hokies take care of business at duke behind big game from herbert

Jackson Didlake

October 4, 2020

DURHAM – One year after being blown out 45-10 at home, the Hokies took care of business against the Blue Devils.

Virginia Tech outlasted Duke 38-31 at Wallace Wade Stadium on Saturday. The victory moves the Hokies to 2-0 on the season as the Blue Devils fall to 0-4.

The battle came down to the wire before Virginia Tech's Khalil Herbert broke away for a 60-yard score to ice the game. The game-breaking play was nothing new for Herbert, who showed out all day with 208 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries.

The story of the game was Herbert and the running game as a whole, totaling 324 yards on 50 carries.

Ahead of 2020, the Hokies had over 300 yards in an ACC game twice since joining the conference in 2004. They have accomplished the feat in each of their contests this season.

“It starts up front and the o-line does a really good job of opening up holes for us backs,” Herbert said. Raheem Blackshear finished with 47 yards and Braxton Burmeister added 54 yards and two scores on the ground.

Burmeister did struggle through the air for the majority of the contest, passing for 163 yards, a touchdown and an interception while going 9 for 24. He retained the starting role despite Hendon Hooker being active after missing the Hokies’ opener. Tayvion Robinson was the Hokies’ leading receiver with 85 yards.

After having 23 players out last week, Virginia Tech was without 21 against the Blue Devils, including four cornerbacks on the depth chart and safety Divine Deablo. It was also without two full-time coaches in defensive coordinator Justin Hamilton and defensive backs coach Ryan Smith, who called defensive plays last week due to Hamilton’s absence. Fuente told the media after the game that the Hokies didn’t know how depleted the secondary group would be until late during the week and the starters didn’t get many reps.

“We were scrambling,” Fuente said.

With depleted secondary, young players had to step up on defense. Redshirt sophomore safety Tyler Matheny got the memo.

“What a great kid,” Fuente said. “All he [Matheny] does is work his tail off and do what you ask him to do.”

Matheny found out on Thursday that he would start and finished the contest with 7 total tackles, including two tackles for loss, and an interception.

“It was unreal," Matheny said. "It was kind of like a dream of mine to be in this position, and now it’s here."

With a lack of experience in the secondary, the front seven came up huge for the Hokies. Virginia Tech was able to get to Chase Brice seven times. Amare Barno accounted for two sacks and Emmanuel Belmar had three.

The Hokies gave up 271 yards through the air and 139 on the ground. One week after throwing four interceptions in a loss to Virginia, Brice went for 271 yards, a touchdown and interception on 22 for 49 passing against a depleted Virginia Tech secondary. He had two receivers with over 50 yards in Noah Gray, who had 51 and a touchdown, and Jarett Garner, who recorded 84 yards.

After the bout started with three consecutive three and outs, Duke struck first on a bizarre Virginia Tech special teams’ mishap. Tayvion Robinson muffed a punt after a scramble for the football, the ball landed in the end zone where Jaylen Stinson recovered the ball for a score.

“It was a mistake early, but I had the whole game to play so I didn’t let it bring me down,” Robinson said.

With little steam early on, the tide started to turn when Matheny picked off Chase Brice. The Hokies were able to move the ball downfield and Burmeister hit James Mitchell for a 12-yard score to tie the game.

Five punts later, the Hokies scored the only other points of the half when Brian Johnson connected on a 21-yard field goal to take a three-point lead.

To start the second half, the Hokies went three and out, leading to a Blue Devils’ drive that was capped off by a 10-yard Deon Jackson rushing touchdown to give Duke a 13-10 lead. On the ensuing kickoff, Hebert took the return 83 yards to the Duke 16. It was a true turning point to the game for Virginia Tech.

“I was just trying to get a team spark any way I can,” Herbert said.

The Hokies scored on a 2-yard Burmeister run to regain the lead, which the Oregon transfer followed with a 14-yard score late in the quarter to extend the lead to 10.

The fourth quarter began with three consecutive scoring drives. Noah Gray scored on a 17-yard catch for the Blue Devils before the Hokies answered on a 23-yard Herbert touchdown. Deon Jackson then found the end zone with 6:44 remaining in the contest to cut the Hokies’ lead to three.

Herbert had another great return after the score, but Burmeister fumbled to give the ball back to the Blue Devils. With Duke having a chance to take the lead, Virginia Tech forced a huge three-and-out to regain possession up three with 3:27 remaining.

“We fumble an exchange and the defense came out and didn’t bat an eye and got a big stop,” Fuente said.

Duke began to use their timeouts in an effort to stop the clock before Herbert helped ice the game after breaking away for a 60-yard touchdown to go up 38-28 with 2:20 left.

Duke slowly moved down the field before hitting a field goal as time expired to give the Hokies a 38-31 victory. Virginia Tech dominated in time of possession 34:04 to 25:56 and Duke struggled mightily with ill-timed penalties, ending the contest with eight penalties for 76 yards.

Next up: The Hokies look ahead to a Oct. 10 bout at noon against No. 12 North Carolina.