Chicken Bowl Blog, Volume 10 (The Only Ten I See edition) ...

Ladies and gentlemen, you may now exit the roller coaster to your left. Please don’t leave behind your too-high hopes or your knee-jerk reactions.

Virginia Tech’s up and down, rough and tumble 2009 season has come to a close. I think most Hokies fans – even those who, at various low points, wanted to burn Bryan Stinespring at the stake and have Frank Beamer forcibly shipped to Shady Pines Retirement Home – can agree that the finish was a thriller.

Tech played one of its most complete games in my six seasons covering the beat. The Hokies pounded a Tennessee team that had been hot before last night’s 37-14 dismantling.

Whether you agree that the SEC is the juggernaut ESPN makes the conference out to be ... whether you think the Volunteers are even a good SEC team ... there is no disputing that last night’s win, especially in such dominant fashion, went a long way toward improving the Hokies’ national image.

The victory also capped a pretty amazing bounce back following consecutive losses to Georgia Tech and North Carolina that had Beamer needing to lay down and Virginia Tech fans jumping ship on the season.

The Hokies closed the season by averaging 34 points and 436 yards over the final five games. They outscored their last five opponents 169-49.

Mr. Stinespring’s offense finished the season averaging 392.1 yards (most since 2003) and 31.8 points per game. The yards will rank top 50 nationally, the points top 25. The corner seems to have been turned.

If you found fault with Stiney’s game plan against Monte Kiffin (maybe the greatest NFL defensive coordinator in history) ... try a Zoloft.

And how about Bud Foster? How ABOUT that guy? He proved last night – and over the final five games – exactly why Tech is going to pay him a mint if he stays around until 2014.

Despite the shaky early play of the Hokies’ young linebackers (and the defense’s uncharacteristically low national rankings) ... Foster found a way to turn it around.

Tennessee became the fifth straight opponent to be held scoreless in the second half. Those same five teams all failed to gain more than 300 yards of offense.

Take a bow, Bud.

And you, too, Ryan Williams. And Tyrod Taylor. And Cody Grimm. Stars all.

I’d write more – about how Williams’ 1,655 yards are a new Tech record, how he’s my 2010 Heisman leader so far, how Taylor has blossomed into a true quarterback, an unflappable leader – but I have to drive from Atlanta to Memphis to cover the Liberty Bowl.

I’ll leave you with one final note, then a whole bunch of post-game quotes. Beamer has figured out bowl preparation. Kudos to him for realizing Tech had an issue two years ago and fixing the problems prior to Tech’s win over Cincinnati in the Orange Bowl.

Talking to the Hokies’ players in the hotel last night after the game, I learned that Beamer enlisted the help of several sheriffs to stand watch over the entire floor on which Tech’s team stayed all week. They were there to make sure no Hokies snuck out past curfew and no girls snuck in.

No distractions. Smart move. Ask Lane Kiffin who distractions hurt his team.

Happy New Year, everybody ...

TENNESSEE COACH LANE KIFFIN

ON THE UNBELIEVABLE, UNEXPECTED 63-YARD PASS THE HOKIES COMPLETED WITH TWO SECONDS LEFT IN THE FIRST HALF: “It was very disappointing. For them to be able to do that, to get behind us in that situation, was inexcusable.”

ON SAYING EARLY IN THE WEEK THAT PRACTICES WERE “RUSTY” AND WORRY THAT PLAYERS WERE DISTRACTED IN ATLANTA: “I wasn’t that pleased with our practices, especially when we got down here the last week. We just weren’t as crisp as was hoping. We’ve got a lot to figure this off-season, go get some more players ... try to build our roster, build our depth, so we don’t have some of the same issues. And go hire a special teams coach.”

ON TECH’S OFFENSE HANGING 37 POINTS ON THE VOLS’ DEFENSE – WHICH HAD ONLY ALLOWED MORE THAN 30 POINTS ONCE ALL SEASON: “I thought their quarterback played phenomenal today. I thought he was on the money almost every time. He was throwing ropes. I watched him in warm-ups and he was throwing the same way. I realized he was good running. I realized he could throw. But I didn’t realize he was that good throwing the ball. He was extremely accurate. And his receivers really came up big. There were a lot of contested balls where it was right on the money and the receivers made a bunch of plays.”

