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For Virginia Tech, the #1 key to the 2009 season is keeping Tyrod Taylor healthy. If TT gets hurt and misses time, all bets are off. As we have discussed in many articles, most recently Five Players Who Must Stay Healthy in 2009, other positions need to stay healthy as well.

Ten years ago, the Hokies made a shocking run to the national championship game, and although Frank Beamer, Michael Vick, Corey Moore and company had a lot to do with that, so did an unusual lack of injuries. It's remarkable how healthy the 1999 Hokies were as they made their run to the Sugar Bowl.

Special teamers Shayne Graham and Jimmy Kibble both started every game, of course, and amongst the 22 offensive and defensive starters, an incredible 18 of them (82%) started all 12 games. Among the other four starters, only one of them missed more than two games due to injury.

Let's look at the offense first.

Offensively, only Vick and center Keith Short missed starts due to injury. Emmett Johnson and Ricky Hall shared starts at the split end position, but that was due to coaches' decisions on whom to start, not injury. The only exception is that Hall did not start the national championship game because he hurt himself in practice in the days leading up to the game.

Out of 132 starts, only four were missed due to injury: Vick (1), Short (2), and Hall (1).

Here's the defensive chart.

The only 1999 defender to miss starts was tackle Nathaniel Williams, who suffered from knee and shoulder injuries that limited him to five regular-season starts and the bowl game. The Hokie coaches started Chad Beasley in place of Williams three times and slid John Engelberger over from end to tackle for three other starts. Chris Cyrus started in place of Engelberger at end the three times Engelberger moved over to tackle.

Defensively, out of 132 starts, only six were missed due to injury. Whereas three offensive positions were affected by injuries to starters, only one defensive position was directly affected by an injury: the defensive tackle spot held down by Williams.

That's a total of 264 starts, only ten of which were missed because of injury. If you throw in 24 of 24 starts by kickers Graham and Kibble, the 1999 Hokies only missed ten starts out of 288 possible starts. That's just 3.5%, and that -- along with good coaching and freakish talent -- is a major reason the 1999 Hokies went 11-0 and made it to the national championship game.

In the Sugar Bowl itself, the Hokies were not so fortunate. Four days before the game, Ricky Hall broke his foot in a non-contract drill and missed the contest. Hall was VT's second-leading receiver in 1999, with 25 catches, and his replacement, Emmett Johnson, had just 10 catches on the season. Hall's absence was also felt in the return game, where he was the Big East's top punt returner. Ike Charlton filled in and did well, as the Hokies averaged 22 yards on four punt returns.

In the first half, Shyrone Stith twisted his ankle and missed the rest of the game, but the Hokies didn't miss Stith very much. Andre Kendrick took over and had 12 carries for 69 yards, including touchdown runs of 29 and 6 yards.

In the fourth quarter, Ike Charlton and Anthony Midget missed time due to injuries, and substitute redshirt freshman cornerback Ronyell Whitaker was beaten for a TD by FSU superstar Peter Warrick -- though Whitaker was draped all over Warrick on the play.