When asked what he wanted his seniors to get out of Saturday's game against Virginia Tech, Virginia coach Al Groh's answer was plain and simple: "That we lost."
Despite falling to a 9-3 record (6-2 ACC), his best record in seven seasons at Virginia, Groh had no smile on his face after falling to the Hokies 33-21. Virginia Tech (10-2, 7-1 ACC) now advances to the ACC Championship in Jacksonville, Fla. Saturday in a rematch with the Boston College Eagles.
While Virginia Tech played its traditional style of Beamerball (Tech had an interception and a blocked punt), the story of the day was Virginia Tech's offense. The Hokies picked up 430 offensive yards on the day. Junior Branden Ore rushed for 147 yards, junior Sean Glennon threw for 260 yards and senior Eddie Royal had 147 yards on six receptions.
The Hokies had three receivers -- Royal, senior Josh Morgan and senior Josh Hyman, who had over 50 yards receiving in the game.
"We thought, going in to the game, the most outstanding group on their offensive team were the wide receivers," Groh said. "They have been for four years. It's a tremendous group, and they've got a lot of playmakers."
But the game wasn't all Tech's -- Virginia held a 14-13 lead with 40 seconds left in the first half. But sophomore Jameel Sewell threw an interception, giving Tech the ball on Virginia's 35-yard line. It took the Hokies only 28 seconds to score on a 39-yard pass to Royal to go up 20-14.
"Those were a substantial seven points," Groh said. "And it turns out to be seven points we had no chance to answer. It's like seven bonus points."
With a 5:37 left in the third quarter, Tech leading 23-14, senior Chris Long sacked Glennon, one of six sacks on the day for Virginia. Glennon fumbled on the play and junior Antonio Appleby fell on the ball, giving Virginia possession at the 28-yard line. Less than three minutes later, Sewell followed blocks from junior Branden Albert and senior Jon Stupar to rush the ball in for his second touchdown, cutting the margin to two points.
But the Hokies struck again early in the fourth, as freshman quarterback Tyrod Taylor ran the ball five yards into the endzone to put Tech up 30-21, virtually ending the game.
"Tyrod runs it in and we know what the play is going to be," Groh said. "On top of that, there's a timeout for us to have the opportunity to discuss it: 'This is what the play is going to be.' It goes in anyway ... It was just about three or four plays where we came up short in terms of making the play, but that's how most games usually are determined."
The only good thing, senior Tom Santi said, is that "we have another game to look forward to. But we've got to wait a long time until we can do anything about that."
The next game, most likely, will be the Champ Sports Bowl in Orlando Dec. 28. Bowl official Ryan Patterson said he didn't see anything from Virginia that weakens the team's appeal to the bowl game.
"We'd love to have Virginia," Patterson said
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