Virginia Tech Football: Hokies dominate Duke on the road

The return of Daniel Jones didn’t matter as Virginia Tech football downed the Duke Blue Devils 31-14 on the road, a nice bounce-back win for the Hokies.

David Cutcliffe made the shocking announcement earlier this week that quarterback Daniel Jones, who had missed the last three weeks of play with a fractured collarbone, would start against Virginia Tech who lost their starting quarterback Josh Jackson against Old Dominion.

Not much faith was placed in Virginia Tech after that embarrassing loss to the Old Dominion Monarchs last week and the unknowns going into this game surrounding quarterback Ryan Willis were many. Willis gave many Hokie fans out their hope going forward after 17-for-27 with 332 yards and three touchdowns in an absolute beatdown of the Blue Devils in Durham, NC.

Things started off slow for both squads at Wallace Wade Stadium with a Virginia Tech following up Duke’s punt on the opening drive with a turnover on downs. Daniel Jones couldn’t much going early the following drive and ended their second possession of the game by hitting Hokie defensive back Reggie Floyd for an interception.

The first points of the game followed the interception as the Hokies cashed in for three points after a nine-play drive. Duke couldn’t stand playing from behind at home and Daniel Jones hit Noah Gray 23-yards in the right corner of the endzone for their first points of the game and gave the Devils a 7-3 lead.

Faced with adversity, Justin Fuente continued to roll with Kansas-transfer Ryan Willis at quarterback. After eight plays, the Hokies lined up at the Duke 27-yard line and Willis dropped a pass right into Damon Hazleton’s arms and started a Hokie lead that would hold for the rest of the game.

Duke followed up the touchdown pass from Willis with a three-and-out to set Virginia Tech up on the Tech 13-yard line. After a pair of runs from Sean Savoy and Terius Wheatley, Ryan Willis found himself on his own nine-yard line facing third and 14. His response was a 24-yard pass over to Hezekiah Grimsley who temporarily left the game due to the hit he took to earn the first down.

On first and 10 for the Hokies from their own 33-yard line, Ryan Willis tosses a pass out to Dalton Keene for what was supposed to be a short gain. Two missed tackles later and Keene would find himself 67 yards upfield in the end zone with a 17-7 lead over Duke with 11:34 left in the half.

Duke’s luck only seemed to get worse on the next drive. It started off with a reversed fumble call when the officials found that Brittain Brown‘s knee was down. After working their way up field, Daniel Jones went long to Scott Bracey who dropped a 20+ yard touchdown pass that hit him in the hands. And to cap off all of this, Collin Wareham missed a 43-yard field goal and left the fans in Wallace Wade wanting more out of their Blue Devils before the half.

Three straight punts would end the half.

Desperate for points at the start of the half, Duke found themselves in a situation where they felt they need to try on fourth down to keep the drive going from the 50-yard line. Deon Jackson had no dice and the Devils turned the ball over on downs in their first drive of the second half. After five plays Steven Peoples punched in a six-yard rush for a touchdown.

Neither team would score for the rest of the third quarter but Duke was piecing together a promising drive going into the break. A nine-play, 49-yard drive from Duke would prove fruitful for the Blue Devils with a 1-yard punch in from Deon Jackson cut the deficit to 10. Ultimately, the late touchdown would be ineffective Ryan Willis put together a ten-play drive that ended with him tossing his third touchdown pass of the night with 9:08 left to play.

Down 31-14, the Duke Blue Devils stadium was more empty than it was full and anything they tried was left ineffective as Virginia Tech found ways to answer. Quinten Harris took over the last drive of the game for Duke and was stopped short on fourth down which resulted in the Hokies clocking the game.

Bud Foster had Daniel Jones’ number and refused to be embarrassed for the second week in a row. Ryan Willis proved that he doesn’t have to be Josh Jackson to win games for the Hokies and he’s now a reliable quarterback option moving forward. The Virginia Tech running game was incredibly lackluster with Steven Peoples and Deshawn McClease averaging less than three yards per carry. This may have been a result of Duke’s excellent defensive front that has looked incredible all season long.

Daniel Jones was medically cleared to play tonight and David Cutcliffe obviously thought he gave them the best chance to win their ACC Coastal Division matchup. But was Jones really ready to step back into the starting job mere weeks after a collarbone injury?

Stat Leaders

Virginia Tech

• Passing: Ryan Willis 17/27 332 Yards 3 TD
• Rushing: Steven Peoples 16 Carries 47 Yards 1 TD
• Receiving: Dalton Keene 2 Rec 82 Yards 1 TD

Duke

• Passing: 23/35 226 Yards 1 TD 1 INT
• Rushing: Brittain Brown 12 Carries 35 Yards
• Receiving: Chris Taylor 5 Rec 58 Yards

The Virginia Tech Hokies improve to 3-1 on the season and return to Blacksburg, VA next week to take on the No. 8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish who dominated the No. 7 Stanford Cardinals 38-17. The Duke Blue Devils have a bye week before facing the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in Atlanta, GA on October 13.