D14
EZ SU
KLMNO
COLLEGE FOOTBALL 0-4
STAROFTHEDAY Torrey Smith, Maryland
Syracuse’s home record against division I-A teams. The Orange, which lost to Boston College at the Carrier Dome on Saturday, defeated only Maine and Colgate at home this season but went 5-1 on the road.
3
Games in whichWisconsin has scored at least 70 points this season after a 70-23 win over Northwestern. The Badgers beat Austin Peay, 70-3, and Indiana, 83-20.
The Terrapins’ junior wide receiver finished with 14 catches for 224 yards and a program-record four touchdowns Saturday against North Carolina State. He has 150 career receptions, putting him ahead of Darrius Heyward-Bey for third place on Maryland’s all-time list, and has 2,205 career receiving yards to again move past Heyward-Bey, this time for second in Maryland history. To top it all off, Smith has 12 touchdown catches this season, the most in Maryland history.
Friday
Season (has also run for 18 touchdowns) Kellen Moore, QB, Boise State
Friday Season
LaMichael James, RB, Oregon Friday
Season
AndrewLuck, QB, Stanford Saturday Season
COMP. 21
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2010
HEISMANWATCH CamNewton, QB, Auburn
COMP. 13
148
COMP. 20
221
ATT. YARDS 20 216 218 2,254
ATT. YARDS 31 348 311 3,269
126
253 1,548 ATT. YARDS
30 305 245 349 3,051
TD 3
24 TD
2 30
ATT YARDS AVG. 28
4.5 6.1
TD 4
28
INT 0 6
INT 0 5
TD 2
19
INT 0 7
“What do you wantmeto do, hold hands with all the Buckeye fans and sing
‘Kumbaya’?”
—Rich Rodriguez, Michigan coach, when asked if he was upset after the Wolverines lost to Ohio State, 37-7, their seventh straight loss in the series
Hokies flatten Cavaliers to finish 8-0 in the ACC
No. 13 Virginia Tech will play Florida State for Orange Bowl spot
BY MARK GIANNOTTO
blacksburg, va. — It might be hard to fathom, but perhaps the best thing that happened to this Virginia Tech football team this season was becoming the second ranked division I-A team ever to lose to adivisionI-AAfoe. Players and coaches agree that
theHokies’ loss to JamesMadison on Sept. 11 brought this group
VIRGINIA TECH 37 VIRGINIA 7
closer togetherandhelpedleaders emerge inthewake of an0-2 start. Butmore importantly, it created a theme for this season: redemp- tion. Itwasonlyfitting, then, thatNo.
13 Virginia Techwill roll into next weekend’s ACC championship game unscathed in conference play following Saturday's 37-7 thumpingofVirginia,ateamseek- ing its own form of atonement in what has become a one-sided ri- valry. The Hokies earned possession
of theCommonwealthCup for the seventh consecutive year, the lon- gest winning streak in this series since the Cavaliers won eight straight games between 1895 and 1904. Virginia Tech (10-2, 8-0) has
reeled off 10 straight wins since that disastrous start to the year and is the first ACC team since Florida State in 2000 to finish the conference’s regular season slate undefeated. It’s a feat even Coach Frank
Beamer had trouble putting into perspective, given the potential ramifications that remain for the Hokies now that the postseason
hasarrived.VirginiaTechwill face FloridaStateinCharlottenextSat- urday with a spot in the Orange Bowl onthe line. “We’
vehadquiteayear.Thetwo
losses make you appreciate these 10 wins evenmore,” Beamer said. “I thinkwe feel good aboutwhere we are right now and where this teamwill be thought of when you look back in history. But that’s yet to be determined. We’ve got two more games that could put us rightupat the top, inmy opinion.” Virginia Tech has its longest
winning streak since 1999, andit’s just the third time in program history that it has a double-digit victory streak. But more significant to the
Hokies on this day was to make clear which of the state’s division I-Afootballprograms remains the dominant one, at least for another year. Virginia’s hiring of Coach Mike London last December and his desire to regain a recruiting stronghold in the state re-invigo-
PHOTOS BY STEVE HELBER/ASSOCIATED PRESS Virginia Tech running back David Wilson reaches over the goal line for a touchdown as Virginia cornerback ChaseMinnifield arrives too late to prevent the first-half score.
ratedbothteams’ fanbases. Following a scoreless firstquar-
ter, though, Virginia Tech proved definitively that any on-field com- parisonof thetwoisstillawaysoff. TheHokies scored 37 consecutive points inablowout thatwasoutof reach by the middle of the third quarter. “They’re the measuring stick
right now and you’re humbled by the fact that that’s where you’ve got to go,” London said. “That’s what I aspire to be, a team that wins games and competes for championships.” The Hokies’ trio of running
backs proved to be the difference. Sophomores Ryan Williams and David Wilson and junior Darren Evans combined for 259 total yardsandall fiveofVirginiaTech’s touchdowns. Senior quarterback Tyrod Taylor finished 13 of 23 for 176 yards and threw one touch- down pass — a 20-yard bubble screen to Wilson — in his final home game atLane Stadium.
