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After Virginia Tech's five straight victories over Miami from 1995-1999, the Hurricanes rebounded nicely, not just against the Hokies, but against everyone. From 2000-2002, Miami went 35-2, including a 34-game winning streak that left observers wondering if anyone would ever beat the Miami Hurricanes again. The Hokies nearly derailed the Hurricanes in 2001, and it wasn't until 2003 that VT broke Miami's 39-game regular season winning streak with an epic night win at Lane Stadium.

The Game: This was the first matchup of two Big East teams ranked in the Top 5, featuring 8-0 Virginia Tech and 6-1 Miami, but a clash of the titans never occurred, with Miami winning easily. Michael Vick had suffered a severely sprained ankle against Pittsburgh the week before and was questionable for this game, as was star wide receiver Andre Davis, suffering from bursitis in his heel.

The Hokies started Dave Meyer at QB, and Meyer started out slowly, failing to move VT in his first three series. Meanwhile, the Canes took a 14-0 lead late in the first quarter, causing the Hokie coaching staff to yank Meyer and replace him with Vick, who could barely walk. The Tech coaching staff promptly called an option play, and the gimpy Vick took two steps and fell to the ground. It was a sign of things to come, or rather, things already in progress.

Vick later fumbled inside the Cane 30, and Miami turned it into a 44-yard TD pass to Jeremy Shockey, who shrugged off Kevin McCadam and Eric Green on his way to the end zone and a 21-0 Miami lead.

Vick played the remainder of the first half but was ineffective, and the Hokie coaches put Meyer back in for the second half. Miami tacked on a backbreaker TD halfway through the third quarter on Najeh Davenport's 50-yard run -- one of five Miami plays over 40 yards on the day -- and the two teams went into the fourth quarter with the Canes leading 28-0. Meyer and the Hokies put up three cosmetic touchdowns in the fourth quarter and actually outscored Miami 21-14 in the final stanza, but there was no kidding anyone here -- Miami won this one easily.

Virginia Tech had lost too much talent from their 1999 national runner-up team, and with Vick and Davis out of the equation (Davis caught just one pass for no gain), the young Hokies were no match for a Miami team rebuilt from mid-90's probation.

The Play of the Game: There were a number of candidates for Miami plays of the game, but only one for the Hokies. Meyer hit Emmett Johnson for a nice 69-yard TD pass. And ... that's about all you can say. It was a nice catch and run, but it was only 35-14 at that point, and on a cosmic scale, the TD was just a small piece of moon dust.

You May Have Forgotten: Meyer had a nice day statistically, going 13-of-25 for 225 yards, a touchdown, and one interception (that came on a tipped ball that the Canes returned 44 yards for a TD). It was comparable to the output from Miami's Ken Dorsey, who was 11-of-23 for 283 yards. But Dorsey threw for three touchdowns and no interceptions. Davis caught a flanker screen (a specialty of Rickey Bustle, VT's offensive coordinator at the time), was tackled immediately, and suffered a sprained ankle. Add that to Davis' bursitis, and he was done for the day. With Larry Austin out with a knee injury, the Hokies started true freshman cornerback Eric Green. Green was a third-round pick of the Arizona Cardinals this year, but in 2000, he was no match for the mighty Canes and was abused by Santana Moss (4 catches, 154 yards, 2 TDs).

What Happened After That: The Hokies finished out with wins over Central Florida and Virginia, and late November and early December were a nightmares for Tech fans. First, Frank Beamer was reportedly headed for North Carolina, but a last-minute meeting of the minds caused Beamer to reverse field and stay at Tech, the recipient of nice new contracts for himself and his assistants. Second, the Hokies, ranked #5 in the BCS, were passed over by the BCS bowls in favor of (among others) Oregon State and Notre Dame, who met in a forgettable Fiesta Bowl, a 41-9 Beaver victory over the Domers. VT beat Clemson 41-20 in the Gator Bowl, then bid goodbye to Michael Vick a month later, when Vick declared for the NFL Draft.

