PLANTATION, FLA. - From his days growing up in New York to when he moved to Manassas in middle school, Virginia Tech running back Ryan Williams was always a Miami fan.

The national championships, the alumni in the NFL, the swagger that came with "The U": It all intrigued him. And as Williams began to emerge as a sought-after football prospect at Stonewall Jackson High, he dreamed of becoming part of the tradition.

But Miami offered him a scholarship with the caveat that he would have to switch positions and become a wide receiver. The coaches said he was too small to play running back for the Hurricanes, and the slight forced Williams to accept a new reality in his feelings toward Miami.

Now, Williams said, the Hurricanes are not the power they once were, with the ability to get one prize recruit after another. "It's not the old U," Williams said this week. "They have the potential to get back to where they have been, but recruiting's changed since back then. . . . Now everyone's going every which way."

Williams ended up setting an ACC freshman rushing record at Virginia Tech in 2009, and he's one reason the Hokies will face Miami on Saturday with a chance to clinch a spot in the ACC championship game. A win by the Hurricanes would keep them in contention to win the Coastal Division, but few programs have contributed to Miami's fall from grace as much as Coach Frank Beamer and the Hokies.

Since 1995 - the first year Miami faced NCAA sanctions after winning four national championships between 1983 and 1991 - Virginia Tech has won 10 of the teams' 15 meetings, including five of the past seven. No other team has beaten the Hurricanes more during that span.

Hokies Coach Frank Beamer and defensive coordinator Bud Foster "always want this win, playing against these Miami guys," senior cornerback Rashad Carmichael said. "Everyone knows the U; I used to watch them. We know at any point of the game they could go off, make a big play just because of their style of play . . . and with the championship on the line, it makes it even better."

Added Miami Coach Randy Shannon, who was a starting linebacker when the Hurricanes won a national championship in 1987: "It's kind of a rivalry for us even though people may not think about it. We've been playing Virginia Tech for years."

The two teams have played every season since 1992, a result of both joining the Big East together in 1991 and then moving to the ACC in 2004. And in the past decade, they've had some memorable encounters.

In 2001, Virginia Tech wide receiver Ernest Wilford dropped a two-point conversion that allowed Miami to escape with a 26-24 victory and eventually win a fifth national championship. Three years later, the two teams met with a conference title on the line and the Hokies emerged with a 16-10 victory and their first-ever ACC championship.

In 2005, Virginia Tech entered its battle with the Hurricanes ranked No. 3 in the country with an 8-0 record and had thoughts of its own national championship. But Miami romped to a 27-7 win. Last year, the Hokies returned the favor when the Hurricanes came to Blacksburg with a No. 9 ranking. With plenty of early-season chatter about the return of "The U," Virginia Tech blew out Miami, 31-7, in a rain-soaked affair.

That loss has stayed with the Hurricanes for more than a year now, and following their victory over Georgia Tech last weekend, their players spoke openly about how they've had Saturday's rematch circled all season.

"I would probably say this is the most focused we've been during my time," senior wide receiver Leonard Hankerson said this week.

But it's the ever-present mystique of Miami's past that bothers Virginia Tech. Even though the Hurricanes have yet to win an ACC title since joining the league, quarterback Tyrod Taylor believes "every year the media wants to see Miami and Florida State play in the ACC championship. But things don't fold out that way."

Taylor, though, concedes that an unmistakable rivalry has developed between Miami and Virginia Tech, and that "they get up for this game just like we do."

Perhaps the best example of the Hokies' mind-set concerning Miami is cornerback Jayron Hosley, whose seven interceptions are tied for the most in the country.

Hosley grew up in nearby Del Ray Beach, Fla., and was recruited heavily by the Hurricanes. But they never offered him a scholarship and Saturday will mark his first time playing in South Florida since high school - just another layer in what has become one of college football's more exciting rivalries.

"Definitely this is a game I'm looking forward to, that I've been looking forward to," Hosley said with a smirk on his face. "I never rooted for Miami. I always wanted them to lose."