LCB CFB Picks: #3 Boise St. vs. #10 Virginia Tech

(3) Boise State Broncos v (10) Virginia Tech Hokies @ 8:00 p.m. on ESPN:

Teach: I'll go ahead and declare my bias outright. I don't think I've ever pulled for a Virginia Tech football team in any game; in fact, I don't think I've ever even been indifferent to the result of a Hokie game. I dislike their colors, their coaches, and their players. I even hate the hokie pokie because it feels like some illegal recruiting tool used to brainwash preschoolers into believing Beamer ball is the best ball, only Beamer ball hasn't really added up to much other than a bunch of worthless Bowl appearances. Plus, anytime Boise St. plays against one of the traditional BCS schools or conferences it feels like the Mighty Ducks are lining up to play the Hawks. How do you root against Gordon Bombay in a game like this, even if Boise St. is in the D2 stage of their metamorphosis?

The one positive I have to say about Virginia Tech is that they are unafraid to schedule tough early opponents. Last year, they opened against eventual national champion Alabama, losing 34-24.  In 2007, LSU manhandled them to the tune of 48-7. In 2004, they lost to USC 24-13 in the season opener, but in 2002 and 2003, they did have early nonconference wins against the likes of LSU and Texas A&M; of course, the Aggies only won four games that year and LSU finished 2002 8-5, which leads one to the conclusion that Beamer's Hokies rarely beat great teams, if ever. They've beaten good teams and mediocre teams, but when they've played a national championship caliber team, they've been laughed off the field, as has the rest of the ACC for most of the last decade.

So looking at the past as a reference point, if the Hokies win, can't we assume that Boise St. was a bit overhyped coming into the 2010 season ranked number three in the country and that the verdict on Beamer ball is still yet to be determined, and that if Boise St. wins in solid fashion, then maybe we can quit tossing the words "great" and "elite" around in association with the Hokie football program, that is until they actually affect the national title hunt in their post-Michael Vick era.

But with all that said, I am picking Virginia Tech to win this game, which will be played on what is essentially home turf for the Hokies: the game is in Maryland, and it's not that Boise St. has not played a tough opening game to a season before--last year they beat a ranked Oregon team to get things rolling, but it occurred on their holy, blue turf, and they beat Oregon a few years ago in Autzen Stadium. But that was all before Boise St. discovered their inner Adam Banks.  They shocked the world in 2006 with their win against Oklahoma, that had them using everything from the flying V to the statue of liberty, but since then, they've become as much the hunted as the hunter.  They've been in big games, but never have they started the season with so much at stake, more talent, and more predictability. They lose 24-21, giving up too many yards on the ground to Tech's stable of running backs.

Langston:
The Hokies have home-field advantage, the defense, the premier athletes of the Commonwealth, and the big name head coach. Boise State is clearly doomed. They're not sneaking up on anyone any longer, they don't have their turf to distract opponents, their trick plays that have given them an edge against top-tier opposition won't surprise any longer; all of this is true. However, they aren't doomed to throw away their highest preseason ranking in school history in September, that is Tech's job.

Since 2004, Tech has started almost every season in prime position to make a run at their first BCS title appearance sans Michael Vick. And time-after-time they have blown it early in the season. There was the Bama game last year, the ECU game the year before, LSU in 2007, Georgia Tech in 2006 (they waited until November to blow it against Miami in 2005), and USC in 2004. So why would 2010 be any different? I have absolutely no clue, and that's why I'm picking those (once) tricky Broncos from Boise. 20-17