NCAAF VIRGINIA TECH AT VIRGINIA NOTE: FINAL RE-SENT TO CORRECT THE TIME OF THE LAST VIRGINIA TOUCHDOWN.
NCAAF 1 2 3 4 F - - - - -- Virginia Tech (21) 3 0 10 7 20 Virginia 0 20 7 7 34 FINAL
Virginia Tech-FG Graham 35 Virginia-Crowell 4 pass from Brooks (kick failed) Virginia-T Jones 60 run (Roberts kick) Virginia-Southern 55 pass from Brooks (Roberts kick) Virginia-T Jones 5 pass from Brooks (Roberts kick) Virginia Tech-Pegues 47 pass from Clark (Graham kick) Virginia Tech-FG Graham 22 Virginia-Crowell 25 pass from Brooks (Roberts kick) Virginia Tech-Handy 20 pass from Clark (Graham kick)
Virginia Tech Virginia First downs 15 21 Rushed-yards 39-133 38-112 Passing yards 187 390 Sacked-yards lost 3-13 2-9 Return yards 0 35 Passes 12-27-1 23-34-0 Punts 6-41.8 4-32.8 Fumbles-lost 2-2 2-1 Penalties-yards 2-16 2-20 Time of possession 28:30 31:30
Individual Statistics RUSHING: Virginia Tech-Oxendine 19-59, Parker 7-38, Clark 9-22, Pegues 3-14, C Hawkins 1-0. Virginia-T Jones 22-102, Kirby 2-13, Southern 3-6, Womack 4-1, Brooks 5-minus 5, Team 2-minus 5.
PASSING: Virginia Tech-Clark 12-27-1-187. Virginia-Brooks 23-34-0-390.
RECEIVING: Virginia Tech-Parker 3-33, Stuewe 3-25, Harrison 2-42, Sullivan 2-20, Pegues 1-47, Handy 1-20. Virginia-Crowell 9-162, Southern 5-97, T Jones 3-50, B Owen 2-24, Wilkins 2-18, Dittman 1-31, Coffey 1-8.
Att: 44,200
GAME RECAPAaron Brooks passed for a school-record 390 yards and four touchdowns as Virginia notched its first home win over Virginia Tech in six years with a 34-20 victory over the 21st-ranked Hokies.
Brooks, who came in ranked 20th in the nation in pass efficiency, completed 23-for-34 passes and eclipsed the previous school record, set by Mike Groh against Duke on October 14th, 1995. Brooks' favorite target was Germane Crowell, who had nine receptions for 162 yards and two scores.
"Crowell had a great night, Brooks had a great night," said Virginia coach George Welsh. "The offensive line did a good job most of the time. Brooks is so much better now than he was in September, it's amazing."
Freshman Thomas Jones rushed for 102 yards on 22 carries for the Cavaliers (7-4), including a 60-yard touchdown during a 20-point second quarter.
Virginia defeated Tech at home for the first time since 1991 and qualified for bowl consideration with its sixth win over a Division I-A opponent. The Cavaliers reportedly are being eyed by the Peach Bowl.
"I obviously think we deserve a (bowl bid)," Welsh said. "We're 7-4, 5-3 in the conference and tied for third. I think we deserve a bowl bid."
Virginia Tech (7-4), eliminated from the race for the Big East Conference title and an Alliance Bowl berth when Syracuse won at Miami, suffered its second straight loss. Ken Oxendine was held to 59 yards on 19 carries by the nation's 18th-ranked rushing defense.
"Virginia played awful well and we played awfuly hard," Tech coach Frank Beamer said. "They made some big plays and we had trouble making big plays. That was the difference in the ballgame."
The Hokies carried a 3-0 lead into the second quarter after Shayne Graham's 35-yard field goal in the final minute of the first.
But Virginia took control, grabbing the lead for good when Brooks and Crowell connected on a four-yard TD toss with 11:36 to go in the second quarter. Virginia Tech ran three plays before punting and the Cavaliers needed just four plays to take a 13-3 lead as Jones broke up the middle for a 60-yard score.
Following another Hokies' punt, Brooks hit Anthony Southern for a 55-yard touchdown on the next play from scrimmage to make it 20-3 at halftime.
Brooks threw a five-yard scoring strike to Jones midway through the third quarter to extend Virginia's lead to 24 points before a brief rally by Virginia Tech. Clark hooked up with Lamont Pegues for a 47-yard touchdown and Graham kicked a 22-yard field goal to cut the margin to 27-13 after three quarters.
Each team reached the end zone in the final period as Brooks hit Crowell for a 25-yard TD and Clark threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Ken Handy with 1:11 remaining.
"I felt we had it going at times, but we turned it over at the wrong time," Beamer said. "We had two turnovers and Virginia got points out of them. We fumbled the punt when we were starting to move the ball and Virginia scored. And at the beginning of the third quarter, when you want to come out and move the ball downfield, we fumbled and Virginia scored."
Virginia amassed 502 total yards, committed just two penalties and a turnover and was 8-for-16 on third-down conversions.