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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -- The Carrier Dome jinx is over for Virginia
Tech. Barely.
Lee Suggs scored twice on short runs in the third quarter and
Michael Vick raced 55 yards for another score with under two
minutes remaining Saturday night as the second-ranked Hokies (7-0,
5-0 Big East) held off Syracuse 22-14 to remain in the hunt for the
national championship.
|  | | Dee Brown got Syracuse on the board in the first quarter, but the Hokies would get the win. |
Even with Vick rendered simply ordinary by the fired-up Syracuse
defense -- he finished the game 6-for-11 for 75 yards passing and
gained just 9 net yards rushing on 16 carries -- Tech found a way to
win after losing five straight in what had become a house of
horrors.
And they did it with defense, intercepting four passes and
making the Orangemen (3-4, 1-2 Big East) pay for their mistakes.
Syracuse gained a 14-0 lead in the first quarter and never scored
again. Tech has 18 interceptions on the season.
"I'm not particularly interested in style points," Tech coach
Frank Beamer said. "I'm just glad to get out of here and get that
streak over."
The game turned in the third quarter with the Hokies trailing
14-3. After a punt pinned the Orangemen inside the 5, quarterback
Troy Nunes slipped on a third-down snap and fell backward across
the goal line. Instead of taking the safety, though, he threw the
ball down the middle of the field and Willie Pile easily
intercepted it at the 15 and returned it to the 5. It was the first
of three interceptions by the Tech safety.
"It's a bang-bang play," said Nunes, who threw four
interceptions last week in a 20-13 loss at Boston College. "I'm
falling down and just trying to get rid of the ball. Obviously, two
points is better than six at that point."
Suggs scored his 13th rushing touchdown of the season two plays
later and the Hokies trailed 14-9 with 6:24 remaining when Vick's
two-point conversion pass was dropped by Emmett Johnson.
Maurice Jackson then went from hero to goat when Syracuse got
the ball back. After catching a 19-yard pass from Nunes, he fumbled
while struggling for extra yards and Tech's Jake Houseright
recovered and returned it 11 yards to the Syracuse 21.
Suggs gave the Hokies the lead for good on a 1-yard run with
2:49 left in the period, but Syracuse trailed 15-14 when Vick's
conversion pass fell incomplete.
Syracuse drove to the Tech 35 with just over three minutes left
in the game, but Nunes' fourth-down pass fell incomplete and Vick
then scampered around the left side for one of his signature
touchdowns.
"We ended up making enough plays to win the game," Beamer
said. "Michael's touchdown run on the bootleg at the end was big --
real big."
So, too, was the disappointment of the Orangemen. A year after
suffering a humiliating 62-0 loss at Virginia Tech, the worst
shutout defeat by a ranked team in the 64-year history of the AP
poll, they were determined to return the favor. That they lost
after sacking Vick eight times was difficult to accept.
"This probably hurts a little bit more (than the 62-0 loss last
year), knowing that we had it right in our grasp," said defensive
end Dwight Freeney, who had 4.5 sacks and was all over Vick all
night. "There were a lot of opportunities blown."
Still, the Orangemen nearly pulled off the upset, thanks to the
speedy Jackson.
On Syracuse's first possession of the game, he caught a 54-yard
pass from Nunes on a third-and-15 play to set up Dee Brown's 9-yard
touchdown run.
The Orangemen had overcome four penalties and driven 93 yards to
forge a 7-0 lead. Everything was going their way when Jackson, who
runs a 4.18-second 40, beat Ronyell Whitaker for a 78-yard
touchdown catch on a third-and-18 play for a 14-0 lead with 2:21
left in the period.
"The opportunity was there tonight," said Duke Pettijohn,
Freeney's partner on the defensive line. "We played with
confidence and we took advantage of that tonight. We wanted to take
Michael Vick out of the game. We made a statement tonight that we
can play with anybody."
The Hokies, who entered the game ranked seventh in total offense
at 458 yards a game, managed just 78 in the first half. They
finished with 240 to Syracuse's 328.
Carter Warley finally broke the ice for Tech with a career-best
47-yard field goal midway through the second quarter.
The Hokies, who had only trailed once before this season, 14-7
at halftime 10 days earlier against West Virginia, suddenly found
themselves down 14-0. The 14 points were more than they had allowed
in the first quarter in the previous six games combined.
But as they proved in their last game, the Hokies love the
second half. They ran up 355 of their 504 total yards in the final
two quarters to erase the halftime deficit against the
Mountaineers, winning 48-20.
Suggs had 21 carries for 91 yards. Andre Davis, who scored three
times in just over six minutes in the third quarter against West
Virginia, caught two passes for 21 yards before aggravating an
Achilles heel injury in the second half.
Nunes was 13-for-25 for 217 yards. Brown led Syracuse with 71
yards rushing on 19 carries, while James Mungro had his streak of
four 100-yard games stopped. Mungro, who was averaging over eight
yards a carry, lost three yards on five carries.
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ALSO SEE
College Football Scoreboard
Virginia Tech Clubhouse
Syracuse Clubhouse
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Virginia Tech quarterback Michael Vick's 55-yard touchdown dashes Syracuse's hopes for an upset.
avi: 1060 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Another 'Cuse turnover leads to a Jake Houseright recovery, setting the Hokies up for the go-ahead TD.
avi: 1660 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Momentum shifts as a falling Troy Nunes blindly throws an interception to Hokie Willie Pile.
avi: 1310 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Syracuse's Maurice Jackson races down the sideline for a 78-yard TD reception.
avi: 1490 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Dwight Freeney and Duke Pettijohn flatten Michael Vick for one of eight sacks in the game.
avi: 1130 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Maurice Jackson's 54 yard juggling act sets up Syracuse's first touchdown of the game.
avi: 1200 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
 After escaping an upset in Syracuse, QB Michael Vick talks with ESPN's Adrian Karsten.
wav: 179 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Frank Beamer tells ESPN's Adrian Karsten the Hokies are lucky to get out of the Carrier Dome with a victory.
wav: 322 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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