Remember the catch phrase from the spring of 2008, when everybody in the ACC rallied around the Hokies to show sympathy for the people at Virginia Tech after the tragedy on their campus?
I was thinking about that phrase today, heading into tonight's UNC at VPI football game on ESPN.
It's a funny situation. Naturally, Duke fans enjoy watching UNC fail at any sport. And make no mistake about it, Butch Davis' football team is failing big-time. A preseason top 25 pick and regarded as one of the preseason favorites in the Coast Division (one of the reasons they are on back-to-back Thursday night ESPN games), they are 4-3 (with two 1-AA wins) and 0-3 in the ACC.
It would be sweet to see Virginia Tech lay a hurting on them tonight, dropping them to 4-4 and 0-4 in the ACC.
However, I know it's a longshot, but it would actually help Duke if the Tar Heels upset the Hokies. We are 2-1 in the ACC with upcoming games against the other one-loss teams in the Coastal Division -- Virginia this week and Georgia Tech on Nov. 14. The one one-loss team we can't do anything about is Virginia Tech -- even if we end up tied with them, they'd have the first tiebreaker because of their head-to-head victory in Wade.
So if you think Duke has any chance to contend for the division title, we need somebody to beat Virginia Tech.
But does it have to be Carolina?
My thinking is that we'll know better in a few weeks if Duke has any chance to make a title run. Beat Virginia this week and at UNC a week later and our pipe dream will look a lot more viable heading into Georgia Tech's Nov. 14 visit to Wade. The nightmare is to pull for UNC tonight, then have us lose at Virginia Saturday -- that would negate the whole reason for pulling for the Heels.
If it comes to that, we can still pull for Russell Wilson to go nuts in Blacksburg on Nov. 21 or for Virginia to get their rivals in Charlottesville on the 28th.
So anyway, that's my justification for making myself a Hokie fan for one night ... not that a Duke fan ever needs a justification to pull against the Heels.