Monday night’s Advanced Auto Parts Hokie Hotline featured athletics director Jim Weaver, running backs coach Billy Hite and head coach Frank Beamer. Topics ranged from stadium expansion to Hite’s stable of tailbacks to the West Virginia Mountaineers.

Weaver said that game two went better than game one in Lane Stadium. Nothing is perfect, but things were much better. He said there were a couple of people hurt in the rush of students trying to get into the stadium before kickoff, but other than that things went very smoothly.

Weaver was asked why there hasn’t been a gobbler call over the PA system this season. Weaver wasn’t sure, but said he hasn’t eliminated it. Roth said they might have to get another gobbler to record the sound, because the former might have been lost with stadium expansion.

Weaver said the east side lights will be ready for the Marshall game, but they shouldn’t be needed because it is a noon game. That’s a good thing, because it will allow for plenty of time of testing for the new lights. Weaver went on to say they still were not sure when the west side expansion will be totally completed.

Weaver was asked about scalping, and he said that it is out of the athletic department’s hands. He said there was no law in the town of Blacksburg or Montgomery County against scalping, so Tech has no legal basis to crack down on scalpers.

Weaver was asked why Tech hasn’t scheduled West Virginia to a long term contract. Weaver said there are simply no spots available on either team’s out-of-conference schedule. The schools considered playing a one game series at FedEx Field in Landover, MD, but that will not be possible because the governor of West Virginia has now mandated that WVU and Marshall begin a series against each other.

Weaver was asked if Virginia Tech could ever play Notre Dame. Weaver said he has tried to schedule a series a number of times, but has never been successful. You never know what the future could hold, but nothing has worked out in the past.

The Marshall game will be televised by ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPN360. Which network will depend on the Major League Baseball playoff schedule. The situation will be much clearer on next week’s Hokie Hotline.

Weaver said the GameDay staff was very impressed with Virginia Tech. The decision to come to Blacksburg wasn’t made until late Wednesday night, so a lot had to be done in a short period of time. The task was handled very well at Virginia Tech.

Weaver said he has received numerous emails from Tech fans since Saturday about how some Tech fans are treating visiting fans very poorly. Weaver said this is not acceptable and he is challenging the fan base to do a better job. Virginia Tech doesn’t need this type of behavior to win football games.

Hite said the season is going very well for him. He is proud of the guys he is coaching. Cedric Humes and Mike Imoh are two outstanding competitors who aren’t touching the ball as much as they deserve because there are so many weapons on offense to get the ball to.

Hite said they aren’t rushing the ball as well as they like because teams are blitzing the Hokies on almost every down. They ran the ball effectively against Georgia Tech when they had to, especially in the red zone. Everyone must get their correct blocking assignments. If just one player misses a block, then the entire play is wasted.

Roth said the team has done a great job of taking time off the clock when they need to, especially against NC State. Hite said the quarterbacks are coached to run the clock down and the backs are told not to run out of bounds. The team has executed that task very well.

Hite was asked about Marcus Vick’s technique, and he said it is good sometimes and not so good other times, but it doesn’t matter because he is so talented. He has tremendous touch and great accuracy. Kevin Rogers has done a great job of coaching his tremendous talent. Vick is a special talent who can put the ball where only the receiver can catch it.

Hite was asked about the option, and he said they have it in the playbook, but they just haven’t needed to run it because they have been up by so many points. The option is definitely in the game plan. Hite said they ran it to the short side of the field against Georgia Tech because of how the defense was lined up. There was a missed assignment; otherwise the play would have gone for a touchdown.

Hite said he has a good problem because he has four outstanding players. He said he isn’t going to pull Humes or Imoh just to get young guys in the game. Those guys will get their chances in the future, and they are ready to play if Humes or Imoh goes down. Hite said Ore, Bell and Lewis can be very good. Ore reminds Hite of Lee Suggs, and George Bell is the hardest working player he has ever been around. Elan Lewis reminds Hite exactly of Cyrus Lawrence. He doesn’t have great speed, but he breaks tackles.

Hite said WVU is an outstanding football team and will be a great challenge. The coaches and players understand what they are up against. The team had a great practice on Monday. The seniors are keeping the team together, and they will be ready for West Virginia.

