Virginia Tech Registers Second Straight Shutout, 28-0 Over Pittsburgh

Virginia Tech lunch pail
Bud Foster’s Lunch Pail Defense logged its second straight shutout as Virginia Tech won 28-0 over Pittsburgh in a huge Coastal Division clash. (Ivan Morozov)

Earlier in the week, Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster said he expected a “60-minute fistfight” heading into the matchup against Pitt. It appeared to be trending that direction through the majority of the first quarter.

Virginia Tech’s offense punted on the first two drives and threatened on another before a botched snap on fourth-and-1 gave the ball to the Panthers at midfield. Meanwhile, Pitt had nothing going with three consecutive three-and-outs to begin the game.

That all changed on the Hokies fourth drive.

Hendon Hooker rolled out to his right and hit Tayvion Robinson along the left sideline as he got drilled. Robinson broke free through a few tacklers before being taken down at the Pitt 1-yard line. From there, James Mitchell, wearing the honorary No. 25 jersey, took it on the jet sweep for his fourth rushing touchdown on the season. 

James Mitchell Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech tight end James Mitchell celebrates his touchdown that put the Hokies up 7-0. (Ivan Morozov)

On the ensuing possession, the iconic Lunch Pail Defense made an appearance in Bud Foster’s last game inside the confines of Lane Stadium. Rayshard Ashby came off the edge and sacked quarterback Kenny Pickett, forcing a fumble in the process. True freshman defensive tackle Norell Pollard picked it up and rumbled forward seven yards for the 74th defensive touchdown of Foster’s career. 

“What a big time play by Rook,” Foster said of Ashby, who finished with seven tackles and 1.5 for loss. “I don’t know if there’s a guy right now that means more to a defensive unit… The guy just makes play after play after play.”

Norell Pollard Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech defensive tackle Norell Pollard scoops and scores on a fumble recovery to stake the Hokies to a 14-0 lead. (Ivan Morozov)

“It’s a big momentum swing for us,” free safety Divine Deablo said of the defensive touchdown, the Hokies third one in the last four weeks. “It gets a lot of juice on the sidelines.”

And just like that in a mere nine seconds, Virginia Tech (8-3, 5-2 ACC) opened a 14-0 advantage that it carried all the way en route to the eventual 28-0 triumph over Pitt (7-4, 4-3 ACC). (ACC standings here)

“Our guys are playing with some confidence now and it’s fun to watch,” head coach Justin Fuente said. “I do believe we are a tougher football team than we were when we started.

“They’re a special group of young men who have been through special circumstances and stuck together. My feelings towards them haven’t changed because they’re winning games now. I’m more happy for them because they are getting some affirmation for their hard work.”

It was another standout performance for the defense. Foster and Co. pitched its second consecutive shutout, the 34th in Foster’s career as defensive coordinator. Cheers of “Bud Foster” rang out late in the stands during the fourth quarter, as the home crowd was treated to one final defensive masterpiece.

“I’m really happy for them (the players) No. 1 because they’re the ones who have put so much work and effort into this thing and buy in to trusting the process and the commitment and everything it takes to perform at this level,” Foster said. “That’s where we’ve been so much better since Duke, is our execution has continued to get a little bit better each week.”

The last time the Hokies shutout their opponents in back-to-back weeks was 2005 versus Ohio and Duke. It had never been done versus two consecutive power five opponents before today.

“It’s always fun winning,” Ashby said with a grin.

Virginia Tech last allowed a score with 8:59 in the third quarter against Wake Forest on a Sage Surratt reception. It’s now been 143 minutes and 59 seconds since the last score against this defense, spanning over 32 possessions. 

Tech has outscored opponents 96-0 over that time.

“Down the stretch, the Wake game and to go to Georgia Tech and play the way we did against one of our bitter rivals in this league,” Foster said. “This was a playoff game today, basically. To play the way we did, we didn’t play tight… To see that from a coaching perspective is very gratifying and I know it’s rewarding for the guys.”

Reggie Floyd Virginia Tech
Reggie Floyd, one of just five seniors honored on senior day, celebrates another shutout with his teammates. (Ivan Morozov)

Has Fuente ever been part of a run like this?

“No,” he said. “I don’t know that I’ve been a part of that before, when the teams were evenly matched. We had a run there at TCU when we were the best team in the league by a long ways except for a couple games… We’ve got to fight all those pats on the back that we’re going to get to understand why we’re getting them. We’ll roll our sleeves up and get ready to get back to work.”

On Saturday, Pitt tallied just 177 total yards and 60 rushing yards after gashing the Hokies for 492 rushing yards and 654 total yards last year. Kenny Pickett came into the game completing 61 percent of his passes but was held to 10-for-26 (38.5 percent) passing for 103 yards. The Panthers were just 3-for-15 on third down and 0-for-3 on fourth down.

Hooker and Co. engineered his second 90-yard scoring drive of the game near the end of the second quarter. It was extended when Pitt jumped offsides on fourth-and-2. Robinson then came up with a big play again on a 32-yard reverse before Hooker found Turner in the corner of the end zone for a 3-yard touchdown. The score made it 21-0.

