Marshall ............. 0 7 0 3 - 10 Virginia Tech (14) ... 7 28 10 7 - 52 Scoring Summary: 1st Quarter 04:58 VT - Williams 57 yd run (Waldron kick) 2nd Quarter 14:06 VT - Williams 4 yd run (Waldron) 12:10 VT - Hosley 64 yd punt return (Waldron) 10:32 MA - Marshall 61 yd run (Ratanamorn kick) 05:21 VT - Williams 28 yd run (Waldron) 01:36 VT - Roberts 21 yd pass from Taylor (Waldron) 3rd Quarter 10:49 VT - Boyce 8 yd pass from Taylor (Waldron) 02:43 VT - Waldron 28 yd FG 4th Quarter 14:05 MA - Ratanamorn 29 yd FG 09:47 VT - Wilson 36 yd run (Waldron)
Just a week after only gaining 155 total yards against Alabama, the Virginia Tech offense picked up 605 yards yards against Marshall, dominating the Thundering Herd on their way to a 52-10 victory in Lane Stadium. The Hokies move to 1-1 on the season, with highly anticipated matchups with Nebraska and Miami coming up.
The Hokies piled up 444 yards rushing, averaging 8.4 yards per carry on the day. True freshman David Wilson saw his first significant action, and he finished with 12 carries for 165 yards and a touchdown. Starting tailback Ryan Williams, a r-freshman, had 16 carries for 164 yards and three touchdowns. Josh Oglesby pitched in with 12 carries for 60 yards, while quarterback Tyrod Taylor ran for 58 yards on just seven carries.
Taylor also enjoyed a solid day throwing the football. He finished 9-of-16 for 161 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception. He threw touchdown passes to Dyrell Roberts and Xavier Boyce. Except for the touchdown by Roberts, every touchdown by the Hokies on Saturday was scored by a freshman. True freshman Jayron Hosley had a 64 yard punt return for a touchdown in the second quarter.
The Virginia Tech defense limited Marshall to just 252 yards of total offense. 61 of that came on one long touchdown run by tailback Darius Marshall, who finished with 109 yards on the ground. Marshall was a 1,000 yard rusher last season for the Thundering Herd.
The Hokie defense held quarterback Brian Anderson to just 116 yards passing. He was 15-of-31 on the day. Cody Slate, one of the most productive tight ends in the nation, was held to just three catches for 18 yards.
The Tech defense was led by Jake Johnson, who had seven tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss. The Hokies forced just one turnover, but there was standout play by several members of the secondary. Rashad Carmichael, filling in for an injured Stephan Virgil at boundary corner, broke up two passes. True freshman Jayron Hosley played most of the second half on defense, and he performed well.
Virginia Tech’s 605 yards of total offense was the most since they racked up 606 yards in the 2001 season opener against UConn. The Hokies had 346 yards of offense and a 35-7 lead at halftime, and then sat on the ball for most of the second half. The 605 yards of total offense was the fifth-most by a Frank Beamer coached team at Virginia Tech.
Virginia Tech’s wide receivers scored two touchdowns all of last season. With touchdown receptions by Dyrell Roberts and Xavier Boyce on Saturday, they have already equaled that total in 2009.
Recap
This game didn’t start out great for the Hokies. They were forced to punt on their first possession, and then Tyrod Taylor threw an interception in the end zone on their next possession. However, they got things going on their third possession, with Ryan Williams taking the first handoff of the series and racing 57 yards for a touchdown. The Matt Waldron extra point made the score 7-0 with 4:18 left in the first quarter.
The Hokies then went on to score touchdowns on their next two possessions. Ryan Williams plowed in from four yards out to make it 14-0 early in the second quarter, and then Jayron Hosley returned a punt 64 yards for a touchdown. With 12:10 remaining in the second quarter, the Hokies led 21-0.
Marshall tried to get back in the game on their next drive. On second and six from their own 39, Darius Marshall took a draw play 61 yards to the house to make the score 21-7. The Hokies were still up comfortably, but the Thundering Herd were trying to make things interesting.
However, the rest of the half belonged to Virginia Tech. Ryan Williams broke off a 28 yard run for a touchdown to make the score 28-7, and later Tyrod Taylor hit Dyrell Roberts with a beautiful 21 yard touchdown pass in the back of the end zone to make it 35-7 with just 1:36 left in the second quarter.
Virginia Tech got the ball first in the second half, and had their best touchdown drive of the game. Tech went 80 yards in 11 plays for the touchdown, taking 4:11 off the clock in the process. The Hokies faced a first and 25 from the Marshall 41 after an illegal block by Sergio Render, but came up with a 36 yard screen pass to Ryan Williams for a first down.
The pass to Ryan Williams was the big play of the drive, and Tyrod Taylor finished it off by hitting Xavier Boyce in the end zone on a quick slant to take a 42-7 lead with 10:49 left in the third quarter. That was Taylor’s final drive of the game, as the coaching staff inserted r-freshman Ju-Ju Clayton at that point.
The Hokies went on to score 10 more points in the second half, with the final touchdown coming on a 36 yard run by David Wilson. Wilson had runs of 51, 36, 31, 16, 14 and 14 yards, flashing the speed and balance that he was noted for as a national Top 50 player coming out of GW-Danville.
The Hokies drove the ball inside the Marshall 10 yard line on their final possession of the game, but Ju-Ju Clayton took a knee on three straight plays to avoid running up the score.
Virginia Tech returns to action next Saturday when they host #18 Nebraska, who is 2-0 on the season. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30pm, and the game will be televised by ABC.
STATISTICS
MA VT
---- ----
First downs 10 26
Rushed-yards 28-126 53-444
Passing yards 126 161
Sacked-yards lost 1-6 3-15
Return yards 143 100
Passes 16-33-0 9-19-1
Punts 10-42 3-46.3
Fumbles-lost 2-1 0-0
Penalties-yards 8-54 7-55
Time of possession 28:32 31:28
Att: 66,233
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-Virginia Tech, Wilson 12-165, Williams 16-164, Oglesby
12-60, Taylor 7-58, Z. Evans 1-6, Clayton 1-(-1), TEAM 4-(-8).
Marshall, Marshall 17-109, Anderson 6-17, Ward 4-7, Booker 1-(-7).
PASSING-Virginia Tech, Taylor 9-16-161-1, Clayton 0-3-0-0.
Marshall, Anderson 15-31-116-0, Taylor 1-2-10-0.
RECEIVING-Virginia Tech, Boykin 2-32, Roberts 2-31, Boyce 2-13,
Coale 1-43, Williams 1-36, Oglesby 1-6. Marshall, Slate 3-18
Evans 3-5, Marshall 3-3, Wilson 2-9, Walker 2-5, Wilson 1-60,
Bonner 1-17, Smith 1-9.
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