Virginia Tech ..... 0 7 9 3 - 19 Boston College ..... 0 0 0 0 - 0 Scoring Summary: 2nd Quarter 14:55 VT - Evans 3 yd TD run (Hazley kick) 3rd Quarter 11:17 VT - Hazley 29 yd FG 07:45 VT - Hazley 45 yd FG 04:13 VT - Hazley 29 yd FG 4th Quarter 03:48 VT - Hazley 32 yd FG
Chestnut Hill, MA – Virginia Tech got a great performance from their defense in the second half en route to a 19-0 shutout victory over Boston College on Saturday. The last time the Eagles were shut out was a 17-0 loss to the Hokies in 1998. Tech is now 2-2 on the year, with a 1-0 mark in ACC play. BC dropped to 2-1 and 0-1 with the loss.
The Eagles had 211 yards of total offense against Tech in the first half, but finished with just 250 for the game. Tech’s defense was dominant, intercepting two passes and recording six total sacks. Steven Friday got the better of the the ACC’s best offensive tackle, Anthony Castonzo, recording three tackles for loss, two sacks and twp forced fumbles.
Bruce Taylor added two sacks and three tackles for loss. Chris Drager also had a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery all on the same play. James Gayle, a r-freshman defensive end, had his first career sack against Boston College. He also had two other tackles for loss.
The Tech offense only managed one touchdown, despite the numerous Boston College turnovers. Darren Evans scored on a three yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter. Chris Hazley hit all four of his field goal attempts, with a long of 45 yards.
Evans finished with 30 yards on 14 carries, but the best ball carrier of the day was sophomore David Wilson. Wilson finished the game with 67 yards on 16 carries.
Tyrod Taylor put up efficient numbers, going 16-of-21 for 237 yards. He was intercepted once by Mark Herzlich on a deflected pass. Dyrell Roberts caught five passes for 49 yards. Against BC’s umbrella coverage, tight end Andre Smith was also a big part of the passing game. He caught four passes for 44 yards. Danny Coale had three receptions for 91 yards, and Darren Evans had a big 30 yard reception after a Tyrod Taylor scramble to set up his own touchdown run.
The Tech defense tightened up in the second half, but they struggled at times in the first half. Jayron Hosley intercepted a pass in the endzone to kill the first Boston College scoring drive, and the final BC drive of the half ended with quarterback Dave Shinskie being tackled at the Tech one yard line by Davon Morgan. In between, the Eagles also missed a 47 yard field goal.
Jeron Gouveia-Winslow, much maligned for his play against James Madison, also had a couple of tough plays against Boston College. However, he also had an interception while he was in man-to-man coverage, which drew a big celebration from the rest of the Virginia Tech defense.
BC quarterback Dave Shinskie was 11-of-25 for 130 yards, with two interceptions. Last year against the Hokies he was 1-of-12 for 4 yards, with two interceptions. He was benched in the second half, but the Tech defense blitzed backup Mike Marscovetra and he had no impact on the outcome of the game.
Recap
The Tech offense moved the ball well on their first drive, but the drive began their own nine. They advanced the ball to the BC 40, but the drive fizzled out and the Hokies were forced to punt. Brain Saunders got off a great punt that went out of bounds at the BC four, but an illegial procedure penalty forced a rekick. Saunders’ next effort wasn’t as strong, going out of bounds at the BC 26 for just 19 yards.
With good field position, the Eagles were able to drive inside the Tech 10. A big 26 yard run by Montel Harris was the biggest play of the drive, and eventually BC faced third and goal from the Tech 10.
Tech got pressure on Dave Shinskie by calling a twist at the line of scrimmage. John Graves curled outside the defensive end and was heading towards Shinskie unblocked. Shinskie had to get rid of the ball, but he threw it to sophomore cornerback Jayron Hosley, who recorded the first interception of his career. The first BC threat was averted.
The Tech offense got the ball back on their own 20 and embarked on their first scoring drive of the game. It was a methodical drive, with the Hokies never facing a third down. They advanced the ball to the BC 33 and faced second and five, and Tyrod Taylor made the big play of the drive. He scrambled to the right towards the sidelines, and found and open Darren Evans. Evans made the catch, scooted down the sideline before finally being tackled at the BC three for a 30 yard gain.
