Duke Downs Tech 45-43 in Gut-Wrenching 4 OT Loss, Ratcheting Up Pressure on Frank Beamer

A win against Duke might have merely delayed the inevitable for Frank Beamer, but it surely would've helped all the same.

Instead, the Hokies are left scratching their heads once more, this time on the wrong end of a 45-43 four overtime loss to the Blue Devils. The result effectively ends any meaningful competition for the Hokies in the ACC, and seemingly brings the end of Beamer's storied 29-year career ever closer.

"I don't know that I've ever been a part of a more heartbreaking loss than this," said quarterback Michael Brewer.

Brewer returned for his first game back starting since the season opener and played well, going 24 of 45 for 270 yards and 3 touchdowns, as the offense managed to pile up 452 yards of offense on a Duke defense that was only allowing just over 252 per game entering the contest.

"I expected him to start a little bit slow in the first half because he hasn't played a bunch of live football in six weeks, and I expected him at the end of the game that he'd be on fire and he'd does what he does, and I think that's what occurred," said offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler of his quarterback.

The problem for the Hokies was that the defense yielded 449 total yards, including a number of big plays that have so often frustrated Bud Foster's group in recent years.

"That's the unfortunate thing, I thought we had our best week of practice, particularly the young kids," said defensive coordinator Bud Foster. "But tonight, the young kids who showed good improvements had the busts again. It wasn't anything we didn't practice."

But even for the defense's disappointing performance, the team still might've won and salvaged some glimmer of hope for the season had the offense managed a two-point conversion on its final touchdown, or the defense made just one stop during overtime.

Now the calls for Beamer's head will likely reach a nearly unbearable level, forcing Whit Babcock to do some serious thinking about the program's future now that this once-promising season features a Tech squad sitting at 3-5 and 1-3 in league play.

"I understand the importance of winning," Beamer said. "There's no question about that. We're going to do the best job we can and worry about Boston College."

Although the game was billed as a defensive battle, the first quarter was positively a shootout.

Duke took the lead quickly, converting on all four third down opportunities to score a touchdown on a 14 play, 75 yard drive. QB Thomas Sirk left some big plays on the field, missing wide open receivers several times, yet he still found Max McCaffrey for the score on the goal line.

But Tech showed plenty of energy on the ensuing drive. A 14-yard run by Travon McMillian keyed the drive, and Brewer followed things up with a 36-yard completion to Bucky Hodges. The returning starter then fired a 16-yard pass to Hodges to tie the game at 7-7.

Yet the quarter's offensive fireworks weren't done. Sirk used a 45-yard pass to a wide-open Anthony Nash down the sideline to get the Blue Devils rolling, then he found McCaffrey for a 16-yard touchdown to put Duke up 14-10.

After a brief appearance by Brenden Motley on the first two plays of the first drive of the second quarter, Brewer came back in the game and sparked the offense with a 16-yard run to keep the drive alive on third down. But the drive sputtered when Brewer managed to complete a ball to Isaiah Ford on a screen, yet somehow still lose 12 yards. A Joey Slye field goal from 44 yards out cut the lead to 14-10.

Neither team could manage much in the rest of the quarter, with Duke kicker Ross Martin even managing to miss his first kick of the year, a 29-yard try that sailed just left of the uprights.

Tech managed some offensive momentum just before the half with a 19-yard completion to Ryan Malleck on 3rd and 20, but Beamer opted to punt the ball away, and Duke kneeled to end the half.

The Hokies got the ball to start the second half, but quickly kicked it away from the 43 yard line.

Tech's defense was plagued by its propensity for allowing big plays once more on the ensuing drive, as rover Adonis Alexander got out of position and DE Dadi Nicolas and CB Terrell Edmunds both missed tackles on RB Shaun Wilson as he scampered for a 58-yard TD.

The Hokies responded in a big way on the next drive, methodically making their way down the field on a 20-play, 95-yard drive. Beamer opted to feed McMillian on the drive, giving him seven carries that he used to produce 39 yards and a touchdown to make the score 21-16 following a failed two-point conversion.

With just a few seconds left in the third quarter, Beamer seemingly tried to surprise the Blue Devils with an onside kick. Yet the Hokies managed to not just fail to recover the try, but also line up incorrectly in the process for a five-yard penalty.

After the game, he clarified it was never his intention to go with the surprise try.

"That was supposed to be a knuckle ball dribbler down the 20 yard line, we practiced that all week and we didn't execute," Beamer said. "That wasn't an onside kick at all. I was hoping you get a cheap one, you get the knuckle ball rolling down there...But when it takes a high hop and the front line gets it, that's not very good execution."

But the Hokies' defense came through in the clutch, forcing a quick three and out and averting disaster at the dawn of the fourth quarter.

That onside kick decision continued to haunt the Hokies, as they took over on their own 13 yard line. After Jeremy Cash brought down Brewer for a 13-yard loss, A.J. Hughes was forced to kick the ball with his heels near the back of the end zone, leading to a 35-yard punt that gave Duke great field position on Tech's 39.

