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Virginia Tech flanker and kick returner Dyrell Roberts is listed as “probable” for the Hokies’ game against Duke.

As the No. 6 ranked Virginia Tech Hokies prepare to play their first Atlantic Coast Conference road game of the season against Duke, head coach Frank Beamer is probably hoping to give some of his key players a chance to heal.

The weekly ACC injury report was released earlier today and the Hokies have four big names that could use a game off.

Offensive tackle Blake DeChristopher (ankle), rover Davon Morgan (shoulder), flanker Dyrell Roberts (hamstring) and defensive tackle Demetrius Taylor (calf) are all listed as “probable” for Saturday’s game against the Blue Devils. However, unless Tech comes out and struggles, don’t expect these guys to see much action.

For starters, the Hokies want to rest these guys and have them ready for some of the tougher games down the road. Secondly, Beamer is always looking to get his second team as much playing time as possible.

DeChristopher was the ACC’s Co-Offensive Lineman of the Week after leading Tech’s running attack to a dominating performance against then-No. 9 Miami.

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While the Virginia Tech Hokies football team may be focused on its first ACC road game this season, the fans are still celebrating the crucial – and dominating – win over Coastal Division rival Miami. The Hokies dominated the then No. 9 ranked Canes 31-7 on a game that was in some fashion, nationally televised. It was an important win for Virginia Tech and the ACC took notice by awarding three Virginia Tech players with weekly awards.

Blake DeChristopher, a 6-5, 303-pound sophomore offensive tackle from Midlothian, Va., was named Co-Offensive Lineman with Georgia Tech’s Sean Bedford. DeChristopher help anchor the Hokies’ offensive line that opened gaping holes in the Miami defense and allowed Tech’s running backs to amass 272 rushing yards and 370 total yards in Virginia Tech’s 31-7 win over the Canes. DeChristopher graded out at a team-high 85 percent on 56-of-64 plays and recorded five knockdowns in the win that vaulted Virginia Tech to No. 6 in both the Associated Press and USA Today polls—the highest national ranking for an ACC team this season.

Virginia Tech junior defensive end Jason Worilds was named ACC Defensive Lineman of the week for his performance against the Miami Hurricanes in a 31-7 win for the Hokies.

While the Tech offense was firing on all cylinders, Tech’s defense, which had been uncharacteristically suspect, came out against Miami’s high octane offense and laid the smack down. Jason Worilds, a 6-2, 240-pound junior defensive end from Carteret, N.J., earned the ACC’s Defensive Lineman of the week award. Worilds led Tech’s defense in getting to Miami quarterback Jacory Harris early and often, something the sophomore QB hadn’t had to deal with in his first two games. Worilds had six tackles and was credited with 1.5 quarterback sacks, while adding a forced fumble and two quarterback hurries. The junior helped the Hokie defense limit Miami to just 209 yards of total offense.

And last but not least, Virginia Tech’s running back Ryan Williams, a 5-9, 205-pound redshirt freshman, took home the ACC’s Rookie of the Week honor for the second straight week and the third time this season’s first four weeks. Williams would have been a strong candidate for player of the week, had it not been for N.C. State QB Russell Wilson, who threw for four touchdowns and totalled 413 total yard. Williams rushed for a game-high 150 rushing yards and two touchdowns on a career-high 34 in a 31-7 win against ninth-ranked Miami. Williams also caught a pair of passes for 40 yards for a total of 190 all-purpose yards. The redshirt-freshman currently ranks sixth in the nation with 123.0 rushing yards per game and is tied for second with eight scores. He leads the ACC in rushing yards per game, total rushing yards and touchdowns scored with eight. Williams in on pace to destroy Tech’s freshman record for TDs in a season (11) set by Darren Evans just last season.

Read the rest of the ACC weekly awards.

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Virginia Tech freshman running back Ryan Williams scores a touchdown in the Hokies’ 31-7 win over Miami.

Box Score | Pictures

So much for the “swagger” being back at the “U”. Or, perhaps it just didn’t make the trip to Blacksburg with the No. 9 ranked Miami Hurricanes. All of the “experts” on ESPN picked the Canes in the day’s only matchup between top 25 teams. No one seemed to think the Hokies could beat a Miami team with a pair of impressive and dominant wins over ranked teams. That was just fine with the Virginia Tech players.

The Hokies dominated Miami today, with the exception of Miami’s opening drive in the second half, which led to their only points of the game. Other than that, Virginia Tech dominated. On offense. On defense. On special teams. All-World redshirt freshman running back Ryan Williams led the Hokies with 150 rushing on 34 carries and a pair of touchdowns.

