BLACKSBURG—Virginia Tech’s season changed course during the past two games, from national-championship chase to trying to avoid becoming an ACC also-ran, partly because the Hokies’ defense couldn’t do something it usually does so well: get opponents off the field. “That was a killer,“ said defensive coordinator Bud Foster. He was talking about third-down shortcomings from last Thursday’s 20-17 loss to North Carolina, but the assessment also fits the Oct. 17 defeat at Georgia Tech.

BLACKSBURG From the sideline, Virginia Tech linebacker Lyndell Gibson watched the first-team defense during practice, paying close attention to Jake Johnson, whom Gibson was backing up. If Johnson screwed up and drew the ire of defensive coordinator Bud Foster, Gibson remembered the mistake. “Make sure you don’t do that,“ he told himself.

Virginia Tech gets its only open date this week, and it comes at a perfect time for the Hokies, whose first seven games were among the most challenging in college football. They almost made it through that gantlet with their national championship hopes intact. But Saturday’s 28-23 loss at Georgia Tech knocked them out of that race and dropped them to 5-2 (3-1 ACC). Though they remain in contention for their third consecutive ACC championship and Orange Bowl appearance, their final five games—which seem easier than the first seven—will determine their fate.

Virginia Tech’s defensive coordinator, Bud Foster, watched Georgia Tech quarterback Josh Nesbitt run left, up the sideline and toward the end zone, each of his strides almost certainly extinguishing the Hokies’ aspirations of playing for a national championship. When Nesbitt tip-toed into the end zone for a 39-yard touchdown, Foster looked down at his feet and threw up his hands. His defense had few answers in the second half last night for the Yellow Jackets’ option-based offense, as Georgia Tech won 28-23 at Bobby Dodd Stadium and muddled the ACC’s Coastal Division standings.

Virginia Tech’s players jogged to the locker room at halftime last night, having contained Georgia Tech’s tricky, option-based offense well, for the most part, in the first half. But in in the third quarter, the Yellow Jackets’ big plays had the Hokies’ defensive coordinator, Bud Foster, pacing the sideline in frustration, tearing off his headset and throwing up his hands as he watched his team’s hopes of playing for the national championship fade with every pitch and quarterback keeper.

This week, almost everything changes. On Monday, as usual, Virginia Tech’s coaches handed their players a packet, about 40 pages of their opponent’s plays, formations and tendencies. The Hokies normally flip through it and see how often a team runs or passes from a certain formation—which helps them predict what might happen on the field.

Georgia Tech is 3-1 in the ACC, 5-1 overall and ranked 19th nationally as it prepares for Saturday’s 6 p.m. home game against fourth-ranked Virginia Tech. The Yellow Jackets have won lately because of their option-based offense’s success and in spite of their defense’s poor performances. The Jackets are riding a three-game winning streak thanks in large part to the huge numbers from the offense. They gained 406 yards in a 24-7 win over North Carolina, 479 in a 42-31 victory at Mississippi State and 532 in Saturday’s 49-44 win at Florida State.

BLACKSBURG—Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer scanned the tabletop in front of him, picked up a piece of paper and began reading it with the speed of an auctioneer. “BYU beats Oklahoma, then loses to Florida State,“ he said, his words almost running together. “Florida State beats BYU, loses to South Florida. USC beats Ohio State, loses to Washington. Washington beats USC, loses to Stanford. Oklahoma State beats Georgia, loses to Houston.“

All last week, everyone in college football circles—talking heads, keyboard jockeys, the guy from your local bar—raved about Miami, which was 2-0 and ranked ninth in the nation. That was the latest example of how the days between games—to parse and prognosticate them—are compelling for fans and maddening for coaches. So before Virginia Tech’s game Saturday against Miami, the Hokies’ defensive coordinator, Bud Foster, approached some of the Hurricanes’ assistants and told them, “I hope your kids weren’t buying into all this stuff.“

There’s a good chance that Stephan Virgil, Virginia Tech’s senior starting boundary cornerback, will return for Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. home game against Miami. Virgil missed the past two games with a sore left knee. Sophomore Eddie Whitley, who played field corner while Virgil was hurt, said he has resumed practicing as the backup free safety. Virgil’s injury forced junior Rashad Carmichael, the regular field corner, to move to boundary. Sophomore Cris Hill (Highland Springs High) replaced Carmichael at field corner two weeks ago against Marshall, but Whitley played all the snaps there in last week’s win over Nebraska.

BLACKSBURG—All of Virginia Tech’s defensive players gathered Monday to review video of last Saturday’s loss to Alabama—surely an unsettling experience for some of them. Coordinator Bud Foster showed about eight plays—big gainers, in Foster’s parlance—that proved critical and pointed out how individual players erred. “Not to embarrass anybody, but just to show it wasn’t the structure of the defense,“ Foster said. “It just goes back to executing the defense. If we do that, we’re going to be fine and be the kind of defense we expect to be. . . . There wasn’t one thing that was structure-wise, like we had a bad plan. We just have to execute it. It comes back to technique and fundamentals.“

BLACKSBURG Games like tonight’s between seventh-ranked Virginia Tech and fifth-ranked Alabama make us think big—about national-championship implications, conference reputation, tectonic shifts in program stature. This seems only natural, especially when we get a summer to ponder the game’s possibilities and a couple weeks of dozen-a-day ESPN promos to put the contest’s importance on par with that of Colonists vs. Redcoats, circa 1776.

BLACKSBURG Last year, a businessman named Robert Hodges got an opportunity to open a restaurant in a vacant building space near Virginia Tech’s campus. Hodges decided he would do it only if he could name the establishment after Bud Foster, Tech’s defensive coordinator, whom Hodges had known for 16 years. Hodges invited Foster and his wife to the prospective location, and as they stood inside, Foster expressed reservations. “Are you sure you want to put my name on it?“ he asked. “People might not recognize my name. My name’s not that strong.“

BLACKSBURG As Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster examines his depth chart, he sees plenty of reasons for optimism. He returns seven starters from last season, including junior end Jason Worilds, who could be one of the ACC’s most disruptive defensive players. So don’t pity Foster. He seems to have enough talent to once again field one of college football’s best defenses. But Foster also has concerns, and among his biggest is the field cornerback position—a player whose one mistake could drastically alter a game’s outcome.

a closer look BLACKSBURG Bud Foster thinks the familiar newcomer to his Virginia Tech defense can help the Hokies, as long as he stays out of trouble. Tech’s coaches plan to have redshirt junior Zach Luckett, who was suspended last season, back on the team as a walk-on this fall. They also plan to move him from wide receiver to whip linebacker, a position for which they initially recruited him.