Sirk kicked off the drive with a 14-yard scramble, but the Blue Devils only managed three incomplete passes after that. Even still, Martin was able to redeem himself with a 42-yard field goal to extended the lead to 24-16.

The teams punted the ball back and forth, and then the Hokies embarked on an easygoing drive that ended up bleeding 5:50 off the clock. A steady dose of runs by McMillian and Sam Rogers got the Hokies to a 3rd and 2 on Duke's 23.

A puzzling call by Scot Loeffler put the ball in the hands of Trey Edmunds, who was stuffed for no gain. Following a timeout to mull things over, the Hokies lined up to go for it on fourth down with the game on the line.

Brewer nearly got crushed on the play, yet he managed to nail Hodges in the end zone. Despite PI on Duke, the Hokies drew within 24-22.

After a pair of failed passes that each resulted in two more PI calls on Duke, the Hokies were finally able to punch the ball into the end zone with McMillian and even the game at 24 all with the two-point conversion that eluded them earlier.

The next drive was very nearly catastrophic for the Hokies. A 39-yard bomb to McCaffrey set the Blue Devils up on Tech's 35. But Duke could go no further, trotting out Martin for a 46-yard attempt.

The usually steady kicker missed once again, doinking the ball off the right upright.

The Hokies had 1:04 left to mount a game-winning drive, but the offense couldn't get moving. A 16-yard run by McMillian was a promising start to the drive, but precious seconds ticked away after Cam Phillips got out of bounds on a five-yard catch.

The coaches thought the clock would stop, and acted accordingly, yet the referees ruled that he didn't achieve forward progress going out of bounds, keeping the clock running.

"We smashed with Cam to the sidelines, he went out of bounds. Instantly I thought he was out of bounds, I take my head down to get the huddle call, I look up and the clock's running," Loeffler said. "I guess they said it was forward progress..I was assuming he was out of bounds and I was getting ready to put ourselves in position to get to the 35 yard line and call our best play to get to the 35 yard line."

It led to the odd decision by Beamer to run out Slye for a 67-yard FG try as time expired. The Devils tried to return the ball in true "Kick 6" fashion, yet the Hokies successfully corralled the return man to force overtime.

Tech elected to start on defense to start extra time, and the Blue Devils couldn't get much going in their first shot at the end zone. Duke settled for a 38-yard field goal for the first points of OT, going up 27-24.

The Hokies couldn't do much better, calling on Slye to match the Devils with a 37-yarder of his own, sending the game to double overtime at 27-27.

Tech surged ahead on the offense's next chance, as Brewer connected with Hodges in the end zone for the third time on the day.

But the lead was short lived. A pass interference penalty on Deon Clarke gave Duke the ball on Tech's 10 yard line, and Sirk found Nash in the end zone to send the game into a third overtime tied at 34.

Sirk once again bedeviled the Hokies on a long pass, hitting McCaffrey on a gorgeous 21-yard pass to get down to Tech's 4. Yet Tech's defense held in the shadow of its goal posts, forcing a 20-yard Martin field goal.

Loeffler went bold on the next drive, dialing up a pass from Ford, but he just missed Phillips in the end zone. Once more, Slye extended the game, using a 40-yard field goal to force the first 4OT game in program history.

The Hokies bullied their way down the field, using a pair of nine-yard runs by McMillian and Rogers to set up a McMillian score. But in a key failure, Brewer missed Ford in the end zone on the ensuing two-point try.

"We motioned Bucky in basically to set up a rub where he come straight off and the corner would have to come off Isaiah in order to get to Bucky and it's an easy walk-in touchdown, didn't happen like that, they made an adjustment on defense and zoned it off," Brewer said. "The second read was to come to Isaiah and have him shuffle with me. I was trying to get a clean window to throw, rolling out all the bodies coming. I think the guy made a heck of a play knocking it away."

Then, the Hokies had their hearts ripped out. The defense yielded a fateful 25-yard pass to Erich Schneider, and Sirk ended the game with a scramble to produce the bizarre final score of 45-43.

"We were in a man free coverage, and it looked like the tight end just beat Chuck (Clark)," Foster said of Schneider's catch. "It's normally uncommon for him to get beat that easily."

As the Devils rushed the field in jubilation, echoing a similar tight Duke win in Lane two years ago, the Hokies were forced to contemplate yet another season that only holds the prospect of reaching a bowl game and nothing more.

"Obviously, we want to go to the best bowl game we can possibly go to at this point, and to do that we have to keep winning," Brewer said.

The Hokies insist they won't let another disparaging loss prove too deflating for the squad, but at this point, hope is hard to come by.

"You've got to play for the man beside you," said defensive end Ken Ekanem. "I'm not going to give up on this program or this season, I'm going to bust my ass every play, every practice, and get back out there and hopefully turn this thing around."