Hokie ClubCHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Despite forcing five turnovers and jumping out to a quick lead, Virginia Tech could not hold on to it nor rally late in falling to Boston College 28-23 in an ACC game played Saturday night at BC’s Alumni Stadium. The loss marked Tech’s third straight regular-season defeat to the Eagles and just their second road defeat since joining the ACC – both at BC. The loss dropped the Hokies to 5-2 overall, 2-1 in the ACC. BC moved to 5-1 overall, 2-1 in the league.
The Hokies quickly bolted to a 10-0 lead in the first six minutes of the game. Macho Harris deflected a pass that linebacker Brett Warren ultimately intercepted and returned 36 yards for a touchdown. After a BC fumble on the ensuing kickoff, the Hokies tacked on a 30-yard field goal by Dustin Keys with 9:31 remaining in the first quarter to take a 10-point lead.
The Eagles, though, stormed back, scoring 21 unanswered and never trailed again. The Hokies cut into the lead late when Keys drilled a 45-yard field goal to make the score 28-23 with 6:32 to go in the game, but Tech didn’t get the ball back until 1:08 was left.
Trying to muster one last scoring drive, Tech quarterback Tyrod Taylor lost a yard on first down and then threw incomplete on second down. On third down, he hit tailback Dustin Pickle for a 10-yard gain, setting up fourth-and-1 from the Tech 38. But Taylor’s fourth-down pass to Dyrell Roberts was off the mark and the Hokies turned the ball over on downs, cementing BC’s win.
It was that type of evening for Tech’s offense, which mustered 240 yards for the game. Taylor – who lost for the first time as a starting quarterback at Tech – completed just 12-of-27 for 90 yards, with one interception. The sophomore from Hampton, Va., did rush for 110 yards.
“Execution was the main problem,” Taylor said. “We just didn’t execute the plays that were called. We had a tough time running the ball or getting anything going in the air. We just have to go back to the drawing board and fix up some of these little things that are hurting us.”
“It’s a dropped ball here, a poor pass there, a poor protection here,” Tech head coach Frank Beamer said. “A couple of times, we’ve got to knock them out of there on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1. To me, it’s execution.”
Tech’s lone two touchdowns in the game came courtesy of the defense – Warren’s interception and Harris’ 55-yard interception return for a touchdown with 1:39 left in the first half that cut the BC lead to 21-17. Tech appeared to be in good shape at that point, but Harris got beat deep late in the first half on a 48-yard pitch and catch from BC quarterback Chris Crane to receiver Brandon Robinson. That set up a 2-yard touchdown run by James McCluskey with 27 seconds left that flipped the momentum in BC’s favor.
“To me, we’re all at fault,” Beamer said. “We gave up the long play right before halftime. We didn’t cover a punt one time. It’s not just the offense. It’s all of us.
“I thought we had good effort throughout, but we’ve got to play better. We’ve got to execute better. We’ve got to execute better defensively. We’ve got to execute better offensively. We’ve got to execute better in the kicking game. This is a process we’re going to continue.”
Crane turned the ball over four times – three interceptions and a fumble. But he completed 16-of-32 for 218 yards, with a touchdown, to pace BC.
Tech plays its fourth road game in a string of five contests next Saturday when the Hokies travel to Tallahassee, Fla., for a game with the Florida State Seminoles. Kickoff is slated for 3:30 p.m.