ORLANDO, Fla. _ Well, this started very awkwardly. Kind of like going to a Fourth of July fireworks spectacular on the beach and instead the highlight of the evening turns out to be some guy setting off some sparklers on a sand dune.
Boooring.
Hey, I'm all for de-fense! But admittedly, it's disconcerting when you expect a blip of that for 60 minutes and four quarters but instead punts and stops and field goals turn out to be the soundtrack of the evening festivities.
One of the most proficient offenses in the country went up against a defense that was supposed to be accommodating in the Camping World Bowl at Camping World Stadium Thursday night.
Virginia Tech would have none of that. At least not in the first half when the Hokies allowed only 13 points to the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
And then things clicked, and boom! Fireworks!
Whew. We were worried for a while.
The Cowboys scored on their first possession of the second half and then took only four plays and 54 seconds to ring up another score on a 65-yard pass play from Mason Rudolph to James Washington.
Justice Hill's run of 31 yards on a third-down play in the closing minutes of the game, leading to a Matt Ammendola 38-yard field goal, finally closed things out.
Oklahoma State 30, Virginia Tech 21.
Thanks, everybody. I was worried for a while, along with a good number of the 39,610 fans who watched on a cozy-chilly night. (No snickering. Anything around 60 degrees is cold. We're from Florida.)
The second half made everything right, turning the "Sunshine State Slobber Knocker Classic" into the "Sunshine State Sizzler" as we expected:
A fun shindig with a ping-pong bouncy feel to the scoreboard.
The over-under for the Virginia Tech offense was 46.3, the number of points the Cowboys were averaging coming into the game. But maybe the most telling number was 5.5 _ the point spread favoring the Cowboys.
Vegas rarely gives away free money. But the Cowboys eventually made the bookies _ and the Hokies _ pay.
The Cowboys brought their version of The Triplets to Orlando: Rudolph, the nation's passing yardage leader (4,553 yards); Washington, the Biletnikoff Award-wide receiver with 69 catches for 1,423 yards and 12 touchdowns; and Hill (245 carries for 1,347 yards and 14 TDs).
Rudolph, a senior closing out his third season as a starter, had been extremely nifty this season. Rudolph was the QB leading the FBS in passing yards per game, averaging 392.3
"You look at their wide receivers, running backs, big NFL quarterback," Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuente said before the game. "They push the tempo and score points in bunches.
"That's not to say that they aren't good in the other phases of the game. They are. They're very sound and well-prepared and they've done a fantastic job. That's why they're in the situation that they're in."
But the Hokies had the perfect counter-punch with a solid group of defenders that has surrendered only 13.5 points (fifth-fewest in the nation) and 305.3 yards per game (11th in the nation).
The Cowboys were off-balance from the get-go, settling for two field goals on their first four possessions before finally clicking on a TD on a 1-yard Justice plunge after a 50-yard pass completion from Rudolph to Marcell Ateman.
And then came the second half when the world was finally in balance. Oklahoma State finishes with 10 victories for a third consecutive season. Well-played, Cowboys.
In any sport, it's not how you start, but how you finish.
Thanks for the fireworks, everybody. Time to go home and thaw out.
