BLACKSBURG, Va. –– The Virginia Tech Hokies continued their dominant stretch run with an impressive win over the Pitt Panthers by a score of 28-0 in Bud Foster’s final game in Blacksburg.
The Hokies defense turned in another excellent performance and scored their second consecutive shutout in conference play. Since the start of the fourth quarter two weeks ago against Wake Forest, the Hokies have outscored their opponents 86-0 in those nine quarters.
The victory sets up a colossal showdown in the Commonwealth as the winner of Friday’s rivalry matchup between the Hokies and the Virginia Cavaliers will determine who advances to the ACC Championship Game to take on the defending national champion Clemson Tigers on December 7th.
Virginia Tech head coach Justin Fuente commented after the game, “[We] celebrated Senior Day and it’s obviously Bud’s last home game. [I’m] proud and happy for our guys to battle. We played phenomenal on defense and made enough plays on offense to find a way to win the game. [Pitt] is a good football team. Our defense is really good. We have a quick turnaround and have to get ready for the next game.”
The Hokies were dominant in all phases of the game from the outset despite miserably cold and wet conditions. Both teams traded three-and-outs over the first several possessions of the game until James Mitchell found pay dirt for the Hokies with 3:16 left in the first quarter. The one-yard rush by Mitchell was set up by quarterback Hendon Hooker finding a wide-open Tayvion Robinson on the left side of the field for a 71-yard gain.
Bud Foster’s defense followed their offensive teammate’s score with one of
their own as Rayshard Ashby forced Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett to fumble.
Norell Pollard picked the ball up for the Hokies and ran it in to extend the
Virginia Tech lead to 14-0.
The rain tapered off a bit during the second quarter and the Hokies tacked on another touchdown by Tré Turner shortly before halftime. During the halftime break, the rain started to come down more heavily again.
The second period started on a rocky note for the Hokies as the officiating crew made some questionable calls. First, a dubious pass interference call negated a Divine Deablo interception. Second, Chamarri Conner was, seemingly, erroneously called for a late hit out-of-bounds. Fuente, showing no ill-will, stated after the game, “Those guys have a hard job.”
Despite questionable officiating at times, the Hokies persevered and controlled the second half and brought home the win.
Good teams get better as the season progresses and that is precisely what we have seen from the Hokies since their embarrassing defeat to Duke at the end of September. Virginia Tech will look to parlay this turnaround into an ACC Championship Game berth and Coastal Division title on Friday in Charlottesville.
Written by Greg Atkins
