Ten years ago, Virginia Tech quarterback Michael Vick led the Hokies to a stunning comeback win that no Tech fan will ever forget.

Playing in the not-so-friendly confines of Morgantown, W.Va., Tech fell behind 20-19 after West Virginia quarterback Brad Lewis hit Khori Ivy for an 18-yard touchdown pass with 1:15 left. Vick and the Hokies took over at their own 15-yard line, then put together a seven-play, 58-yard drive which ended with Shayne Graham making a 44-yard field goal at the buzzer that sustained Tech’s chances of making the national championship game ... which it eventually did, of course.

That was the last time, before last night, that the Hokies came from behind to win in the last minute. This time, they did it in perhaps more miraculous fashion. Tyrod Taylor led Tech on a five-play, 88-yard touchdown drive that lasted 1:23 and ended with 21 seconds on the clock, when Taylor found Dyrell Roberts in the end zone.

No, this was not a late-season game like West Virginia in ‘99. That was the eighth game of ‘99, while this was the third of ‘09. And no, the drive does not coronate Taylor as The Next Michael Vick. But that doesn’t make today’s finish any less cool, crazy, shocking or just plain absurd.

A handful of people had left Lane Stadium before Tech began that final drive with 1:44 left—including my better, though perhaps not wiser, half. Some of us scribes almost missed the crucial 81-yard pass to Danny Coale, too. We descended from the press box and arrived on the sideline for what we figured would be a couple routine minutes at the end of another uninspiring showing by Tech’s offense. Instead, we stepped foot on Lane’s grass just in time to see Coale running by—only a few feet away—and hear the crowd roar load enough to make Lane sound like a bee hive.

Insane. That’s the only way to put it. But if you are looking for more words, here they are, in the form of the game story that will appear in tomorrow’s paper ...

BY DARRYL SLATER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech’s offense prepared to jog onto the field one final time last night. Looking down from his booth at Lane Stadium, Hokies offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring spoke to the coaching staff through his radio headset. “We’ve got a one-shot deal here,” he said.

Even he knew the odds were slim. Down five points to Nebraska with 1:44 left in the game, the Hokies lined up at their own 12-yard line having gained 58 yards and two first downs in the second half. They had no timeouts.

But at this moment, only one number mattered to quarterback Tyrod Taylor: five. He calls the plays in these final-minutes situations, and Stinespring gives him five plays to use. After a too-many-men penalty on Nebraska and 1-yard sack, Taylor huddled with the offense for second down and 6 at Tech’s 16. He picked a play with one deep route. It belonged to Danny Coale.

Taylor took the snap, dropped back, scrambled, looked left, where one of his receivers ran the wrong route. Then he turned right and saw Coale running open, past safety Matt O’Hanlon. Coale knew as soon as Taylor looked at him that the ball was coming his way. In the booth, Stinespring watched Taylor fling it. “You don’t breath,” he said later. On the sideline, Tech cornerback Rashad Carmichael sat on the bench and looked up at the ball spiraling across the night sky – the prettiest pass he’d ever seen. It reminded him of a rainbow.

Coale caught it at Nebraska’s 35, sprinted and dove for the end-zone pylon, but was marked down at the 3. Three plays later, after a sack and incomplete pass, Taylor scrambled again, just like he practices during the week, and completed Tech’s stunning comeback with 21 seconds left, by throwing an 11-yard touchdown pass to Dyrell Roberts.

Tech 16, Nebraska 15 shocked even those who were around for the Hokies’ last final-minute comeback victory, 10 years ago at West Virginia. “That’s a ‘wow,’” said saucer-eyed defensive line coach Charley Wiles as he walked off the field. Defensive coordinator Bud Foster stumbled into the media room half-dazed, his tongue hanging out. “Oh my goodness gracious,” he said to nobody in particular.

The surprise, of course, lies in the fact that nothing about the game’s first 58:16 could have forecast its finish. Before the final drive, Tech’s offense had gained 46 of its 195 yards on one play. Besides that run by Ryan Williams, the Hokies had averaged 2.6 yards per play. Tech’s defense held Nebraska to five field goals, so the Hokies were about to lose a game in which they did not allow a touchdown for the first time since 1990.

But then Taylor hit Coale, setting up the hallmark play of Taylor’s two-plus seasons at Tech, a career with as many highlights as questions about whether he is a complete quarterback. Thirty-three seconds remained when Taylor lined up for third and goal at Nebraska’s 11. The Cornhuskers rush came quickly, as linebacker Phillip Dillard and tackle Ndamukong Suh chased Taylor to his right.

Taylor saw receiver Xavier Boyce double-covered in the end zone. He waved his left hand at Roberts, urging him to keep drifting in the direction Taylor was scrambling. Roberts juked, trying to shake cornerback Prince Amukamara. This felt like the longest play of Roberts’ life. Taylor, though, was running out of time. Suh reached up and grabbed the neck hole of his jersey. “I can’t go down,” Taylor said later.

He threw the ball toward Roberts. Every thought left Roberts’ mind except one: “I have to make this catch.” On the previous drive, he dropped a 20-yard completion on fourth and 9. But now, Roberts felt the ball hit him, squeezed tight and slid on his knees while Amukamara clinged to his back. When an official review confirmed the touchdown, Stinespring felt “the greatest feeling I’ve ever been around in my life,” other than seeing his children born.

Nebraska’s last-ditch drive ended with an interception on the second play, at the buzzer. The Hokies poured onto the field, trying to grasp what just happened. Coach Frank Beamer’s wife, Cheryl, scurried around, hugging anyone she could find.

“Oh my God!” she said as she embraced running backs coach Billy Hite.

“That’s why you play for 60 minutes,” Hite told her.

One of the wildest finishes you will ever see.