Hokies beat East Carolina, minus style points

GREENVILLE, N.C. – At times, Virginia Tech looked sloppy, failing to cash in scoring opportunities. At times, it looked fortunate, when East Carolina did the same. But as the Hokies looked at the scoreboard after last night’s game at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, they saw a 16-3 victory, something that mattered, at least for one night, more than how dazzling they appeared while achieving it.

Twenty-six days had passed since the No. 22 Hokies last won, 48-14 over Boston College — an afternoon at Lane Stadium when everything worked for them and the enthusiasm surrounding their season crested. But between then and last night, losses to Georgia Tech and North Carolina redefined their season. No longer were they chasing a national championship, or even in control of their own pursuit of a third consecutive ACC title.

They were just trying to win, trying to avoid their first three-game losing streak since 2003 and just their fourth since their streak of bowl-game appearances began in 1993.

“We don’t want the season to go down the drain,“ said redshirt freshman linebacker Lyndell Gibson.

They had to win last night in the most rabid road environment of the season, with Gibson starting for the first time and without their regular center, junior Beau Warren, who stayed in Blacksburg after spraining his left knee against North Carolina.

His replacement, redshirt freshman Michael Via, made his maiden start and committed no glaring errors — an encouraging development for Tech should Warren need more time to recover.

So, too, was the performance of a more-visible redshirt freshman, tailback Ryan Williams. His fumble with 2:02 left against North Carolina gave the Tar Heels the ball at Tech’s 24-yard line and led to the field goal that won them the game, 20-17. Last night, Williams carried 26 times for a season-best 179 yards, surpassing 1,000 for the season by halftime and finishing with 1,109.

“That fumble did something to me mentally last week,“ Williams said. “I think the only person that was gonna be able to overcome what happened last week was myself.“

And coordinator Bud Foster’s defense? Well, it looked more like a Foster defense. Georgia Tech and North Carolina made it appear like flimsier version, as they converted 11 of 16 first downs in the second half. Last night, Foster’s bunch did a bit of everything while holding East Carolina to 277 yards. Whip linebacker Cody Grimm forced and recovered a fumble in the second quarter. Cornerback Rashad Carmichael intercepted a pass in the fourth.

Yet the Hokies (6-3) also did enough to leave their coaches and fans shaking their heads. Eight of their drives advanced into East Carolina territory. They got three field goals and a touchdown on four and came up empty on the other four, after advancing to the Pirates’ 1, 28, 39 and 42.

The Pirates (5-4) hurt themselves, too. Trailing 13-3 on their second drive of the second half, they had first down and 10 at Tech’s 18. But running back Giavanni Ruffin took the handoff from Patrick Pinkney on the play and immediately fumbled the ball away, before anybody could touch him. With 17 seconds left in the third quarter, East Carolina strong safety Levin Neal nearly picked off Tyrod Taylor’s screen pass at the Hokies’ 26, but the ball bounced off his hands as he dove for it.

The Hokies finished with 379 yards, including 252 in the first half, but had little to show for it as they jogged to the locker room. This continued a troubling trend from the past two games, when 10 of their first 14 drives crossed midfield, yet resulted in just one field goal. Last night, three of their first four drives got into East Carolina territory. They produced two field goals and a fumble by Taylor at the Pirates’ goal line.

But if only for last night, before the shortcomings and successes can be dissected, the Hokies ended up just where they had to.

“Sloppy or not sloppy,“ Taylor said, “I think a win was good for this team.“