Hokies Clinch Bowl Eligibility By Doing What They Do Best: Thrashing Virginia

Raza Umerani

Editor-in-Chief

November 30, 2024

BLACKSBURG — Some things never change.

A wild and wacky roller coaster of a 2024 season for Virginia Tech culminated in a finale that it’s well-accustomed to: a 37-17 beatdown of bitter in-state rival Virginia to retain the Commonwealth Cup and punch its ticket to a bowl game next month.

The Hokies (6-6, 4-4 ACC) dominated the Cavaliers (5-7, 3-5) from start to finish at brumal Lane Stadium, snapping a three-game losing streak to clinch bowl eligibility with a rivalry game win for the second consecutive year.

It marks Tech’s fourth straight win over UVa, and its 19th victory in the last 20 iterations of the matchup. 

“So happy for our football team,” Hokies head coach Brent Pry said after the game. “A resilient bunch that has battled each and every week and hasn’t come out on top of it as much as we would have liked. To get this win, to keep that Commonwealth Cup here in Blacksburg, to get bowl eligible back-to-back years, another sellout crowd, they didn’t let the weather bother them, it was awesome to see everybody out there.”

Lifted by a trio of standout performances from usual and unusual suspects alike, Tech scored four of its first seven possessions and never looked back, asserting itself on both sides of the ball with 456 yards of offense — including an impeccable balance of 254 through the air and 202 on the ground — while limiting UVa to 274 and forcing a pair of turnovers.

First, the unusual. Or, at least the unexpected. After being thrust into action last week at Duke, third-string quarterback Pop Watson III notched his first career start and didn’t shy away from the moment. The redshirt freshman completed 14 of his 21 passes for 254 yards and a touchdown: a beautiful 66-yard bomb to Jaylin Lane at the tail end of the first half. Watson added 48 yards and a score on the ground to boot, using his elusiveness to his advantage. In a vast improvement from last week against the Blue Devils — who amassed seven sacks against the Hokies —  he was sacked just once.

“I went out there this week and I was just like, ‘Play your style of ball,’” Watson said. “I think that’s what got me here, and I prayed on it, and I was like, I can do this. I’ve been comfortable. I’ve been in pressure situations and I feel like that’s where I thrive.”

After the game, Watson held up the same whiteboard featuring the same writing as he flashed a year ago in Charlottesville: "ball game." Only this time, he was the one being mobbed by Tech fans and students who serenaded him with chants of his name and “Q-B-1!”

“I mean, you can’t put stuff like that into words, the feeling,” Watson said. “You’re out there and there are a bunch of people surrounding you, it’s almost like a dream. A dream come true. Once again, stuff like this, I’ve dreamed about since I was a kid.”  

It certainly helped Watson that his backfield mate poured in another outing to remember. Bhayshul Tuten reached the century mark for the 10th time as a Hokie, going off for 124 yards and two touchdowns — the game’s opening score on Tech’s first drive, then a 58-yard fourth quarter dagger — on 18 carries.

On the other side of the ball, Antwaun Powell-Ryland served as the typical game-wrecker, racking up three sacks and a forced fumble. His season sack total moved up to 16 — good for third all-time in Hokies history — sitting just 0.5 off the national and ACC lead. With upper-teen sacks and TFLs in a historic campaign, APR is closing in on a likely all-ACC nod and potentially an ACC Defensive Player of the Year honor, though Boston College’s Donovan Ezeiruaku has the slight edge in the numbers.

“You’d have to show me the other couple of guys, putting up paper for paper,” Pry said. “You talk about his impact on games and doing it all year long against good folks. ... There’s not a better player at rushing the quarterback in our league.”

The first of his triad of sacks came on UVa’s first passing play: a failed flea flicker after the Hokies had driven down the field to take an early 7-0 lead with an 11-play, 90-yard drive capped off by a six-yard scoring scamper for Tuten. Tech forced a three-and-out on that possession, then drove right back on offense for a 44-yard John Love field goal to make it 10-0 before the Cavaliers had ran four plays or gained positive yardage.

