More agony in Atlanta for the Hokies

ATLANTA — They don’t call this the Dirty South for nothing.

Virginia Tech’s football team knows. The only two smudges, mud stains actually, on its record came right here.

The Hokies were able to play themselves back into the top five after losing to No. 2 Alabama in the Georgia Dome on Sept. 5. The question now is how they recover from Saturday night’s 28-23 loss to No. 19 Georgia Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium.

Virginia Tech (5-2, 3-1 ACC), ranked No. 4 at game time but set to fall when the polls come out today, is most certainly out of the national championship picture, and it’s no lock to make its third straight ACC championship game appearance either.

The Jackets (6-1, 4-1) pulled the rug from under it with an inspired defensive effort and a dominant showing by their offense in the second half.

The Hokies had no time to think about national title implications or the ACC championship. They had their hands full with Georgia Tech.

“I can speak for the team with this — I don’t think we were thinking ahead,” Virginia Tech quarterback Tyrod Taylor said. “We just didn’t go out and execute. They made more big plays than we did.”

Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech are now among four ACC Coastal Division teams with one loss, leaving Virginia as the only team in the division with an unblemished conference record.

The Yellow Jackets gained 272 of their 309 rushing yards in the second half and held the ball for more than 22 of the game’s final 30 minutes.

And while Georgia Tech’s offense was running wild, Virginia Tech’s was running mostly in neutral.

The Hokies’ offense didn’t show much life until late in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Tyrod Taylor had a 22-yard touchdown run with 4:52 left, and running back Ryan Williams caught a 7-yard scoring pass from Taylor three minutes later.

The Jackets answered Taylor’s run with a 75-yard scoring drive capped by quarterback Josh Nesbitt’s 39-yard touchdown run down the left sideline, and they recovered an onside kick after Williams’s scoring reception to end any possible suspense.

“It just didn’t click till the end, and you can’t do that against great teams like Georgia Tech,” said Williams, who topped the 100-yard mark for the fifth time this season.

Taylor completed 10 of 14 passes for 159 yards and a touchdown. He also threw two interceptions.

Williams, who battled an illness throughout the week, said he felt weak at times during the game and was experiencing some nausea, but he still managed to account for 122 of the Hokies’ 334 yards and two touchdowns.

He rushed for a 66-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter and also had a 21-yard run in the fourth.

“My stomach was hurting the whole time I was running,” Williams said. “I guess the adrenaline was pumping, but after I got to the touchdown, that’s when I really started paying attention to it.”

The fourth-quarter comeback attempt was foiled by Georgia Tech’s potent offense, which moved the ball seemingly at will after halftime. It scored touchdowns on three of its first five second-half possessions. Its other two drives were stopped by turnovers.

Nesbitt rushed for 122 yards and three touchdowns. He completed one of his seven pass attempts, but the completion, a 50-yarder to wide receiver Demaryius Thomas in the second quarter, led to Georgia Tech’s lone first half touchdown.

Georgia Tech beat Virginia Tech in the time of possession battle 38:22 to 21:38.

The Yellow Jackets unveiled some never-before-seen blocking schemes that got the Hokies out of sorts. One of the big things they did was move their pitch man in motion from one side of the field to the next.

“I think the thing they did is they got in motion and it made us stay honest on the backside, and that caused us to lose an extra guy over there,” said Virginia Tech rover Dorian Porch. “It was just kind of like that, an extra guy every time running that way, so they just kept doing it.”

Still, the Hokies, who trailed 21-10 in the third quarter, clawed their way back with two fourth quarter touchdowns.

Taylor’s touchdown run, which was followed by a failed 2-point conversion pass, cut the score to 21-16.

But the Yellow Jackets answered with a 75-yard scoring drive that took only 1:49 to complete. Nesbitt capped it off with his long touchdown run.

Virginia Tech moved down the field with ease on its ensuing drive. Taylor completed a 29-yard pass to wide receiver Danny Coale, a 12-yarder to tight end Greg Boone and an 11-yarder to Dyrell Roberts.

Then Williams caught a screen pass in the right flat and ran the rest of the way for his second touchdown of the game to cut it to 28-23 with 1:48 left.

Virginia Tech attempted an onside kick, but Justin Myer’s high bouncing kick was snagged by Jerrard Tarrant, and the Yellow Jackets ran out the clock.

“We had big plays in the game, but they came too late,” Taylor said.

The Hokies have a bye week next Saturday before facing North Carolina and East Carolina on back-to-back Thursday nights. They’ll try to right the ship after this disappointing loss to make another run at the ACC title game.

“We’ll put this game behind us because we don’t see this formation or them again,” said Virginia Tech linebacker Barquell Rivers, who had a game-high 16 tackles. “We’ll put this behind us and take the next step next week in practice and get better for North Carolina in two weeks.”