Pre-game Buildup
Virginia Tech quarterback Marcus Vick was predicted to be the key player for the favored Virginia Tech Hokies in pregame discussion. Vick had led the Hokies to a fifth place national ranking and an offense that earned 610 rushing yards in the final two games of the regular season. Off the field, the matchup between head coaches also was a point of interest. At the time, Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden was the winningest active head coach in college football, while Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer was the third-winningest. Beamer had never defeated Bowden in a game. Before the game, Beamer was named the ACC's 2005 Coach of the Year for the second consecutive year.
In addition, the game was a rematch of the 2000 BCS National Championship Game. In that game, held in New Orleans, Louisiana, Florida State defeated Virginia Tech 46–29 despite the performance of Hokie quarterback Michael Vick, who would later be selected as the first overall pick in the 2001 NFL Draft. Vick's brother, Marcus, would be the Hokies' starter at quarterback for the 2005 ACC Championship Game.
Read more about this topic: 2005 ACC Championship Game
Famous quotes containing the word buildup:
“I think those Southern writers [William Faulkner, Carson McCullers] have analyzed very carefully the buildup in the South of a special consciousness brought about by the self- condemnation resulting from slavery, the humiliation following the War Between the States and the hope, sometimes expressed timidly, for redemption.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)