Commonwealth control Here are the longest winning streaks in the Virginia-Virginia Tech series:
Team Virginia
Virginia Tech Virginia
Virginia Tech Virginia Tech Virginia Tech Virginia Tech
Wins Years
8 1895-1904 7
2004-10
6 1947-62 6 1958-63 4 1953-56 4 1980-83
4 1999-2002
hokiesports.com
Taylor became the Hokies’ ca-
reer leader in passing yardage (6,532), surpassing Bryan Ran- dall, who threw for 6,508 yards from 2001 to ’04. With three touchdown passes in his remain- ingtwogames,Taylorwouldbreak Maurice DeShazo’s school single- seasonmark of 22 set in1993. The Hokies’ defense, mean-
while, was strong throughout, holding Virginia (4-8, 1-7) to just 70 rushing yards. The Cavaliers’ lone touchdown came late in the fourth quarter, when running back Keith Payne (eight yards rushing) caught an 11-yard touch- downpass. SafetyEddieWhitley’sintercep- tionofVirginiaseniorMarcVerica
Tyrod Taylor, who became Virginia Tech’s all-time career leader in passing yardage, gives a hoist to the Commonwealth Cup. The Hokies’ seventh straight win in the series trails only the eight in a row won by Virginia from 1895 to 1904.
(12 of 20 for 168 yards) set up the Hokiesfortheirfirst touchdownof the game early inthe secondquar- ter.
But once theHokies’ 11th victo-
ry in their past 12 games against Virginiawas inthebooks,muchof the postgame talk revolved around a different in-state foe. JamesMadisonmay represent the
ultimate disappointment for the Virginia Tech faithful, but the loss to the Dukes was the launching point for the Hokies’ remarkable resurgence. “It just litafireunderus,”Evans
said. “I knowall ofuswishit could have been a differentway, it could have happened different, but it’s just howitwas. It’s kind of hard to look back then when we’ve got so muchgoing forusnow.” That they do, and when the
Hokies take the field next week- end, they could put an exclama- tion point on what is fast becom- ing a historic season in Blacks- burg. With all they’ve overcome,
though, theseHokies realize there isstillworktobedoneif theyareto fully redeemthemselves. “We just started winning and
we’re not looking back,” Whitley said. “But it doesn’tmean nothing unless we go down to Charlotte andget the jobdone.”
giannottom@washpost.com
Season-ending blowout shows U-Va. just how far it has to go After converting on its first BY STEVE YANDA
blacksburg, va. — Ignomini- ously predictable until the very end, Virginia dropped its season finale, 37-7, on Saturday at Vir- ginia Tech by displaying all the ills that plagued Coach Mike London’s first season at the helm. The Cavaliers were flagged for
a late hit on the opening kickoff when a player who wasn’t on the field when the play began fore- armed Virginia Tech’s kick re- turner after he was out of bounds. The Hokies (10-2, 8-0 ACC)
scored all five of their touch- downs on plays on which at least one Virginia defender either missed a tackle or was bowled over.
third down attempt, Virginia failed to convert on its next 11. The Cavaliers converted on 35.2 percent of third downs this sea- son, which ranks them in the bottomfourth of the country. London called Virginia Tech—
which has won seven straight games against Virginia and will represent the Coastal Division in nextweekend’s ACC title game— “themeasuring stick right now.” Virginia Tech tallied 383 yards
in total offense Saturday; Virgin- ia recorded 291. The Hokies con- verted on 6 of 6 red zone scoring chances; the Cavaliers were 1 for 2. Virginia allowed four sacks; Virginia Tech gave up one. The Hokies are riding a 10-
game winning streak. The Cava- liers (4-8) concluded a 1-7 confer- ence slate that marks their few-
est ACC victories in a season since 1982. “They’re a real solid team on
every level,” fifth-year Virginia senior linebacker Darnell Carter said of Virginia Tech. And as of now, Virginia is not.
The Cavaliers could not produce even in the sparse areas — spe- cial teams trickery and short- yardage situations — in which they typically have been charmed this season. Virginia lined up in punt for-
mation on a fourth and two early in the second quarter, but after the snap, junior punter Jimmy Howell rolled to his right and completed a pass to sophomore tight end Colter Phillips for a one-yard gain. “There’s an option to either
kick the ball, or there’s an option to throw it to Colter,” London
said, “and we just didn’t see the coverage that was off, that it probably would have been a better decision to kick it.” Late in the first half, fifth-year
senior tailback Keith Payne was stopped inches short on fourth and one at the Virginia Tech 14-yard line. Payne — Virginia’s leading rusher this season — finished with eight yards on seven carries Saturday. “With our offense, when it’s
third and one and fourth and one, there’s no doubt that we should get the first down,” Vir- ginia offensive coordinator Bill Lazor said. “Our players are big enough, they’re tough enough, they’re physical enough. It’s dis- appointing that we didn’t do it.” What Virginia did do was
re-enforce how long of a haul London and his staff have in
front of them if they are to even approach the heights Virginia Tech’s programhas reached. The Cavaliers entered Satur-
day’s game already having sur- passed the program records for most penalties and penalty yards in a season. They drew fivemore flags against Virginia Tech, in- cluding one on the first play of the game. Virginia Tech kick returner
Jayron Hosley returned the opening kickoff 50 yards before running out of bounds and into the vicinity of Virginia reserve offensive guard Isaac Cain, who stuck his forearm into Hosley’s face mask. That act drew a 15-yard personal foul call, which enabled theHokies to begin their first offensive series on the Cava- liers 34 yard-line. Aporous run defense and poor
tackling technique troubled Vir- ginia’s defense throughout the fall, and Saturday was no excep- tion against a Virginia Tech of- fense that entered the game ranked No. 19 in the nation in rushing yards per game. TheHokies tallied 201 rushing
yards and four rushing touch- downs against the Cavaliers,who seemedmore intent on stripping the ball near the goal line than on making touchdown-prevent- ing tackles. “They slipped off a few tackles
and we probably didn’t fit on runs as well as we should have, but they run hard,” Virginia ju- nior cornerback Chase Minni- field said. “At the end of the day you’ve got to stop the run, and that’s what they do best. They run the ball, and they beat us.”
yandas@washpost.com
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