The Miami Hurricanes were indeed "back." They had suffered a 34-29 loss to Washington in the second game of the season but didn't lose again, beating Florida 37-20 in the Sugar Bowl to go 11-1.

The Game: This one was a classic. After jumping out to a 20-3 lead and setting the Hokies up for a severe beating, Miami lost ground in the second half and could only post two field goals after the break. VT scored on a 1-yard run by Jarrett Ferguson to make it 20-10, then after Miami had added two field goals, the Hokies converted a Miami fumble into another 1-yard Ferguson run to close it to 26-18. Just two and a half minutes later, VT's Eric Green blocked a punt that Brandon Manning returned for a TD to make it 26-24.

The next play was the Drop Heard Round the World. Ernest Wilford, who would go on to set numerous receiving records at VT, dropped a two-point conversion in the corner of the end zone, killing Tech's chance to tie the game at 26. There were still six minutes left to go, but an interception by Grant Noel on Tech's next possession finished the Hokies off, and #1 Miami escaped Blacksburg with a narrow win.

Noel, a serviceable quarterback at best, was horrible in this game. He completed just 4-of-16 passes for 81 yards, and he completed as many to the Hurricanes (4) as he did his own teammates. Noel also fumbled twice, losing one of them, accounting for all five of Tech's turnovers on the day.

True freshman tailback Kevin Jones came into his own that day for the Hokies. Pressed into service because of an early-season knee injury to Lee Suggs, Jones took over the starting role from Keith Burnell two games prior to this one, and he didn't disappoint, rushing for 160 yards on 24 carries. The Hokies only had 84 other yards of offense, so Jones was all Tech had going for it that day offensively.

The Play of the Game: Eric Green's block of Freddie Capshaw's punt is the stuff of legends. Those who witnessed it still say it was one of the loudest moments in Lane Stadium history, if not the loudest, and remember, this was pre-Lane Stadium expansion, when the South end zone was only partially constructed. What a thrill for Brandon Manning, the redshirt freshman who scooped up the block cleanly and returned it untouched for the TD.  Too bad the Hokies couldn't seal the deal, but Ernest Wilford learned from his drop, was inspired by it, and went on to be the most productive receiver in VT history.

You May Have Forgotten: Prior to half time, with Miami leading 17-3, the Hokies had stopped the Canes in Tech territory on 3rd and three. But Miami QB Ken Dorsey baited fiery VT defensive end Cols Colas into shoving him after the play was dead, drawing a personal foul and giving a first down to the Canes. Miami turned that new life into a field goal just before half time to make it 20-3. It turned out to be a critical three points, given the way the rest of the game unfolded. Kevin Jones hurt his elbow late in the game and was pulled for Burnell, and on the punt block, Eric Green injured himself, as well. You may have also forgotten that after the game, in the Miami locker room, classy Miami coach Larry Coker congratulated Virginia Tech's effort, drawing cheers from his victorious players, who respected VT's effort but left winners, anyway.

What Happened After That: The Hokies had started out 6-0 and risen to fifth in the nation, but the loss to Miami dropped them to 8-3. Their slide continued with a 30-17 loss to Florida State in the 2001 Gator Bowl, and VT finished 8-4. Miami, of course, finished undefeated and destroyed Nebraska 37-14 in the Rose Bowl to win the national championship.

The Game: Like the 2000 game, this one wasn't close, and the final score is misleading. By this time, Miami was rolling like a freight train, having won 33 games in a row since losing to Washington in September of 2000. Led by Ken Dorsey, an NFL-caliber offensive line, and the usual passel of great athletes, the Hurricanes seemed untouchable.

