'T-Mobile' Taylor Answers Call for Hokies

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Despite its season-opening defeat to Alabama two weeks ago, 13th-ranked Virginia Tech was convinced it could still be a national title contender this season. The Hokies needed a victory Saturday against Nebraska and next week against Miami to help make that happen.

The Hokies made a little magic happen -- with 21 seconds to spare -- against the Cornhuskers to keep that dream alive.

With the 19th-ranked Cornhuskers on the verge of registering their biggest road victory in more than a decade, a scrambling Tyrod Taylor dodged several defenders and then rifled an 11-yard touchdown pass to flanker Dyrell Roberts with 21 ticks remaining to rally Virginia Tech past Nebraska, 16-15.

A sellout crowd of 66,233 at Lane Stadium erupted in celebration as the Hokies (2-1) somehow survived after being held in check for the most part since their opening possession of the game. They had the electric Taylor to thank. Known more for his running than his passing, Taylor completed two big, late throws that drew comparisons to the theatrics of former Tech star Michael Vick.

Taylor first hit receiver Danny Coale, who got behind Nebraska cornerback Matt O'Hanlon as Taylor scrambled in the pocket, for 80 yards down the right sideline to the Cornhuskers 3 with 1:11 remaining. After a sack and an incompletion, Taylor, nicknamed "T-Mobile," avoided pressure for nearly seven seconds before connecting with Roberts in the end zone. Roberts had dropped a fourth-down pass on the Hokies' previous possession.

"I just go out there and play the game," said Taylor, who completed 12 of 27 passes for 192 yards.

"Coach always says not to force stuff, and I think me, not forcing things, allows me to buy time with my feet and find my open guy. We had the [TD] play set up to go to the left side and didn't open up like we wanted it to. So I kind of back up and Dyrell felt what I was going to do and he worked to get open. And I got a chance to get him the ball."

The victory was the 32nd in a row for Virginia Tech at home against non-conference opponents. It also gives the Hokies needed momentum heading into their ACC opener against the surging Hurricanes.

"There's always a chance if you've got a Tyrod," Tech head coach Frank Beamer said and exhaled.

"The bottom line is we don't win this ballgame if we don't have a quarterback as athletic as Tyrod is and can throw the football down the field the way he throws. People thought I was blowing smoke when I said I think they (Cornhuskers) are back. I really think they are back. They execute, they are tough, they are well-coached, it's a tough way for those guys to lose but I do believe they are on course."

Nebraska was, quite simply, devastated.

The Cornhuskers have dropped 21 of their last 22 games against teams in the top 20. All of Nebraska's scoring was on the leg of kicker Alex Henery, who had a career-high five field goals. Leading 12-10 late in the third quarter, the Cornhuskers had an opportunity to pad their margin with first-and-goal at the 6. However, two holding calls -- the first erased a TD pass -- two false starts and an incomplete pass forced Nebraska to punt.

"It was a hard-fought football game," Nebraska coach Bo Pelini said.

"In the end, we had plenty of opportunities to put the football game away and we didn't do it. And they made the play at the end. I take my hat off to them. End of story. You all watched the game."

The showdown was the the nation's only major college football game involving a pair of ranked teams. It showed, too, as parking lots surrounding Lane Stadium were jammed with fans more than three hours prior the 3:30 ET kickoff that was televised regionally by ABC.

Tickets were also a premium, going for an average of $300 earlier this week at StubHub, the popular online site in which individuals can name their own selling price. Nebraska received an allotment of 4,300 tickets for the game. However, it appeared many more Cornhuskers invaded the southwest Virginia mountains for their team's first visit here and first road game of the season.

The weather also cooperated. Skies were overcast and the temperature was a comfortable 76 degrees for kickoff.

After the Hokies applied the heat on the opening kickoff to help capture an early 7-0 advantage, the game turned into a defensive tug-of-war over field position. It was a marked difference from last year's game in Lincoln, Neb., where the teams combined for 65 points and 610 yards of total offense in Tech's 35-30 victory.

Tech running back Ryan Williams had 107 rushing yards and a one-yard touchdown run in the first quarter set up by Roberts' 76-yard kickoff return to open the game. Nebraska running back Roy Helu had a game-high 169 yards on 28 carries, while quarterback Zac Lee completed 11 of 30 passes for 136 yards and two interceptions.
It was Roberts' difficult catch in the end zone that saved the Hokies' bacon, however. Virginia Tech was limited to one yard in the third quarter as Nebraska gained control.

"After not catching that fourth-down pass, I kind of got down on myself but my teammates picked me back up," Roberts said.

"I was just going to try my best to make a play. It was just a five-yard snag, going inside and sitting. When Tyrod starts scrambling, it turns into a scramble drill and everybody has got to go. I tried to get in an open place where he could see me. It was tough but I knew, after dropping that fourth-down play, I knew I need to make that catch and redeem myself."

Nebraska led 12-10 at the half on the strength of field goals of 40, 27, 19 and 38 yards from Henery. The Cornhuskers didn't register their initial first down until the 14:29 mark in the second quarter.

Matt Waldron connected on a 39-yard field goal late in the second quarter to push the Hokies' advantage to 10-9. Nebraska nearly had an answer, but they couldn't contain Taylor when it counted.

"We did some good things; a lot that we need to get fixed, too," Pelini said. "In the end, we didn't make the play. I don't measure on yards or how we play; you've got to win the football game. We didn't win the football game so we didn't play good enough in any phase of the game. I measure it on results. That's how we measure things around here."

Tech, meanwhile, plans to enjoy the victory and then turn its attention to UM.

"When you have great players on the field and they work as hard and care about each other as much as this crowd does, that's what makes this thing possible," Beamer said.

"You have to have some great players, you have to have some skill to get that done. You have to have a quarterback that can keep things alive. It was one of those you don't give up, don't give in. We've had our exhibition season -- we've had three non-conference games -- now it's serious time. There are some execution things we need to do better. A little bit of this, a little bit of that."

And a little bit of Tyrod, too.