Williams, who has been named the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Rookie of the Week twice this season, has eight TDs in the first four games of the season and is on pace to destroy the freshman record (11) set by Darren Evans just last season. Williams, the ACC’s leading rusher and scorer, was a work horse against Miami and seemed to get stronger as the game went on.

“I’m impressed with that guy,” said Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer of Williams. “He runs hard. He can make a guy miss. He’s got speed, and he hurts those guys when he’s running. I like watching him.”

The offense as a whole played its best game of the season. The offensive line created gaping holes for Tech’s running backs and gave Tyrod Taylor plenty of time the few times the Hokies attempted a pass. Taylor made excellent decisions in the game. Though he only attempted nine passes, he connected on four of them and had one dropped. Considering the weather conditions, it’s not surprising the Hokies kept the ball on the ground. And why pass when your running game is grinding out an average of five yards per play?

From a coaching perspective, I have to give offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring a lot of credit for calling a good game. There was a good mixture of inside/outside runs; enough passes to keep the Canes honest; and a perfectly executed shovel pass. It was probably the best called game by Stinespring in a couple of seasons against a quality opponent.

The Hokies opened the scoring after Tech strong safety Dorian Porch sacked Miami QB Jacory Harris forcing a fumble, which Porched recovered. The Hokies needed just four plays before Williams punched it in for the game’s first touchdown giving Tech a 7-0 lead.

Virginia Tech scored again on its next possession capping a seven-play, 89-yard drive with a 48-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Jarrett Boykin. The Hokies went up 14-0.

The Hokies third score of the first half came in the second quarter on the team’s first blocked punt of the season. Miami was punting deep in their own end when Jacob Sykes came clean off the edge to block the punt, which rolled to near the goal line. Matt Reidy picked it up at the one and stepped into the end zone for the touchdown – 21-0 Virginia Tech at the half.

The second half didn’t start well for the Hokies. Miami came out fired up returning the second half kick off 55 yards to the Tech 46. From there, the Canes methodically knifed through Tech’s defense and in just five plays they marched into the end zone to cut the Tech lead to 21-7.

The Canes marched down the field again on their second possession of the third quarter, but tight end Jimmy Graham dropped two passes to stall the drive deep in Tech territory. Miami went for it on fourth down, but Tech’s defense stepped up and stopped Miami.

Tech added a field goal on its next possession, which ran off nearly five minutes from the clock. That gave the defense time to regroup, rest and then come out to shut Miami down the rest of the way.

The Hokies scored their final touchdown of the game early in the fourth quarter after Rashad Carmichael intercepted a Jacory Harris pass and returned it to Miami’s 25 yard line. Five plays later Williams ran it in for his second TD of the game.

Some injury notes: Sergio Render is a warrior. The guy left the game twice with apparent shoulder injuries but came back each time, fighting through the pain to protect Taylor. Also, Blake DeChristopher left the game with an ankle injury – not sure how serious the injury is, but we’ll know more on Thursday when the injury reports come out.

Alright, that’s all for now. I’ll have more tomorrow, including video highlights. A great win for the Hokies. And more importantly, it’s the second straight nationally televised game in which we won a big game against a good team. [Updated] With losses by No. 4 Ole Miss, No. 5 Penn State, No. 6 California and No. 9 Miami, expect the Hokies to move back into the top 10 – they could conceivably move up to No. 7.

Read the HokieSports.com recap.

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I went back and watched the only four plays that Blake DeChristopher was involved in against ECU before being injured. Blake didn’t touch anyone on the first play. Play No. 2, he blocks someone, but nothing violent. On the next two plays, he just falls down in front of his man, but the fourth play was the Glennon INT and during the return, Blake was trying to chase down the ECU player when he was blocked in the back. As he was getting blocked in the back, another ECU player tried to hit Blake from the front, but appears to have missed. Blake then lands on his side/back … and that’s the only point in his four plays that he could’ve possibly been injured. I’m not questioning Blake at all, I’m just trying to find out where the injury occurred.

VT.Fanfoc.us‘s VTinOC wrote the following in regards to Blake’s injury and I think he makes a valid point:

“Haven’t heard anything solid on it, but to me, it definitely looks like the interception play with the hit from behind. If you keep pausing it as it happens you can see he is upended and slammed down on his right rib/shoulder/back area. At 299 lbs, I could imagine there is a lot of force when that body hits the ground. Seems to be the only thing to me that could have done it.

I’ve watched it probably 20 times, and nothing else could have possibly done it. I would assume though, from the video, that it can’t be too terrible of an injury. I would say the biggest reason it is keeping him out is the fact that hes such a big guy that when he goes down in his stance he is having trouble getting up into position or something similiar.”

Take a look for yourself…

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