Things slowed down for a bit after that as the Hokies failed to pick up a first down on their next two possessions while Virginia got on the board late in the second quarter with a field goal. But, a Tech blitz on both sides of the ball seemingly put the game away well before the clock hit triple zeroes.

On the first play after the first half’s two-minute timeout, Watson slung his 66-yard dime of a deep shot to Lane, who said the offense ran a perfect Cover 4 beater, with his seam route taking the top off the defense, leaving him wide open.

Seven plays later, Virginia quarterback Tony Muskett — who got the starting nod over Anthony Colandrea — was picked off by Jaylen Jones, who returned the ball to the plus-side of midfield to give Tech another scoring shot with less than a minute to play.

Sure enough, as time expired in the second quarter, Love split the uprights from 31 yards out to make it 20-3 going into the locker room.

On the first possession of the third quarter, UVa faced a fourth-and-one on its own 45-yard line and, while staring a massive deficit in the face, decided to go for it. The Hokies had other ideas, as Mose Phillips III and Jaden Keller stuffed Chris Tyree in the middle for the stop. From there, Tech ate chunks of 14, 12 and 14 yards through the air and on the ground to set up a 5-yard touchdown dash up the middle for Watson.

In a little over seven minutes of game time, the Hokies turned a seven-point game into a 24-point one. And from there, it was almost entirely window dressing.

Virginia clawed back with a pair of Muskett rushing touchdowns; the signal-caller served as the team’s leading rusher with 62 yards on 18 carries, but struggled with his arm, completing just 53% of his passes (19-of-36) while accumulating 178 yards and throwing two picks. 

But it was far too little, far too late. Besides, Tech kept doing its thing offensively, marching downfield for a field goal after the Watson touchdown, then getting Tuten’s 58-yard clincher two drives later. 

Thus, for the second year in a row, the Hokies are going bowling at 6-6. It likely won’t be a high-profile ACC bowl game with a .500 record and the ACC’s lack of representation in the upcoming College Football Playoff, but it’ll be a bowl game nonetheless. It’ll be another eight days or so before it’s revealed whether it’ll be the Fenway, Gasparilla, Pinstripe, Duke’s Mayo, Pop Tarts or something else. 

But there will be one more game in this sometimes turbulent, but undeniably crazy season for Tech. And there will be an opportunity to finish above .500 for the second year in a row after failing to do so in this decade before 2023. And there will be the chance to win one more game with the team and the core that had higher aspirations than this.

But sometimes, getting here is enough. As the great Nick Saban once said, “It’s about the journey, not the destination.” 

It’s been quite the journey for Virginia Tech in 2024. Only time will tell what the future holds in both the short and long term. The Hokies are losing plenty of key contributors and look to be gaining some as well — plus, the transfer portal is anyone’s guess these days. 

But what matters to this team is how the journey has shaped them, and how that journey has culminated in all they could’ve asked for: postseason football.

“There’s plenty of growth and development,” Pry said. “We have so many first- and second-year players that are making strides. That’s why I think this bowl prep is going to be really important for a bunch of them. We’re going to lose some old guys that have certainly made a lot of plays around here, but we’ve got a good group coming. We’re very competitive in practice against one another and I think it showed up each and every week. We’re a resilient bunch, a very coachable bunch. 

“They’ve stuck together, they didn’t point fingers. A lot of good signs, a lot of good things that, to me, are important to building a foundation and a team that can sustain some success and remain humble and hungry and keep growing and pushing the thing forward.”

It has been an unpredictable season across college football. It’s an unpredictable sport. It’ll have an unpredictable Playoff. And that will continue next year, and the year after that, and over and over again. High-stakes games will come down to the wire, blood will boil in rivalries, upsets will shatter hearts. Dreams will come true and dreams will be crushed. And that’s why we watch.

But you can probably bank on one thing: the Commonwealth Cup isn’t relocating anytime soon.