Don Petersen / AP

Virginia Tech players had plenty to celebrate against Miami on Saturday.

OPINION

By Matt Crossman

updated 2:08 a.m. ET Sept. 27, 2009

BLACKSBURG, Va. - With the field saturated after hours of hard rain, Saturday was not a good day for a running back to plant his feet at Lane Stadium, unless he wanted to go sliding sideways.

Plant, splash.

Virginia Tech running back Ryan Williams planted anyway after he took a handoff inside the 5 early in his team's key ACC matchup against Miami (Fla). He slammed both feet down — they stuck — and he leapt. He went airborne at the 2, bounced catawumpus, pinballed off a couple defenders and landed three yards deep in the end zone.

Within the game, it was a huge play, converting a Miami turnover into a crucial early lead and eventual 31-7 blowout. Symbolically, it was even bigger. With that leap — and the subsequent rout — the Hokies left their early-season malaise behind and made a statement to the rest of the ACC:

• This is still Virginia Tech's conference.

ACC denizens tried to convince themselves otherwise, first by jumping on the Georgia Tech bandwagon, and when that careened into a ditch, leaping from there to Miami's bandwagon. That one is in the ditch now, too. Every time another ACC team stakes a claim to the top billing in the conference, that claim is short-lived.

Plant, slide.

The Hokies heard everybody else's hype, and it hacked them off.

"We knew what everybody was saying," said Matt Reidy, who picked up a blocked punt at the 1-yard line and walked it in for a touchdown. "We came in with a little chip on our shoulder. Either way, we had to play just as good as we could."

They did that, and then some.

Plant, smack.

The Hokies looked every bit the ACC's best team. They dominated all three phases of the game.

"The way we won together as a football team, with all areas contributing, I like that a lot," coach Frank Beamer said.

Virginia Tech's defense hounded the heretofore stellar Miami offense. With a handful of pretty, perfectly placed passes, Miami quarterback Jacory Harris showed his first two stellar weeks were no fluke. But with forced throws, missed receivers, an interception, a fumble and the lack of a TD pass, he showed the first two weeks weren't a complete picture, either.

The swarming Hokies defense manhandled the slight Harris. Other ACC teams certainly took notice. Miami has tried to bulk up Harris, but that will take time. He's still so skinny at 6-4, 190 pounds that even in Saturday's downpour he had to run around to get wet.

Considering the field conditions — it rained all day before the game and all during the game, and however hard it appeared to be raining on TV, double that — it's perhaps unwise to bury Miami. Still, both teams played soaking wet, and only one was singing its fight song in the rain afterward. Whatever difference the rain made, this is certain: The Hokies staggered Miami's swagger.

Plant, slap.

All of this proved the ACC remains Virginia Tech's domain. The same old boring, defensive-mind, special teams-ruling Hokies are still the class of the conference.

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