Virginia Tech.......  0  3  7 10 - 20
North Carolina......  0 10  7  0 - 17

Scoring Summary:

2nd Quarter
12:31 NC - Wooten 27 yd FG
06:59 VT - Keys 19 yd FG
01:02 NC - Tate 32 yd pass from Yates (Wooten)

3rd Quarter
06:44 NC - Little 50 yd run (Wooten)
01:09 VT - Evans 10 yd run (Keys)

4th Quarter
13:46 VT - Lewis 11 yd run (Keys)
10:42 VT - Keys 45 yd FG

Chapel Hill, NC -Virginia Tech scored 17 unanswered points in the second half to knock off a fired up North Carolina team 20-17 in Chapel Hill on Saturday afternoon. The win puts the Hokies at 3-1 overall and 2-0 in the ACC. Tech also now holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over two teams in the Coastal Division, Georgia Tech and UNC.

Trailing 17-3 in the third quarter, things looked bleak for the Hokies. However, they took advantage of some UNC turnovers, knocked starting quarterback T.J. Yates out of the game and crushed the Tar Heels in penalty yards. As a result, they squeaked out the win. Tech is now 16-1 in ACC road games.

North Carolina was penalized 14 times for 121 yards, while the Hokies drew just four flags for 21 yards. In the end, that was probably the difference in the game. More on that later.

The Hokies were outgained by the UNC offense 307 to 267. Overall, the Tech defense played an excellent game. They gave up several big plays, including a 50 yard touchdown run by Greg Little and a 32 yard touchdown reception by Brandon Tate, but overall they did an excellent job against a solid UNC offense. The defense recorded four sacks and knocked T.J. Yates out of the game in the third quarter.

The Tech offense was anemic in the first half, but rebounded with a decent second half. Tyrod Taylor threw two interceptions, but he also made some plays through the air. He was 11-of-21 for 125 yards. Taylor was knocked out of the game in the fourth quarter with an apparent ankle injury, and Sean Glennon entered in relief and was 1-of-1 for 16 yards.

Danny Coale was the favorite target for the Tech quarterbacks. The r-freshman had four catches for 54 yards, and narrowly missed hauling in a deep touchdown pass on an overthrow by Taylor. True freshman Jarrett Boykin, who is from the state of North Carolina, had two catches for 33 yards.

The Hokies ran for 127 yards. They were led by Darren Evans, who had 61 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown. Kenny Lewis added 28 yards and a touchdown on seven carries. UNC did a great job of containing Tyrod Taylor, who had 35 yards on 12 carries.

Brett Warren led Tech with nine tackles and one tackle for loss. Jason Worilds, Nekos Brown, Orion Martin and Cody Grimm each added a sack, and the Tech defensive front was able to shut down the UNC running game for virtually the entire game.

Backup quarterback Mike Paulus threw two interceptions to Macho Harris and Stephan Virgil after Yates was knocked out of the game. The Hokies also recovered two fumbles, and had a +2 turnover margin for the game. In the last two games, both 20-17 wins, Tech has a +5 turnover margin advantage. That's exactly what they have to keep doing to win football games this season.

North Carolina got the ball first and immediately went to work, picking up two quick first downs. Brooks Foster picked up 17 yards on a reverse, and then Yates found Foster for a 10 yard gain. On first down from their own 46, the Tar Heels went with two running plays, which netted just three yards. On third down, Bud Foster dialed up a rover blitz from the boundary. Davon Morgan forced Yates up into the pocket, where Jason Worilds was there to clean up for the sack.

The Hokies then took over on their own 11 yard line. After picking up two first downs, Tyrod Taylor threw over the middle, but it was intercepted by middle linebacker Mark Paschal. The Tar Heels took over on Tech's 33.

UNC took the ball to Tech's 17 before they were stopped on downs. Freshman kicker Jay Wooten came on for a 35 yard field goal attempt, which he pulled to the left. The Hokie defense held after being put in a bad situation.

After another ineffective possession by Tech's offense, UNC took over at their own 42, once again in good field position. Yates threw two incomplete passes, and was then sacked by Nekos Brown. The ensuing punt was downed on Tech's 1, but yet again, the Tech defense had held when UNC had good field position.

Tech went three and out from inside their own five yard line, and after a 43 yard Brent Bowden punt, UNC took over at the VT 49. This time the Tar Heels had better success on offense, advancing the ball to Tech's 5. UNC lined up to go for it on 4th and 1, but they were flagged for delay of game. Wooten then came on and hit a 27 yard field goal to put UNC up 3-0 with 12:31 remaining in the second quarter.

On three possessions, UNC had started with the football at their own 42 on one occasion, and in Virginia Tech territory on the other two possessions. The Hokie defense limited them to a total of three points, and kept themselves in the game.

The Tech offense was able to reverse the field position war on their next possession. A 28 yard pass play to Danny Coale was the difference. Although Tech was stopped at the UNC 35, Bowden's punt was downed at the UNC 5. On the first play of their next possession, UNC tailback Shaun Draughn put the ball on the ground, and it was recovered by John Graves at the UNC 8.

The Tech offense couldn't punch it in the endzone, but Dustin Keys came on for a 19 yard field goal. With 6:59 left in the second quarter, the game was tied 3-3.

UNC broke the stalemate shortly before halftime. With the Hokies coming on a heavy blitz on third down, T.J. Yates hit Brandon Tate on a quick slant. Free safety Kam Chancellor was hesitant, then missed the tackle altogether, and Tate scampered in untouched for the 32 yard touchdown. The extra point made the score 10-3, and UNC went into halftime up by a touchdown.

