Final Grades: Alabama

Virginia Tech entered Saturday's season-opener against Alabama as a 21-point underdog and the odds makers got it right as the Crimson Tide used special teams and capitalized on the Hokies' mistakes in a 35-10 victory. Having seen replays and thought it over, here's publisher Jason Stamm's exam of Virginia Tech's loss:

The stat line for senior

Talk about a coming out party, against the top-ranked team in the country. Redshirt freshman

Wow, it's hard to say much of anything positive about this group. There was the 34-yard catch by senior

With the tackles manned by a true freshman (

Against what's been a potent offense, the Hokies were constantly menacing Alabama's

Senior

Plenty of talk leading up to the game was on Alabama's dynamic, all-American receiver,

This position probably needs to be split in two. Kickoff and punt return coverage arguably had two of its worst moments in recent memories, proving 'Beamer Ball' might be all but dead. Jones tore up the Hokies with a 94-yard kickoff return touchdown, in which he looked to run into a pile and then bounce out, untouched and a 72-yard punt return touchdown after VT's first series of the game. Overall, though what saves this position from getting a worse grade was a solid punting night from

There wasn't a lot of head-scratching in this area, perhaps only in the first quarter when in the first two series, nine plays total, Edmunds never got one touch of the ball. Coles even had a carry before Edmunds did. But it was obvious coordinator

The crowd noise, as expected, was deafening at times in the Georgia Dome. But unfortunately for the Hokies, an overwhelming majority of the 73,114 in attendance was pro-Alabama. Virginia Tech had nearly the entire lower section behind the Hokies' bench and certainly got into it in the first half following Edmunds' touchdown and Kyle Fuller's interception. But for Virginia Tech, it'll be nice to get back into the comfy confines of Lane Stadium this weekend.