g
  
• Freshmen on Offense: Darren Evans played great, and WRs Coale, Boykin, and Roberts developed as the year went on. Blake DeChristopher started at Tackle, and Jaymes Brooks started the bowl game at Guard.
• Baby! I only made one homegame (GT), one road game (Nebraska), and a neutral site game (ECU@Charlotte), but it was worth it as the next generation of Hokie superfan was introduced to the world.
• MVP: Another tough call this year, as freshman running back Darren Evans set a freshmen record with 1265 yards and 11 TDs. I have to give the MVP to Macho Harris, the senior cornerback also returned punts, played some wide receiver (8 catches, 63 yards) intercepted 6 passes for 2 TDs, defended more passes than I can remember, and led the team emotionally.

Next year there will be a lot of expectations on this team, with the whole offense returning (10 starters) along with much of the defense. It will be one of the hardest schedules in the country, with parity in the ACC again along with games against Nebraska, at ECU, in opening in Atlanta versus Alabama. Who knows, next year might feature Maggie's first Hokie game as well, since the Hokies play at Duke.