Hokies Flip the Script, Beat Duke on the Road 17-16

Just as flashbacks of painful losses past were about to overwhelm most members of Hokie Nation, Tech somehow managed to flip the script.

Fans were surely groaning as the fourth quarter unfolded, watching the Hokies cling to a slim lead that seemed almost sure to slip away once again.

But then, all of a sudden, the Hokies did what they couldn't all year long, at the strangest possible time.

"It's like you've been suffocating for so long and you can finally breathe a little bit," said linebacker Derek DiNardo.

"It's like one of those things where it's like 'yes, finally,'" said running back J.C. Coleman.

"It was a combination of ecstasy and relief," said defensive coordinator Bud Foster.

That sense of relief was palpable in the Hokies' locker room after the game. For this team, coming off three straight demoralizing losses, to somehow win its second game against a ranked opponent on the road is nothing short of a miracle.

"This game was ugly as all get out," said offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler. "We had some adversity that we were facing before we ever took the field and my hat's off to those kids."

He's absolutely right about that. Even as elation washes over the Hokies, it's possible not to recognize that this game nearly was another tough loss, just like the ECU, GT and BC matchups.

The first quarter was similarly disastrous for the Hokies as it had been in weeks past. They let Duke go up 10-0 in the quarter, allowing 121 rushing yards and managing to put just 40 yards of offense on the board themselves.

Loeffler attributes part of that to the way the Blue Devils changed up their scheme.

"They threw the kitchen sink at us. On first and second down, they were generally one or two or three or four (plays on) defense and that's about it, but they changed up, they did some really good things," Loeffler said. "Third down was a zoo anyway and they added even more problems to it."

But the offense solved some of those problems in the second quarter to draw within 10-7.

The team put together one of their best drives of the year, going for 12 plays in 98 yards to culminate in an Isaiah Ford touchdown, helping him breaking the record for TDs by a freshman in the process.

However, immediately beforehand, the Hokies' lost Marshawn Williams to a left knee sprain, an injury that team doctors think could put him out for the year.

Loeffler can hardly believe that kind of luck for the running backs.

"I've never seen anything like it," Loeffler said. "Hopefully we don't lose any more. It's really sad for Marshawn. It's been one right after the other, between that and the offensive line."

In stepped J.C. Coleman, a guy most people barely even knew was on the team still, let alone ready for a starting load. He had five carries for 35 yards to finish with 96 on the day and add a spark to the offense.

"It just feels real good," Coleman said. "I hate to see Marshawn go down, that really hurt me. I went over and told him I had his back, I'm going to finish it off. The offensive line did a heck of a job today. There were some creases and I was able to hit them."

The coaches were ecstatic to see that kind of effort from a player that was largely an afterthought, yet turned his first carries since the Pitt game into a vintage performance.

"He could've pouted, packed his lunch pail and went home and he didn't," Loeffler said. "I can't be more proud of a guy to be quite honest to you. That's what we consider a Virginia Tech guy."

The offense was helped out by another player seemingly resurrected from the dead: backup QB Brenden Motley.

The team started running him out of the wildcat to great effect, running twice for 34 yards in the quarter alone.

"He had an excellent spring, then kind of similar to what happened to Demitri (Knowles), the next thing you know there's guys in front of you and it's hard to catch up," Loeffler said. "He got an opportunity and he slowly but surely is going to get better and better."

In the process, Duke also managed to lose eight yards on the ground as the Hokies started to figure out how to defend the Devils.

They were also helped out by Duke kicker Ross Martin missing his first kick of the year, a 51-yard that could've changed the complexion of the game. Frank Beamer feels this team was long overdue for that kind of luck.

"He's a good kicker," Beamer said. "Sometimes it's just your day. It was kind of our day and our kids played hard enough and relentless enough to make it our day too."

The relentlessness showed in earnest in the third quarter.

After two Duke field goals widened the Devils' lead to 13-7, QB Michael Brewer threw an embarrassingly bad interception and the Hokies looked done.

Yet DiNardo answered with an interception of his own, after pressure on Duke QB Anthony Boone forced him to try and get rid of a ball, and once it was batted up in the air, DiNardo came down with it and returned it 51 yards to Duke's nine yard line.

