Final Score: East Carolina upsets number 17 Virginia Tech 28-21at home
By Mike Marteny
The last four times that the Virginia Tech Hokies have beaten a ranked team, they have lost the next game three out of those four times. Make it four out of five after the Hokies fell at home to the East Carolina Pirates by the score of 28-21 on Saturday afternoon. This was the first time the Pirates had won in Blacksburg since 1991.
East Carolina took the opening kickoff, and less than three minutes later, they were in the end zone.
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East Carolina senior quarterback Shane Carden threw three first quarter touchdown passes to give the Pirates a nice lead. Virginia Tech fans were wondering where the defense that recorded seven sacks and three interceptions at Ohio State last weekend was.
However, after falling behind 21-0, the Virginia Tech defense stepped up. East Carolina had three straight possessions in the red zone during the second quarter, and came away with nothing. They missed a fourth down conversion, fumbled, and missed a field goal.
The Hokie offense was unable to get anything going to help the defense out. The Pirates defense held 17th ranked Virginia Tech to just 35 yards in the first quarter and a half of play.
After the missed field goal, the Hokies finally were able to get the ball down the field. Isaiah Ford made a fantastic catch to put the Hokies on the board with 47 seconds left in the half.
Isaiah Ford caught another touchdown to bring Virginia Tech within a touchdown six and a half minutes remaining.
The Hokies furious fourth quarter comeback saw Cam Phillips catch a touchdown pass from Michael Brewer to tie the game at 21 with just 1:20 showing on the clock.
That is when Carden stepped up huge for the Pirates again. He ran in a touchdown from the one yard line with 16 seconds left to secure the win for East Carolina. Carden threw for 427 yards, 224 of them to Cam Worthy, and three touchdown passes. Virginia Tech had not allowed a 400 yard passer since 2002!
A pass from Michael Brewer with four seconds left sailed out of the end zone to end the game.
This puts East Carolina at the forefront of the discussion for a “New Years Six” slot as the highest ranked champion among the “group of five” non automatic qualifiers.