Blacksburg, VA — The 15th-ranked Virginia Tech Hokies (5-2, 8-3) forced four turnovers to win their third straight game following a decisive 38-10 victory over N.C. State (1-6, 4-7). On senior day in Blacksburg, Va., the Hokies got career performances from senior linebacker Cody Grimm, redshirt freshman running back Ryan Williams and sophomore wide receiver Jarrett Boykin.
Grimm tied an NCAA record with three forced fumbles in his first four defensive plays while Williams scored a career-high four touchdowns and broke Tech’s and the ACC’s freshman single-season rushing record with 1,355 yards.
Williams still has one more regular season game and presumably a bowl game to add to his totals. The Virginia Tech single-season rushing record (1,647 by Kevin Jones in 2003) is still within reach for Williams.
Boykin also had a career game with six receptions for 164 yards and a touchdown catch. He becomes the first Tech wide receiver to have three games with more than 100 yards receiving in a season since Andre Davis did it in 2001.
The Hokies got off to an encouraging start before the opening kickoff. For the first time all season, Tech won a coin toss and it paid off. On the Wolfpack’s first play of the game, Grimm got to N.C. State quarterback Russell Wilson from the backside and stripped the ball out of his hands. Grimm recovered the loose ball and the Hokies settled for a field goal to take the early lead, 3-0.
Grimm went right back to work on the second play of State’s next possession. Wilson completed a pass to Darrell Davis along the sideline, but Grimm was there to strip the ball loose again. Tech senior cornerback Stephan Virgil recovered the fumble and returned it three yards to State’s 25.
“We work on it [forcing fumbles] in practice,” Grimm said. “If you’re the second person there, try to rip the ball out, but if you’re the first, then concentrate on getting him down.”
Grimm leads the nation in forced fumbles with seven.
Williams capped a six-play, 25-yard drive with a 4-yard touchdown to give the Hokies a 10-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
After two fumbles in their first three offensive plays, it would make sense that N.C. State would have gone out of its way to protect the ball on their third series. However, Grimm forced another fumble on the Pack’s fourth offensive play. This time, however, State was able to recover it, and then marched 81 yards to score its first points of the game on a Wilson pass to Owen Spencer, cutting Tech’s lead to 10-7.
But the night belonged to the Hokies. On the ensuing kickoff, freshman running back and return manDavid Wilson ran the kick back 40 yards, giving Tech’s offense a short field at the State 49. Tech eventually scored on another short TD run by Williams, pushing the Hokies’ lead to 17-7.
State added a field goal in the second quarter, but the Hokies answered with a 74-yard drive capped by another Williams TD run, his third of the game, and the Hokies took 24-10 lead into the half.
Williams scored his fourth and final TD on the Hokies’ opening possession of the second half. The freshman, who has been named the ACC Rookie of the Week six times this season, literally dragged an N.C. State defender — clinging to Williams’ jersey — 10 yards into the end zone.
Williams, who had 120 yards in the game, now has eight 100-yard games this season, one shy of Kevin Jones’ record of nine, set in 2003.
Williams tied Tech’s freshman record for touchdowns scored in a game (4). “Touchdown” Tommy Edwards scored four against Pittsburgh in 1993. Williams also tied the ACC’s record for touchdowns in a season by a freshman with 16.
“He is strong, quick and powerful,” Tech head coach Frank Beamer said of Williams. “I think he’s a complete back.”
Boykin, who had racked up impressive receiving yards finally got in the end zone in the third quarter, scoring Tech’s final TD of the game and securing a 38-10 win for the Hokies.
While Taylor, Williams and Boykin stole the show on offense, Bud Foster‘s defense deserves a great deal of credit for shutting down the ACC’s second best offense. The Hokies held the Pack to just 14 rushing yards and 259 total yards of offense.
The defense set the tone early thanks to Grimm’s incredible performance.
“That was big,” Beamer said. “You need to get up on those guys [N.C. State] because they can score in a hurry.”
N.C. State came into the game averaging 32.6 points per game, second in the ACC.
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