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BLACKSBURG — Inches from the end zone, he stood with his hands on his hips and stared at the ground in disbelief.

And that was merely Virginia’s mascot.

One can only imagine how Virginia’s players must have felt as final seconds ticked off the clock, sending yet another senior class to an 0 for 4 career against Virginia Tech.

With their berth to the ACC championship on the line, the Hokies dispatched the Cavaliers for the fifth straight year, using a 28-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to rally to a 17-14 victory at Lane Stadium.

Virginia Tech (8-4, 5-3 ACC) advances to face Boston College on Saturday in Tampa at 1 p.m. Virginia completes its second season in three years with a 5-7 record — one win shy of bowl eligibility — and finishes with the program’s first four-game losing streak since 2001.

“They can never take that [win] away from me,” Virginia Tech senior cornerback Victor “Macho” Harris said. “All my friends over there can talk all the trash they want later on in my years, but I own them ... I own my friends as far as that rivalry thing. It feels good.

“In the last few years, we have been on top. We have been the top dog.”

Virginia had a prime chance to answer Virginia Tech’s field goal in the fourth quarter. But facing third-and-11 at the Virginia Tech 25 yard-line, quarterback Marc Verica tossed a crippling interception into the end zone with just 2:15 remaining.

“I should have just ran it or checked it down,” said Verica, who finished the season with 16 interceptions, the most by a Cavalier in 33 years. “It was obviously a costly mistake and not the way I wanted to end the season.”

The turnover came after starting quarterback Vic Hall, a surprise option who was used at quarterback in the “Hoo Cat” formation, weaved his way 39 yards to the Hokies’ 24-yard line.

Virginia inched closer with a two-yard run by tailback Cedric Peerman, but Hall was tackled for a three-yard loss on second down, helping the coaching staff elect to pass in an attempt to get closer for what would have been a 42-yard field goal for rookie Robert Randolph.

“It was right on the fringe of the area that we think we have a pretty good accuracy record; maybe a yard in,” Virginia coach Al Groh said. “Obviously, a little bit more would have been beneficial to us, give us a little bit better chance for success we thought.

“We have been kicking between the 15 and the 25 every day for months. We know what our range is. All of sudden we are a little bit behind our range. Can we make some from there? We can. But four months is a pretty good sample to know where the ball really needs to be to increase our odds.”

Verica, who was eyeing wideout Kevin Ogletree on the route, had his pass intercepted by rover Dorian Porch, who returned the ball to the Virginia Tech 40.

“He was kind of looking him down the whole time,” Porch said. “When he threw it I kind of cut in front of him and I was like, ‘Oh, yes.’ When he threw it up, it was like gold falling out of the sky.”

Porch said the Hokies’ defense knew what type of play was coming.
“The formation they had was a trips formation. We knew that was a vertical concept where they try to run a guy behind the linebacker,” he said. “When I looked up, I saw it and I broke on it and tried to take it to the house. It felt so good.”

Using all three timeouts with precision, Virginia forced Virginia Tech to punt on the ensuing drive and took over with 1:38 remaining at the UVa 13.

That drive stumbled too, as Verica threw two incomplete passes, a 1-yard strike to John Phillips and was sacked on fourth down by inside linebacker Purnell Sturdivant with just 52 seconds left.

“You have to play 60 minutes of football,” Peerman said, “and I think we know that better than anybody in the country because of all the close games that we have played over the last few years.”

Virginia, with the new wrinkle on offense, stormed out to a 14-7 lead at halftime as Hall scored on a pair of designed running plays.

The first score came on the Cavaliers opening drive as Hall followed a pulling block from left guard Austin Pasztor and raced to the right corner of the end zone, holding Porch off with a stiff arm to complete a 40-yard touchdown run.

After Virginia Tech answered with a 3-yard touchdown pass from Tyrod Taylor to wideout Jarrett Boykin, Virginia’s converted cornerback struck again.

The second score, which came with 3:24 left in the second half, was a 16-yard scamper from Hall that capped a six-play, 62-yard drive.

Hall, who practiced at quarterback prior to the Connecticut game in September, was summoned to help after Verica’s recent struggles.

Virginia Tech tied the game on its first possession of the second half after Taylor rushed for 73 yards on third-and-7 from the Hokies 18. It was the longest play of the season for an offense that struggled most of the season.

Two plays after Taylor’s run, Virginia Tech tight end Greg Boone rushed into the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown out of the Hokies’ “Wild Turkey” formation.

Virginia managed to run just seven more plays on offense in Virginia Tech territory over the final 27 minutes, the most critical of which came on Verica’s interception.

“Hopefully, a lot of players learn that’s the difference. It is an interception here, it’s a missed tackle there,” Groh said. “There’s not much difference between these two teams, as was evidenced today, but there is just enough difference. There were just a couple of plays that made it that different.

“Six or seven plays separated the two teams today, but when teams are that close, that’s as much separation as matters.”