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Recap | Box Score

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Box Score | Highlights

Blacksburg, VA – Some way, some how, the Virginia Tech Hokies are headed back to the ACC Championship game for the third time in the four years the game has been played. The 2008 edition of the ACCCG will feature a rematch from the ‘07 game – Boston College and the Hokies. The Hokies are back in the title game depite an overall record of 8-4 and 5-3 in the ACC. It was that kind of year for the ACC – not a single team had fewer than three conference losses.

What many considered would be a defensive battle looked like it would be an offensive slugfest after both teams marched down the field on their opening drives. UVA opened the scoring with a Vic Hall 40-yard run for a touchdown. The drive took just 3:03 and left the sold out crowd deflated. But, they quickly recovered and were given a reason to cheer again.

Tech’s offense took the field led by sophomore QB Tyrod Taylor. The Hokies proceeded to march down the field with an impressive 13-play, 65-yard drive that ate up 6:24 of clock. Taylor capped the drive with a three-yard TD pass to a wide open Jarrett Boykin (Fr.) to tie the game at 7-7. And the fans were right back in the game. It was just the second TD catch by a Tech wide receiver on the season.

The Hoos would strike again late in the second quarter and again it was Vic Hall. The junior had a career game. This time, he broke loose to the right and scampered untouched 16 yards for the touchdown putting the Cavs up 14-7. Hall, a highly recruited “athlete” out of high school was also a standout QB, but played mostly as a defensive back for Al Groh during his first three years. After today’s game in which Hall rushed for two touchdowns and 109 yards, many Hoos are wondering why Hall never played QB during his career in Hooville. Let the “what if” game begin for the BooHoos. Hey, he’ll be back next year.

Bud Foster, Tech’s defensive coordinator and resident defensive genius (for now), admitted after the game that Hall presented some unexpected challenges for his No. 8-ranked squad, but he made adjustments at the half and held the Thomas Jeffersons scoreless in the second half. All they needed was for Tech’s offense to step up and put some points on the board. Easier said than done considering Tech missed a 22-yard field goal (basically an extra point) and failed (AGAIN) to score on a 4th and goal (second half). I’m continuously amazed at home many points Frank Beamer leaves on the field by trying to go for it when Tech’s 4th down conversion percentage is abysmal and has been all season. Oh, and let’s not forget the impressive drive at the end of the first half that ended with a Glennon pass being picked off in the end zone. The Hokies left – at a minimum – three field goals on the field in the first half.

Regardless, the Hokies came out of the gate firing on all cylinders in the 3rd quarter. Tech had the ball to start the second half and facing a 3rd and 7, Taylor – on a designed QB draw – sprinted through a gaping hole on the left side before making six (I counted) Cavalier defenders miss as he ripped off a 73-yard run down to the Cavs’ 9-yard line. After a 5-yard gain by Darren Evan set up a 2nd and goal from the four, Greg Boone came in at QB and rumbled for a 4-yard touchdown to even the game at 14.

Tech added a 28-yard field goal by Dustin Keys with 6:37 left in the 4th quarter and Bud’s defense did the rest, although it wasn’t as easy as he would have liked. UVA’s Hall looked like he would gash the Hokies again after he blasted through the Hokies defense for 39-yard gain down to Tech’s 24. At the very least, it looked like UVA would tie the game with a FG, but Foster’s lunchpail gang had other ideas.

Dorian Porch, starting for the injured Davon Morgan, picked off a Marc Verica pass in the endzone and returned it to the Hokies 40 yard line with 2:15 left. Tech’s offense was only able to run 37 seconds off the clock between going three and out and as Groh used all three of his timeouts to stop the clock.

The Cavs got the ball back with 1:38 left on their own 13. Bud’s defense stepped up and played its best series of the game. After two incomplete passes, including a drop by Cedric Peerman, Verica completed a pass, but only picked up a yard leaving UVA with 4th and 9 and now timeouts. On a delayed blitz, senior Purnell Sturdivant sliced through the line untouched and tracked down Verica from behind for the game-clinching sack that resulted in an 8-yard loss.

Glennon came in and took two knees to run out the clock giving the Hokies the Coastal Division title and sending the seniors out on a winning note. To make the day even more festive, The Hokies have now won nine of the last 10 games against their instate rivals. The lone loss came in 2003. Outside of that, Tech has dominate the rivalry during the last decade.

