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Apparently, those who vote in the college football polls do pay close attention. At first glance, Virginia Tech’s 34-26 road win over the Duke Blue Devils (0-1, 2-3) does not look very impressive. But if you look at the game itself, you’ll see a role reversal in which the Hokies’ offense bailed out the defense for a change.

Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer has never been known to have a pass-oriented offense, but instead used it primarily to set up the power running game. Against, Duke however, it was the other way around.

The Blue Devils, under second-year head coach David Cutcliffe, dared the Hokies to beat them with the passing game by crowding the line of scrimmage with eight defensive players. And it worked for the first two series of the game, but Hokies’ offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring appeared to have a plan in place. On Tech’s third series, they needed only four plays to get into the endzone with 36-yard pass from junior quarterback Tyrod Taylor to Danny Coale. From that point on, Virginia Tech had great success passing the ball and Duke couldn’t stop them.

The Hokies piled up 327 yards passing and on the arm of Taylor, who set a career-high in passing yards. It was the first time in three years a Virginia Tech QB has broken the 300-yard mark.

Tech’s offense put up 34 points all by itself. No defensive touchdowns or blocked punts for touchdowns. And that is likely the reason the Hokies moved up a spot — from No.6 to No. 5 — in both the Associated Press and USA Today polls.

Virginia Tech remains the highest ranked one-loss team in Division I-A college football. The Hokies return to Blacksburg on Saturday, Oct. 10, to host Boston College (2-1, 4-1), fresh off it’s 28-21 win over Florida State.

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