Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech quarterback Jerod Evans tied a school record with five touchdowns passes and the Hokies’ defense recorded the team’s first shutout since 2012, as the Hokies blanked Boston College 49-0 on Saturday at Lane Stadium in Tech’s ACC opener.
Tech moved to 2-1 overall on the season and 1-0 in the ACC. The win marked the second consecutive for the Hokies over BC (1-2, 0-2 ACC) and the seventh in the past nine meetings.
The shutout marked the first by Tech since it beat Bowling Green 37-0 in 2012. It marked the Hokies’ first shutout of an ACC foe since 2011 when they won 38-0 at Virginia. The shutout marked Tech’s first ACC shutout at home since it won 17-0 over UVA in 2006.
Virginia Tech’s defense put forth a dominating effort, holding the Eagles to 124 yards. The Hokies forced a three-and-out on 10 BC possessions.
Evans’ five scoring tosses tied the mark held by former quarterback Bryan Randall, who threw five touchdown passes in Tech’s 50-42 triple overtime loss at Syracuse in 2002.
Offensively, the Hokies amassed 476 yards, including 223 on the ground. Marshawn Williams, playing in his first game since tearing his ACL in 2014, led the way with 81 yards.
Evans threw a 15-yard scoring pass to Travon McMillian on the Hokies’ second possession to open the scoring and then added touchdown passes of 8 and 30 yards to Isaiah Ford. The latter came with 1:42 left in the first half and gave the Hokies a 21-0 lead, which they took into the locker room.
In the second half, Evans threw touchdown passes to Chris Cunningham (7 yards) and Sam Rogers (4 yards). For the game, Evans completed 16 of 23 for 253 yards and one interception.
BIG PLAYS
• Greg Stroman’s 29-yard punt return set up Ford’s 30-yard touchdown reception. It marked Stroman’s longest punt return of the season and the seventh of his career of 20 yards or more.
• Bucky Hodges hauled in two 17-yard receptions on the same possession in the second quarter and that led to the 8-yard touchdown pass to Ford.
• Evans’ 36-yard pass to Cam Phillips on the Hokies’ first possession of the second half led to the 7-yard touchdown pass from Evans to Cunningham that gave Tech a 28-0 lead.
• Leading 28-0 and facing a fourth-nad-1 from the BC 20, Tech elected to go for it and Evans gained 12 yards on a keeper. That led to his touchdown pass to Sam Rogers for a 35-0 lead.
• Evans’ 47-yard pass to Ford on Tech’s final possession of the third quarter led to McMillian’s 7-yard touchdown run and gave the Hokies a 42-0 lead.
QUOTES TO NOTE
(Tech coach Justin Fuente on Jerod Evans)
“I don’t pay too much attention to his numbers. I pay more attention to the grade sheet in terms of our decisions on a play-by-play basis. He certainly made some good plays out there and missed a few.
“I will say this, the last three weeks, he has approached it with a great mindset. It is obviously important for him to play well. You can see that by his preparation. He is a good listener and tries to do what we ask him to do. He tries to do what we ask him to do and sometimes he does it on a consistent basis.”
(Fuente on Tech’s performance)
“If we eliminate mistakes and stay healthy and do a great job of preparing and doing the things that good teams do, then we’ll have that opportunity. My caution to our kids is that you have to do this every day. Do we have a chance to play well on Saturdays regardless of the opponent? Absolutely. That doesn’t mean we’ll win every game. But it’s up to us to give ourselves that opportunity and we gave ourselves that opportunity this week, and in turn, we got some good results.”
(Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster on his defense’s performance)
“We have the utmost respect for BC and how they physical they play and I thought that was going to be the key either way – how we controlled the ball offensively up front and how we controlled the line of scrimmage defensively. I was proud of our kids’ effort. I thought we had a great week of practice. You take five plays out of last week … we really played with this kind of effort and we were more consistently good [this week] and staying at home and doing the right thing. I was really proud of that. My hat is off to our kids. They worked hard and bounced around. Our scout team kids gave us a great look, and in the end, those good habits, good things happened as a result of that.”
UP NEXT
Tech takes on East Carolina next Saturday in a non-conference tilt at Lane Stadium that kicks off at 12:30 p.m. The Hokies have lost the past two meetings with the Pirates, including a 28-21 decision at Lane Stadium two seasons ago.