Other notes:

• Wide receiver Danny Coale set a new freshman record for receptions in a season with 32, breaking Eddie Royal’s record of 28 set in 2004. Coale aslo had a career day with five catches for 66 yards.
• Another freshman, running back Darren Evans, also set a new rookie record for rushing yards in a season. Evans has 998 yards this season, breaking Kevin Jones’ 2001 record of 951.
• And Tyrod Taylor also made Hokie history with his fourth 100+ yard rushing game (he has 137 today), which tied him with Michael Vick for most career 100+ yard games by a QB. Vick and Taylor each have four 100+ yard games under their belt and with two years of eligibility left for Taylor, he seems a lock to break Bob Schweikert’s record of six.

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Recap | Box Score

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Hey Hokie fans, I just wanted to give you guys a quick update on the status of some game highlight videos that haven’t been posted yet. Currently, I don’t have highlights posted from the Florida State or Miami games. Yes, they’re both loses, I know. But, I am taking all this week off from work, so I hope to get all game highlights posted and up-to-date, including the losses. Just keep in mind that the highlights will be considerably shorter for the loses.

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From HokieSports.com

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Atlantic Coast Conference announced Sunday all of its game times and TV networks for Nov. 29. Tech and Virginia will kick off at noon with a game shown on ESPN. If the Hokies win, they will advance to the ACC Championship game in Tampa, Fla., on Dec. 6.

The Atlantic Division will be decided by the Boston College/Maryland game.

Saturday, Nov. 29

• Miami at NC State, Raycom, 12 Noon
• Georgia Tech at Georgia, CBS, 12 noon
• South Carolina at Clemson, ESPN2, 12 Noon
• Virginia at Virginia Tech, ESPN, 12 Noon
• Florida at Florida State, ABC (ESPN2*), 3:30 pm
• Maryland at Boston College, ABC (ESPN2*), 3:30 pm
• North Carolina at Duke, ESPNU, 3:30 pm
• Vanderbilt at Wake Forest, ESPNU, 7 pm

* ABC Regional telecast, seen in other parts of the country on ESPN2.

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Highlights | Box Score

Wow. Was that ugly or what? The defense played out of this world and stifled Duke all night long, holding the Blue Devils to three points and only 136 yards of offense. Tech won 14-3 to improve to 7-4 overall and 4-3 in the ACC.

Tech’s offense actually moved the ball well at times, but five turnovers in the first half killed any offensive rhythm Tech was attempting to establish. Tech racked up a respectable 334 yards with a pretty balanced attack – 187 passing, 223 rushing. Darren Evan got his second 100+ yard game of his career with 111 yards on 24 carries.

Tyrod Taylor started the game, but the offense’s inability to score (and not turn it over) led to Tyrod getting replaced by Sean Glennon, who entered the game to cheers and applause. The fans were desperate for some offense.

The Hokies finally got on the board in the final minute of the first half as Glennon connected over the middle with true freshman Jarrett Boykin for a 19-yard touchdown. It was the first touchdown reception by a Hokie wide receiver this season.Boykin statistically had the best game of any Hokie WR this season with 4 catches, 67 yards and a touchdown.

I’ll write more tomorrow after I’ve thawed out and the cold medicine wears off. This may have been ugly, but they played their guts out tonight. Til tomorrow, a win is a win and we are one win away from a shot at the ACC Title game.

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Blacksburg, VA, Nov. 22, 2008 – Once again, the Virginia Tech Hokies (6-4, 3-3) find themselves in control of their own ACC Coastal Division destiny. All the Hokies must do to make the ACC Championship game for the third time in four years is beat Duke (4-6, 1-5) and Virginia at home. And, they have a healthy Tyrod Taylor back in the mix.

Duke started off the season 3-1 with impressive wins over JMU, Navy and a 31-3 whipping of Virginia. Since that un-Duke-like beginning, the Blue Devils have gone 1-5 – their only win against a Vanderbilt. Duke’s ACC record is 1-5.

While Duke is a much improved team, Virginia Tech should … key word being “should” … not struggle in this game, especially at home. Nine days after a disappointing 14-16 loss at Miami that featured the most head-scratching offensive play-calling of the season. The criticism of offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring had for much of the season been confined to fans, message boards and call-in shows. But on Wednesday, Hokies’ lineback Purnell Sturdivant openly questioned Stinespring’s play calling telling reporters “I have a couple friends at Carolina, a couple friends at N.C. State, things like that, they’re pretty much just calling out the plays that we’re going to run on offense. Our offense is pretty much predictable. You know what you’re going to see each and every week.”

