Who is Virginia Tech, anyway?

There has been plenty of time this off season to dissect and investigate anything and everything about the Hokies leading up to Saturday's kickoff in Atlanta.

They are lead by head coach Frank Beamer who will be kicking off his 23rd season in Blacksburg on September 5th.

Virginia Tech is coming off a 10-4 season which included an ACC title as well as Orange Bowl victory over Big East champ Cincinnati, 20-7.

On offense, the Hokies return nine starters, including junior Tyrod Taylor. Taylor is supposed to be much improved from the 99-173 quarterback he was a year ago, throwing for only 1,036 yards, and had a 1:3.5 touchdown to interception ratio.

The biggest question mark for Virginia Tech is definitely their passing game heading into the Chick-fil-a Kickoff Classic, but there is also the question of who will replace Darren Evans in the backfield for VT.

Evans, a 1200-yard rusher last season as a freshman, is out for the season with an ACL tear. The rest of their backfield has been beat up this pre-season as well, but it looks as if Ryan Williams, who was redshirted last season, is going to get the nod to start.

On Defense, the Hokies have the same vaunted reputation as the Crimson Tide. They return seven starters from their defense, but are replacing two of their linebackers in their 4-3 defense and must replace their top two tacklers from last season.

Their defensive line is definitely not an issue, as Jason Worilds returns after an eight sack, 10.5 tackles for loss season a year ago. You can bet to hear his name a lot and see his number six jersey chasing Greg McElroy this Saturday.

As for special teams, the Hokies pride themselves on "Beamer Ball," which means, as the man put it himself, "Anyone on the field at anytime can score for us." This reaches not only from their special teams, which struggled last season by giving up three punts for touchdowns, way about their standards, but to their defense, where every position on the field has scored at some point during Beamer's tenure.

Look for the Hokies to blitz hard on punts and kicks, as well as break some seams on their returns if Alabama gives them the slightest bit of room.

For the intangibles, the Hokies are a lowly 1-10 versus the Crimson Tide, but won the last meeting in 1998 at the Music City Bowl. Alabama played miserably in that 38-7 loss to the boys from Blacksburg that afternoon.

Not only is the head-to-head record in Alabama's favor, but so is the fact that Beamer is just 5-24 against Top 10 teams in his 23 years at Virginia Tech, as well as 9-12 at neutral sites.

The Hokies have also been talking a little smack so far. Williams has already called the Bama game his "break-out" game to the country, and OL Sergio Render has said he thinks center Beau Warren can handle Terrance Cody all by his lonesome.

Nonetheless, it will be an interesting game to watch come Saturday night in Atlanta.

Links

• Here is the ESPN GameDay Kickoff which is posted every Thursday by Chris Fowler. This week it highlights all things important in week one, meaning the five or so games that are actually worth watching.
• Sports Illustrated has their predictions for the entire season up and running with all their college football typing-heads giving their two cents for the season.