"I could see the guy's shadow coming up behind me, I was counting the yardage as the shadow was closing in," DiNardo said. "Once I felt him behind me, I tucked the ball high and tight so he wouldn't get the strip."

But the offense couldn't truly capitalize, settling for a field goal to draw closer at 16-10.

"We wish we had scored a TD there," Loeffler said. "We called the same play we called against the Buckeyes, haven't ran it since the Buckeyes, the secondary took the bait and the defensive end tackled (Ryan) Malleck."

Yet Tech's good luck continued at the start of the fourth quarter. C.J. Reavis forced a fumble on the opening kickoff of the final period that caromed wildly up in the air, before Dahman McKinnon fell on it.

With the ball on Duke's 31-yard line, Brewer looked his best all game. He had to scramble around to do it, but a 26-yard pass to TE Bucky Hodges followed by a 15-yard TD throw to the big tight end helped the Hokies grab a 17-16 lead.

"He's pretty good about scrambling around back there and finding a guy," Beamer said. "When he's out there and bullets are coming, you've got to go with what you feel."

Loeffler had high praise for Hodges as well, who tied a record for TD receptions by tight ends with the score.

"Bucky ran probably the best route he's run all year long, he had premier protection and he somehow finished it," Loeffler said.

Here's where things got weird. After punting back and forth for a few drives, Tech faced a 4th and 16 on their own 48. Not exactly time for a trick play, right?

Yet there went punter A.J. Hughes, completing a 10-yard pass that fell short of the sticks to leave fans scratching their heads.

They weren't the only ones.

"I said the same thing that you did: 'what the hell are they doing?'" Beamer said.

Beamer contends that the play was borne of confusion between him and DiNardo, the punt protector for Hughes.

"The time before, they brought a guy off the edge, and almost blocked the kick, so I was trying to get that squared away, I was talking to DiNardo," Beamer said. "I was telling him to call it if he didn't like it, if he didn't feel comfortable with it, just to call timeout and bring the headhunter in and somehow the codeword for our fake got involved there."

DiNardo tells mostly the same story.

"I thought he was trying to describe the fake and in reality he was trying to talk about someone coming off the headhunter, just terrible miscommunication on the sideline," DiNardo said.

Beamer pleads guilty for his role in the whole thing, but with a win, he can afford to be lighthearted about it.

"I just probably overcoached him and had too much going on in his head," Beamer said, "My son said 'you know he's hard of hearing, so you've got to talk loud.'"

After that, it sure seemed as if a Duke lead was all but inevitable, forcing the Hokies to try another furious comeback.

Yet then Martin missed a 40-yard field goal, and hope was alive.

Tech didn't do much on the next drive, going just three and out, and handing Duke the ball on their own 40. Surely, this is where they'd blow it, right?

Instead, Foster finally solved Duke's protection schemes at the most crucial time possible. The Devils, tied for the lead in sacks allowed all year with just four, allowed a pair of sacks and a QB hurry, helping Foster's bunch finally get the late game stop they needed.

"He sees pressure, he just gets rid of it, so that's big," Foster said. "Sometimes you may not get the sack, but if you get some pressure and you get a hit on the quarterback, then all of a sudden he starts looking for the rush."

Even if it's all coming a bit too late for the Hokies to really matter when it comes to any other than getting to a bowl game, that doesn't take away those good feelings.

"It sucks because you look at our record and you think 'aw man, Tech's having a terrible year this year, but when you look back at the games, most of the year we've been in the game in the fourth quarter, except for the Miami game, it's a shame," DiNardo said. "But it feels awesome to get a win on the road against a top 25 team.

The difference this time? Those few plays we've heard so much about the last few weeks.

"The difference between winning that game and losing that game, like I said all year long, is three to four plays and we were fortunate to make those three or four plays to push us over the top," Loeffler said.

"We made those two or three plays you need to make to finish a game and if we would've made those two to three plays in the Boston College game, we'd have a win, if we'd made those two or three plays in the Georgia Tech game, you make two to three plays in the East Carolina game, that's a win. That's what our young guys have got to get, every play matters. the difference between winning and losing is so fragile."

It's easy to wonder what would've happened if the Hokies managed to pull out these close wins every time, but for now, this victory will do.

"I'm just happy for the kids," Foster said. "Because they're the ones that are playing hard and they really worked hard this week."