And they were. Miami scored on seven of their first eight possessions while opening up leads of 28-7, 35-14, and 49-21. The Hokies closed the gap to 14 a couple of times and trailed just 49-37 going into the fourth quarter, but the truth was that offensively the Canes were doing what they wanted, when they wanted to do it. Willis McGahee scored a Big East-record six rushing touchdowns on his way to 205 yards on 39 carries on the day, running over, around and through VT tacklers in the process.

While the Hurricanes were methodically running over the Hokie defense, outgaining Tech 556 yards to 364, VT relied on big plays by special teams and defense. The Hokies' Richard Johnson had a 91-yard kickoff return to the Miami 4-yard line, and DeAngelo Hall had a 71-yard punt return to the Miami 18. Those returns led to 10 points, and the Hokies also had two interceptions that led to a pair of touchdowns. Willie Pile picked off a halfback pass and returned it 97 yards for a TD, and Ronyell Whitaker returned an interception of Ken Dorsey to the Miami 9-yard line, where Lee Suggs took it in.

VT outscored Miami 24-7 down the stretch to make the final score respectable. Miami was leading 49-21 when the Hurricanes blocked a punt and set up shop on Tech's 1-yard line. Miami got cute, calling a halfback pass from Jarrett Payton back to Ken Dorsey, in a manufactured "Heisman moment" for Dorsey. Tech's Willie Pile sniffed the play out, stayed home, and picked off the wounded duck pass, returning it 97 yards for a touchdown. (There are many Hokie observers, me included, who wish that Pile had ignored the pass and decked the scrawny Dorsey, instead.)

The ease with which the Hurricanes dispatched of the Hokies led, uh, many Hokie observers, me included, to wonder if VT would be able to knock off Miami more than once or twice every ten years. At this point in the rivalry, things were looking grim for VT.

The Play of the Game: Are you kidding me? This is no contest. Close to the end of the first half, Miami linebacker Jonathan Vilma decked Bryan Randall with a brutal shot to the chin that left Randall dazed and bloody. (No, that's not my play of the game -- keep reading.) Randall, who would prove to be remarkably durable for a running QB, left the game for one play ... and out trotted the forgotten Grant Noel, who had been benched in favor of Randall early in the season. Noel promptly tossed a corner pattern to Ernest Wilford in an eerie deja vu moment that recalled the failed two-point conversion from 2001. This time, Wilford caught the pass for a TD that closed the gap to 35-21 with 24 seconds left in the half. The sight of Grant Noel laughing on the sidelines after the play was almost worth the beating the Hokies took on this day.

You May Have Forgotten: The Hokies had a solid game plan offensively. They exploited the soft middle of the Miami defense, which has historically been vulnerable to a running QB, by sending Randall up the middle on scrambles and QB draws. Randall had 132 yards rushing on 25 carries, including six carries of 10 yards or more. DeAngelo Hall wasn't completely healthy and was beaten many times by the Hurricane receivers, including Andre Johnson, who had six catches for 193 yards and a TD. Late in the game, the Hokies inserted a freshman named Jimmy Williams at free safety, and Williams had eight tackles and played well.

What Happened After That: The Hokies were in the throes of a second straight poor finish, and this was their fourth loss in five games after starting out 8-0. Tech beat Air Force in the inaugural Diamond Walnut Bowl (whoopee!), 20-13. Miami was well on their way to a second straight national championship, but something funny happened along the way: Ohio State and Maurice Clarett beat the Canes 31-24 in double overtime in the Fiesta Bowl. In that game, OSU QB Craig Krenzel, not known for his mobility, executed a game plan that contained obvious elements of VT's offensive game plan against the Canes. Like Randall, Krenzel repeatedly ran up the middle of Miami's defense, carrying 19 times for 81 yards and outgaining Clarett (23 carries, 47 yards).

The Game: This was a classic case of a team running into a buzz saw. Miami never had a chance. The Hokies had started out hot (again) at 6-0 and had risen to #3 in the rankings, only to get pummeled 28-7 at West Virginia. Their backs to the wall, the Hokies responded with a signature 31-7 thumping of the #2 team in the country, winners of 39 regular season games in a row, the Miami Hurricanes.

