No. 16 Virginia Tech Defeats Boston College 23-10 for First ACC Win

Justin Fuente Virginia Tech
Justin Fuente won his 15th game at Virginia Tech, as the Hokies defeated Boston College 23-10. (File photo by Ivan Morozov)

Virginia Tech has not lost consecutive games under head coach Justin Fuente. On Saturday night, that trend continued.

No. 16 Virginia Tech handled business against Boston College, winning 23-10 in an imperfect domination over the Eagles. With the win, Tech moves to 5-1 (1-1 ACC) on the season, while Boston College falls to 2-4 (0-3).

The Hokies’ defense was on cruise control for most of the game, shutting down the Boston College offense. The Eagles finished the night with 344 yards of offense, but much of that came late in the game, and the Eagles struggled on third down, going 2-15. Eagles quarterback Anthony Brown was 13-30 for 166 yards through the air, while adding 51 yards on the ground. Brown caught a touchdown pass as well from wide receiver Jeff Smith on a trick play.

Virginia Tech’s offense didn’t look great for much of the night, but did have some bright spots. Josh Jackson finished the night 22-33 for 322 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Tech racked up just 109 rushing yards on 48 carries, averaging 2.3 yards per rush. The Hokies held themselves back by turning it over once, and by committing nine penalties for 67 yards and allowing five sacks.

The biggest bright spot for the Virginia Tech offense was the emergence of younger receivers. Senior Cam Phillips left the game with a leg injury early in the first quarter (X-rays were negative), forcing other players to step up. Sean Savoy starred in Phillips’ absence, catching nine passes for 139 yards, both career highs, and a touchdown.

Dalton Keene caught four passes for 66 yards, Eric Kumah caught four passes for 53 yards and Henri Murphy caught three passes for 40 yards.

While the Hokies had just 109 yards on the ground, Travon McMillian had a season-high 88 yards on 17 carries (5.2 ypc) and scored a rushing touchdown.

Virginia Tech held a comfortable 17-3 lead heading into halftime, despite an inauspicious start. On the Hokies’ first offensive possession, Jackson threw an interception that was batted at the line of scrimmage. Boston College took over at the Virginia Tech 25-yard-line, but missed a 40-yard field goal attempt.

The Hokies capitalized. Virginia Tech would go on to score on three of their next four possessions, two of which were touchdowns. Savoy broke loose for a 53-yard touchdown to kick off the scoring, while Travon McMillian added a 23-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

Boston College’s inability to finish drives hindered the Eagles in the first half. Boston College missed the early field goal attempt off the turnover, settled for a field goal on their next drive and later failed on a fourth down attempt at the Virginia Tech 23-yard-line.

The second half was much of the same for Boston College. While the defense slowed the Hokies’ offense to a standstill, the Eagles offense only scored on a trick play in the second half. Even though Virginia Tech’s offense could only muster six points in the second half, Tech’s defense made their double-digit lead for most of the game feel insurmountable.

The victory gives Virginia Tech their first ACC win of the season. The Hokies will have a bye week next week, allowing Tech to heal a bit and get players back. Phillips’s situation is unknown, and CJ Carroll and Steven Peoples both did not play vs. Boston College. It was Peoples’ second-straight missed game. Tech’s next game isn’t until Oct. 21, when the Hokies host North Carolina inside Lane Stadium. But for now, the Hokies are 5-1 on the season and 1-1 in the ACC heading into their bye.

— hokiesports.com box score —

 

 

24 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. I assume that there are no technicalities in the rule that when a pass is tipped there cannot be pass interference anymore. But, it definitely seemed like the BC was interfering with our receiver well before Jackson made the pass (that was subsequently tipped). In my opinion that took away our receiver’s ability to make a play on the tipped ball, making it easy for the BC defender to get the interception. It looked like Fuente was making that argument as well.

    1. Yep, but rules are rules. Once a ball is tipped, there is no pass interference …. regardless of when the pass interference started (even prior to the tip).

      1. There was commentary in the interviews after the game that the call really should have been defensive holding for the contact before the pass was made. That would have been the correct call.

      2. A Defensive Holding Call may have been appropriate there, and would’ve stood up, correct?

      1. I think he’s referring to the very first comment, which I hope was someone just making a joke.

  2. Difficult to watch, painful at times, with dead stands and dead football for the most part. With the exceptions of two quality drives, Tech finally seemed to have put this snooze-fest away, but then BC suddenly zipped off a three-play TD drive followed by another twenty yard play in the 4th quarter before VT got things back in control. Someone used the term “unsatisfying” previously and that’s correct. Hope the bye week helps the injuries heal and we are ready for UNC. A.H.

    1. Dead stands? Probably on TV, but the 5000 Hokie fans in attendance made noise at all the right times. And the student-athletes knew we were there, acknowledging the maroon and orange faithful,high fiving us after game. Didn’t feel dead to me after I had traveled from Georgia to support my Hokies. College football is not JUST about the viewing audience, regardless of how far the pendulum has swung in that direction

  3. I won’t give the BC defense that much credit. The vt offense slowed themselves. They turtled up. I will give the BC defense some crof fit but that should not be the driving theme. The offense chose an approach that slowed themselves down

  4. Travon T-Mac looked good, nice jump cut. The other backs did not look good, IMHO, with the exception of “Impact Player” Coleman Fox. I like the lateral movement of Fox, Brandon, what was his name, side jump step.

    Not a good game for JJ in terms of holding the ball, but what a nice dart to Savoy. D looked good.

    Not a game that I will re-watch, pretty boring – but maybe in a good way.

    1. That would be the Cam Phillips injury, the fact that People’s was not playing. When the star player is out it makes every yard a little harder. Need to be at our best when our best is required and road games in front of 9,000 fans are tough for everyone.

  5. Congrats on road win! Was nice to see Trevon get back in the groove & have a solid game. I think the timing for bye week is good & hopefully get a few rested & healed up. Biggest disappointment was getting stuffed on goal line several times in 2nd half & not punching in for TD & way too many penalties! There is stilll Lots of football to be played! Let’s Go Hokies!!!!

  6. Still problems with finishing off drives. Too many lost points in the second half. Lots of offense but no bang for the buck.

    Rest up, heel up and get prepared for the 2nd half of the season.

    GO HOKIES!!!

  7. Is it an optical illusion or do we always look bad wearing orange britches? Can we just burn them and be done with them forever?

      1. But THAT was true Hokie Orange…someone referred to it earlier as a “dingy” orange.. i like the true Hokie Orange, but we don’t wear that anymore..not flashy enough..IIWII

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