Friday, October 29, 2004
No. 22 Virginia Tech kept pace with Miami in the league standings.
ATLANTA (AP) -- If Virginia Tech goes on to win the Atlantic Coast Conference, remember the last 51/2 minutes at Georgia Tech.
For most of the game, the Hokies couldn't do anything right.
Then, in a stunning turnaround, they could do no wrong.
Bryan Randall threw two long touchdown passes and Roland Minor finished off the Yellow Jackets with a 64-yard interception return, rallying No. 22 Virginia Tech to a 34-20 victory Thursday night.
For the Hokies (6-2, 3-1 ACC), this was a crucial victory. They remained one game behind Miami in the loss column, with a season-ending game against the Hurricanes at the Orange Bowl.
"This is one of those wins that is great for your football program," coach Frank Beamer said. "I hope we build on it. The way we did it, the way we hung in there, we never gave up."
Randall passed for 304 yards, also hooking up with David Clowney on a 34-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
He threw an 80-yard scoring pass to Eddie Royal with 5:28 remaining, then completed a desperation pass for the tying two-point conversion.
"When we tied it, we knew we had the momentum," Randall said. "We didn't think our defense would give up any more points."
Quick change
But Georgia Tech's did. On the Hokies' next series, Randall ran for 32 yards, then connected with Josh Morgan for a 51-yard TD with 3:10 remaining.
Minor, a redshirt freshman, intercepted two passes by Reggie Ball in the final 21/2 minutes, returning the second for the touchdown that capped a 25-point fourth quarter by the Hokies.
Georgia Tech (4-3, 3-3) scored two touchdowns less than a minute apart in the second quarter for a 14-0 lead. But the Yellow Jackets couldn't hold it, their highly ranked defense falling apart in the final period.
After giving up a combined 265 yards in its two previous games, the Yellow Jackets were burned for 446 yards in this one.
"It hurts to let one get away like this, where we thought we were in pretty good shape going into the fourth quarter," coach Chan Gailey said.
"We gave up some big plays and just couldn't sustain anything offensively."
Randall completed 18 of 31 passes and also played a big role in the running game, accounting for 64 yards on nine carries.