"It's Not like any other." Lane Stadium comes to life in vt's upset win over no. 10 unc

Carter Hill

Staff Writer

September 3, 2021

BLACKSBURG — It had been over 600 days since the last time Lane Stadium was filled to the brink prior to Friday evening’s ACC Coastal Division clash between the No. 10 North Carolina Tar Heels and the Virginia Tech Hokies.

It had been over 600 days since fans could bellow the lyrics to Metallica’s Enter Sandman. Over 600 days since the Marching Virginians — Virginia Tech’s marching band — could put on a show in front of fans. Over 600 days since head coach Justin Fuente could smirk before leading his team onto the field in front of a capacity crowd.

Friday night had all sorts of significance tied to it which was all much larger than just football. Most freshmen and sophomores had never attended a Virginia Tech football game in their lifetime, much less as a student.

A year ago, students were only able to enter the 66,233-person venue to get a skinny, little swab shoved six inches up their nose for a university required covid-19 test.

But on Friday, fans who had been waiting two full years to get back to what they know as normalcy on Saturdays in the fall were finally able to do so. And the excitement, which had been building up since a 28-0 late November defeat of Pittsburgh in 2019, was finally able to be cashed in.

For the fans, it was a night of celebration in Blacksburg from the opening kickoff to the final whistle. Oh, and of course, it resulted in a Hokies’ win. They just about surprised the college football world by knocking off a Top-10 team,17-10, inside one of the louder versions of Lane Stadium the place has ever seen.

Sure, the Hokies dominated the time of possession; annihilated UNC’s offensive line; confused quarterback Sam Howell; and moved the ball offensively in a game they controlled for most of the way. But for Tech fans in attendance, it was so much more than that. And the Hokie participants acknowledged that.

“What an unbelievable crowd,” said Fuente, who has now won five of six against the Tar Heels in his time as Tech’s head coach. “I’ve never seen it like that before....it was different.”

And for Fuente, he knew the crowd had a different type of “buzz”.

“It was bonkers. The first drive there was so much energy in the stadium,” Fuente continued. “They (the fans) didn’t get tired. Sometimes the crowd can get tired, and that certainly wasn’t the case tonight, it was sustained from the kickoff to the end.”

Cornerback Jermaine Waller, who outmuscled UNC wide receiver Justin Olson to intercept Howell in what would be his first of a career-high three pick night for the Heisman contender, stood in awe when talking about the sold out Lane Stadium crowd.

“It’s like no other,” the junior cornerback said when talking about the atmosphere. “I feel for people who can’t experience it.”

“It was nuts,” linebacker Dax Hollifield said. The North Carolina native caught Howell’s second interception of the evening.

“Half the time I couldn’t talk,” Hollifield continued “I had to go up to the defensive line (to tell them) we’re in this, because they couldn’t hear me from five feet away. I had to whisper in their ear. It was incredible, the atmosphere was nothing like I’ve seen in my life.”

Quarterback Braxton Burmeister, who went 12-for-19 while throwing for 169 yards and a touchdown, agreed with Fuente’s thoughts on the crowd when Tech had possession.

“The fans do an amazing job,” he said with a chuckle. “We were on the goal line at one point and I don’t think my offensive line could hear me, and we were on offense. They’re absolutely amazing.”

It was the first time the Oregon transfer had ever played in a jam-packed Lane Stadium. He sat out the 2019 season due to NCAA transfer rules, and only played in 2020 in front of a handful of fans due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I don’t think UNC could hear anything,” the La Jolla, Calif. native continued. “Sam Howell’s trying to make calls at the line, the lineman were turning around...they help us out a ton.”

As far as the game itself, despite it being just a one score margin, Virginia Tech thoroughly dominated the majority of the contest. And it actually had a couple of chances to put the game away late.

As Tech led 17-10 with 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, a Tayvion Robinson touchdown was called back on third down after his foot landed out of bounds. And a few plays later, John Parker Romo missed a 31-yard field goal that he pushed too far to the right.

