Following their then-shocking loss to North Carolina (it doesn’t seem so bad now, considering the rebound the Tar Heels have made,) Virginia Tech’s coaches and players met to address what they needed to do to finish out the season successfully.

It wasn’t a question of talent or effort, it was simply a matter of not giving up after devastating back-to-back losses that knocked the Hokies out of the running for the Coastal Division title.

Mission accomplished.

No. 14 Virginia Tech enters Saturday’s game at Virginia on a three-game winning streak and still regarded as one of the best teams in the country, despite its place behind Georgia Tech this year in the ACC standings. Coach Frank Beamer is hoping the Hokies maintain their effort through the end of the season, and didn’t spend this week working on any particular trouble spots.

“We’ve really got the makings of a good football team,” Beamer said. “We can run on defense, we have some playmakers on offense, we’re kicking the ball well, and we’ve been able to cover kicks and return kicks fairly well. That’s what I’ve been proud of -- our football team has continued to give effort, and you have to have that to make improvement, to get better, and we played a very good football game (against NC State) Saturday.”

They should play another complete game on Saturday against their struggling rival. Virginia Tech has won nine of the past 10 games in the series and is in the midst of its 12th straight season with at least eight wins. Virginia came up with gimmick plays that were effective in the first half against Clemson, but odds are it won’t be enough to last against the Hokies’ defense, either. Beamer is right -- there is little the Hokies need to fix heading into their regular-season finale. At this point, it’s just a matter of staying on track.