Better late than never with this, I suppose. Forgot to post it before leaving the press box. Just got home to Blacksburg, so here it is ...

BY DARRYL SLATER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

CHARLOTTESVILLE – The ball fluttered toward Virginia tailback Mikell Simpson’s hands as he reached back to catch quarterback Jameel Sewell’s pitch. Later, Simpson would say that he ran too far ahead of Sewell on the option play, while Sewell would blame himself for flicking the ball too far behind Simpson.

But the whys didn’t matter in this moment with six and a half minutes left in the third quarter, after which the Cavaliers’ game against Virginia Tech would never be the same. Only the hows.

How the ball bounced off Simpson’s hands, hit him in the facemask and fell to the grass. How Tech free safety Kam Chancellor scooped it up, giving the Hokies possession at Virginia’s 10-yard line. How the Hokies scored a touchdown two plays later, the first of 28 unanswered points, and won 42-13, continuing to dominate a series that barely resembles a rivalry anymore.

“I think that play was that point where we could start dominating from there,” said Tech redshirt freshman tailback Ryan Williams. “It felt like they eased up. Looking in those guys’ eyes before that play, they were hungry. They were ready to take our heads off at any second of the game. But after that, a lot of heads on their team started to drop, slouching around. They didn’t really just seem like the same team [as they were] before that play.”

Maybe the No. 14 Hokies (6-2 ACC 9-3) would have pulled away eventually anyway. There were certainly other moments that favored them yesterday at Scott Stadium, where they ended the regular season – and likely Virginia coach Al Groh’s nine-year tenure in Charlottesville – by beating the Cavaliers (2-6, 3-9) for the sixth consecutive game, and the 10th time in the past 11 meetings.

Tech’s redshirt freshman tailback, Ryan Williams, ran 24 times for a season-best 183 yards and four touchdowns, leading an offense that scored at least 36 points for the third straight game. He needs 110 in the Hokies’ bowl game to break Kevin Jones’ single-season school rushing record, set in 13 games in 2003.

Sophomore wide receiver Danny Coale, whom Virginia did not offer a scholarship, caught six passes for 185 yards and beat cornerback Ras-I Dowling for catches of 36 and 41 yards on Tech’s first drive, which ended with Williams’ first touchdown.

And the Hokies’ defense was stingy again. Tech, which led 14-13 at halftime, held Virginia to 96 yards in the second half. The Hokies did it by shutting down Sewell, who ran 10 times for 99 yards in the first half, including seven for 91 in the first quarter, then seven times for 24 yards in the second half, not counting sacks. Tech allowed two offensive touchdowns in the regular season’s final four games, all wins.

Yet the game turned on that option play, second-and-4 at Virginia’s 26, with the Hokies up just 14-13. Virginia cornerback Chris Cook had just picked off Tyrod Taylor’s 25-yard pass in the end zone. Scott Stadium was buzzing. This was the Cavaliers’ chance to end their misery against the Hokies.

It started auspiciously enough. Virginia took over on the 20 and handed off to Simpson for a 6-yard gain, after which Chancellor popped him, head-on. Chancellor believes Simpson was thinking about the hit when he tried to catch Sewell’s pitch on the next play.

“He had his eyes on me instead of the ball,” Chancellor said. “I could see him looking at me. It looked like he was saying, ‘Don’t hit me, please.’ The eyes were just bigger. You could tell he was expecting a hit as soon as he got the ball.”

After the game, per Tech tradition, Chancellor knelt in the end zone, plucked some grass with his hand and deposited it in a black metal lunch pail, the talisman of Tech’s defense.

The second-tier bowl where the Hokies take it next remains unclear. As they wait for the invitation, they feel satisfied by how they responded to back-to-back losses to Georgia Tech and North Carolina – with a 4-0 finish, including the final three wins over conference opponents, none of which are eligible for a bowl, by 27, 28 and 29 points.

“I think the way we’ve been winning lately is still proving to people that we can play with the top teams in the country,” said junior quarterback Tyrod Taylor. “I’d take my team against any team in the nation.”

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WILLIAMS GETS MORE RECORDS: Virginia Tech tailback Ryan Williams insists he doesn’t chase statistics. Despite his indifference, he is rewriting the record books during his spectacular redshirt freshman season.