ON ANOTHER REASON FOR THE HOKIES’ DOMINATION: “They’re a good team. The reason that Texas and them are the only two teams in the country now that have won 10 games six years in a row. They’re a great program.”

ON TECH TAILBACK BACK RYAN WILLIAMS: “He’s a big-time back. I’d imagine if the rules were different, this guy would be ready to go to the next level right now.”

TECH COACH FRANK BEAMER

OPENING REMARKS: “No. 1, we’re so proud to be a part of the ACC. And then when we can represent them the way we did tonight, it makes us proud. I think our players and coaches deserve a lot of credit for the way we came back and played that second half. We kind of lost the momentum in the first half. Against our defense, it really got down to just a couple plays that we didn’t get played very well. Credit Tennessee. They executed. But then the way we came back and won this thing says a lot about our players. The fact that they won four games (five, actually) after things didn’t look so good ... had two tough losses and then came back and beat a really good Tennessee team here, I’m really proud of them. I’ve said all along that they’re a great bunch of guys and you just like them.”

ON WHETHER TECH’S DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE SURPRISED HIM: “Well, we got after them good. And they’re good. They had four seniors out there on that offensive line. We thought a lot of them. And we thought a lot of Tennessee. They way they finished, you could make the argument that if they’re not the best team in the SEC, they’re right up there at the top. So we respected them going in. It brings out the best in us.”

ON GETTING SIX SACKS AGAINST AN O-LINE THAT HAD GIVEN UP 12 ALL SEASON: “You know, (DT) John Graves is well and it makes a difference when he’s well in there. (Graves was hobbled the last half of the season after being chop-blocked in Week 6 against Georgia Tech.) I think Charley Wiles did a good job rotating his defensive linemen in there and they got after it. And when you get up a little bit, that also helps the situation. You’ve got them where they’ve got to throw.”

ON HOW BIG TYROD’S BOMB BEFORE HALFTIME WAS: “That was such a huge play. ... Thank goodness they reviewed and we came back (and kicked a field goal). That was huge. There’s no question. They’re thinking they’re going in tied at halftime and all the sudden we’re leading by three.”

ON TAYLOR’S EMERGENCE AS A BONA FIDE STAR AND THE ULTIMATE CLUTCH PERFORMER THIS SEASON: “I want to tell you: You guys can talk about all those other quarterbacks, but I like my Tyrod. That guy at the helm, he’s a leader, knows what he’s doing, got great instinct, can find the open guys. I like Tyrod leading our football team.”

ON TECH’S EXPLOSIVE OFFENSE AGAINST A BRIGHT DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR AND STOUT UT DEFENSE: “Well, there wasn’t much secret there. I thought we ran the ball fairly well. And when Ryan went down, we did a tremendous job. Right before the half, that gets it turned around. And then for us to stop them (at the start of the third) and then go down, drive offensively and score on our first drive of the second half, to me, that’s huge. We just did some good blocking and some good running and Bryan Stinespring did some good play-calling. It was just working. We ran a reverse at the right time. Those plays, you draw them up, but the players have got to get them blocked and get them executed. They did a good job of that tonight.”

ON WILLIAMS’ GAME: “Ryan’s something. And then Oglesby comes in there and does a great job for us. And then David Wilson came in and had a couple great runs. We’ve got some guys that we’re proud of.”

WR DANNY COALE

ON WANTING TO BEAT AN SEC TEAM: “After the regular season was over, I was hoping we’d get another chance against an SEC team. I think the rest of the team was, too. We had a little sour taste in our mouth and we wanted to get another shot.”

ON ALL THE TALK OF SEC-DOMINANCE COMING INTO THE GAME AND, AS THE NO. 11 TEAM IN THE COUNTRY, WHETHER TECH FELT ANY DISRESPECT: “Sure. All week long, I got a lot of, ‘Do you think you’ll win?’ Putting us as underdogs. If that’s where we are, then we enjoy that. We wanted to come out and prove it. We don’t really want anything given to us. We knew it would be a fight. I think any time you play an SEC team you’re going to have a little bit of underdog in you.”

ON STARTING THE SEASON IN THE GEORGIA DOME – WITH A DISAPPOINTING LOSS – AND ENDING IT IN THE SAME BUILD WITH A BIG WIN: “We did have some ups and downs. We went through the good together and the bad together. We always talk about it’s not how you start but how you finish. It was just very important that, getting a second chance on a national stage, we played better this time.”

