Virginia Tech vs. Ohio State: Score and Twitter Reaction
Urban Meyer's perfect regular-season record at Ohio State is now a thing of the past, and Michael Brewer is the main culprit.
Brewer threw for 199 yards and two touchdowns on 23-of-36 passing, leading Virginia Tech to a shocking 35-21 upset victory over the No. 8 Ohio State Buckeyes in front of a stunned record crowd of 107,517 in Ohio Stadium on Saturday night.
The Hokies put the Buckeyes on upset alert early by jumping out to a 14-point halftime lead. Ohio State rallied back to tie the game before Brewer led the Hokies on a game-winning touchdown drive with 8:44 remaining in the fourth quarter to take the lead for good.
Here's a quarter-by-quarter score of the game:
| Virginia Tech | 14 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 35 |
| Ohio State | 7 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 21 |
Ohio State had its chances late in the game, but freshman quarterback J.T. Barrett threw two brutal fourth-quarter interceptions. The final one came on the Buckeyes' last-ditch comeback drive, which Donovan Riley returned for a score to seal the victory.
ESPN's Travis Haney called the Big Ten's College Football Playoff chances after the shocking upset:
The two sides were nearly identical on offense, as Ohio State outgained its opponent 327-324, but struggles on third down doomed the home team. The Buckeyes were a woeful 4-of-16 on third down, while the Hokies went 9-of-17.
Virginia Tech's defense bent but didn't break. As a unit, it put the clamps down as the program is known to do, and that gave Brewer the confidence to shake off his three turnovers.
"Playing at Virginia Tech, you know you're always going to have a great defense backing you up," Brewer said after the game, per the ESPN broadcast. "I just had to tell myself to forget about it and play the next play. That's what you have to do in big games, and I'm so incredibly proud of the team. ... We had a great game plan going into it and we're fortunate to come out with the win."
There were few—if any—rumblings of the Buckeyes being on upset alert heading into this one. That had more to do with a young Virginia Tech team coming in than Meyer's crew, who struggled for much of its season-opener against Navy.
But the Hokies certainly didn't view it as an unwinnable game when they arrived in Columbus.
"Winning this big out-of-conference game would definitely be big for our program and also for the ACC, just to prove that we’re capable of beating those big schools in other conferences," Virginia Tech's Luther Maddy told ESPN's Andrea Adelson. "It would make a big, big statement."
Virginia Tech wasted no time starting to make that statement. After holding the Buckeyes to an opening three-and-out, the Hokies flipped the field position and quickly made their move in front.
Brewer led the Hokies on a 10-play, 43-yard drive capped off by Shai McKenzie's two-yard plunge into the end zone that made it 7-0 Virginia Tech midway through the first.
Ohio State's crowd was quieted, but it soon had reason to cheer when the Buckeyes turned around their sluggish offensive start. Barrett did the honors, taking his team 83 yards—61 of which, including the touchdown, came from his legs—to tie things up at 7-7.
CBS Sports' Jeremy Fowler noted the scrambling quarterback's success:
Ohio State had seemingly regained momentum of the game and Ohio Stadium had recaptured its energy, but it all got zapped away in the matter of one drive.
A personal foul allowed Virginia Tech to start its next drive near midfield, and Brewer marched his team down the field on another methodical drive to get back in front. They converted two third downs on the drive and broke through on the ground, as freshman Marshawn Williams scored a 14-yard touchdown with seconds left in the first quarter.
It was the freshman's first-ever collegiate touchdown, as ESPN College Football captured:
Things were in Virginia Tech's favor thanks to masterful early execution, but eventually the Hokies needed the breaks to come their way to have a shot at the massive upset.
They started in the second quarter. The Buckeyes moved well within field-goal range twice early in the second, but Sean Nuernberger missed a 40-yard field goal followed by a 27-yarder.
Later, a bad snap would force them out of position for a third opportunity, as Hokies Journal noted:
Meanwhile, on offense, Virginia Tech slowed a bit in the second but put it together one last time just before the half. Brewer took the Hokies down the field in just 1:09, throwing a 10-yard touchdown to Sam Rogers.
Suddenly, the Hokies were taking a commanding 21-7 lead into halftime against a Top 10 opponent.
As Ohio State was trailing by double digits at the half, Michigan State had just lost on the road to Oregon, and Fox Sports' Clay Travis couldn't help but note the College Football Playoff implications:
ESPN Stats & Info noted blitzes led the way for the Hokies' early success:
It was like all of the air had been sucked out of Ohio Stadium at halftime, and it was more of the same starting the second half. Virginia Tech's defense continued to clamp down on third down, and the Buckeyes were failing to make the plays in the passing game needed to get back in it.
Then, the entire dynamic shifted with one pass.
Barrett connected with Michael Thomas on a 53-yard bomb late in the third for Ohio State, which trimmed the deficit to 21-14.
On Virginia Tech's next possession, Brewer made a poor throw across the field that was picked off by Buckeyes safety Von Bell.
All of a sudden, a record crowd at The Horseshoe was rocking:
Virginia Tech continued to rebound on the defensive side by slowing Ohio State's passing attack, but the Hokies offense couldn't keep up its first-half momentum. They turned the ball over again, this time with Brewer being strip-sacked in his own territory by Joey Bosa and recovered by Rashad Frazier.
Unlike after Bell's interception, the Buckeyes didn't squander the opportunity. Ezekiel Elliott broke free on the left side, scampering home for a 15-yard touchdown that tied up the score early in the fourth.
Ohio State had completed its comeback, and the writing was on the wall for a resounding victory. That had Bleacher Report's Barrett Sallee feeling for Hokie nation:
But as it turns out, they didn't have anything to be down about after all.
Fresh off two turnovers on his previous possessions, Brewer led his Hokies on a huge fourth-quarter possession that allowed Virginia Tech to retake control. He marched them on a six-play drive capped off by Bucky Hodges' 10-yard catch in the corner to put the Hokies up 28-21.
After their 14-point comeback was thwarted from the Hokies' late drive, the Buckeyes needed a convincing showing from their offense and it just wasn't there. Virginia Tech continued to have all of the answers on defense, forcing an Ohio State punt with six minutes left despite the Buckeyes trailing by a score.
Barrett got his chances to lead the Buckeyes back into the game, but his late touchdown toss went to the wrong team as SB Nation's Brian Floyd joked about:
"Hey ohio state threw a touchdown
— Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) September 7, 2014"
Just weeks ago, hopes for Ohio State's 2014 season were littered with College Football Playoff aspirations. Even after Braxton Miller went down for the season, the Buckeyes remained dark-horse candidates to make the final four.
That's almost certainly an idea of the past now. Ohio State was kicked to the curb by an unheralded Virginia Tech team, and the lack of chances the Buckeyes have to notch quality wins from here on out makes a late-season resurgence unlikely.
Ohio State will try to shake off the upset next week at home against Kent State.
As for the Hokies, no one is going to be sleeping on them anymore. Frank Beamer seemed to be heading into a rebuild in 2014 with plenty of youth at the skill positions, but there's no doubt now that he has a team capable of contending in the ACC.
Virginia Tech doesn't play top-ranked Florida State in the regular season, meaning the Hokies could come out on top in a wide-open ACC Coastal and set up a thrilling conference title game should both teams go undefeated. They will continue that dream on Sept. 13 against East Carolina.
