Hokies beat Bearcats to win Orange Bowl

MIAMI In the end, Virginia Tech did just what it wanted: It made everyone forget the past. Forget all the three-and-outs. Forget the struggles in bowl games. With a 20-7 win over Cincinnati in last night's Orange Bowl, the Hokies made boosters and cynics alike look ahead instead of back. To August practice and all the potential it holds. To that Sept. 5 showdown with Alabama in Atlanta the opening game of what could be a magical season.

They will ride into this offseason remembering not that they had one of the nation's least-productive offenses all season. What they'll think about instead is how they diced the Bearcats defense last night for 398 yards, how all of their skill-position players will return next season including tailback Darren Evans, who finished his redshirt freshman season last night by rushing 28 times for 153 yards and a touchdown. He was named the game's most valuable player.

They will hit their weight room for winter workouts recalling not that they had lost four of their past five bowls before last night, or that they were 0-4 in Bowl Championship Series games dating to the 1995 Sugar Bowl. They'll dream instead of a top-10 preseason ranking and return trip to the BCS the lofty expectations they figure to carry because 18 of the 22 players who started last night have eligibility remaining.

"I think it's always gonna be in people's minds," sophomore quarterback Tyrod Taylor said. "But I think we showed people that we can play on this type of level against any team."

But last night's immediate rewards proved special, too. Tech finished 10-4 its fifth consecutive 10-win season, a feat accomplished only by Texas and Southern California.

"I think it's the best football team maybe we've ever had," Tech coach Frank Beamer said, emphasizing "team."

The Hokies improved the ACC's BCS record to 2-9, winning the league's first such game since the 1999 season. They did it with a complete effort, and despite lacking three starters. Three defensive players intercepted passes: cornerback Stephan Virgil, free safety Kam Chancellor, defensive end Orion Martin and linebacker Cody Grimm.

"We think we're the best secondary in the nation," said senior cornerback Victor "Macho" Harris, from Highland Springs High.

One of their new starters, redshirt freshman linebacker Barquell Rivers, made a critical tackle with 7:25 left in the game, when he stuffed quarterback Tony Pike's run at the goal line on fourth down and goal from the 1.

"They made plays tonight that I've never seen made before," Pike said.

The offense cashed in those turnovers for 10 points. After Martin's interception gave the Hokies posssession at the Bearcats' 10, Evans helped seal the win with his 6-yard touchdown run on third and goal. It gave the Hokies a 20-7 lead with 11:29 left in the game. Evans ended the season with 1,265 yards the fourth-best single-season total in school history.

Tech's offense, which entered last night ranked 107th in the country, looked uncharacteristically smooth from the get-go, and the Hokies led 10-7 at halftime. They gained 255 yards in the first half more than they've had in six full games this season. Their final yardage was two shy of their most this season.

Credit Taylor, whose eyebrow-raising 17-yard touchdown scramble in the second quarter a juke here, a cut-back there tied the game at 7 and marked the third time in the past two games that Taylor had run for a touchdown on a third-down pass play.

Tech's halftime lead came courtesy of a 43-yard field goal by Dustin Keys. It was Keys' 22nd field goal of the season, tying the school record held by Chris Kinzer (1986) and Shayne Graham (1995). Keys broke the record with a 35-yarder on Tech's first possession of the second half.

His record-tying kick also allowed the Hokies to capitalize on an interception something the Bearcats had just failed to do. With 4:52 left in the half, free safety Brandon Underwood picked off Taylor. The Bearcats advanced to from their 28 to Tech's 8, where, on second and goal, Pike spotted receiver Dominick Goodman open in the end zone. Pike lofted a pass, but Virgil leaped in front of Goodman and yanked the ball down.

The interception gave the Hokies possession at their own 20 with 2:23 remaining, setting up the 11-play, 54-yard drive that ended with Keys' field goal.

The Hokies never looked back from there. They charged through the Bearcats, rushing onto the field at the final gun, climbing onto a stage for the postgame celebration, ready to grab the Orange Bowl trophy and whatever else their future might bring.