VT Blanks Bowling Green 37-0
Virginia Tech overcame another slow start Saturday afternoon and defeated Bowling Green, 37-0. The Hokies held the Falcons scoreless as the defense recorded the 28th shutout of defensive coordinator
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The Hokies struggled mightily in the scoreless first quarter, amassing just 43 yards of offense while racking up 40 yards worth of penalties. Junior quarterback
"I was proud overall of how we came back," Beamer said. "There early, we were kind of screwing things up but nobody panicked. I thought the offense got rolling pretty good."
Thomas would recover though and finished the day 11 of 26 for 144 yards, 2 touchdowns, and one interception through the air. He added 65 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
"He's a tough kid," Beamer said. "He's competitive, he wants to win, he wants to be good and he's tough. I like all of those qualities.
"We're getting there. It's a work in progress and we've got a ways to go, no question about that. But I think we took a step forward here today. The defense getting a shutout; that was great."
Things heated up offensively for the Hokies in the second quarter as they scored three touchdowns and pushed the total yards marker on the day to 227 yards. The Hokies led at halftime 21-0 thanks to a 10-yard touchdown catch by freshman running back
"I really think we beat a good football team," Beamer said.
"It keeps all the backs fresh," Coleman said of the multi-running back use. "Everyone goes out there with fresh legs and it kind of works in our favor."
"My first goal was to block the punt and then we got to get back and make a hole for the returner. He just was there," Gregory said of his block.
On the performances of Gregory and Coleman, Beamer said, "I thought Tony Gregory showed some speed out there, and J.C. went he got in the flats showed some stuff."
The highlight of the second quarter was the 42-yarder to Roberts. Thomas used the play-action to freeze the defense and then hit a streaking Roberts down the sideline. It was the first touchdown reception for Roberts since the Hokies played Duke way back in 2010. Roberts had three catches for 63 yards on the day.
Holmes, after rushing just once for four yards in the first half, got himself going in the third. He ran three times for 47 yards on the opening drive of the second half, including a 2-yarder to push the score to 27-0. Ju8nior kicker
Bowling Green showed signs of life on offense in the third quarter, pushing across the fifty on their second drive of the half for the first time since the 1:11 mark in the first quarter. That drive ended in an interception by junior cornerback
Journell tacked on a 36-yard field goal in the fourth quarter after a 24-yard run by Gregory and a 26-yard run by Thomas.
Scales added another score for the Hokies on a 4-yard touchdown run with 9:22 left in the game.
Mark Leal replaced Thomas with 6:46 left in the fourth quarter and played out the remainder of the game.
The Hokies finished the game with 396 yards of total offense, compared to just 266 for the Falcons. "We needed a day where we had some plays," Beamer said. "I thought the offense was very efficient."
Looking ahead to the future, Taylor said, "I told the guys after the game before we broke it out, the feeling of winning, this feeling that we have right now - we can have this every week."
"I'm really pleased with this win," Beamer said.
Virginia Tech returns to action next week in D.C. as they close out their non-conference schedule against Cincinnati. The game time and television will be announced Sunday.