Tech falls to VT, 27-3

Junior Taylor Bennett had not thrown four interceptions in a single season coming into this year, let alone a single game. That changed last Thursday night as Bennett was picked off four times and opposing quarterback Sean Glennon threw for nearly 300 yards and two touchdowns on the way to the Hokies 27-3 win.

"I thought he did a good job of just taking what was there; he didn't try to force anything," said Head Coach Chan Gailey.

After electing to receive on the opening kickoff, Bennett quickly called a timeout before the first offensive snap. Bennett made up for the mistake two plays later with a 37-yard deep throw to junior receiver James Johnson down the sideline. The Jackets were unable to move the ball further, however, as Jamaal Evans, getting his first career start at tailback, carried the ball twice for a yard.

The Jackets' defense looked excellent on the Hokies' first drive. Glennon missed a pass to start the drive and a false start penalty pushed the Hokies back five yards. A seven yard completion from Glennon to receiver Justin Harper set up a third and long. The following play was the first of the Jackets' six sacks of the day. A 43-yard punt from the end zone put the Jackets in Virginia Tech territory. Two long passes of 11 and 26 yards from Bennett to Johnson followed by a five yard run by Evans put the Jackets inside the Virginia Tech 10. Unfortunately, the lack of an established passing game allowed the Hokies to provide extra coverage on the receivers, forcing Bennett to pass down to Evans. The pass fell incomplete and the Jackets settled for a field goal-Tech's only points of the game.

The Hokies opened their drive with an 11-yard pass play from Glennon to Andre Smith. Glennon was sacked twice on the drive, but the Jackets were unable to stop the Hokies, both times after the sack, Virginia Tech was able to convert third downs. The Jackets did catch a break when junior defensive end Michael Johnson sacked Glennon on Georgia Tech's 12-yard line and forced a fumble, but the ball did not bounce the Jackets' way as Glennon recovered to set up a field goal.

The ensuing kickoff was the turning point of the game. With the score tied, Virginia Tech Head Coach Frank Beamer called for an onside kick. The kicker tapped the ball forward and recovered after 11 yards.

"I thought that was a big play in the game. I thought that was a gutsy call, I told Frank after the game that it was," Gailey said.

The drive led to a touchdown run in by Glennon. When Georgia Tech took the ball back, running back Jonathan Dwyer, getting his first carries, took the ball for back-to-back 14 yard gains.

"Just help [the offense] out as much as I can, that's what a running back's job is to be a tempo setter. I just tried to get the offensive line going and get [Bennett] going," Dwyer said.

Bennett then found Johnson for a short gain that put the Jackets at mid-field. On the next play, Bennett was looking for Johnson deep down the sideline, but the ball was picked off by a diving Victor Harris for Bennett's first interception of the game.

The half ended on a sour note, as the Jackets failed to score again and headed into the locker room trailing 17-3.

The second half started better for the Jackets as they forced two straight three-and-outs with one of their own sandwiched in-between. On the Jackets' second possession of the half, freshman quarterback Josh Nesbitt took the handoff, faked the run and dropped back to pass. There were no defenders around James Johnson running down the middle of the field. The ball dropped just in front of him and the Jackets were forced to punt.

"He threw it; it was supposed to be in front of me. I guess he got excited and threw it a little bit too far up field. I lost it running [looking for the ball], as a receiver it's hard to run [looking for the ball] and really run your fastest. It was a missed opportunity," Johnson said.

When the Jackets got the ball back, Bennett took the next snap and rolled left on play-action, hitting Johnson with the pass down the middle of the field with no defenders around him. Johnson turned to run the ball up, but was blindsided and fumbled deep in Virginia Tech territory.

"No, I didn't [know he was coming], I'm supposed to know that, but I didn't. I was trying to make a play. Turned out he got a good arm on it, and I lost it," Johnson said. The Hokies' recovery set up their next big drive.

Four plays after the fumble, Michael Johnson sacked Glennon to put the Hokies at third and 15 on their own 29. Glennon saw Josh Morgan running deep down the sideline with Jahi Word-Daniels covering. The pass was caught over Word-Daniels and Morgan ran the ball in for a 71 yard touchdown.

"We just couldn't get it going on offense and we were giving up too many big plays when we got back out on the field. We weren't stopping them on third downs at first but then we got it going a little bit," said Phillip Wheeler, senior linebacker .

Georgia Tech did find a glimmer of hope in Virginia Tech's next drive as they recovered an Branden Ore fumble at Virginia Tech's 32 yard line. Dwyer took two handoffs for 13 yards before Bennett threw his third interception of the game. Brandon Flowers returned the interception to the Virginia Tech 44. Virginia Tech then rode Ore's running all the way down to the Jackets' 11. Dunlevy hit a 28 yard field goal to put Virginia Tech up 27-3.

With the loss, the Jackets are officially eliminated from ACC title game contention. The Jackets will attempt to right the ship against the 1-8 Blue Devils of Duke next weekend in Durham, Duke has yet to win a single conference game.