Perhaps the key point in the game came with just over nine minutes left in the third quarter. Defensive end Orion Martin broke through the line and sacked a scrambling T.J. Yates. Yates' came up limping and was obviously injured, but he stayed in the game. On third and 30 from the VT 47, with Yates injured, Bud Foster dialed up a blitz. Yates got the pass away, and it fell incomplete, but he was hit again. He came up limping badly again and trotted off the field, never to return.

On UNC's next possession, it didn't seem to matter. They took over on the 50 yard line after yet another bad possession by Tech's offense. R-freshman Mike Paulus entered the game at quarterback. The Tar Heels faked a reverse, which had been successful earlier in the game, and handed it off to Greg Little up the middle. Kam Chancellor took himself out of the play by biting on the reverse, and Little went untouched 50 yards for the touchdown. With 6:44 left in the third quarter, UNC led 17-3. Tech's offense looked incapable of moving the ball, and there didn't appear to be much hope.

The Hokies got the ball back, and faced third and seven from their own 14. Tyrod Taylor then made perhaps the biggest play of the game for Tech. With defensive end Robert Quinn dragging him to the ground, Taylor muscled a pass to true freshman wide receiver Dyrell Roberts for a 15 yard gain. With that play, the Hokies started moving the football.

UNC also handed the Hokies a first down later in the drive. After holding Taylor to a 4-yard run on third and five, linebacker Quan Sturdivant was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, which gave Tech a first down at the UNC 20. On third down from the 20, UNC was called for another penalty, this time a highly questionable holding call on free safety Deunta Williams.

That gave Tech a first down at the 10, and it took Darren Evans just one play to find the end zone. Evans took it in from 10 yards out, dragging tacklers into the end zone with him. The extra point made the score 17-10 with 1:09 left in the third quarter.

The Hokies had the momentum, and they kept it on their next drive. With UNC afraid to throw the ball with Paulus, the Heels ran two straight running plays on their next possession. On the second play, the Tech defensive line blew up the UNC offensive line, and Orion Martin put his helmet on the football, which was carried by Greg Little. The ball popped out, and Davon Morgan fell on it at the UNC 30.

The Hokies capitalized, with Taylor making another big play on third down. On third and nine at the UNC 30, Taylor dropped the shotgun snap. He picked it up, didn't panic, and then found Jarrett Boykin for a 13 yard gain and a first down to the UNC 16. Two plays later, junior tailback Kenny Lewis took it in untouched from 13 yards out. With 13:46 left in the game, the score was tied at 17.

UNC went three and out on their next possession, with John Graves knocking down a key third down pass. Macho Harris finally got a chance to return a punt, and he returned it 17 yards to the UNC 44. Yet again, the Tar Heels were undisciplined, and Anthony Elzy hit Harris late out of bounds. With 15 yards tacked on to the end of the run, Tech had the ball at the UNC 29.

The Hokies only managed to move forward one yard on their drive, but first year starting kicker Dustin Keys hit a huge 45 yard field goal which put Tech up 20-17 with 10:42 remaining in the game.

UNC still had plenty of time, and they managed to drive the ball all the way to the Tech 24. On second down and 11, Paulus was flushed from the pocket to his right. He made an ill-advised decision, throwing the ball back towards the middle of the field into triple coverage. Macho Harris was there to snag the interception, and he was tackled at the 2 with 7:24 left in the game.

It was obvious at this point that the Hokies were going to win the football game. Despite UNC stacking the box, the Tech offensive line began to impose their will on the Tar Heel front seven. On first down, Darren Evans went up the middle for 13 yards, and on the next play Tyrod Taylor gained 11 yards. Taylor was injured on the play, and Sean Glennon came into the game.

Evans took the handoff on Glennon's first play, and he gained 11 yards to the Tech 37. On the next play, Glennon executed a beautiful play fake and found a wide open Danny Coale for a gain of 16 yards to the UNC 47. The Hokies failed to pick up a first down from there, but Brent Bowden's punt went out of bounds at the UNC 10. The Hokies had burned over four minutes off the clock.

UNC took over at their own 10 with 3:01 remaining. A Greg Little run netted just two yards, and then Paulus was sacked on second down by Cody Grimm. Paulus could have been flagged for intentional grounding in the end zone, but officials spotted the ball at the UNC 2.

Two plays later, on fourth and 15 from the 5, Paulus threw his second interception of the game, this time to cornerback Stephan Virgil. At that point, the Hokies were able to run out the clock and leave Chapel Hill with a big victory.

Virginia Tech returns to action next Saturday night when they travel to Nebraska. Kickoff is scheduled for 8pm, and the game will be televised by ABC.

STATISTICS

                           VT         UNC
                         ----        ----
First downs                16          14
Rushed-yards           42-127      32-103
Passing yards             141         204
Sacked-yards lost         2-6        4-39
Return yards               80         118
Passes                12-22-2     14-26-2
Punts                  6-34.0      5-44.2
Fumbles-lost              0-0         2-2
Penalties-yards          4-21      14-121
Time of possession      32:42       27:18
Att: 59,800

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS 

RUSHING-Virginia Tech, Evans 14-61, Taylor 12-35, Lewis 7-28,
Oglesby 4-9, Roberts 2-0, Boone 1-(-2), TEAM 2-(-4).
NC, Little 18-71, Foster 3-45, Tate 2-16, Draughn 5-10, Paulus 1-(-10)
Yates 3-(-29).

PASSING-Virginia Tech, Taylor 11-21-125-2, Glennon 1-1-16.
NC, Yates 11-18-181, Paulus 3-8-28-2.

RECEIVING-Virginia Tech, Coale 4-54, Boykin 2-33, Roberts 1-15,
Drager 1-15, Harris 1-9, Boone 1-5, Smith 1-5, Evans 1-5.
NC, Nicks 4-51, Tate 3-66, Foster 3-52, Pianalto 3-31, Little 1-4.