Virginia Tech Holds Off Maryland 35-26 After a Late Rally
Maryland threw for 359 yards, caught 12 passes with one receiver and scored 26 points. It still lost by nine, because Virginia Tech scored first and never gave up the lead.
The Hokies went in front 7-0 when Ethan Grunkemeyer found Luke Reynolds from 14 yards out in the first quarter, and nobody tied them or passed them from there. It was 13-0 on a Grunkemeyer 18-yard run (the extra point was blocked), 13-7 after Iverson Howard's 2-yard run, and then Jeffrey Overton Jr. caught a 49-yard touchdown to make it 20-7. Maryland cut it to 20-14 with 2:11 left in the half. Virginia Tech needed 1:55 to answer, a 2-yard pass to Ja'Ricous Hairston with 16 seconds on the clock, and took a 27-14 lead into the break.
Overton added a 2-yard run in the third and Grunkemeyer threw the two-point conversion to Que'Sean Brown for 35-14. That was the game. Maryland scored twice in the fourth, a 2-yard pass to Dorian Fleming and a 13-yarder to Chris Durr Jr. with 5:34 left, and missed both two-point tries. Those two drives were 12 unanswered points, and they were not enough.
The yardage was nearly even (451 for Virginia Tech, 423 for Maryland) and neither team turned it over. What separated them was the ground game, 137 yards against 64, and the 35-14 hole Maryland dug before it got going. Virginia Tech is 3-0, Maryland is 2-1.
The fantasy story is a three-way shootout. Grunkemeyer led everyone at 37.9, and Durr and Malik Washington both reached 34 in a loss.