Blacksburg, VA - Subbing for Kevin Jones, Tech tailback Cedric Humes scored the first three TDs of his college career, leading the Hokies to an easy 43-0 win over outmanned James Madison.

Humes replaced Jones early in the second quarter, when Jones was forced out with an injury caused by a late hit by JMU's Demetrius Shambley. Jones, who had 12 carries for 57 yards, had just run the ball 8 yards to the JMU 16-yard line when Shambley shoved him late out of bounds, sending Jones crashing into the Lane Stadium wall. Jones caught himself against the wall with both hands and left the game with wrist pain. X-rays were negative, and Jones said he would be back for Tech's September 18 matchup with Texas A&M, but he was done for the day after the play.

Shambley was ejected on the play, and Humes replaced Jones. Humes fumbled on the next play, but he recovered to score three touchdowns and lead all ballcarriers with 75 yards on 15 carries. Humes scored on runs of 11, 1, and 10 yards.

JMU hung tough with the Hokies for a good portion of the first half, including a 14-play, 73-yard drive that they put together on their second possession. The drive ended in a missed field goal, though, and the Dukes mounted very little offense otherwise. In addition to the 73-yard drive, they had a 43-yard pass late in the third quarter, but they managed only 27 yards of offense for the rest of the game.

Meanwhile, the Hokies employed a balanced offense early in the game that gradually gave way to a run-oriented attack for most of the second half. The Hokies threw 21 of their 22 passes in the first three quarters, including eight straight passes on one third-quarter drive. Third-string QB Lance Goff threw the last pass late in the game, a 31-yarder to tight end Jeff King.

Bryan Randall had another strong outing for the Hokies at quarterback, going 13-of-20 for 153 yards, no TDs, and no interceptions. Randall entered the game ranked fifth in the nation in passing efficiency.

The Hokies scored on 8 of 11 possessions, fumbling twice (both by Humes) and punting just once. They outgained JMU 487-143, including 303 rushing yards on 53 attempts. In addition to the 75 yards by Humes and 57 yards by Jones, the Hokies got 60 yards on 11 carries from Mike Imoh and 49 yards on 9 carries by John Candelas. In all the Hokies got 241 yards rushing from their tailbacks on 47 carries (5.1 yards per carry).

Game Notes

• Virginia Tech tight ends caught 2 more passes in this game, giving them 5 for the season. That's half of what they caught all last year, in a 14-game season.

• The Hokies entered the game tied for the NCAA lead with 36 first downs, and they got 25 more in this contest. Last year, they averaged 19.57 first downs per game, and so far this year, they're averaging 30.5 first downs per game.

• Tech has now thrown 60 passes in two games. Last year, they didn't throw their 60th pass until the fifth game of the season.

• JMU threw the ball just 16 times. The Hokies had 2 sacks (a solo sack by Michael Crawford and a shared sack by Cols Colas and Kevin Lewis)

• The Hokies were led in tackles by Aaron Rouse, who got his first start due to Brandon Manning's suspension. Rouse had 1 solo tackle and 7 assists. He also forced a fumble on a strong tackle in the first quarter.

• Ernest Wilford caught 4 passes for 58 yards, giving him 13 catches for 154 yards on the season. At this pace, he'll have 84 catches for 1,001 yards (including the bowl game), both of which would be Tech records. Wilford is already one quarter of the way to his single-season catch record of 51.
  
  
• JMU had 18 rushing yards, the fewest for a Tech opponent since game seven last year, when Tech held Rutgers to (-7) yards rushing.

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