ON ALMOST ALL THE OFFENSIVE STANDOUTS COMING BACK NEXT SEASON AND HOW BRIGHT THE FUTURE LOOKS AFTER TECH’S HOT STREAK TO END THE SEASON: “I think it’s only getting better for us. That’s exciting for us, that we’ve come a long way but we have a long way to go. I think we’ve had more confidence as the weeks go along. We’re going to use that to slingshot ourselves into this offseason and into next year.”

ON THE ONE NIT-PICK OF THE HOT OFFENSE OVER THE FINAL FOUR REGULAR-SEASON GAMES BEING THE QUALITY OF OPPONENTS AND HOW NICE IT WAS TO BLOW UP AGAINST A TOP-20 DEFENSE: “You go against this defense and you get a lot of questions all week long about how you think you match up. We knew we had good athletes and it was just a matter of going out and proving that we did.”

QB TYROD TAYLOR

ON MOTIVATION FOR THIS GAME: “We had a lot to play for. We felt that SEC teams don’t respect us. That was a great chip to put on my shoulder going into this game.”

ON HIS PASS BEFORE THE HALF: “It surprised us that they weren’t in their prevent defense. Jarrett got open, beat the safety, and I just tried to get the ball where he could catch it. He made a great catch.”

ON WHETHER THAT WAS THE BEST OF HIS CAREER: “I think that one and the one to Danny on the side (an 81-yarder in the final minute against Nebraska). That was a pretty good one. But they make the catches. I can only put the ball up. They make the catch.”

ON HIS CONFIDENCE NOW IN CRUNCH-TIME SITUATIONS: “I’m playing with no fear. When I throw a ball, I expect it to be caught. And they expect the ball to come to them. That’s just the confidence we have with each other.”

ON NEXT SEASON: “I think this was a great confidence-builder for the offense as a whole. I’m looking forward to seeing how camp goes in the spring. I know we have a lot of talent coming back and let’s see what we do with it.”

LB CODY GRIMM

ON HOW HIS CAREER ENDED: “We got the 10 wins, we won back-to-back bowl games, which we’ve never done at Tech. Though we didn’t do everything we wanted to, we accomplished a lot.”

ON NOT GIVING UP A POINT IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE LAST FIVE GAMES: “You’ve got to give Bud Foster credit for that. He’s just really good at what he does. He makes the adjustments at halftime that really help us out in the second half. He’s been doing it all year and we’ve been getting better as a defense. To go out like this really means a lot to us.”

WR JARRETT BOYKIN

ON WHETHER, AT THIS POINT, TECH’S OFFENSIVE PLAYERS SIMPLY EXPECT QB TYROD TAYLOR WILL COME THROUGH WHEN THINGS LOOK BLEAK AND TIME IS RUNNING SHORT: “Oh, yeah. We have all the faith and we know Tyrod Taylor has the ability to do anything that he chooses to do.”

ON BEING SHOCKED THAT HE WAS BEHIND THE DEFENSE ON THE LAST PLAY OF THE HALF AND THAT TAYLOR WAS ABLE TO THROW A ROPE 60-PLUS YARDS IN THE AIR: “When I was running, I noticed No. 15 ... he was just, I don’t know, letting me run past him. Then I just saw the ball in the air. But when I came around, that’s the second time my foot got stuck in that turf. It happened in practice, too. But that’s alright. We got three points out of it.”

ON HOW BIG THAT PLAY WAS: “I think it was a momentum-shifter, for sure.”

CB RASHAD CARMICHAEL

ON FINISHING STRONG: “Tonight was a perfect way to finish our season off, especially coming in losing the first game to Alabama in this same stadium. ... Ten wins, to finally beat a great SEC opponent, we accomplished a lot of things tonight. It just felt great win it was over.”

ON THE SURPRISE MOVE TO PLAY HILL/HOSLEY IN THE BOUNDARY AND CARMICHAEL AT FIELD CORNER: “(Foster) just kind of switched it in the middle of last week. It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment type thing. We ran with it and it worked for us. He just asked me could I do it. I said, ‘Yes, sir.’ ... This Tennessee offense, he wanted me to read out more, read the tackles, read the tight ends, so I could come up for run support because (Hardesty) is a great back.”

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