Irish Put Hokies To Sleep
Dexter Williams and Notre Dame exploded in the second half to leave Blacksburg with a 45-23 victory on Saturday night, outscoring the Hokies 28-7 after the break for the runaway win.
Williams busted out for 161 yards and two touchdowns in the second half to propel Notre Dame to a win in its first-ever trip to Blacksburg.
The senior running back wasted little time to make his imprint on the game in the third quarter, jetting through a hole on Notre Dame’s first possession of the second half for a 97-yard touchdown that put the Irish up 24-16.
The long touchdown turned the momentum in Notre Dame’s favor after a lackluster second quarter.
Virginia Tech tried to answer with points of its own on its next drive, but the Hokies’ kicker Brian Johnson missed a 48-yard field goal.
Notre Dame capitalized on the short field. Quarterback Ian Book rolled to the left, drew the Hokie defense up and lofted a perfect pass to wideout Miles Boykin for a 40-yard touchdown to make it 31-16 with 4:59 left in the third quarter.
Book finished with yet another strong performance in his third game as the starter. Notre Dame’s signal-caller completed 25 of 35 pass attempts for 271 yards and two touchdowns.
After a sluggish first half on the ground Williams finished with 182 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries. Boykin continued to show he is Book’s favorite target. The 6-foot-4 receiver caught eight passes for 117 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Te’von Coney and Asmar Bilal each recorded nine tackles and Julian Love had a huge game with seven tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery touchdown.
In his second starter, Virginia Tech quarterback Ryan Willis completed 31 of his 52 pass attempts for 309 yards and two touchdowns.
Willis's favorite target was former practice squadmate Damon Hazelton, who pulled in 12 passes for 131 yards and a score.
Khalil Ladler led the Hokies with nine tackles.
Toward the end of the first half, Willis rolled to the right, junior defensive end Khalid Kareem provided pressure from the back side of the play with relentless effort and slapped the ball out of Virginia Tech’s signal-caller’s hand. Junior cornerback Julian Love scooped it up and scored from 42 yards out to give Notre Dame a 17-9 lead.
But Willis shook off the fumble and led his team on an eight-play, 75-yard drive in less than a minute to pull his team within a point going into halftime. Willis hit Hazelton for a three-yard touchdown with just seconds left in the first half. This touchdown was helped by a targeting call moments before on Julian Okwara.
The story of the first half was Notre Dame’s defense forcing Virginia Tech settle for field goals. After a Book pass attempt was intercepted by Hokie safety Reggie Floyd to set Virginia Tech up with prime field possession, the Irish defense held Virginia Tech to a 22-field goal converted by Johnson.
The first play on the drive was a 41-yard sprint by Peoples down to the Irish one-yard line. Coney and Shayne Simon combined on a tackle for loss on Willis on third down to force the kick.
Book was 15-for-23 for 163 yards with an interception in the first half. Williams scored Notre Dame’s only first-half touchdown a three-yard run to give his team a lead on the opening drive. He finished with just 21 yards on seven carries in the first half. Coney led the Irish with seven tackles and Kareem recorded 1.5 sacks.
Willis completed 15 of his 26 pass attempts for 139 yards and a touchdown for the Hokies. Hazelton hauled in eight catches for 92 yards and a score to lead Virginia Tech’s passing attack. Safety Tyree Rodgers led the Hokies defense with six tackles.