Ohio................ 0 0 0 0 - 0
Virginia Tech....... 3 14 14 14 - 45
Scoring Summary:
1st Quarter
08:41 VT - Brandon Pace 35 yd field goal
2nd Quarter
08:48 VT - Cedric Humes 1 yd run (Pace kick)
01:12 VT - Jeff King 28 yd pass from Marcus Vick (Pace kick)
3rd Quarter
08:50 VT - Jesse Allen 3 yd pass from Marcus Vick (Pace kick)
00:29 VT - Marcus Vick 4 yd run (Pace kick)
4th Quarter
12:30 VT - Cedric Humes 33 yd run (Pace kick)
05:32 VT - John Kinzer 38 yd pass from Cory Holt (Pace kick)
Blacksburg, VA–Fourth-ranked Virginia Tech continued their winning ways on Saturday afternoon, defeating the Ohio Bobcats 45-0 in the home opener in Lane Stadium. The win takes the Hokies to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in ACC play. The Bobcats drop to 1-2.
Marcus Vick continued his outstanding play at quarterback, completing 12 of 16 passes for 200 yards and two touchdowns. Vick did not throw an interception. He also had 13 carries for 38 yards and a touchdown. His top receiver was tight end Jeff King, who caught three passes for 55 yards and a touchdown. Justin Harper also had three receptions for 31 yards.
The Hokies still have not produced a 100 yard rusher this season, but they did get good productivity by committee on Saturday. Tech piled up 218 total rushing yards. Cedric Humes led the charge, carrying the ball 15 times for 75 yards and two touchdowns. He had a 33 yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter to make the score 38-0. Mike Imoh had 13 carries for 46 yards. Branden Ore continued to be impressive in late game work with six carries for 34 yards.
The Hokies were very balanced offensively. Tech quarterbacks threw for 257 yards to go along with the 218 rushing yards for a total of 475 yards.
Tech was led defensively by senior whip linebacker James Anderson, who recorded ten tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack. Vince Hall added eight tackles for the Hokies. Tech had three sacks on the day, one by Anderson and one each for defensive ends Darryl Tapp and Chris Ellis.
Roland Minor and Xavier Adibi had interceptions for a Tech defense that shut out their second consecutive opponent and held Ohio to 189 total yards. The Hokies last shutout two consecutive opponents back in 2001 when they blanked Western Michigan and Rutgers. The Tech defense is allowing only 5.33 points per game this season.
Recap
The Tech offense got off to a fast start in this game, with Marcus Vick completing a 52 yard pass down the left sideline to David Clowney on the Hokies’ first offensive play from scrimmage. A false start penalty on wide receiver Josh Hyman helped stall Tech’s drive however, and they settled for a 35 yard Brandon Pace field goal.
After holding Ohio to a three and out, the Tech offense took over on their own 49 yard line. The Hokies were able to move the ball inside the five yard line where they faced a fourth and one from the Ohio three yard line. However Mike Imoh was stopped in his tracks by the Ohio defense, losing a yard on the play.
The Hokie offense was stopped again by the Ohio defense on their next possession, but then the Tech defense took over. On a third and two from their own 28 yard line, Ohio elected to run an option to the left side of the field. However, James Anderson sliced through the line and forced Ohio quarterback Austen Everson into a bad pitch, which was recovered by Tech’s Noland Burchette at the eight yard line. Three plays later Cedric Humes found the end zone on a one yard touchdown run, putting Tech up 10-0 with 8:48 remaining in the second quarter.
Ohio was able to mount a drive on their next possession. Everson was able to break of two nice runs of 12 yards and 28 yards to take the Bobcats down the field. The Tech defense was reeling a bit, and Ohio decided to go for the killing blow by running a reverse against the aggressive Hokie defense. However Darryl Tapp played the reverse perfectly, and wide receiver Scott Mayle was stopped for a ten yard loss. Ohio would miss a 36 yard field goal later in the drive.
After a Virginia Tech three and out, Everson was intercepted by Xavier Adibi on the first play of the Bobcats’ possession. Adibi returned the interception 25 yards to the Ohio 32 yard line. Three plays later, Vick connected with Jeff King on a 28 yard touchdown pass to make the score 17-0 heading into halftime.
Virginia Tech and Ohio began the second half with three and outs from their offenses, and the Hokies took over on their own 34 with 11:46 left in the third quarter. VT was finally able to put together a consistent offensive drive. Marcus Vick had a 15 yard run and completed a 33 yard wide receiver screen to Josh Morgan which went to the Ohio 18 yard line. Vick later connected with fullback Jesse Allen on a three yard touchdown pass with 8:50 left in the quarter to give the Hokies a comfortable 24-0 margin.
Ohio mounted a good drive on their next possession in an effort to get back into the game. Everson completed a 33 yard pass to Scott Mayle on the first play of the drive, and later connected with Mayle on a 17 yard strike to the Tech 21 yard line. However the drive was ended when cornerback Roland Minor intercepted an Everson pass at the five yard line and returned it to the Tech 19.
The Tech offense would use the turnover to put the game away. Vick led the Hokies downfield in an efficient and balanced drive that went 81 yards in 4:41. The Hokies picked up good yardage on first and second down the entire job, facing only one third down during the possession. Marcus Vick scored from four yards out on an option keeper to the left side to put Tech up 31-0 with 29 seconds remaining in the quarter.
The Hokies drove the dagger in deeper on their next possession. Vick completed a 17 yard pass to Josh Hyman that took Tech to Ohio’s 33 yard line. On the next play Cedric Humes found a hole and ran 33 yards untouched to the end zone, increasing Tech’s lead to 38-0 with 12:30 remaining in the game.
Tech was able to use the remainder of the game to give some valuable playing time to their young backups. Cory Holt was very impressive in his limited action, completing 2 of three passes for 57 yards and a touchdown. His only incompletion was dropped by third string tight end Jordan Trott. Holt connected twice with backup tight end John Kinzer, including a 38 yard touchdown pass with 5:32 remaining in the game.
Freshman tailback Branden Ore was also impressive for the second week in a row for the Hokies. Ore carried the ball six times for 34 yards in the fourth quarter.
The win spearheads the Hokies into two consecutive big games. Tech hosts Georgia Tech next Saturday before traveling to West Virginia on October 1. The Georgia Tech game will kickoff at 3:30 and will be televised by ABC.
STATISTICS
VT Ohio
---- ----
First downs 24 10
Rushed-yards 53-218 32-87
Passing yards 257 102
Sacked-yards lost 3-22 3-12
Return yards 33 33
Passes 14-19-0 10-23-2
Punts 4-41.5 7-42.6
Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-1
Penalties-yards 3-20 2-20
Time of possession 33:20 26:40
Att: 65,115
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-Virginia Tech, Humes 15-75, Imoh 13-46, Vick 13-38,
Ore 6-34, Royal 2-14, Holt 1-7, Bell 3-4. Ohio, Owens 7-34,
Everson 10-31, McRae 6-16, Abrams 2-8, Petruziello 2-4, Young 3-4,
Mayle 1-(-10).
PASSING-Virginia Tech, Vick 12-16-200-0, Holt 2-3-57-0. Ohio,
Everson 9-18-96-2, Petruziello 1-5-6.
RECEIVING-Virginia Tech, King 3-55, Harper 3-31, Kinzer 2-57,
Clowney 2-57, Morgan 1-33, Hyman 1-17, Humes 1-4, Allen 1-3. Ohio,
Mayle 3-62, Cody 3-15, Sylvan 2-5, Riley 1-14, Logan 1-.
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