Look beyond Hurricanes hype

Two games into the season, the talking heads who are the national media face of college football are singing the same refrain: Miami is back, and watch out for the Hurricanes.

Without a doubt, in Randy Shannon's third year as coach of the storied program, Miami (2-0) looks to have hit its stride, with much of the credit due first-year offensive coordinator Mark Whipple, who has brought an NFL-type mentality and boosted the play of quarterback Jacory Harris.

While all have been hailing the play of the Hurricanes, the opposite is true about Virginia Tech.

The Hokies (2-1) and quarterback Tyrod Taylor, somewhat limited offensively even on the best of days, were hammered statistically in a 10-point season-opening loss to Alabama and got incredibly lucky to escape with a narrow home victory last week over Nebraska.

And while the Hurricanes' bandwagon is standing-room only and the Hokies have lots of empty seats, my recommendation is to take Virginia Tech as a 3-point home underdog today.

There are a number of reasons for my support of coach Frank Beamer and the Hokies in the historical and technical categories.

First of all, this is one of those "culture shock" games played in college football each season. The hills of Blacksburg bear little resemblance to the swank of South Beach, and, quite frankly, Blacksburg has been like a black hole historically to Miami. The game-time forecast also calls for temperatures around 60 and a 90 percent chance of rain.

Virginia Tech, 25-12 against the spread versus ranked opponents since 1999, is expected to get a much-needed boost on defense with the return of All-Atlantic Coast Conference cornerback Stephen Virgil.

Miami has covered just once in the past eight meetings against Virginia Tech, scoring more than 16 points one time in the past six years.

Four more plays for today (home team in CAPS):

• RICE (+7) over Vanderbilt: The Owls lost virtually all the key pieces from last year's record-setting offense, but they showed signs of jelling last week in a 41-24 loss at Oklahoma State. The Owls actually outgained the Cowboys, 377-351.

Rice is 27-9 against the spread as a home underdog since 1992 and 10-3 ATS as a single-digit 'dog since the start of the 2006 season.

• Texas Tech (+1) over HOUSTON: The Red Raiders stood toe to toe with second-ranked Texas last week in Austin and now travel to play the Cougars of Conference USA.

Texas Tech has rebounded nicely off losses in recent years, having compiled a 25-12 ATS record in this role since 1999. Mike Leach will be primed to put the Cougars in their proper place in the Lone Star State pecking order.

• OREGON STATE (-21/2) over Arizona: No question the Beavers have disappointed to date, but they are historically slow starters, mostly because of each year's influx of junior college transfers.

Oregon State is 21-9 ATS as a Pacific-10 Conference home favorite since 2000 and 8-3 ATS off a straight-up loss since 2006. Arizona will be breaking in a new quarterback in Michigan State transfer Nick Foles and also got official word that tight end Rob Gronkowski is out for the year.

• NORTH TEXAS (+61/2) over Middle Tennessee: The Blue Raiders have been the toast of the Sun Belt Conference the past two weeks, recording outright victories over Memphis and Maryland.

Middle Tennessee, however, finds itself in a Maryland-Troy sandwich. Plus, North Texas is a vastly improved team when freshman Riley Dodge is at quarterback, and he will be again this week.

Last week: 2-3 against the spread

Season: 4-11

Texas-based handicapper Paul Stone of Vegassportsauthority.com is providing college football analysis for the Las Vegas Review-Journal this season.