Beamer said the Hokies had a great win on Saturday. They really played well, and things kind of snowballed on Georgia Tech. It helped that they didn’t try to run Reggie Ball as much as they did last season. VT beat a good football team by winning the field position game. The Hokies are kicking the ball very well and putting pressure on opposing kickers.

Beamer said Jeff King is just a great player. He puts Jeff King on the field goal blocking team because he is athletic and a good overall player. Beamer said King is reliable and plays the same way every time. He’s a good individual and a really good player.

Beamer said Chan Gailey and his staff have done a great job against Georgia Tech. They have a chance to win a lot of football games this year. No one expected it to be as lopsided as it was, but when you score two defensive touchdowns and a special teams touchdown, things get a bit out of hand.

Beamer said the team needs to improve their third down conversion percentage. As the offense continues to grow and players continue to get used to some new positions, that percentage will go up. Beamer said it looks like Reggie Butler will play on Saturday, so that should help the offensive line.

Danny McGrath did a nice job in his first career start at center. He is a little small, but he is smart and he will fight you until the final whistle. McGrath handled himself very well against Georgia Tech.

Beamer said the team had a lot of great things going for them the last time they went to West Virginia. They were coming off a 51-7 victory over Syracuse and were very confident. Then they got blown out by WVU. Beamer said he is hopeful that this team will stay focused and play very well on Saturday.

Beamer said his backups didn’t play as well as he hoped on Saturday. He was disappointed in their performance to a point. The last thing he wants to do is run up the score, but he also wants his backups to go as hard as they can and try to score when they are in the game.

Beamer said he was disappointed in his team’s discipline the last time they went to West Virginia. 13 penalties, five fumbles and three interceptions are not going to beat anybody, especially on the road. The Hokies just have to focus on themselves and do what they need to win. They don’t need to worry about any outside factors.

Vick does a lot of work with his play calling at the line of scrimmage. That is why they stress getting out of the huddle quickly. He is getting a little bit better in every part of the game each week. Beamer is very pleased with Vick’s progress at this point.

Beamer said Mountaineer Field is loud, but he likes it that way. He said he would rather play in an excited stadium, home or away, than in a half empty stadium. Roth pointed out that Beamer was the fourth winningest coach in the history of Mountaineer Field with five wins. He is behind only Don Nehlen, Rich Rodriguez and Joe Paterno.

Roth pointed out that Clemson was two overtime losses away from being 4-0 and ranked in the top ten. Beamer said in every game there is a play here and a play there that will impact the outcome of the game. There is a very fine line between winning and losing, and being ranked and untranked.

Beamer was asked about the five years of eligibility rule. Beamer said that if the five-year rule was passed, the red shirt year would be done away with, and a player would have five years to play five seasons. Most coaches are in favor of the rule. This rule would be good for every facet of the game, as well as academically. Unfortunately some other sports are not in favor of the rule. Beamer thinks the rule will happen eventually, and he hopes it will happen in the next couple of years.

Beamer said WVU uses two quarterbacks. Pat White leads the team in rushing from the quarterback position, and Adam Bednarik is a good runner as well. They still do a good job of spreading the field and running with the quarterback.

Beamer was asked (by a WVU caller) about the 3-3-5 stack defense that WVU runs. He said it is a different defense. They can rush three or they can turn it into an eight man front. It is a versatile defense and coaches can do a lot of things with it. It is a difficult defense to prepare for in just four days. The more you see it, the better you get against it. It has been a very good defense for West Virginia.

Beamer said Justin Hamilton has done a great job at free safety this season. He improves every time he plays and he will come up and put a hit on the ball carrier. He has worked hard and he’s a very smart player.

Beamer said he is looking forward to the game. He likes it when the stadium is loud and the crowd is excited. The teams have respect for each other and there are tough players on both sides. It’s always a hard hitting football game.

• Monday was day 304 of Virginia Tech’s continuous possession of the Commonwealth Cup, day 360 of Virginia Tech’s continuous possession of the Black Diamond Trophy, and day 297 of Virginia Tech's continuous possession of the ACC football championship.