Lots of speculation today that the Georgia Tech-Virginia Tech game is a go for Labor Day next season. Yesterday, a Georgia Tech Rivals reporter tweeted that it’s happening. I spoke to Virginia Tech athletic director Jim Weaver on Tuesday and he said nothing had been finalized yet, although there were discussions (since the ACC is contractually obligated to play in the Labor Day game, it would make sense). The ACC simply says that the 2012 football schedule will be released soon.

On another subject, I’ll be doing mailbag version 1.1 tomorrow. If you have a question you’d like to submit, go here and send me an email.

Today I’ll be wrapping up a look ahead to 2012, although I hope to sit down with each of the coaches to talk more about the players at their positions heading into the spring once the recruiting rush ends. If you’ve missed one of the look ahead posts in the last few weeks, here they are:

* Jan. 7: Who will replace David Wilson? A look at the contenders

* Jan. 8: How many running backs will Virginia Tech use to replace David Wilson?

* Jan. 16: Taking a stab at the offensive depth chart

* Jan. 17: Taking a stab at the defensive depth chart

* Jan. 18: Taking a stab at the special teams depth chart

* Jan. 19: What is quarterback Logan Thomas‘ ceiling?

* Jan. 20: Can receivers Marcus Davis, D.J. Coles and Dyrell Roberts replace the production of Jarrett Boykin and Danny Coale?

* Jan. 23: After losing four senior starters, how will the Hokies’ revamped offensive line look?

* Jan. 24: Will the defensive line or linebackers be the strongest group on the Hokies defense?

* Jan. 25: How will a secondary that lost two starters shake out?

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Today’s question: Can Virginia Tech revive Beamerball?

It’s the most-often referenced thing when Virginia Tech is playing on national TV — Beamerball. Announcers have an obsession with it, like David Wilson‘s back flips or Jarrett Boykin‘s glove size. It’s the thing that defines the Hokies more than anything else, at least nationally it would seem.

But, although you wouldn’t know it based on the number of times it gets mentioned on TV, Frank Beamer‘s focus on special teams and defensive touchdowns has been on the decline the last few years.

Look at the numbers. Virginia Tech blocked one punt last year, tied for its lowest total in Beamer’s 25 years. The Hokies had one defensive/special teams touchdown last season (on a blocked punt against Appalachian State). Only the 1990 squad, which had none, had fewer.

Although the punt return team had some moments, Tech’s punt return average (10.8 yards) and kick return average (20.0 yards) were statistically in the middle of the pack during Beamer’s tenure, and pale in comparison to the heights of Beamerball in the early 2000′s.

A few weeks ago I looked up all the data, planning on doing a post like this and wondering how to make it look good graphically. Then @thekeyplay goes and beats me to it, making it much more visually pleasing than I ever could have on this blog post. Check out the whole thing, but these two graphs show the decline more than anything:

Those are pretty telling graphics. Something is up, although it’s hard to pinpoint. Last week I asked Beamer about how Beamerball has been limited in recent years and if he had any ideas why. Here was his response:

“I don’t think we were real good this past year. I don’t think overall we kicked the ball well this past year. And then probably didn’t have as many big plays in the kicking game as we have. But we continue to work on it. I think it all starts with how you kick. And then I think it goes from there. I think you get into more returns with the shield protection, I think more times than not you end up trying to return the ball as opposed to blocking a kick with the three guys back there. So I think that’s kind of entered into it a little bit. And then we were close. We actually tipped a ball in the Clemson game, the championship game, and we got called roughing there. The last ballgame, we roughed the kicker and we were close to blocking it, but we roughed the kicker. And instead of it being a great play, it’s about that much difference [holds his hands up 6 inches apart] from it being a great play and all of a sudden now we’ve got a penalty. But that’s the way kicking things are. It’s big plays in open spaces, but it gets down to details in small spaces. And the roughing the kicker penalty in the bowl game hurt.”

I’d agree that the popularity of the three-man shield on punts has made it harder for teams to block punts, but looking at the stats from the last few years, teams are still managing to do it. Your leaders the last five years: Fresno State with 10 in 2011, Rutgers with 9 in 2010, SMU with 9 in 2009, Pittsburgh with 10 in 2008 and Boise State with 11 in 2007. Virginia Tech had 12 at its peak in 1998, with eight punt blocks, two field goal blocks and two extra point blocks.

You probably have to factor in Virginia Tech’s past success as a reason for its current struggles in this area. When word gets out that you’re good at getting to punts, teams take extra precautions to not let that happen.

But it was clear, and Beamer even mentioned it, that something wasn’t as sharp last year on special teams. In two of the biggest games of the year, the Hokies had a running into the kicker call on a pair of punts that shifted momentum. (Although looking at the replay of the one against Clemson, you could argue that James Hopper got a piece of the ball; the one in the Sugar Bowl left no doubt and couldn’t have come at a worse time.)

Looking at the return game, Jayron Hosley had some moments on punts, but David Wilson, even with all his physical talents, never got anything going on kicks. The return of Dyrell Roberts no doubt will help there next season.

Special teams has long been Beamer’s show, and he’s coached it well throughout his career, so much so that he has instructional videos out on the subject. But something has been off lately. I asked if special teams would be a focus this offseason.

“It’s always been an emphasis around here,” Beamer said. “I mean, I don’t think anyone puts more emphasis on special teams in the country than we do right here.”

What say you, readers? Was last year an aberration or the latest in a long decline for Beamerball? Can it ever reach the heights it did earlier this century?