Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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September 27, 2009

Hokies defense got Foster's message

By LARRY EDENS

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Before Saturday’s game against Miami, Virginia Tech’s players had heard all of the Miami-is-back hype.

Well, most of them had.

Oblivious to the pundit talk was redshirt junior cornerback Rashad Carmichael, who gave a simple explanation for his being unaware: He doesn’t watch television.

“Brandon Flowers (Ex-Hokie and current Kansas City Chiefs cornerback) told me the difference between a good defensive back and a great defensive back is how much film you watch, how many offenses you know. I don’t even have cable. I turned it off in January and just watched film,” said Carmichael.

“Honestly, I didn’t even hear any of the Miami talk until the coaches came and talked to us about it.”

Hokies’ defensive coordi-nator Bud Foster called the hoopla “a set-up” and before the game said to his friends on the Miami staff, “I hope your kids weren’t buying into all of that stuff.”

Apparently they were and that, combined with Virginia Tech’s best defensive performance of the season, resulted in Tech’s 31-7 win.

Despite winning back-to-back Atlantic Coast Confer-ence championships and the Orange Bowl last season, Virginia Tech was hardly given a chance by the pre-game prognosticators to defeat the number nine-ranked Hurricanes, who hadn’t been ranked in the Associated Press Top Ten since 2005.

After allowing an average of 200 yards-per-game rushing and five yards-per-carry- statistics that rankled Foster- Virginia Tech appeared vulnerable to Miami’s per-game rushing average of nearly 140 yards.

Miami’s tandem of running backs, junior Graig Cooper and senior Javarris James, had combined for 232 rushing yards in two games.

To say that the Hokies stopped Miami’s rushing attack would be an understatement. Miami’s net rushing for the game was only 59 yards on 34 carries.

During game-week preparation, stopping the run was a primary focus of Foster.

“Our first key to success was stopping the run and not giving up big plays. After that it was playing for 60 minutes,” Foster said, whose team was woefully perched in the 107th position in the nation against the run prior to Saturday's game. “Cooper and James are homerun hitters and we kept them in check for most of the afternoon.”

In addition to throttling the Hurricanes’ running attack, the Hokies pressured sophomore quarterback Jacory Harris for much of the contest, something he had not seen his first two games.

Virginia Tech’s redshirt junior defensive end Jason Worilds, a preseason All-ACC selection, was an integral part of a pressure package that Foster felt good about going into the game. Last season, he recorded 18.5 tackles-for-loss and eight sacks. On Saturday, he had 1.5 sacks and steamrolled over Miami offensive tackle Matt Pipho on his way to one of them. Worilds noted that no opponent had yet been in Harris’ face, but that changed on Saturday.

“We wanted to come out and see how he reacted with us in his face. We knew we needed to come out and attack, stay hungry, stay after it,” said Worilds. “Even under pressure, he made some good throws, but we wanted to make sure he wasn’t comfortable out there. I think it made him a little uneasy when we were in his face and letting him know we were around him.”

Entering the Virginia Tech game, Harris had completed nearly 70 percent of his passes with five touchdowns. On Saturday, he threw 25 passes and completed only nine.

His lone interception came early in the fourth-quarter at the hands of Carmichael, who returned it to the Miami 25-yard line to set up the Hokies’ final score.

Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer gave credit where credit was due.

“I give the defense credit. They had Miami’s offense out of whack. They got to Harris a couple of times and had their hands on a couple of throws. There’s no question that we were after them on defense.”

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