Miami quarterback Ken Dorsey was doing fine. He was saying all the right things, how much he respected Virginia Tech and the recent success they've enjoyed.

But, then an out-of-town reporter went and mentioned it -- the Hokies' 43-10 romp over Miami last November 13 in Blacksburg, a day during which Virginia Tech did more than just win a football game. They embarrassed the proud Miami team that day at Lane Stadium.

Miami actually led 10-0 with 4:35 remaining in the first quarter. But aided by three fumbles, three interceptions and an avalanche of UM special teams mistakes, Tech scored 43 unanswered points to beat the Hurricanes for a fifth straight time.

After that nationally televised win, the Hokies owned the Big East and a large piece of the national spotlight, thanks to their opportunistic special teams, senior-laden defense and a magical redshirt freshman quarterback named Michael Vick.

	Hurricanes downgraded
	Virginia Tech has owned Miami in their last five meetings, nearly doubling the Hurricanes' average rushing and scoring outputs. Here's how the teams stack up over those five games.
		VT	Miami
	Wins	5	0
	PPG	26.2	13.8
	Rush ypg	209.2	106.8
	Pass ypg	153.2	267.4

"I learned a lot that day," said Dorsey, who was under constant siege by a veteran Tech defense last year and was only 6 of 17 for 45 yards and one TD in relief on an injured Kenny Kelly. "They were trying to move up near the top of the BCS polls last year and they didn't hold anything back. I'll never forget how that felt, how they dominated us and what they were saying afterward."

After the game, the Tech coaching staff accused Miami of dirty play, saying the Hurricanes intentionally tried to gouge the eyes of Hokies tailback Shyrone Stith, and later filed an official complaint to the Big East office.

"They want us bad, I guarantee you they want us bad," Virginia Tech cornerback Ronyell Whitaker said. "I guarantee you they're going to come in and try to do everything to try and win this game. They're going to scratch, claw, bite."

Whitaker, one of the busiest trash talkers in the college game, is right. It's becoming more and more obvious Miami has developed a healthy dislike for Tech. The third-ranked Hurricanes (6-1) respect the second-ranked Hokies (8-0), but they are tired of hearing about the 0-5 record that Miami coach Butch Davis has against them.

"People were saying the same thing before we played Florida State earlier this season, how we'd never beaten them (in the last five years)," said Miami's All-American linebacker Dan Morgan. "But after we beat them, they stopped saying it.

"We definitely expect to win. We go into each game feeling that way. But we've struggled with Virginia Tech for the last four or five years. We want to win this game for ourselves and for the coaches. To beat Florida State and Virginia Tech in the same year would be huge. It would put us back in contention for the national championship."

Dorsey agrees: "If we beat them, it would signal that we are fully back."

Morgan and Dorsey, who now feels better equipped to deal with Tech's attack-style defense, seem to respect, but don't fear the Hokies for a number of reasons.

First, there's the home field advantage. "The Orange Bowl is sold out and will make it tough for Tech to check off, no matter who their quarterback is," Dorsey SAID.

Second, While Tech is unbeaten, it has looked vulnerable the past couple weeks. The aggressive defensive schemes of Syracuse and Pittsburgh have been successful at getting to and hitting Vick, who suffered a severely sprained ankle vs. Pittsburgh and was sacked eight times by Syracuse.

And the Hokies' defense, while still formidable, is not as experienced as last year's special bunch (four 1999 All-Americans and six All-Big East players) and has surrendered 34 points to both Boston College and Pittsburgh, 28 to East Carolina and 23 to Akron.

	Miami's Dan Morgan averaged 11.6 tackles per game.

Plus, as Morgan is all too happy to point out, Tech has yet to face a "real" Miami team during its recent domination of the Hurricanes.

"We're trying to get back to the old days when the Hurricanes had a certain confidence about them and when opposing teams came into our stadium knowing that a bad day was ahead of them," Morgan said. "And I think we're getting there. We really have had some hard times (when NCAA sanctions limited the number Miami's scholarships to somewhere in the mid 50s rather than 85), but now we have more quality athletes and people are starting to respect us again."

They won't come right out and say that they hate Virginia Tech, but the sighs at Big East Media Day by Miami players when asked question after question about Michael Vick' greatness were an indication. Butch Davis' aborted press conference after the Louisiana Tech game when asked about the condition of Vick's ankle last weekend was another.

The Canes are tired of talking about the Hokies, a team who like Syracuse during the Donovan McNabb years, has taken over the headlines and the top spot in the Big East while Miami struggled. The Hurricanes want to take the Big East, a league they once ruled, back from Tech.

Much like they took back a measure of respect in the Sunshine State less than a month ago when they beat Florida State, a team who, along with Florida, has ruled in-state and on the national scene since Davis returned to rebuild Miami.

But they want to beat Tech with all of its weapons and that includes Vick, who has begun to see the swelling in his right ankle go down and will take most of the snaps this Saturday, if you believe the Hurricanes.

"We heard the same things prior to the Florida State game about Chris Weinke, about how he couldn't move and how he wouldn't play," Davis said. "And then he went out and not only played, but played well."

The Canes want Vick to play Saturday. That way, there will be no "what-if" questions after the game, a contest they've waited nearly a year to play.

"His ankle might not be 100%, but we believe that Michael Vick is going to play," Morgan said. "He might not start, but he'll give it a try and will play Saturday. He has to play in a game of this magnitude. I hope he does play. Because that's why I came to Miami to play against and to beat the best." Bill Doherty covers Big East football for ESPN.com.