Even if Duke knows what to expect in today’s matchup, I have a tough time believing that they can actually stop Tech from executing enough to win the game. Tech’s defense has played well most of the season and expect no let down against the Dookies. The offense, with any luck, will be ticked off and ready to crack some skulls. Look for the O-line to reestablish it’s blocking schemes, which will open the door for Darren Evans to have another 100-plus yard game.

Tech has not lost to Duke since joining the ACC in 2004. In fact, the Hokies have dominted Duke in the four games, outscoring the Devils 165-31. It’s going to a be a cold one folks, so make sure you bundle up and stay warm! Kickoff is set for 5:30 p.m., just as the sun sets.

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By VTHokiefans.com Follower “Jordan”

With Georgia Tech and Miami playing tonight and the Canes having only two conference loses, they control their own destiny – win out and they are Coastal Division champs. If the Yellow Jackets win, they finish 5-3 and that means that UNC, VT, and UVA must win out (all three have two remaining conference games) to finish tied with Georgia Tech and possibly Miami, if the Canes beat NCSU).

So, a 4-4 record gets you nothing. Finish 5-3 and you are still at the table, but there are several possibilities for who takes the pot. The Hokies need GT to beat UM (like everyone else). If this occurs and VT wins out (which would knock UVA out the picture), AND UM beats NCSU, AND UNC wins out; then VT, GT, UNC and UM all finish 5-3.

A four-way tie between these teams would mean that we come to the ACC’s first tiebreaker step; head-to-head records against the teams tied for first. This narrows the tiebreaker down to Virginia Tech (beat UNC, GT) and UNC (beat UM, GT), each with a 2-1 record against the other teams. Miami (losses to UNC and GT) and GT (losses to VT and UNC) have 1-2 records in this scenario.

Now that it is narrowed down to two teams (VT and UNC), head-to-head record is used to break the tie and Virginia Tech beat UNC.

If UNC loses along the way, the Hokies are still in the game since the three tied teams (VT, GT, UM) all have head-to-head records of (1-1).  The next tie breaker is divisional record and VT (4-1) has the edge over UM (3-2) and GT (2-3). If UM were to lose both remaining games, VT could either finsh 5-3 tied with GT and potenially UNC. In either case VT goes to the ACC Championship game, as it beat both these teams (UNC and GT) in the regular season.

Poor UVA (not really):

The Hoos could win out and actually be hurt it UNC loses. All the same that is stated for VT must be true for UVA (win out, UM lose to GT). If the four-way tie is UVA, UNC, UM, and GT; UVA wins like tech did; having a 2-1 head-to-head record with the other tied teams which matches UNC and having beat UNC. If UNC loses and there is a three-way tie (UVA, GT, UM), UVA is ousted by UM since all three teams are 1-1 against the others, UM and UVA have the same divisional record (3-2), but UM beat UVA. (Lost yet?) The diffence being VT only lost to UM within the division (4-1), but UM loses to GT and UNC (3-2); therefore the third tie-breaker, of head-to-head, is not needed.

Clear as mud? Good! Now GO other Tech!

Official ACC Tiebreaker Rules

*Our thanks to Jordan for putting this together! Great work, dude!

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As many of you know, GobblerGear.com has been a proud sponsor this football season! Now, they want to show their appreciation for YOU, the loyal VTHokiefans.com followers…

Customer Appreciation Day

One DAY Sale!!!!! Saturday, November 22, 2008

VT v. Duke

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Bring the coupon below to receive 30% off our already low prices on one-of-a-kind HOKIE Gear.

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LET’S GO…… HOKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

***Some exclusions do apply, please see below for details.

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Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer confirmed to his players that long-time defensive coordinator Bud Foster was scheduled to interview for Clemson’s head coaching job today. Foster is considered one of the best defensive coordinators in college football and in 2006 was awarded the Broyles Award, which is give to the nation’s top assistant coach.

Following Thursday night’s 16-14 loss to Miami, Beamer said to the media, “I just told our people in there I wish him well. He’s done a great job for us and he deserves the opportunity.”

Foster’s 2005 and 2006 squads ranked No. 1 in total defense. ESPN is reporting that Oklahoma defensive coordinator Brent Venables and former Oakland Raiders coach Lane Kiffin also have interviewed with Clemson. Stay tuned.

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