The Sports Rumors

Time to Teach Boston College a Lesson

Thursday, October 25, 2007 will be the night that Boston College students, fans, and football players learn a few lessons.

Class begins: 7:30 PM

Location: Lane Stadium.

Attendance: Not Recommended

If you failed to realize, Boston College is number two in the BCS polls. They have earned their right to be there. They’ve played and won all seven of their games. The Eagles are off to their first 7-0 start in 65 years.

-They have Heisman caliber quarterback who has thrown 18 touchdowns thus far.

-They move the ball consistently.

-They score.

-They win at home.

-They win on the road.

The Boston College Eagles’ destiny lies within their hands. Win their remaining games and a ticket to the National Championship is all but guaranteed. The quest for a National Championship continues tonight. That’s where the problem lies.

The Eagles will be going into Blacksburg, Virginia; home of the 8^th ranked Virginia Tech Hokies. The Hokies have been an ACC powerhouse since they joined the conference by winning the conference title their first year and being runners up the second year. They bring a fast, hard hitting, and intimidating defense to the field annually. The Hokies have NFL talent on that defense every single season. From the Deangelo Halls to the Darryl Tapps to the Xavier Adibi’s and the Vince Halls. The Hokies defense, led by defensive coordinator Bud Foster, knows how to bring the pain.

However, that’s not what Boston College should fear most. Boston College needs to fear the 65,000+ that will fill Lane Stadium tonight. They should fear the sea of orange and maroon that will fill every possible space in the venue to see their Hokies trash the Eagles. They should fear the noise that the Virginia Tech fans will bring from 15 minutes before kickoff until they rush the field. These aren’t ordinary college football fans. A lot of people nationwide haven’t realized this yet, because they have not been there. I have, for four years.

What makes the fans in Lane Stadium so intimidating is their exceptional knowledge of football and their thirst for victory. Nothing dominates the news in Blacksburg the way football does. Football is what brings all the students together. Football is what makes Monday’s in 30 degree weather with 45 mile per hour winds bearable. Football makes this town run.

This is the first big home game for the Hokies. Last time they were on national television, they got trashed and embarrassed by the LSU Tigers in Tiger stadium. Actually, trashed and embarrassed is putting it lightly. This was in week 2. We are now in week 8, but Hokie fans have not forgotten how they were laughed at on message boards around the country. They have not forgotten what it feels like to be humiliated and outplayed when everyone is watching. They are angry. The fans have had weeks full of pent up rage that they will let loose come 7:30 tonight.

I can’t remember the last time there was this much internally stored fury waiting to be unleashed like a caged animal who has been waiting for his opportunity to attack a rival Alpha male. You don’t want to open that cage door because what will be set free is a monster that cannot be controlled. This is Virginia Tech football. Furthermore, you definitely do not want to poke the caged beast with a stick. That is what Boston College’s head coach did by saying that his team is not intimidated by big stadiums or loud fans and having the audacity, the nerve to compare Virginia Tech to Georgia Tech. Jesse Palmer of ESPN went on to say that Virginia Tech doesn’t belong on the same field as Boston College. He is in for a rude awakening.

One thing I know about Virginia Tech students is that they read; and they read everything. They hear everything. They know everything. They know the national perception is that we are annually overrated. They know that people, such as ESPN’s experts, are picking Boston College to come into our house, on our field, and take it to us. The fans know this. They have been poked with the stick for ten days now and tonight is the night Boston College will have to face the animal that are the fans.

Tonight, Boston College is going to learn a lesson.

Boston College has failed to realize what it’s like to be standing less than a foot away from another person and not being able to hear what they’re saying. I do. Boston College doesn’t know what it’s like to see 65,000+ fans jumping and screaming every time they have the ball on offense to the point where they can’t differentiate a football being passed through the air from a sea of maroon in the stands. I do. Boston College doesn’t know what it’s like to feel like the stadium is going to collapse because it is shaking and bouncing violently the entire game. I do. Boston College doesn’t know what it’s like to see 65,000+ alumni and students screaming for their head and saying the nastiest of things because they’ve been drinking all day in the parking lot behind McBryde Hall. I do. Boston College does not know what it’s like to see a Virginia Tech football team run out of the tunnel after “Enter Sandman” has been playing for over 30 seconds and has sent the students into a cult like frenzy in which the entire stadium looks like a giant mosh pit. I do.

Mark Wahlberg has a movie in theatres called “We Own the Night”. I bring this up because Boston College is going to step onto the field tonight for 60 minutes of a brutal, vicious beat down; one that they could never dream of in their most awful of worst nightmares. They will walk off the field tonight after a loss, and with that loss they will take home one more new lesson about Virginia Tech Football and Virginia Tech fans:

We Own the Night.