Despite leading at halftime, Virginia Tech saw No. 24 Boston College score 21 unanswered points in the second half and pull away for a 31-21 victory over the Hokies in an ACC game played Saturday at Lane Stadium.
With the loss, the Hokies fell to 4-4 overall on the season, 3-2 in the ACC. The Eagles, who snapped a three-game losing streak to Tech, moved to 7-2 overall, 4-1 in league play and set up a showdown next week against unbeaten Clemson in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
The Hokies trailed 7-0 after BC tailback AJ Dillon scored on a 3-yard run in the first quarter, but Tech answered, scoring on a 26-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ryan Willis to Damon Hazelton on the ensuing possession to tie the game at 7.
Then the Hokies took a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter when Willis connected with Eric Kumah for a 4-yard touchdown.
BC, though, dominated most of the second half, scoring 21 unanswered points to take a 28-14 lead. The Hokies cut into the lead on a Willis touchdown pass to Tre Turner with 4:58 remaining, but the Eagles answered with a field goal with 2:31 remaining to seal the game.
Willis led the Hokies’ offense, completing 25 of 42 for 281 yards, with three touchdowns and an interception. He also rushed for 49 yards.
BC finished with 396 yards of offense, including 219 on the ground. Dillon led the way with 96 yards on the ground.
Fuente quotes to note
(On third-quarter struggles at home)
“I don’t think home or away has anything to do with third-quarter production. We’ve gone through some dry spells. Boston College made the decision about halfway through the second quarter and into the second half to stop blitzing, stop moving and play base defense two-high.
“We came out in the second half and tried to run the ball into it. There’s your adjustments. Like last week, they didn’t do anything spectacular. They’re big and physical up front, and we couldn’t run the ball. I don’t think home or away has anything to do with it. I don’t think it’s any huge revelation. We just haven’t been as productive in the third quarter.”
(On missed opportunities related to the Cunningham personal foul and the bad snap fumble)
“I was very upset about it. It was an undisciplined play, poor execution. They were a couple of opportunities that got away from us. I still felt good that we were going to have more opportunities, but you know against a good defense like that, they’d be limited. Certainly, in retrospect, those were pretty good opportunities that we let get away.”
(On changing quarterbacks or taking over play-calling in light of the offense’s struggles)
“Play-calling has nothing to do with it. Play execution has 100 percent to do with it. That’s not taking it from the coaches to the players. The coaches’ job is to teach the players to execute. The guy calling the plays is the same guy that, in his first year here, set 10 school records. He still knows what he’s doing, but the people out there have changed, and we’ve got to do a better job of getting things done. Would we consider changing positions or players at positions? Absolutely.
“All the time. We continue to evaluate who is in the game, who should or shouldn’t be in the game who should get more touches, so on and so forth.”
- Willis’ three touchdown passes give him 13 on the season. He’s thrown just four interceptions – none in the past two games.
- Hazelton finished with two receptions for 40 yards and a touchdown. Hazelton’s touchdown reception was his seventh of the season, moving him to within four of Isaiah Ford’s single-season school record of 11 set in 2015.
- Rico Kearney and Dax Hollifield received the starts because of injuries to linebackers Rayshard Ashby and Dylan Rivers. Both Kearney and Hollifield made their first career starts.
- Also, Tyree Rodgers received the start in place of Khalil Ladler, who had to sit out the first half after being called for targeting in the Georgia Tech game. The start marked the second of Rodgers’ career – he also started in the Notre Dame game.
–VT Athletics
