The Charlotte Observer du lieu suivant : Charlotte, North Carolina • 49

rjQTUj itf ii yuriTiTH iujii (iiy i The Charlotte Observer charlotteobservercom SPORTS Sunday Decerrber 5 2010 4- 13C ACC title game a winner from 1C It was almost all you could want Although if dreaming it could have been 60 degrees instead of 35 and purely from the local-angle standpoint we could have used NC State playing instead of Honda State By contract the ACC championship returns to Charlotte next year and will be played Dee 3 2011 Beyond that no guarantee But a game like this should show ACC and school officials that Charlotte is the ideal place for the permanent home Charlotte is within a four-hour drive of two-thirds of the ACC schools the heart of ACC country The ACC championship game took six years to find its rightful home but it found that home Saturday night It should never leave again Scott Fowler 704 358 5140 sfowlercharlotteobserver com Virginia Tech quarterback Tyrod Taylor the best player in the ACC in 2010 and easily the best player in this game dipped darted and drove the Hokies to one TD after another "Just a tremendous quai Bcamer kept calling Taylor afterward and the comparisons to former Hokie star Michael Vick certainly seemed apt "I just kept using my legs to buy a little time" said Taylor who threw three touchdown passes and ran for a fourth On the few times that Taylor was stopped it seemed like a mistake(Vir-gima Tech converted on 13 of its first 15 third-down attempts The game featured a big play every three minutes There were juggling catches 50-yard runs 45-yard passes a 100-yard return off a blocked extra point and barely any penalties Montgomery Gentry fired up several liousand folks in a free pre-game con-ert outside the stadium And then came the football 77 Hunts worth of it There were literally nore touchdowns scored in the first iilf (five) than the Carolina Panthers iverage in a month and more TDs in he game (10) than the Panthers cored in the first nine games of their eason It was football the likes of which Ins stadium seen in 2010 an well-played liootout Honda star QB Christian surprisingly did not play at all Juc to continuing arm problems but ackup EJ Manuel filled in ably JEFF SINER jsmer a charlotteobservercom Virginia Tech quarterback Tyrod Taylor celebrates after the Hokies beat Florida State for the ACC championship Saturday in Charlotte Taylor threw three touchdown passes and ran for a fourth ICC Notebook Swofford pleased with full house By Ron Green Jr rgreenr(g)charlotteobservercom ACC commissioner John Swofford offered eneouraging words ibout effort to establish itself as a permanent home for the ACC football championship though he said the league is still evaluating what it will do with the game the future Charlotte will host the game again next year as part of its original two-year contract with the igue The league played three championship games in Jacksonville Ha and two more in Tampa Ha before coming to Charlotte Swofford said he was pleased by the sellout Saturday night a neutral site the sale of tickets in a local area before the teams are announced becomes more Swofford said here are a lot of encouragmg points but that is a critical one and one we will keep our eye on next year as we look forward Here you have a great venue that is within walking distance of a lot of hotels and restaurants Uptown harlotte is very appealing Add that to the fact in the geographic center of the league and you have eight schools within a 300-mile driving radius it increases the percentages of you having at least one team an anchor team in terms of selling Despite mixed results during the five-year stay in Honda Swofford would not rule out returning to the state With the league champion locked into the Orange Bowl in Miami (barring an appearance the national championship game) there have been suggestions that playing the ACC title game in Honda forces many fans to make a choice about which of two trips to make learn some things as you go along and realize maybe you have all your thinking correct at the time 1 loridn is a great football state People talk about itchups our game still is to some degree what I call participants Swoltord said you want is to have a situation that is less participant sensitive The game is going to be successful from an attendance standpoint regardless of Swofford said it will be up to league schools to decide if they want to continue to rotate the game find a permanent site such as Charlotte or play at on-campus sites 1 he will play its championship game on campus when it begins next year game is still relatively young and evolving and a full house is another step in the right direction for this game what a championship game should have keep working at Swofford said LOCAL HEROES 'Hie ACC honored two servicemen with local ties Hugh Conlon and Todd Butcher as part of the Wounded Warrior project Hugh McColl and Harvey Gantt members of the Charlotte football organizing committee participated in the ceremony Conlon is a retired Army medic who did tours in Panama and Iraq while Butcher is a retired guardsman who was deployed to Iraq This was the sixth year the ACC has included Wounded Warriors in the pre-game coin toss GIVING IT AWAY Hie gear of the losing team will be shipped overseas as part of the participation in the World Gifts program Hie league annually donates approximately 600 items to help third-world countries in their fight against poverty JEFF SINER jsmer a charlotteobserver com Virginia Tech Jarrett Boykin (81) and tailback Darren Evans (32) celebrate touchdown run in the first half Evans who ran 51 yards and 9 yards on consecutive plays bounced off linebacker Mister Alexander on the second run for the touchdown and a 14-3 lead ACC from 1C backer Jcron Gouveia-Winslow intercepted a deflected pass and went 24 yards for a touchdown with 8 minutes 5 seconds remaining in the first quarter to give the Hokies a 7-3 lead Virginia Tech linebacker Bruce Taylor started the play deflecting the pass toward Gouveia-Wtnslow who snagged it and went untouched for the score Virginia Tech began to take control early in the thud quarter Taylor found wide receiver Danny Coale alone behind the Florida Stite defense for a 45-yard touchdown pass before the second half was four minutes old stretching the Virginia Tech lead to 28 17 When he lofted a 21-yard touchdown pass to David Wilson his school-record 23rd scoring pass the Hokies had a 35-17 lead with 443 remaining and had their legion of fans dreaming of a New trip to the Orange Bowl Hie game started with an unexpected twist when Honda State quarterback Christian Bonder was replaced the starting lineup by sophomore Manuel Bothered by an elbow problem for several weeks doctors found blood when they drained fluid from elbow on Hiursday going to jeopardize his future for one said I lsliet whose team will play in the hick-Fil-A Bowl Atlanta Manuel who is being counted on to replace the graduating Bonder next season stepped and completed 23 of 31 passes for 288 yards However the Seminoles (9-4) had difficulty moving the ball in the second half as Viigimu Tech began to dominate The Hokies led 21 17 at halftime getting a defensive touchdown to ignite their evening Trailing 3-0 Virginia Tech line pleting 18 of 27 passes for 263 yards In addition to his three touchdown passes Taylor ran for another score Taylor was at his elusive best escaping defenders finding receivers and tearing holes the stingiest defense were fortunate to have Michael Vick at Virginia Tech fortunate to have Tyrod Taylor at Virginia Beamer said the sideline you get the feeling the next play is going to be a big Hie Hokies continually frustrated the I lorida State defense by converting third-down opportunities Hiey converted 13 of 18 third-down chances including 10 in a row keeps plays alive and he was creating those I lorida State coach limbo I ishcr said got to keep pressure on him and get the ball out of lus as cheerleaders tossed oranges to fans in the stands got a lot of great kids Hiey led us back hank goodness we have a tremendous quarterback He made great plays for us We always play well but we play Hie game was a sellout with 72379 tickets having been sold Officials estimated approximately 65000 Ians were in the stadium Saturday night despite the cold wet conditions Hiey saw a game that crackled with big plays on both sides producing more than 400 yards in combined total offense in the first half Taylor was named the most valuable player after com i.