Earlier in the week, I had posted the classic column Make it Real, ordering Hokie fans to show up for the pre-game walk, get in the faces of the players, and get 'em fired up. " Make it Real" caught on like wildfire, and through the magic of word of mouth, listservs, and email, was distributed amongst the Hokie Nation and was accessed a mind-boggling 36,000 times in just three days. For comparison's sake, the Hokie Hotline Notes are one of TSL's most popular features, and that week, the Hotline Notes were read only 7,200 times.

The result was astounding. An estimated 10,000-15,000 Hokie fans lined the streets for The Walk that night, as twilight descended on Blacksburg, and the energy of the atmosphere fired up players and fans alike. By the 7:45 kickoff, night had descended on Blacksburg, and the Hokies proceeded to smother the Canes under a blanket of darkness.

After a scoreless first quarter, DeAngelo Hall stripped Roscoe Parrish of the ball and took it in for a 28-yard TD. Carter Warley tacked on a 39-yard field goal for a 10-0 half time lead, and five minutes into the third quarter, Eric Green, always a key player in Miami/VT contests, cut in front of a Brock Berlin pass and took it 51 yards for a 17-0 lead. Kevin Jones added a 2-yard TD run and then Marcus Vick supplied the coup de grace, hitting Ernest Wilford for a 46-yard TD that made it 31-0 at the end of the third. It was party time in Blacksburg.

Kevin Jones played like a man possessed, gaining 124 yards on 26 carries and dealing out punishment on Miami defenders. Bryan Randall threw an early interception and didn't complete a pass (0-of-4), and he was replaced by Marcus Vick for the majority of the second half. Vick's mandate was to take care of the football, and with the Hokie defense controlling the tempo, he threw just four passes himself, completing two. The Hokies controlled the game with running (41 carries, 175 yards) and defense, forcing three Miami interceptions and seven fumbles (only one of which -- Hall's strip -- the Hokies recovered).

VT had banked on Miami QB Brock Berlin folding under pressure, and Berlin did. He threw two picks, one of them the costly one to Green, and generally lost his composure, failing to lead Miami to any scores. Backup Derrick Crudup led the Canes to their only score in the fourth quarter.

VT's smackdown of Miami was Tech's first-ever win over a Top 5 team, and it leveled the VT-Miami playing field after three years of frustration for the Hokies.

The Play of the Game: Hall's strip of Parrish. With the Hokie crowd in a frenzy, Hall finally gave them something to cheer about and set the tone for the rest of the game. A close second was Miami tight end Kevin Everett's drop of a sure touchdown pass on a fake field goal. After Everett dropped the ball, the Canes folded up and didn't put up a fight.

You May Have Forgotten: The Hokies had just 11 first downs, 219 yards of offense, and only two completions. Miami had 21 first downs, 377 yards, and held the ball for 34 minutes and 35 seconds. VT relied on the running game and defense, turning the ball over just twice to four TO's for the Canes.

What Happened After That: VT appeared to be back on track with the win over Miami, but the Hokies went to Pittsburgh the next week and lost a 31-28 heartbreaker that derailed their season. The Hokies then squeaked by Temple in overtime (24-23 on a missed PAT by Temple's kicker), lost to BC for the first time since 1995, and lost to UVa for the first time since 1998.  The dispirited Hokies were shipped off to the Insight Bowl in Phoenix, AZ, where Aaron Rodgers and his Cal teammates laughed their way to a 52-49 win over the Hokies. Miami lost to Tennessee the next week, then regrouped to finish out the season at 11-2 with their fourth straight Big East Championship and a 16-14 Orange Bowl victory over Florida State.

