The Hokies were the only team to defeat the National Champion Buckeyes last year.
They did it on the Buckeyes' home opener in Columbus, OH. A big caveat was that they were playing with redshirt freshman quarterback J.T. Barrett and not veteran phenom Braxton Miller who injured his shoulder before the start of the season. It turned out, Barrett was pretty good and went on to win nine games before suffering from an injury himself. Cardale Jones took over and the Buckeyes finished the rest of the season without another loss.
Well, Coach Urban Meyer must be scratching his head a little bit as it appears that he and his team will be going into this year's opener against the Hokies down yet another star.
On Thursday, the Buckeyes announced the suspension of four players, including All-American defensive end Joey Bosa. Bosa, the 2014 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, was going to prove to be tough to contain according to Coach Beamer. The revelation that he will be out will drastically change the Hokies' strategy in this game.
Beamer is calling this game "the most anticipated football game in Virginia Tech home football history." It certainly will be the first time since 2001, when Miami came to the 'Burg on their way to their 18th National Championship, that Virginia Tech will face a No. 1 team at home. To add to the intensity, the idea of this being a "revenge game" for Ohio State has been tossed around. There's no doubt this will be on everyone's mind going into this game.
To say that the Hokies struggle against teams in the top five would be an understatement. 1-28 all time and 1-20 under Beamer (Oh what a victory that was! Your's truly lost a bit of hearing permanently from that game against the No. 2 Hurricanes at Lane! But I digress.), the Hokies need another signature win to add to the resume. But, with Braxton Miller back at the helm of his team, the Hokies will have a huge mountain to climb to get that victory.
I for one will be there with bells on.
Go Hokies!