late comeback falls short in no. 15 virginia tech loss to west virginia

Carter Hill

Staff Writer

September 19, 2021

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — It had been over 6,000 days since the last time the Black Diamond trophy resided with West Virginia.

That all changed Saturday afternoon, as the West Virginia Mountaineers knocked off the then-No. 15 Virginia Tech Hokies for the first time since 2003, as it survived a late Tech surge to secure the Mountaineers’ biggest home win in the Neal Brown era.

Fans refer to Lane Stadium as “The Terror Dome.” It shakes the earth until it quakes, it rocks and rolls when the Hokies take the field, and most importantly, it creates a daunting task for any visitor to leave Blacksburg with a victory.

Virginia Tech got a taste of its own medicine at Milan Puskar Stadium, as the Hokies were punched in the mouth from the start, and found themselves in an early 14-0 hole just over five minutes into the game.

It all started with WVU’s Leddie Brown, one of the nation’s top running backs. Brown led the contest off with a statement, going 80 yards untouched into the endzone on just the Mountaineers’ second play from scrimmage to quickly put the home squad up 7-0.

Tech went three-and-out on the ensuing drive, and it wasn’t long after that West Virginia struck again. As quarterback Jarret Doege hit receiver Bryce Ford-Wheaton from 29 yards out to reach the two touchdown threshold. The Virginia Tech defense was officially shell shocked, five plays were all Brown’s team needed to find the end zone twice.

“We just started slow,” star cornerback Jermaine Waller said. “Just anxious I guess, we weren’t settled in.”

“I wasn’t fazed,” junior linebacker Dax Hollifield said about the early 14-0 deficit. “I’ve seen two touchdowns in a minute in college football, you just gotta keep fighting. You gotta take it a play at a time.”

For the Hokies, the defense buckled down a tad bit more for the remainder of the first half, but other than a beauty of a touchdown catch by Tayvion Robisnon, the offense sputtered as well.

Tech had a chance to tie the game, driving in the early stages of the second quarter, but couldn’t do so after quarterback Braxton Burmeister was stuffed on a fourth-and-one at the WVU 25-yard line.

The Mountaineers eventually would take advantage. Receiver Sam James hauled in a pass from Doege before slip-and-sliding his way across the goal line to welcome back the two-score lead.

Followed by a Virginia Tech three-and-out, West Virginia was able to again feast off of a lackluster Hokie offense, as kicker Casey Legg used his powerful right leg to drill a 44-yard field goal to put the Mountaineers up 24-7.

It looked like that’s how the half would end, but Raheem Blackshear had other plans. Replacing typical kick returner Keshawn King, who was sidelined due to a non-COVID illness, the Rutgers transfer returned the ensuing kickoff all the way to the opposing 22-yard line, putting the Hokies in business.

Virginia Tech was poised to get points on the board and position themselves in a better spot at halftime.

But after a missed throw by Burmeister to a wide open Robinson on first-and-goal from the 10-yard line. In which the Virginia Beach native said it “absolutely” was a catch despite review saying otherwise, and a crucial false start penalty on third-and-goal from the two, the Hokies had to settle for a field goal.

Unfortunately for them, John Parker Romo’s 24-yard attempt sailed to the right. And a disastrous first half for Virginia Tech turned even worse as the Mountaineers led 24-7 at the intermission and would get the football to start the second half.

“We had a chance to be either down 10 points if you score a touchdown,” head coach Justin Fuente said. “Which I thought would've been a miracle, to be honest with you, with only being down that much.”

“Then, having to settle for a field goal and still, if you punch that through, you don't let it get away as much...I’m disappointed in my ability to have (our players) play better in the first half.”

Fuente called the missed field goal before the half a “disappointment,” but unlike some other past Tech performances, the Hokies clawed their way back into it.

An opening drive field goal by West Virginia put the Mountaineers up 27-7, but there wasn’t really another threat for the rest of the afternoon for the Doege-led offense to put any points up on the board.

The third quarter passed by relatively dormant before a Raheem Blackshear 20-yard scamper got Tech within 13 with just a single tick remaining in the period of play, and before you knew it the Hokies all of a sudden had a chance in the later portion of the fourth quarter.

After a forced fumble by Justin Hamilton’s defense and another missed opportunity in the red zone following a jet sweet play call on the short side of the field, it looked like the contest could be coming to a close with Tech trailing 27-14 with around six minutes to play.

But not so fast. A quick stop and a third-and-18 checkdown touchdown to Jalen Holston from 29 yards out gave the Hokies a heartbeat with just over three minutes left to play, trailing just 27-21. That’s when the magic of college football sprinkled a handful of pixie dust down on Morgantown.

Virginia Tech forced a third-and-10 on Doege and the Mountaineers with just over two minutes to play, and when the West Virginia quarterback tried to catch the Hokies off guard with a screen, Waller was all over it. The Washington, D.C. native secured his third takeaway of the season in as many games, and all of a sudden, it looked as if Tech was going to pull off another “Miracle in Morgantown.”

That’s when the 60,000 screaming fans inside Milan Puskar Stadium once again became a factor. The “Gold Rush” crowd, waving around its synthetic West Virginia rally towels, descended an elephant amount of noise on Burmeister and the Hokies’ offensive line.

Virginia Tech moved all the way down to the three-yard line before it seemed inevitable that it would punch it in. But after two straight stiffs on Holston and the run game, Tech offensive coordinator Brad Cornelsen tried out the passing attack, much to Hokie fans chagrin.

Fuente said that the Hokies’ play call “didn’t have to be a throw” on third down. But they threw it anyway.

Two straight attempts to Tre Turner that resulted in incompletions ended Tech’s comeback hopes, as the WVU defense got to Burmeister quickly and forced him to make two off-balanced desperation throws in the waning seconds of the game.

“Our guys came back in the second half and just kept fighting and scratching and clawing...it speaks a lot to our kids,” Fuente added. “We had a chance to win the game there.”

Albeit the near incredible comeback with an improved defensive effort; missed opportunities, red zone failures, and questionable play calling is what plagued the Hokies. And they’ll have to live with the sting of the Black Diamond Trophy case unoccupied for at least the next year in Blacksburg.

Hollifield said the team has to “stay together” after the 27-21 defeat.

“I’ve seen losses like this tear teams apart, we can’t let that happen,” the North Carolina native added. “We don’t need to really look at the outside, our team doesn’t need to be listening to any critics right now. I’m not doubting who we are, I’m not doubting how good we are, where we can be.”

As far as the rivalry itself, Fuente seemed to not be against a date with the Mountaineers being a regular occurrence.

“That was an incredible event today,” he said. “There were a lot of things that happened today that were right with college football.

“It was gut wrenching to lose the game and lose to a rival in a hell of an event.”