Tre Turner Virginia Tech
Tre Turner hauls in a tough touchdown catch to put Virginia Tech up 21-0 right before half time. (Jon Fleming)

Tech delivered the knockout punch after Jarrod Hewitt knocked down Pitt’s fourth down pass, giving the ball back to the Hokies at the Panthers’ 25. Four plays later the lead was increased to 28-0 after Hooker found Damon Hazelton on the third down fade for the 2-yard pitch and catch, the redshirt junior’s seventh receiving touchdown of the season.

“It’s really unique, everybody coming together as a family,” Hooker said. “Just showing love and support. At the same time, everybody expects you to do your job. It’s been good.”

Hooker finished the game 10-of-13 for 153 passing yards and two touchdowns. He added 27 yards on the ground on 20 attempts.

“He continues to evolve,” Fuente said of his starting quarterback. “He’s got good leadership skills and throwing the football, he continues to come to work every week and focus on his improvement. Hopefully we can get that to continue.”

The victory sets up a winner-take-all matchup next week in Charlottesville against Virginia. Both teams will enter with a 5-2 record in the ACC, with the winner representing the Coastal Division to face Clemson in the ACC Championship.

This has happened two other times before, in 2007 and 2011. Virginia Tech won both matchups, 33-21 and 38-0, respectively, in Scott Stadium.

“It’s an exciting time for the state of Virginia,” Foster said. “I’m excited for us. As we’ve been in this league, we’ve been a big time contender. I always felt like the road to the ACC Championship came through Blacksburg, and it’s doing that now. It’s along the way. It’s fun to be back in the mix and in the hunt.”

— hokiesports.com box score —

21 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. After a long time we have a team that is clicking on both sides of the ball (probably after Vick era). This is a young team that can develop into a playoff team in next year or two if the defense continues to play like this. Can coach Fu convince foster to stay another two years? I am sure he (Foster) sees the potential and lure of getting into the playoffs and run for NC could be tempting.

  2. Brilliant, gutty effort by our fellas. Can’t say enough about the turnaround since the Duke debacle. Kudos to coaches and players for righting the ship. Great atmosphere at cold wet Lane, as the crowd was really lathered up. And it was nice to give that jerk Narduzzi a dreadful beating.

    One other comment, though: I recall CC predicting patience and telling us to sit tight as the coaching staff and team bided their time waiting for an opportunity. I thought that was sage advice and VT appeared to be heeding it initially. However, it looked like CJF let his impatience get the best of him, when we went for it on fourth down during our 3rd possession, and botched the snap to turn the ball over and fritter away the field position advantage we had built over the first 2 series. Thank goodness the defense came up big following that mistake. Had the Panthers managed to score there, we could’ve had a different game.

    Next up: the Hoos! We need to blow them out. Go Hokies!

    1. Agree on the 4th and 1 call. Would have preferred to punt the way out D is playing. I also thought that Pitt, when down 14-0 in the first half, should have kicked a FG rather than going for it on 4th down.

  3. An odd stat – we ran only 7 more offensive plays, yet had 10:34 more time of possession. The run game really did it job in a mostly unflashy way…

  4. Agree with all comments. I need to rewatch the game but it felt like they were a little tentative at first (who wouldn’t against that Pitt defense). Then they realized they could do this and never looked back. Confidence, swagger, whatever you want to call it.

    Or maybe that was just me as a fan! Go Hokies!

    1. I saw that too and thought the first 10-12 plays were scripted to either figure out conditions or get a feel for what Pitt would do or setup things for later. Once they eased in and found some spots there was no turning back!

      1. Agreed. Gotta admit I had to keep going back to Chris’ column that preached patience. 🙂 Paid off!

        Really nice to see the team gain confidence. That was a difficult team to play.

  5. Big contributions from a lot of different guys – offense and defense. These guys are really focused.

  6. At the UVA game, I would love to see the cheerleaders hold up 4 placards saying:
    THIS ONE’s FOR BUD and get that chant ringing through SCOTT STADIUM.

  7. Congratulations Cory, fine job on another great write-up and statistical presentation, Thank you.

  8. 9 consecutive shutout quarters? This is nuts. We are a team possessed. It’s hard not to be really confident against UVA now. They have a couple minor advantages. They are more rested (last week off and a lighter opponent today). And it’s their home game (of course that has not meant anything in our matchup). But, their fans have to be nervous as heck. I would love to spend the week between Christmas and New Years in Miami! Go Hokies!

  9. This team just continues to make plays. Reminds me of the 95 Hokies as the Defense has become a suffocating juggernaut and the Offense makes enough plays to win.

    1. Reminds me more of the 2004 team where we seemed to just get better as the season went along.

    2. Yep,1995 all over again Lose first two to mediocre teams Beat Miami first time in BIG EAST and boat race to 10 in a row and the Sugar Bowl Championship against Texas. We had some dudes on that defensive

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