Georgia Tech deserves higher ranking

CHARLOTTESVILLE Not even the brief appearance of a rainbow could brighten the day for the Virginia Cavaliers.

Sometimes the other team is just better. Yesterday, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets were better in every regard than the Cavaliers.

And just as with the TCU game six weeks ago, the Virginia program was exposed for how wide the chasm is between it and the top 15 teams in the country.

The question isn't why Georgia Tech is so much better than Virginia. The question is why are the Yellow Jackets, with just one loss, only rated as the 12th-best team in the country, according to the first BCS standings.

That could change with today's BCS standings. But the fact remains that the Yellow Jackets, a potent offensive team, are too far back in the rankings to have any chance of competing for a national championship.

That hardly seems fair.

Some blame rests with the preseason rankings that had Georgia Tech 15th.

When Georgia Tech lost at Miami on Sept 17, the Yellow Jackets dropped out of the top 25.

"I think it's because we played so poorly," Johnson @said. "And it was on national TV. It was our third game in 12 days, and we looked really slow and not like a very good team."

When Virginia Tech lost to Alabama in the season-opening game, at a neutral site, the Hokies dropped from seventh to 14th and eventually climbed back to No. 4.

It took a second loss, to Georgia Tech last week, to take the Hokies out of the top 10 and eliminate them from the national-championship conversation.

But neither that victory nor yesterday's triumph will catapult Georgia Tech into position to play for the national championship.

"If you're not up there high enough, it's hard to ever climb into it," Johnson said. "That's why I think the preseason rankings are ridiculous. I wouldn't do them until after the first three or four weeks of the season."

Anyone who saw Georgia Tech yesterday will endorse the idea the Yellow Jackets are an elite team. They run an unusual offense, the triple option, and teams have an unusually difficult time stopping it.

Cavaliers coach Al Groh tried almost everything. He shifted defensive end Nate Collins back to nose tackle. Collins had played well at nose tackle last year against Georgia Tech.

Georgia Tech still ran for 362 yards and controlled the clock for 42:43 of the 60 minutes of game time.

"We knew we weren't going to hold them down," said Cavaliers linebacker Nate Burrell. "We had to hold them to much less than they were used to."

Didn't work.

When the Cavaliers won the toss, Groh elected to receive rather than defer until the second half and take the ball then.

"A very, very high percentage of their points come in the first quarter," Groh said. "We wanted to try to minimize their opportunity for that."

The Cavaliers ran three plays, were penalized for a false start and punted.

That also gave Georgia Tech the ball to start the second half. And the Yellow Jackets not only knew what they wanted to do, they did what they wanted to do.

They opened the second half with an 18-play, 82-yard touchdown drive that consumed 10:47. They put the game away with an 11-play, 66-yard drive that consumed 5:14. That also sent most of the 43,016 fans heading for the exits.

Yesterday was a strange day all around for the Cavaliers. Rain came down in sheets at times. Then, the sun broke through the clouds. Then, the day became overcast and the rain would start again.

Finally, the rainbow broke through the clouds.

But it there was no pot of gold for the Cavaliers. Instead, they dropped touchdown passes on offense and gave up big plays on third down after playing well on first and second down on defense..

The Cavaliers (3-4) were tantalizing close to climbing to respectability in the ACC. They were on a three-game winning streak and seemed to have momentum.

Instead, their chances to win six games and become bowl-eligible took a significant hit yesterday.

Anything is possible, though, in the ACC. Well, anything, it would seem, except containing Georgia Tech.