That was the last play of the first quarter, and on the first play of the second quarter Evans took the handoff to the right and found the endzone. He was untouched on the play, and the Hokies were up 7-0.
Both teams traded punts after the touchdown, and then the Tech defense had to survive another BC scoring threat. Shinksie hit Johnathan Coleman for a 23 yard gain on the first play of the drive, and later found Clyde Lee for a 27 yard gain. However, the drive stalled and the Eagles missed a 47 yard field goal attempt wide right.
BC appeared to go three and out on their next possession, but Zach Luckett was flagged for roughing the punter. Luckett didn’t hit Ryan Quigley hard, but it was enough to draw the 15 yard personal foul penalty. A later pass interference call on Antone Exum also gave the Eagles a free 15 yards.
A later personal foul penalty on Steven Friday gave BC the ball at the six. Steven Friday came off the edge and nailed Shinskie for what appeared to be a sack, but the Tech coaches called a timeout just before the play starter. Friday never heard the whistle, and he was being blocked on the play, so he never thought the play was dead.
BC committed a false start penalty on the next play, and they had a chance to score from the Tech 11, though they had no timeouts left. Shinskie found no one open, so he elected to pull the ball down and run rather than throw it away. It was a poor decision. Davon Morgan tackled Shinskie at the one yard line, and time ran out before the Eagles could run another play.
That was the last time BC threatened the Hokies. In fact, they never crossed midfield in the second half. Before a 35 yard pass play against many of Tech’s backup defenders in their final possession, the Eagles had just four yards of total offense in the second half.
The Hokies managed to tack on four field goals in the second half to win the game 19-0. It could have been worse, but the Tech offense failed to capitalize on two golden opportunities in the second half.
The first came on BC’s opening drive of the third quarter. Chris Drager blew around the edge, sacked Dave Shinskie, forced the fumble, and recovered it himself. That gave the Hokies the ball at the BC 24 with a 10-0 lead. Rather than moving towards the endzone, the Tech offense lost four yards and had to settle for a 45 yard field goal by Chris Hazley, which was right down the middle. Tech led 13-0 with 7:45 left in the third quarter.
BC turned the ball over again on their next drive. They tried to isolate Jeron Gouveia-Winslow in man coverage against an inside receiver. The outside receiver ran a pick play on Gouveia-Winslow, but “GW” was able to fight through it, step in front of the pass and make the interception. The Hokies had the ball at the BC 31 with a chance to blow the game open.
The Tech offense picked up a first down, and then had a first and goal thanks to a BC facemask penalty. However, a Darren Evans run lost four yards, the Hokies got behind the chains, and could only manage a 29 yard field goal from Hazley with 4:13 left in the third quarter.
The offense managed one final field goal with 3:48 left in the game. A 24 yard reception by Dyrell Roberts and a 25 yard run by David Wilson set the Hokies up, but the drive stalled at the BC 15 and Hazley nailed the 32 yarder.
Virginia Tech will return to action next Saturday when they take on unbeaten NC State, who blew out Georgia Tech on Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30pm, and the game will be televised by ABC.
STATISTICS
VT BC
---- ----
First downs 16 16
Rushed-yards 40-106 28-70
Passing yards 237 180
Sacked-yards lost 2-12 6-46
Return yards 29 127
Passes 16-21-1 16-32-2
Punts 4-42.3 6-42.7
Fumbles-lost 0-0 3-1
Penalties-yards 8-64 5-47
Time of possession 33:21 26:39
Att: 42,317
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-Virginia Tech, Wilson 16-67, Evans 14-30, Taylor 9-10,
TEAM 1-(-1).
BC, Harris 19-111, Phifer 1-(-1), Shinskie 3-(-5), Mascorvetra 5-(-35).
PASSING-Virginia Tech, Taylor 16-21-237-1.
BC, Shinskie 11-25-130-2, Mascorvetra 5-7-50-0.
RECEIVING-Virginia Tech, Roberts 5-49, Smith 4-44, Coale 3-91,
Evans 1-30, Boykin 1-14, Wilson 1-5, Davis 1-4.
BC, Harris 5-21, Lee 4-42, Momah 2-30, Swigert 2-32,
Amidon 1-35, Coleman 1-23, Anderson 1-7.
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