Blacksburg, VA - Virginia Tech quarterbacks Bryan Randall and Marcus Vick combined for 380 yards passing to lead the tenth-ranked Hokies over Central Florida, 49-28, in the season opener for both teams.

Randall was on the money, going 22-of-28 for 278 yards, 3 TDs, and no interceptions. Vick, in his college debut, was equally sharp, going 7-of-10 for 102 yards and his first TD, a 27-yarder to true freshman David Clowney.

Randall and Vick led the Hokies to a school-record 36 first downs, breaking the mark of 34 set against Akron in 1991. The Hokies were led in receiving by Biletnikoff candidate Ernest Wilford, who had a personal best 9 catches for 96 yards, and Kevin Jones led the way in the rushing attack with 22 carries for 83 yards and 2 TDs.

The normally ground-oriented Hokies had just 152 rushing yards to go with their 380 passing yards, with a balanced attack of 43 rushes and 38 passes. Tech outgained UCF 532-335.

Virginia Tech jumped all over the Knights early in this game, rolling up a 28-0 score while outgaining UCF 287 yards to 9. During the 28-point run, two Hokies scored the first receiving TDs of their careers. Richard Johnson turned a short reception into a 21-yard TD catch, and Justin Hamilton caught an 8-yard dart from Randall on a slant pattern. The two scores were bookended by Kevin Jones TD runs of 1 and 18 yards, and the Hokies were in complete control with 8:52 to go in the second quarter.

The Hokies first four possessions were drives of 11 plays-80 yards, 9 plays-62 yards, 10 plays-76 yards, and 7 plays-80 yards.

But Tech lost concentration and UCF found a groove on offense, shutting the Hokies out for over 26 minutes and scoring 21 unanswered points to close the gap to 28-21. UCF, who was led by QB Ryan Schneider's 203 yards and 3 TDs passing, put together drives of 67, 80, and 95 yards to pull within one TD early in the fourth quarter.

The Hokies responded with a triple-whammy. First they drove 67 yards in 7 plays behind Randall, scoring on a beautiful 29-yard pass from Randall to DeAngelo Hall, Hall's first TD receiving in a college football game. It was Hall's second catch of the game, with the first one coming earlier on the drive for 12 yards.

Tech scored 39 seconds later when they zone blitzed, confusing UCF's Schneider, who threw the ball straight to VT defensive tackle Jason Lallis. Lallis intercepted the ball cleanly and bolted 45 yards untouched for the score, the second TD of his college career (he returned a fumble 59 yards for a score in last year's opener against Arkansas State). The interception was Schneider's only one of the day, and it cost UCF dearly, as the Hokies went up 42-21 with 11:32 to go.

The Hokies used a blitz effectively again on UCF's next possession, sacking Schneider for an 8-yard loss on third and 10. Tech got the ball back and put up the finishing score when Vick hit Clowney with a perfectly-thrown 27-yard TD pass. The pass was Vick's first TD pass of his career, and Clowney's first TD catch of his career.

While Tech's passing game was sharp (29-of-38, 380 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs), the defense was spotty. After not giving up a first down on UCF's first four drives, the Hokies surrendered 16 first downs and 326 yards in the last 39 minutes of the game, including a cosmetic late TD to make the final score 49-28. The Hokies had 3 sacks (one each by Nathaniel Adibi and Cols Colas, with Brandon Manning and Vegas Robinson sharing the third sack) for 19 yard in losses, but gave up 81 yards on just 10 carries to UCF tailback Alex Haynes.

Game Notes

• Virginia Tech tight ends caught 3 passes in this game, after catching just 10 passes all last season. Keith Willis had 2 receptions for 26 yards, and Jeff King had 1 catch for 12 yards.

• VT used 11 different receivers in the game. 7 wideouts, 2 tight ends, and 2 running backs caught passes.

• Wilford's 9 receptions tie for third-best in a game ever at Tech. The single-game record is 13 by Donald Wayne Snell (vs. Cincinnati, for 133 yards, in 1985) and Nick Cullen (vs. Southern Miss., for 170 yards, in 1990), followed by 10 receptions (Sidney Snell, for 106 yards, versus Virginia in 1979). Wilford's 9 ties with Ricky Scales' 9 catches against Wake Forest in 1972 (215 yards).

• Kevin Jones' rushing total of 83 yards included 24 negative yards. He averaged 3.8 yards on 22 carries, while backup Cedric Humes had 45 yards on 9 carries (5.0 yards per carry), with just 1 yard lost rushing on the day.

• The Hokies were led in tackles by Brandon Manning with 6. Tech had 8 tackles for loss for 26 yards in losses, including their 3 sacks for 19 yards.

• UCF strong safety Atari Bigby had 13.5 tackles to lead all defenders, but UCF had zero sacks, as the Hokies enjoyed strong pass protection all day long.

• UCF punter Matt Prater averaged a remarkable 55.7 yards on 6 punts. He ran to the side and kicked each punt on a slight run, like Australian rules football, and his longest punt was 71 yards.

• The crowd of 65,115 is the biggest crowd in Lane Stadium history and (therefore) the largest to ever watch a college football game in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

• The Hokies had just one three-and-out possession in the game. Their average drive, when they did not turn the ball over and a half didn't end the drive, was 8.6 plays for 62.4 yards. UCF, on the other hand, had five three-and-outs, and their average possession (excluding drives where they turned the ball over) was 5 plays, 31.8 yards.

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