The Nebraska VT left me with same feeling as the Days Inn Christiansburg.

It started off nice (free internet, promising lobby, buy one get one free dixie cavern coupons) but once inside my room things looked like real dog shit - the TV couldn’t show the top six inches of the screen, there were absolutely no towels, big slash down the middle of one of the fabric chairs in the room, and the clock displayed illogical digits such as “hO:IL”. It was the hospitality equivalent of our offense on Saturday — but really the Days Inn was all I deserved and likewise a 16-15 victory is all we deserved after the stain our offense left on the field.

Of course the ending of the game will go down in Hokie lore as one of the greatest home finishes, but those of us who watched every snap will know the game was anything but spectacular. Stinestabmyselfintheeye once again proved his inability to prepare for big games and call diverse plays. The opening drive (fueled mainly by a special teams return) may have been a promising start but everything thereafter was a three and out headshake. Horrible play call decisions and failed executions had a few Husker fans near me laughing out “we love this guy Stinespring, he really helps us win games.”

Then of course there was the final drive… but with only “U0:5L” left on the clock Stinespring was effectively removed from his role as O.C. … Down by 5 with less than 1:30 to go you don’t play patty-cake-horse-crap football like he had been calling all game, you go big and choose the Madden 2003 equivalent of “Hot Route” and doing it won the game. That’s exactly what we did, without any help from Bryan Stinespring.

I couldn’t help but feel a little bit dirty after the game ended. Exhausted, pacing back and forth with hands shaking, I felt like I had done something wrong or perhaps I had forgotten that I left an old relative sitting in the rain at a bus stop. I doubt the feeling would be as pronounced if we won games in that fashion more often but really we aren’t a last drive comeback team (sure we all remember the Miracle in Morgantown but that was 10 years ago). Don’t get me wrong, I’ll happily take the “W” but I know we have a lot to fix between now and Saturday when #9 Miami rolls in to town with signs that their swagger has returned.

I still have full faith in the team. Our defense continues to perform beyond expectations and the fans have shown that we have the best 12th (and maybe 13th) man in college football but we will need Tyrod to show some improvement and perhaps the best start would be if we can cut the line from Stinespring’s play calling booth to the field.

I suppose in the end we left the field on a high note… so Go Hokies! - great win - now let’s get on with the ACC.