Sixty-one percent of the game. That’s how long Alabama held the ball in tonight’s 34-24 win over Virginia Tech here in Atlanta, where the Crimson Tide ran 79 plays for 498 yards.

Two fumbles. That’s how many turnovers the Hokies committed on special teams, usually their strength. The turnovers led to Alabama field goals of 34 and 20 yards.

Neither of those stats made Tech look like a national-championship contender.

That said, there were some promising signs for the Hokies.

Tailback Ryan Williams, who muffed a punt then told the coaches he didn’t want to return any more, ran 13 times for 71 yards, including a 32-yard touchdown. He also caught a 43-yard pass, which led to his other touchdown—a 1-yard dive.

Defensive end Jason Worilds—who stood alone near midfield before the game and stared down Alabama’s sideline before the teams shook hands—had a sack and nailed quarterback Greg McElroy just before defensive tackle Antoine Hopkins (Highland Springs High) picked off McElroy’s rushed pass.

Linebacker Jake Johnson, a sophomore who was starting his first game, led Tech with 13 tackles and broke up a pass.

I’ll have more later on Williams pulling himself off punt-return duties, and free safety Kam Chancellor explaining some of the big plays that happened in his area of the field. For now, here is the final game story, with quotes. The game ended too late for us to get quotes in our print-edition story.

BY DARRYL SLATER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

ATLANTA – His arms pumping and head bobbing, Kam Chancellor sprinted down the field, desperately trying to catch wide receiver Marquis Maze, whose white No. 4 jersey remained agonizingly close, but just out of Chancellor’s reach.

When Chancellor turned around to pursue Maze, he expected to see one of his cornerbacks deep in the secondary, offering coverage help. But all Chancellor saw was open field—another miscommunication on a night when several others led to big plays. Chancellor kept running after Maze and thought, “Just make the tackle.”

By this point, with 12:44 left in last night’s season-opening game at the Georgia Dome, Chancellor and Virginia Tech’s defense had hung in admirably against Alabama. Two drives earlier, whip linebacker Cody Grimm chased down tailback Roy Upchurch, who chugged 40 yards to Tech’s 15-yard line before Grimm stripped the ball and the Hokies recovered.

But as Chancellor, a free safety, furiously chased Maze, exhaustion surely weighed on him and his fellow defenders, even though they wouldn’t admit it later. After three quarters, Alabama had possessed the ball for 27:15, Tech for 17:45. And the Hokies offense had gained just 105 yards.

Maze grabbed Greg McElroy’s pass at Tech’s 6, for a 48-yard gain that began the seventh-ranked Hokies’ downward spiral toward a 34-24 loss that, at least at this early juncture of the season, bruises their aspirations of playing for a national championship.

On play after Maze’s catch, tailback Mark Ingram ran for a 6-yard touchdown that, after a two-point conversion, turned Tech’s 17-16 lead into a 24-16 Alabama advantage that the fifth-ranked Crimson Tide never surrendered, despite a 37-yard touchdown drive by a Tech offense that finished with just 155 yards, almost half of which came on two plays by tailback Ryan Williams—a 43-yard catch and a 32-yard touchdown run, his second score of the game. Alabama gained 498 yards, including 180 on 20 plays in the fourth quarter.

The Crimson Tide ended up running 79 plays and possessing the ball for 37:02—61 percent of the game—compared to 51 plays and 22:58 for the Hokies. “We played too many plays,” Tech coach Frank Beamer said.

The Hokies did themselves no favors after Ingram’s touchdown. Davon Morgan, a Varina High graduate, was stripped by Chris Rogers on the ensuing kickoff, giving Alabama the ball at Tech’s 20. The Tide cashed in with a 20-yard Leigh Tiffin field goal. (Atypical of Tech’s usually expert special teams, Williams also fumbled away a punt in the first quarter.)

Tech hung in after Tiffin’s field goal, responding with a two-play, 37-yard drive that ended with Williams’ 32-yard run. But even when the offense succeeded, it didn’t do the defense any favors, because perhaps that drive, which lasted just a minute, happened too quickly. “We’ve got to control the ball more,” quarterback Tyrod Taylor said.

After Williams scored, Tech’s defense looked gassed. Alabama ran back onto the field and ran over the Hokies for a five-play, 74-yard touchdown drive that lasted 2:40 and essentially sealed the game by giving the Tide a 34-24 advantage with 6:35 left. “The defense did what they could to help us out, but I think they were just too tired after a while,” Williams said.

Linebacker Jake Johnson refused to blame fatigue. “That’s what we do – we play defense,” he said. “And that’s what they expect from us. If we’re on the field 15 minutes or if we’re on the field a whole hour, that’s what we expect to do. We need to be in shape to do that.”

Defense, special teams and Alabama penalties kept Tech in the game in the first half, after which the Hokies led 17-16 despite being out-gained 220-68. (Williams’ catch was responsible for 43 of those 68.)

For most of the first half, Tech’s offense looked as impotent as last year’s edition – the third consecutive Hokies squad to finish 99th or worse nationally in yards per game. Trailing 16-10, the Hokies had run 22 plays for 37 yards when they lined up for third down and 10 at their own 49 with about 2:45 left in the half.

At this moment, special teams and defensive were responsible for all of Tech’s points: a 98-yard kickoff return by Dyrell Roberts and a 28-yard field goal by Matt Waldron, which finished a drive that began on Alabama’s 14 after defensive tackle Antoine Hopkins, of Highland Springs High, intercepted McElroy, who was hammered as he threw by defensive end Jason Worilds.

Then luck smiled on Tech’s offense, which seized the opportunity. Taylor’s third-down pass to wide receiver Xavier Boyce was incomplete, but flags flew after the play. Pass interference on cornerback Marquis Johnson. The next play, Taylor found Williams for the 43-yard gain.

But Tech couldn’t avoid trouble. On first and goal from the 5, Taylor’s pitch to Josh Oglesby landed on the turf. Taylor fell on it at the 19. Then Alabama hurt itself again. Linebacker Rolando McClain knocked down left guard Sergio Render after the play, then appeared to make contact with an official. McClain received a 10-yard personal foul and 5-yard unsportsmanlike conduct. Tech advanced to the 4 and scored three plays later on a 1-yard dive by Williams.

Alabama finished that drive with four penalties for 45 yards, including a 15-yarder on the kickoff return for a horse-collar tackle.

Yet the Tide recovered in the second half, wearing out the Hokies and, it seemed, their fans, most of whom had left by the final horn, leaving Alabama’s sea of red and white to sing “Sweet Home Alabama” as it blared over the public-address system and revel in the promising start to new season – one that Beamer believes might still be special for his team.

“I think we can get there,” he said. “We’re a little bit young right now. We’re gonna be a little older next week.”

The final story and some thoughts from Crimson Tide 34, Hokies 24.