Frank Beamer prepares to lead the Virginia Tech Hokies onto the field. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ohio State/Va Tech Football - It is definitely unique, no one-of-a-kinds here, except maybe for Tech's cheer.

Watching the Midshipmen brigade go marching out onto the field there in Baltimore is indeed a spectacle. Then you have the sing-along by all the players as well as the Ohio State/Navy alma maters, followed by handshakes. Now all the emotional trappings of the game have ended.

Saturday night begins a whole new season as the Buckeyes will come to see:

Ohio St. vs. Va. Tech - Beamer ball versus Urban Renewal. It takes place under the lights there on ESPN, at the Horseshoe, with Lou Holtz and Mark May arguing as they always do on camera, and then awarding the helmet stickers later on. It is much like the battle promotions the Navy men will experience one day.

With Al Quaida and Isis being such a threat, having a game that pits you against any service academy tugs at the heart strings a little. In a way it makes the Navy game a bit more befitting a Memorial Day event than a Labor Day event.

Now that is passed, and Urban Meyer from Ohio State, in his usual no-nonsense way of talking as the head coach, says that his players are no longer newcomers to their roles, but they're veterans. No more excuses the game is on.

Virginia Tech's program is something most college fans know. Coach Frank Beamer has a fanatical focus on special teams, and his fond remembrance of days in the past when Michael Vick took things totally off-script with his mad ad-libbing.

Virginia Tech is pretty much like everybody else, except for that peculiar school cheer that says "Hokie!! Hokie!! Hi!! Tech!! VPI!! They used to be known as 'Virginia Polytechnic Institute'.

Meyer stated this, "Somebody told me that all the excuses showed up last week. You didn't hear it much from us. Nine new offensive starters. The great thing is this - They aren't nine new starters any more, they're veterans now. Enough excuses, let's get going."