Hokies win ugly, but impressively, at ECU

GREENVILLE, N.C. — Virginia Tech got back to its winning ways Thursday night, style points be darned.

It wasn’t always pretty, but the 22nd-ranked Hokies did enough to wrestle away a 16-3 win from East Carolina in front of a revved up crowd of 43,569 at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

Tech tailback Ryan Williams, who was last seen slumped on the bench last Thursday after his game-turning fumble in North Carolina’s shocking win at Lane Stadium, energized the Hokies’ offense with a career-best 179 rushing yards on 26 carries.

His effort — his sixth 100-yard rushing game of the season — helped Tech avoid its first three-game losing streak in almost six years.

Williams, only the second player to rush for over 100 yards against East Carolina this year, eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark for the season in the second quarter.

He is now 156 yards from tying the Tech freshman record of 1,265 yards, a mark set by Darren Evans last year.

Senior kicker Matt Waldron kicked field goals of 41, 22 and 31 yards to provide most of Tech’s offense.

The Hokies’ defense also played a major role in the bounce-back victory. It came away with three takeaways, including two fumbles inside its own 30-yard line to spoil two productive East Carolina drives.

One of those takeaways occurred midway through the third quarter when East Carolina tailback Giavanni Ruffin coughed up a handoff and Hokies linebacker Lyndell Gibson recovered at Tech’s 20.

Tech linebacker Cody Grimm, who had a game-high 12 tackles and a sack, came up with a critical fumble recovery in the second quarter when he stripped the ball from tight end Rob Kass and scooped up the loose ball at the Hokies’ 25.

The victory, the 225th of coach Frank Beamer’s career, makes Tech (6-3) bowl eligible for the 17th straight season.

The Hokies are hoping this win is a springboard to a late surge to save a once-promising season that took a nose dive with back-to-back losses to Georgia Tech and UNC.

Tech, a 13-point favorite entering Thursday’s game, managed 13 first-half points despite continued problems finishing drives.

Quarterback Tyrod Taylor’s 13-yard touchdown scramble in the second quarter was Tech’s first first-half touchdown since Oct. 10 against Boston College. It gave the Hokies a 13-0 lead with 2:06 left before halftime.

East Carolina (5-4) answered with a 12-play, 73-yard drive that ended with Ben Hartman’s 24-yard field goal as time expired in the second quarter.

Both teams struggled to put points on the scoreboard for most of the game. Some of the offensive deficiencies were self-inflicted, and some were the result of the opposing defense.

Tech managed two Waldron field goals in the first quarter, which was more than it could boast in either of its previous two games. Its offense still left much to be desired.

The Hokies, who had failed to score a touchdown in their previous two games, came close to breaking the drought early in the second quarter, but a Taylor fumble at the goal line wiped out that opportunity.

The junior quarterback broke free for a 16-yard run and he lunged forward with the ball in his right hand, but it popped loose right in front of the goal line and rolled through the back of the end zone for a touchback.

East Carolina missed on some scoring opportunities of its own. It had a second-quarter touchdown wiped out by a holding call. Pirates running back Dominique Lindsay chugged 20 yards for a touchdown, but the score was negated by a hold called against left guard Terence Campbell.

On the very next play, Grimm stripped Kass and recovered the ball for the Hokies.

Tech moved down the field quickly, first on a tackle-busting 46-yard run by Williams and then on a 12-yard pass from Taylor to wide receiver Danny Coale.

Taylor scrambled for the end zone on the next play, but the ball popped loose before he could get in.

Tech senior punter Brent Bowden, who had a punt blocked and returned for a touchdown in the closing minutes of Tech’s 27-22 loss to ECU in the 2008 season opener, played masterfully in the rematch.

He averaged 44.9 yards on seven punts with a career-long 60-yard kick in the second quarter. Three of his punts went for touchbacks and three were downed inside the 20.

Hokies cornerback Rashad Carmichael caught a deflected pass off of an ECU receiver at the Pirates’ 13 with 2:19 remaining. Carmichael’s fifth interception of the season led to Tech’s only second-half points, a Waldon 31-yard field goal with 1:13 left.