Virginia Tech Is Ready For Some Football

We just wrapped up our second week of classes at Virginia Tech and it's great to be back. They unveiled a humble memorial located on the drillfield in front of Buruss Hall, the centerpiece building on campus. Banners scrawled with support and sorrow line our corridor walls, as well as Plexiglas-encased instructions on how to react should a catastrophe occur. There hasn't been any directly visible increase to on-campus security, which is relieving to see. Walking to class for the first time this semester I halfway expected to see a police officer at every entrance nosing through randomly selected backpacks, which of course is totally unnecessary. It was pretty refreshing being able to casually move from class to class again.

The town as a whole has generally tried to move forward as best it can, but we haven't had that breakthrough, triumphant moment since returning. That moment comes tomorrow; our first football game since the shootings. As any returning Hokie could tell you, football is the backbone of our fall semester. Your weekly planner had better damn well have "Kickoff" in bold red lettering, unless you're really not interested in going to a 66,233 person bash. Lane Stadium has the reputation of being one of the loudest stadiums in all of sports, but Saturday is going to be one for the books. We've been waiting for this day for four and a half long, sobering months and we will certainly be heard.

If there's anything this town needs right now it's a couple of blocked punts and maybe Xavier Adibi running back a pick for a touchdown. VT is the clear favorite to take the conference in a weak ACC this season, but the expectations for this team exceed simple wins and losses. They're playing with their heads up, trying their best to embody that lunch pail mentality. Win or lose, this season will be successful if only to give us the breath of fresh air we were all so much in need of.