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This is the tale of two very different quarters. At 10 seconds into the 2nd quarter, it looked like Tennessee was completely lost. Their offense was stunned, it couldn't run, protect their quarterback, or pass the ball. And Virginia Tech could barely do anything wrong. Then the air came out of the Hokie rocket, Jerod Evans and C.J. Carroll have a badly timed snap motion merge and the ball ended up on the turf and in Volunteer Orange hands.
Since then the Volunteers have scored 24 unanswered points. There isn't too much to say about how fast the fortunes switch in the emotional wind of big college football.
It's such a sudden collapse that it's difficult to remember that Tech had a definite massive advantage in passing and running yards.
The game started off well for the Hokies, with a slightly stumbling but convincing drive that ended up short, and Joey Slye missing a 47 yard field goal attempt. After a Tennessee three and out, the Hokies convincingly drove the ball up the field, moving the ball right, left, passing, checking off, and being innovative. Jerod Evans hit Sam Rogers on a flare pass to the right and Rogers took the ball to the right pylon for the touchdown. A subsequent Tennessee aborted series was promptly followed by a Trayvon McMillian race down the left sideline for a huge touchdown.
The Vols scored 17 points on three consecutive drives by basically running the ball with smart passing to their huge wide outs. Stats from Yahoo Sports
Virginia Tech Comp Att Pct Yds Y/A TD Int Sack YdsL QBRat |
Jerod Evans |
10 15 66.7 97 6.5 1 0 1 4 143.0 |
Tennessee Comp Att Pct Yds Y/A TD Int Sack YdsL QBRat |
Joshua Dobbs |
5 8 62.5 49 6.1 2 0 1 8 196.5 |
Virginia Tech |
Rush |
Yds |
Avg |
Long |
TD |
Travon McMillian |
10 |
105 |
10.5 |
69 |
1 |
Sam Rogers |
3 |
17 |
5.7 |
7 |
0 |
Bucky Hodges |
2 |
12 |
6.0 |
7 |
0 |
Jerod Evans |
8 |
4 |
0.5 |
10 |
0 |
C.J. Carroll |
1 |
-1 |
-1.0 |
-1 |
0 |
|
|||||
Tennessee |
Rush |
Yds |
Avg |
Long |
TD |
Jalen Hurd |
12 |
66 |
5.5 |
18 |
0 |
Joshua Dobbs |
6 |
47 |
7.8 |
40 |
1 |
Alvin Kamara |
2 |
14 |
7.0 |
9 |
0 |
Tyler Byrd |
1 |
5 |
5.0 |
5 |
0 |
Receiving
Virginia Tech |
Rec |
Yds |
Avg |
Long |
TD |
Sam Rogers |
2 |
37 |
18.5 |
30 |
1 |
Cam Phillips |
2 |
21 |
10.5 |
13 |
0 |
Isaiah Ford |
2 |
17 |
8.5 |
12 |
0 |
Bucky Hodges |
3 |
13 |
4.3 |
11 |
0 |
Travon McMillian |
1 |
9 |
9.0 |
9 |
0 |
C.J. Carroll |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
|||||
Tennessee |
Rec |
Yds |
Avg |
Long |
TD |
Josh Malone |
2 |
46 |
23.0 |
38 |
1 |
Jauan Jennings |
2 |
7 |
3.5 |
5 |
1 |
Alvin Kamara |
1 |
-4 |
-4.0 |
-4 |
0 |
Tyler Byrd |