Virginia Tech/ACC thoughts

Judging from the reaction on the message board I'm going to be vastly outnumbered when I say this, but I thought the replay official made the right call to overturn Danny Coale's touchdown catch.

Looked to me like he used the ground to gain control of the ball, and by the time he did have control of the ball he was out of bounds.

One thing, though: The spirited debate about this play, the different perspectives and opinions, presents support for the notion that it was not indisputable evidence.

It was an incredible effort by Coale, though. You feel bad for the kid.

A few thoughts on Virginia Tech and yet another BCS loss by the ACC:

-- Frank Beamer said he was "about half sick" after the game, and there was plenty of reason to be. His team out-gained Michigan 372-184. It held Denard Robinson to 13 rushing yards on 13 carries, his lowest total as a starter. It held him to 9-for-21 passing while intercepting one of his passes. It held running back Fitzgerald Toussaint to 25 rushing yards. The Hokies had a 36:48-23:10 advantage in time of possession.

Yet Virginia Tech somehow lost. I attribute it to bad breaks and bad decisions by Beamer and Co.

When you're on the wrong end of the wackiness that came late in the first half -- the crazy catch-and-run by Junior Hemingway on third-and-long, then the first-down catch by a center on a botched Wolverines field-goal attempt -- that's an indication that it just might not be your day.

But I thought Virginia Tech played into Michigan's hands with a conservative offensive approach we've come to know with the Beamer-led Hokies. Surely Mike O'Cain is going to get some heat after his first year calling the offensive shots, and justifiably so. But it really seems as if Virginia Tech's conservative, run-first offensive philosophy hasn't changed much at all. Beamer imposes his conservatism on the offense the way Mark Richt does it at Georgia, and I'm not sure how much the offensive coordinator can really do at that point.

Playing it conservatively makes sense if you have a dominant offensive line and some really good skill players. But you never got the sense this season that the Hokies' offensive line was just overpowering people. The rushing success that they did have was largely a product of David Wilson's talent and ability to make something out of nothing by keeping his feet, bouncing around and darting for yardage.

-- It was a rare off night for Todd Blackledge, who spent the game mispronouncing Antone Exum's name. But Blackledge did correctly question the Hokies' reluctance to go after Michigan's suspect defensive backs.

-- The Hokies should have been more aggressive on their last drive of regulation. Seemed to me they were settling for an overtime-forcing field goal. Once in overtime, it's sort of a crap shoot.

-- Virginia Tech probably shouldn't have lost last night in the same way that Florida State probably shouldn't have won over Notre Dame in the Champs Sports Bowl. So things sort of even out there with regard to two of the ACC's down-to-the-wire bowl games.

-- The ACC drops to 2-12 in BCS games. Here's how the rest of the conferences have fared:

SEC: 15-6
Pac-12: 11-7
Big Ten: 12-13
Big 12: 9-10
Big East: 6-7
Mountain West: 3-1
WAC: 2-1

The ACC's only two wins since the BCS' inception in 1998: Florida State over Virginia Tech in the 1999 BCS title game, and Virginia Tech over Cincinnati in the Orange Bowl at the end of the 2008 season.

Otherwise, it's gone like this:

Stanford 40, Virginia Tech 14 (2010)
Iowa 24, Georgia Tech 14 (2009)
Kansas 24, Virginia Tech 21 (2007)
Louisville 24, Wake Forest 13 (2006)
Penn State 26, Florida State 23 (2005)
Auburn 16, Virginia Tech 13 (2004)
Miami 16, Florida State 14 (2003)
Georgia 26, Florida State 13 (2002)
Florida 56, Maryland 23 (2001)
Oklahoma 13, Florida State 2 (2000)
Tennessee 23, Florida State 16 (1998)

LW