Williams ran 24 times for 183 yards in yesterday’s 42-13 win at Virginia, putting him 110 away from breaking Kevin Jones’ single-season school record. He also ran for four touchdowns for the second straight game, becoming the second player in school history to score four touchdowns in back-to-back games. In 2000, Lee Suggs had five against Central Florida, then four against Virginia.

Williams now has 20 total touchdowns this season (19 rushing, one receiving). That is a new ACC freshman record. The old one was held by North Carolina State running back T.A. McLendon, who had 18, all rushing, in 2002. Williams’ 20 touchdowns are fourth on Tech’s single-season list, behind Suggs’ 28 in 2000, Suggs’ 22 in 2002 and Jones’ 21 in 2003.

Another number for Williams to chase (or come about simply by playing): 127.5 yards. That isn’t an official record, but it is Tech’s single-season per-game rushing average record, set by Cyrus Lawrence in 1981, when he ran for 1,403 yards in 11 games. Lawrence trails only Jones in total rushing yards, but Jones’ 1,647 came in 13 games in 2003, giving him a 126.7 average.

Williams’ current average is 128.2. To break Lawrence’s per-game average, he must rush for 121 in the bowl game.

HOKIES’ BOWL HOPES GET HELP: Tech (9-3) did its part to improve its bowl-game resume by winning its final four regular-season games. Meanwhile, some of the Hokies’ competition for the ACC’s No. 2 bowl, the Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta, might have hurt itself yesterday.

Clemson finished the regular season 8-4 by losing 34-17 to South Carolina. North Carolina, which beat Tech, also finished 8-4 by losing 28-27 to North Carolina State. But Miami, which Tech beat, ended up 9-3 with a 31-10 win over South Florida.

Of course, Clemson could earn an automatic spot in the ACC’s top postseason game, the Orange Bowl, by beating Georgia Tech in next Saturday’s conference championship game.

The Hokies, who are in a bowl for the 17th consecutive season, will learn their destination by Dec. 7 at the latest. Another possibility includes the Gator Bowl, the ACC’s No. 3 game.

WARREN RETURNS, WANG PLAYS: Starting center Beau Warren, a junior, returned after missing the past three games with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee, suffered Oct. 29 in a loss to North Carolina.

He was listed as probable for yesterday’s game, as he was for the previous week’s game against North Carolina State.

Another starting offensive lineman, senior left tackle Ed Wang, also played after being listed as probable with a knee injury.

WALDRON OFF MARK: Senior kicker Matt Waldron missed a 40-yard field goal in the second quarter – his only attempt of the game – snapping a streak of 10 consecutive successful field goals.

Waldron entered yesterday 17 of 19 in his first season as the Hokies’ kicker, with his only misses coming from 49 yards against Boston College and 25 in the rain against Miami.

—Darryl Slater

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GRADING THE THREE KEYS

A STRONG PASS RUSH: The Hokies sacked Virginia quarterback Jameel Sewell two times for a loss of 19 yards – both times in the second half. But even more important, they prevented Sewell from getting loose on runs as the game went on. Sewell ran seven times for 91 yards in the first quarter. In the final three quarters, he ran eight times for 32 yards, not counting sacks.

GRADE: B+

PRECISE PASSING: Tech quarterback Tyrod Taylor picked apart cornerback Ras-I Dowling in the first half. Taylor hit Danny Coale for 41 yards, Coale for 36, Coale for 16 and Roberts for 38 – all against Dowling. Taylor finished 8-of-15 passing for 183 yards, including 5-of-8 for 143 in the first half. Of Taylor’s 183 yards, 131 came on those four first-half completions against Dowling, who entered the game with three interceptions this season.

GRADE: A+

EXPECTING THE UNEXPECTED: Virginia coach Al Groh didn’t pull out any incredibly tricky plays yesterday. Sewell did run more than usual. His 17 carries, counting sacks, eclipsed his per-game average this season – 11.9 runs. But there weren’t any sightings of Mikell Simpson lining up at quarterback or Vic Hall – the cornerback/quarterback – throwing passes. Groh used both tricks in Virginia’s previous game, a loss to Clemson.

GRADE: B+

The game story, notebook and grading Tech’s three keys.

Posted in • College Sports • Virginia Tech
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