VIRGINIA TECH REPORT: It’s halftime in Blacksburg

5:20 P.M., HALFTIME THOUGHTS
Virginia Tech’s up 14-9. Some quick halftime thoughts before I get back to writing my first-half notes for tomorrow’s newspaper.

Virginia Tech’s run offense looks good. The blocking is much better, and RB Darren Evans and QB Tyrod Taylor are both playmakers in the backfield. You’ll be hearing a lot from both of those guys this year, provided they stay injury free.

Evans’ TD run in the second quarter was one of the best runs I’ve seen in a while. Right guard Sergio Render pulled and made a key block on GT’s Dominique Reese, and Hokies WR Dyrell Roberts blocked Mario Butler long enough to allow Evans to get into the end zone.

The Hokies scored another touchdown right before halftime when Taylor, on third-and-goal with no timeouts left and only 10 seconds on the clock, eluded the grasp of Tony Clark and ran past Kyle Jackson into the end zone.

Other notes …
DT John Graves blocked a kick for the third time in three games. He’s the first player in the Frank Beamer era to accomplish the feat.

Macho Harris played a couple of downs on offense. He caught a pass on Tech’s first play for a loss of a yard.

3:08 P.M., MORE PREGAME ... HOKIES WEARING ORANGE
I could have sworn Frank Beamer saying the Hokies would never wear orange jerseys again. Well, Nike must have made him reconsider. Tech is wearing orange jersey tops (with maroon trim on the shoulders and down the side) and white pants.

The Hokies’ starters were introduced on the jumbotron 35 minutes before kickoff, but they failed to introduce a quarterback. Guess Beamer wants to keep the fans and media in the dark about that until the first offensive snap.

Defensive end Jason Worilds and linebacker Cam Martin, though listed as probable for today’s game, will be on the bench to start. Nekos Brown is expected to start in place of Worilds and Cody Grimm in place of Martin.

2:21 P.M., PREGAME PREDICTION TIME
Uh oh. The national media is calling for another Hokies upset today. We know what happened the first time that happened. SI’s Stewart Mandell and ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit predicted the season-opening loss to ECU. Herbstreit and fellow ESPN talking head Mark May said on today’s “Gameday” program that Georgia Tech would win today.

Not really a far-fetched prediction, considering Georgia Tech is coming off a big road win against Boston College and the Hokies were a bit underwhelming offensively against Division I-AA, sorry Football Championship Subdivision, team Furman.

The Yellow Jackets could make a big statement with a win today. Coming out of Blacksburg with another road ACC win, after winning on the road against defending Atlantic Division champion BC, would propel them right into the driver’s seat in the Coastal Division. And with as good as North Carolina looked on Thursday night at Rutgers, the Jackets and Heels could be the favorites to make the ACC championship game.

Virginia Tech can ill afford to lose today with a game at UNC next week and then a road trip to Lincoln, Nebraska, to play the Cornhuskers the following Saturday.

I see the Hokies winning today’s game, though. I don’t see Tech having trouble with GT’s option-based spread. The Jackets have some good offensive players, particularly B-back Jonathan Dwyer, but they don’t have the weapons to make the offense work like Paul Johnson’s Naval Academy’s units did when he was in Annapolis.

The big matchup will be VT’s offense against GT’s defense. The Yellow Jackets are strong up front, with seven sacks so far, and good in the secondary, with four interceptions. A mistake-free game from the Hokies’ offense is imperative for them to come out victorious.

I think they will. Prediction: Virginia Tech 20, Georgia Tech 13.