It was the first time the Hokies had beaten a Top-10 opponent inside Lane Stadium since No. 9 Miami came to town in 2009, and just the second time Tech had knocked off a ranked opponent inside Lane Stadium in the Fuente era.

For Tech, it was crucial that it would get off to an early start. And that’s exactly what happened as the offense drove 75 yards down the field in 8 plays on its opening drive that was capped off by a Burmeister four-yard touchdown to quickly put the home team up 7-0 before the Tar Heels touched the ball.

It wasn’t until just over three minutes remained in the first half when the Hokies struck again. Burmiester, the 6-foot-1, 205-pounder, found star tight end James Mitchell in the back of the end zone on a third-and-goal from the 11-yard line to give Tech a commanding 14-0 lead.

That’s how the first half ended, with the Hokies having controlled the entirety of the first 30 minutes. They moved the football, kept the Heels off the field, and were able to drain the clock down each and every possession.

“We had a great game plan going into the game,” Burmeister said. “We’ve been practicing huddling and breaking the huddle late.”

“When the clock was running we kind of wanted to keep it running,” added Fuente, who devised similar game plans against both Clemson and Virginia to close out the 2020 season. “We wanted to manipulate the tempo, but by and large we wanted to slow it down a little bit.”

Tech dominated the time of possession throughout the first half, controlling the ball for 10 more minutes than the Tar Heels did. The plan was clear, keep the ball out of both Howell and what was supposed to be a potent North Carolina offenses’ hands.

“Basically, the first half I felt like, I mean this is not literal, but I felt like the offense played the whole first half,” Fuente expressed.” The defense played the whole second half. We tried to deliberately keep the ball away from North Carolina, a little bit. It worked well in the first half.”

Tech’s relentlessness to stay on the field was what contributed to the highly executed game plan. The Hokies were a perfect 6-for-6 on third downs in the first half, and were able to keep drives alive for most of the evening.

Aside from the Waller interception, the third quarter passed by with little to talk about. That was until North Carolina finally got on the board when Howell hit Josh Downs on a tunnel screen that resulted in a house call 37 yards later with over four minutes remaining, which gave Howell the all-time passing touchdown lead in program history.

UNC and Howell, who is projected to go No. 7 overall in the 2022 NFL Draft by ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr., trailed 17-7 at that point and weren’t going to go down without a fight. He led the Tar Heels all the way down the field, but the drive stalled at the 14-yard line after a costly sack and forced UNC head coach Mack Brown to send Grayson Atkins out for a 31-yard field goal to make it 17-10.

After Tech’s next drive fizzled out at its own 49-yard line, the Heels received one final chance. Howell had to go 87 yards and over three minutes to work with, including all three timeouts. For a game that could’ve been long over, North Carolina was going to get one final shot.

Howell converted a crucial fourth-and-11 with two minutes remaining at his own 42 yard line. But after North Carolina worked its way to the opposing 40, the Tar Heels luck ran out.

Howell rolled to his right trying to escape the pressure from Clemson transfer Jordan Williams, before forcing the issue and throwing his third interception of the day right into the bread basket of Tech’s Chamarri Conner — wearing the infamous No. 25 for former head coach Frank Beamer.

Virginia Tech had completed the upset, as UNC had no answer to the attack of the Tech defensive front all night long. Fuente, too, picked up arguably his biggest victory in Blacksburg since arriving on campus in December 2015.

The game meant so much more than just knocking off the 10th-best team in the country, though. It meant that college football was finally back at Lane Stadium. It meant that the Hokie Nation was finally brought back together. And it meant that the Virginia Tech program is still alive and well, as it knock off a program that had as much optimism as any team in the country heading into the season.

“I'm awfully proud of our football team,” Fuente said with a grin on his face. “For a game that nobody thought we could win. The group that most people had given up on, to come out and play like that really makes me proud.”

“It’s what we expected,” Hollifeld added. “Nobody believed in us, I know that. We weren’t shocked by it.”