Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer thought he finally had brought
a team to the Discover Orange Bowl that could beat a top-five team.
But No. 4 Stanford proved Beamer wrong, as the Cardinal overpowered
the Hokies 40-12 Monday at Sun Life Stadium, snapping the No. 13
Hokies’ 11-game win streak and making Virginia Tech 1-19 against
top-five teams under Beamer.
MIAMI
Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer thought he finally had brought a team to the Discover Orange Bowl that could beat a top-five team. But No. 4 Stanford proved Beamer wrong, as the Cardinal overpowered the Hokies 40-12 Monday at Sun Life Stadium, snapping the No. 13 Hokies’ 11-game win streak and making Virginia Tech 1-19 against top-five teams under Beamer.
“All the credit goes to these players,” said Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh, who refused to answer questions about his future plans.
Harbaugh is expected to be in the running for several NFL coaching jobs and has been rumored as a candidate to take over at Michigan.
Stanford (12-1) capped one of the best season’s in the school’s history by winning its eighth consecutive game before a crowd of 64,453. Stanford ended the 1940 season ranked No. 2. Stanford, which had a 13-12 halftime lead, broke away from the Hokies in the second half, scoring on its first four possessions, as redshirt sophomore quarterback Andrew Luck showed why he could be the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft if he decides to leave school early.
After being upstaged by Hokies quarterback Tyrod Taylor in the first half, Luck, who had 86 passing yards and one touchdown in the first half, had 201 yards and three touchdowns in the second, completing 9-of-10 of his passes.
Luck finished the game 18-of-23 for 287 yards and four touchdowns with one interception.
“We went into halftime and said to go back to the basics. We settled down and started to play football again,” Luck said about what happened at halftime.
Luck said he would sit down with his family before making a decision on whether to return to Stanford or elect to enter the draft.
Stanford ended the game with 534 yards of offense, 336 of those in the second half.
Luck’s favorite target Monday was Coby Fleener, who had six catches for 173 yards and three touchdowns.
The Cardinal scored on drives of 59, 97, 87 and 72 yards in the second half, while the Cardinal’s defense was smothering the Hokies.
Virginia Tech ended the game with 288 yards.
Taylor had the better stats in the first half but then wilted under the pressure Stanford applied in the second half, and he was sacked eight times.
Virginia Tech sophomore defensive back Jayron Hosley, who is from Delray Beach, had one of the few defensive highlights for the Hokies, as he stepped in front of a Luck pass for his nation-leading ninth interception of the season. It also tied a school record for interceptions.
The game started slow, but got interesting in the final seven minutes of the first quarter.
First Stanford running back Jeremy Stewart roared through a gaping hole in Virginia Tech’s defensive line and found nothing but open space for 60-yard touchdown run with 6:16 left in the quarter.
That gave the Cardinal a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
But the Hokies got on the board when Luck was about to be sacked in the end zone and attempted a pass that was batted back and caught by a Stanford lineman Derek Hall, who was tackled for a safety.
That made it 7-2 Stanford with 59 seconds left in the first quarter.
Stanford’s defense dominated, as Virginia Tech managed just two first downs and 60 yards in the quarter.
Stewart had just 13 carries and 38 yards this season before his touchdown run, which was a career-long and the longest bowl run in Stanford history.
The run capped a four-play, 86-yard drive that took 1:52.
— Story by Ted Hutton, Sun Sentinel
