WOODY COLUMN: Hokies’ goals go from national title to 10 wins

BLACKSBURG AVirginia Tech football season that began with national championship dreams, then changed its focus to Atlantic Coast Conference title aspirations has come to this.

Can the Hokies make it to the Champs Sports Bowl? The Music City Bowl? If things really go badly in the remaining weeks, will they have to take a bus ride to the Eagle Bank Bowl in Washington?

"We can still win 10 games, that's got to be what our goal is right now," said Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer.

Losing to Alabama in the sea son-opening game is one thing. The Crimson Tide is a contender for the national title.

Losing at Georgia Tech is no shame. The Yellow Jackets are a befuddling mix of triple options and misdirection on offense.

Losing at home to North Carolina, 20-17, a team that was winless in the ACC, when the possibility of the conference title remains within your grasp, is entirely another thing.

And it is not a good thing.

But this is what happens when your offense leaves points on the field in the first half and the ball on the ground late in the fourth quarter.

This is what happens when a team with everything to play for allows a team whose season is rapidly heading south to hang around too long.

Virginia Tech appeared to have its game against North Carolina in hand last night. The Hokies pulled off one of their signature plays, a defensive turnover, to give the offense the ball at the North Carolina 5-yard line.

When quarterback Tyrod Taylor's 1-yard run was ruled a touchdown -- it was reviewed, the call on the field stood -- things seemed to be falling in place for the Hokies. They led 17-14.

And when Justin Myer's kickoff went 9 yards deep in the end zone, all the Hokies' much-ballyhooed defense had to do was keep Carolina from driving down the field.

Oops. The Tar Heels not only drove 78 yards, they used 16 plays and almost nine minutes doing it.

Even then, the Hokies seemed to be given a gift.

Carolina coach Butch Davis, with his team facing a fourth-and-goal at the 2, opted to take the certain three points with a field goal and tie the game instead of going for the victory.

It seemed as if Davis was playing not to lose instead of trying to win. And when your team is 4-3 overall and 0-3 in the ACC, what is the point of trying not to lose?

Give Davis credit. He gave the Hokies the ball with 2:46 left in the game. He could not have foreseen the Ryan Williams fumble that set up the Tar Heels' game-winning field goal.

But Davis had enough confidence in his defense to believe North Carolina would get another chance to win in regulation.

Davis one, doubters zero.

The Hokies, no doubt, are wondering where their season went wrong. At times last night, they played as complete a game as could be imagined. The offense gained yards in huge chunks. The defense was in the Carolina backfield almost as soon as the ball was snapped, harassing quarterback T.J. Yates and stopping the Carolina runners almost as soon as they took handoffs

But the defense allowed North Carolina to covert 10 of 19 third downs and an enormously important fourth down -- fourth and 7 at the Hokies 36 to be precise, on that long drive.

The offense moved into North Carolina territory five times in the first half and had no points to show for it.

"Look at that game," Beamer said. "In parts, the defense is good. In parts, the offense is good. The special teams are good.

"The problem is that we are not consistently good. We've got to work like heck to get that. I firmly believe we're a good football team. But we've got our work cut out for us."

The Hokies have fallen a long way from the preseason talk of the final game of the season in the BCS title game.

Their focus is considerably narrower now.

"I think our motivation is to come out here so we don't feel like this again," said Hokies linebacker Cody Grimm.

Unless they fix the defense and find the end zone on offense, the Hokies stand a good chance of feeling exactly like this again.

Contact Paul Woody at (804) 649-6444 or . Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/World_of_Woody.