The Game: In the first season of the expanded ACC, the de facto championship game came down to the two newcomers: Virginia Tech (9-2, 6-1 ACC) against Miami (8-2, 5-2 ACC). The league had scheduled this game for national TV on December 4th and got lucky when the Canes and Hokies stood 1-2 atop the league at kickoff, and the game took center stage on the same day that the Big 12 and SEC Championship games were played.

The game was a defensive dog fight, won by the Hokies 16-10. The two teams battled back and forth, with the Hokies getting a short TD reception by Jeff King after an 80-yard drive, and Miami turning a blocked punt deep in Tech territory into a short TD drive. The score stood at 10-10 when the Hokies finally got the break they needed early in the fourth quarter -- Eddie Royal returned a punt 19 yards to Miami's 39-yard line, and on the next play, Bryan Randall hit Royal on a crossing pattern that the speedy true freshman turned into a touchdown, for a 16-10 lead with 11:29 to go. (The extra point was blocked.)

That left plenty of time for the Hurricanes to come back and tie or win the ball game, but Miami spent the remainder of the game languishing deep in their own territory. The Canes' last chance came when they took possession on their own 12 yard line with about a minute and a half to go. After an 8-yard gain, the Hokies batted down three straight Brock Berlin passes -- two by Jim Davis and one by Darryl Tapp -- to end the game and win the ACC Championship.

After struggling for three years, the Hokies were clearly back on top in the rivalry, now having won seven out of the last 10.

The Play of the Game: Okay, in an article late last year, I ranked Royal's catch against Miami as the #2 play of the entire season, with Jim Davis' two batted passes nowhere to be found in the top 10. That was a ranking based on a lot of factors and some numerical analysis. Months later, reflecting back on this game, I find the overriding image that comes to mind is not Royal's TD reception (shown above) but the image of big Jim Davis rising high in the air, fighting off a double team, to smack down Brock Berlin's pass. What Davis and Tapp did to Miami on the Hurricanes' last possession was so completely demoralizing ... it was like a cat playing with a captured mouse. Miami never had a chance on that last possession, and as the other details of the game start to fade, my mind's eye goes back to what Davis and Tapp did, in particular that one awesome block by Davis.

You May Have Forgotten: The Hokies lost the field position war for most of the game and fought off numerous trips by Miami deep into Tech territory. The Canes penetrated to the Tech 17 on their first possession, only to suffer a personal foul penalty that pushed them back to the 42, forcing a punt. Miami got down to Tech's 35-yard line, then threw an end zone interception (Eric Green -- there he is again! -- made a leaping one-handed grab) on 4th and 1. The Canes recovered a Randall fumble on Tech's 18-yard line, but James Anderson got it back when he forced a fumble by Brock Berlin that Noland Burchette recovered. On Tech's first second-half possession, Miami recovered another Randall fumble and drove it down inside the Tech 10-yard line, only to commit a holding penalty, forcing them to settle for a field goal. Miami's only success was when they converted a blocked punt into a short 18-yard drive for a TD.

The field position war was finally reversed late in the third quarter when Randall ripped off a 34-yard scramble that moved the ball from Tech's 27-yard line to Miami's side of the field. When Royal's punt return one possession later led the Hokies to start a drive from Miami's 39-yard line, it was the only time all day that VT started on the UM side of the field. From that point on, the Hokie defense kept Miami buried deep on their side of the field.

What Happened After That: The Hokies went to the Sugar Bowl, losing to SEC champ Auburn 16-13. Miami, relegated to a non-BCS bowl for the first time since 1999, whipped Florida 27-10 in the Peach Bowl.

Looking back over the last ten years of the Miami-VT rivalry, a once-lopsided affair has turned into one of the most competitive and interesting rivalries in college football. Now that both schools are in the ACC, the rivalry will continue to grow. Unfortunately, the two teams will never meet in the ACC Championship game, at least not while the current divisional alignment holds. But they'll continue to wage epic battles for control of the ACC's Coastal Division for years to come.

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