Will Changes Be for the Better?

Hokies Alter Their Preparations After Recent Bowl Losses

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- When the Virginia Tech football coaching staff got back to work after losing last January's Orange Bowl, Coach Frank Beamer called a meeting to discuss what should be done differently in bowl preparations for the upcoming season. The meeting resulted from consecutive bowl losses to Georgia and Kansas, games in which the Hokies were favored to win.

Virginia Tech will return to the Orange Bowl on Jan. 1 to face Cincinnati, and the plans discussed last January have been installed. Among the major changes:

· The team returned to practice just six days after winning the ACC championship on Dec. 6. Last season, the Hokies took two weeks off before their first full practice.

· Curfew will be midnight during the team's six nights in South Florida. Last season, curfew started off as later than midnight and was scaled down as the game approached.

· Virginia Tech will change its hotel on the eve of the game to avoid distractions and simulate the regular season pregame routine.

"It's just a fact the last two years, we haven't played as well in the bowl game as we played in our last ballgame," Beamer said. "We want to change that around."

Final exams are one week later in 2008 than they were in 2007, so the academic schedule also affected the schedule change. But there was a concerted effort by the coaching staff to return to practice earlier, implement the game plan sooner and spread out practices instead of bundling them together.

The two weeks without a practice last season -- conditioning and lifting filled the interlude -- preceded seven consecutive days of practice.

"When we got back, it felt like we were kind of sluggish on the field," cornerback Macho Harris said. "Now, it feels like we're in game mode."

The Hokies returned to practice on Friday. Three practices in four days were followed by two days off. They will take the field again Thursday and practice until Monday. The team departs for the Orange Bowl on Dec. 26. While in Florida, they will practice six times. Last year, the Hokies had five practices in Florida.

Beamer also gave the seniors a few practices off last season as a reward for their success. Beamer spoke to his seniors this week and told them that will not happen this season. With a young team, Beamer wanted his seniors there to ensure that practices were being run properly.

"You take the leaders out of there, and with so many young guys out there, who's the leaders out in practice?" senior defensive end Orion Martin said.

The change in curfew did not bother the veterans, who understand the negative effect the recent bowl struggles have had on the program's reputation. Harris said the bowl has seemed like a well-earned vacation in the past, but a BCS appearance is no longer enough.

"When we first heard the news [of the curfew], we were like, 'Man, now there's no time to have fun,' " Harris said. "But when you really think about it, from a maturity level, you're down there for really only one purpose: that's to win. We're in Miami, so yeah, we'll have fun. But shoot, after 12 o'clock, bad things happen."

Changing hotels the night before the game is a first for Virginia Tech, according to John Ballein, the associate athletics director for football operations. Ordinarily, the Hokies stay in their designated bowl hotel for the entire week. Different lodging will simulate the regular season, when Virginia Tech stays in a hotel only on the eve of a game. The hotel is in an undisclosed location, which will keep the team away from fans and family.

"It's going to be good to get away somewhere else -- somewhere where there's peace and quiet," Martin said.

Martin said he escaped to the hotel lobby the night before last season's Orange Bowl for a quick drink, but he encountered 10 autograph requests on his way.

None of the changes were impetuous, but all stemmed from losing by a combined 10 points to a pair of highly regarded teams, forcing Beamer to alter plans seldom discussed during the program's ascension.

"We've done it that way for a number of years and we've won some," Beamer said. "But the fact is, we didn't win our last two. So we needed to change something."