BLACKSBURG — All week, Virginia Tech’s football coaches harped on it. Don’t look ahead to Clemson. Focus on Old Dominion.Moments after the Hokies’ 38-0 win over ODU on Saturday, the players considered that restriction lifted.
“Now we can finally talk about it,” junior defensive tackle Ricky Walker said. “Now it’s on to the next week and the national champions are coming to Lane, Blacksburg. It’s time to go to work.”
No. 2 Clemson (4-0), the reigning national champion, makes its first appearance at Lane Stadium since 2011 for this rematch of the ACC title game. ESPN’s “College GameDay” pregame show returns to Blacksburg for the first time since 2007.
As was expected — presuming both teams won their games that day — the network announced Saturday night that its popular morning show would do its 9 a.m. broadcast featuring Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso and Desmond Howard from Tech’s campus for the first time since the 2007 season opener against East Carolina.
That was the Hokies’ first game following the mass shooting on campus the previous April. In all, ESPN has brought “College GameDay” to Blacksburg five times and the Hokies are 4-1 in those games.
This will be the first appearance for “College GameDay” in Virginia since it visited Harrisonburg in 2015 to broadcast from James Madison, before the Dukes’ 59-49 loss to Richmond, a rare FCS appearance by the ESPN bunch.
Of course, the pregame show is just the sideshow. The main event matches two teams that squared off in Orlando, Fla., in last year’s ACC championship game, which Clemson won 42-35. The Tigers went on to the College Football Playoff, beating Ohio State and then Alabama to win the national title.
“Last year was a tough one, so we have it in the back our head every day,” Walker said.
Clemson, which beat Boston College 34-7 on Saturday, lost quarterback Deshaun Watson, running back Wayne Gallman and wide receivers Mike Williams and Artavis Scott from last year’s championship squad.
Still, the Tigers are undefeated and have a pair of wins over ranked opponents — Auburn and Louisville — already to their credit this year.
Junior Kelly Bryant has taken over at quarterback, Travis Etienne is starring at running back and Deon Cain and Ray-Ray McCloud give the Tigers big-play potential at receiver. Clemson is averaging 37.8 points per game.
Read more >>> http://www.richmond.com/sports/college/acc/virginia-tech-and-espn-turn-focus-to-saturday-night-matchup/article_0a7721c8-5f98-5d37-9547-bdb2efd51083.html
