<p align="center"> </p><p align="center">East Carolina Where: Blacksburg, Va. Stadium: Lane (66,233) Date: Sept. 1, 2007 Time: Noon TV: ESPN</p><font face="verdana" size="4"><p align="center">East Carolina at Virginia Tech Preview</p></font><p align="center">For Virginia Tech, the start of football season is another step in putting the events of a tragic offseason in the past. </p><p align="center">The ninth-ranked Hokies take the field Saturday for what will be an emotional season opener at home against East Carolina. </p><p align="center">After the tragic shooting on campus April 16 that left 33 people dead, many students and members of the Blacksburg community looked toward the Hokies' first game as another milestone in helping the school return to a sense of normalcy. </p><p align="center">"I do believe that this school will come back tighter, stronger, more together, more caring, more respectful of each other than ever before," Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said. "And there's probably not a greater place to show it than in a stadium where, if you're there - the alumni, the students, the fans, whatever - you're all going in the same direction. </p><p align="center">"People just want something to rally around." </p><p align="center">"In a way, I think we'll kind of be America's team outside of the teams we play," offensive tackle Duane Brown said. "I've had people who don't follow football tell me that they are anxious for this season to start and to see what happens. It may be for a bad reason, but everyone seems to be pulling for us." </p><p align="center">The Hokies, who will wear a patch honoring the victims of the on-campus shooting Saturday, will try to focus on football as they look to begin building on last season's 10-3 finish. Virginia Tech's season ended in disappointment, as it suffered a heartbreaking loss in the Chick-fil-a-Bowl, blowing an 18-point lead and getting upset 31-24 by Georgia. </p><p align="center">The Hokies finished with the No. 19 ranking and went 6-2 in the ACC to finish one game behind Georgia Tech in second place in the Coastal Division. Virginia Tech was dominant leading up to its bowl defeat, winning six games in a row and holding opponents to 4.8 points per contest, lowering its season average to 11.0. </p><p align="center">The Hokies are expected to rely on a powerful defense again this season, led by senior linebackers Vince Hall and Xavier Adibi, two of the top players in the country at their position. </p><p align="center">Hall, an All-ACC first-team selection in 2006, paced Tech in tackles with 128, while Adibi was second with 82 and had three interceptions six deflected passes. Adibi's performance earned him second-team all-conference honors. </p><p align="center">Cornerbacks Victor Harris and Brandon Flowers are back to disrupt opposing passing games. The tandem totaled seven interceptions, with Harris returning one for a touchdown. </p><p align="center">Offensively, Virginia Tech is looking to find some consistency to balance its powerful defense. </p><p align="center">Quarterback Sean Glennon returns for his second year as the starter after an up-and-down 2006, which ended with four second-half turnovers against Georgia. </p><p align="center">"I'd love to be the guy that people are unsure about and come out and play well," said Glennon, who concluded last season with a 56.3 completion rate, 2,191 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. </p><p align="center">"Obviously, it takes a whole unit to be good. I'm only one-eleventh of that, but I'm confident in the guys around me getting it done and confident in myself, too." </p><p align="center">Beamer believes Glennon can help the Hokies reach the ACC title game for the second time in three seasons. </p><p align="center">"I feel like our quarterback situation is in good shape," Beamer said. </p><p align="center">Beamer has surrounded Glennon with lots of offensive options, including junior running back Branden Ore, who finished third in the ACC with 1,137 rushing yards and tied for first with 17 total touchdowns. </p><p align="center">Glennon's top two receiving targets are also back, as Eddie Royal and Josh Morgan are expected to start at wideout. Royal, a senior, led the team with 497 receiving yards on 31 catches - three for scores - while Morgan had 33 receptions for 448 yards and a team-high four touchdowns. </p><p align="center">Virginia Tech has won 25 consecutive games at Lane Stadium against non-conference opponents, and is 40-7-1 there against non-league teams. The Hokies have won the last five meetings with East Carolina, including a 45-28 victory on Sept. 7, 2000. </p><p align="center">The Pirates will be without quarterback Rob Kass, who was scheduled to make his first career start, after he was suspended Tuesday following a charge of driving while impaired three days earlier. </p><p align="center">Sophomore Brett Clay, who may start in his place, has not thrown a pass in a game since high school. </p><p align="center">"If you were going to write a script, you don't want to baptize a quarterback there," East Carolina coach Skip Holtz said. "I'm scared to death we're going to run out of the tunnel, and I'm going to have 80 guys with cameras strapped around their necks ready to take pictures of everything. </p><p align="center">"We are walking into an absolute hornets' nest. We are trying to do everything we can to get our players ready." </p><p align="center">Holtz has guided the Pirates to a 12-12 record, including 7-6 and a bowl berth in 2006, in two seasons since being hired before the 2005 season. East Carolina was 7-28 in the three years prior to his arrival</p>
3-0 Va Tech. Set up by a 37 yrd catch that should have been a TD. Stupid WR Josh Hymanjumped when he was WIDEOPEN and slipped.</p> Bit of a shaky start for Glennon with the INT. Hopefully Tyrod Taylor makes an appearance. </p> </p>
I took ECU and the points on the Sportsbook, because I dont think VaTech is in the right state of mind to blow out ECU, a school that helped them tremendously after the shootings....
I thought Va Tech would ride an emotional wave and crush ECU.</p> </p> Hokies have a lot to work on before their next game</p>
Maybe they were too amped up. ECU played a good game though. Last yr they played WV well too. </p> I think we'll be fine. I don't know about next week. But people take away to much from week 1, I've noticed. </p>
Beamer reminded the students during a pep rally to take it easy on ECU fans because of what ECU had done for them....this had close one written all over it....
Watching this game again, it's hard to imagine that VT is gonna do much against LSU's D. I dunno if they are going to be able to just run the ball, they might need Glennon to win the game for them. I don't know if he's ready.
