There wasn’t a whole lot to be gained program wise for Virginia Tech to beat a 6-6 Tulsa team in the Independence Bowl. A loss would have been embarrassing, but new coach Justin Fuente is on the way no matter what the result was. Bud Foster’s defense was shredded to pieces, and gave 52 points over 550 yards of offense. One thing did matter though, and that was sending legendary Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer out a winner.
That was all that mattered and that is what happened in the Hokies 55-52 victory over the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes.
It would have just felt wrong if Beamer and the Hokies lost this game. Nothing against Tulsa, but Beamer deserved to go out a winner in his final game. Frank Beamer who has meant literally everything to the Virginia Tech program got to feel victory one last time.
This wasn’t a very a good Virginia Tech team. Let’s be honest about that, but sitting at 3-5 with multiple road games left, it appeared the Hokies would miss a bowl in Beamer’s final season. To their credit the Hokies played inspired if not great football to win 3 of their final 4 games to get bowl eligible.
That extended the Hokies bowl streak to 23 years. Virginia Tech beat Virginia for the 12th straight year, and won their 2nd straight bowl victory, and 3rd in their last 4 years.
These are things Frank Beamer can point to as his career comes to an end. Yes Virginia Tech had slipped, and a change was probably in order, but Frank Beamer stuck it out until the end of the 2015 season * Cough * “Steve Spurrier” *Cough *, and left a final lesson for his team about resiliency and not quitting.
Justin Fuente looks like a great hire from Memphis. I think he is capable of making Virginia Tech an ACC power again, but he’s got big shoes to fill. Frank Beamer was a great coach, and maybe the season didn’t go as planned, but it ended the way it should with a Virginia Tech victory.
