Get comfy Hokies, Coastal driver's seat is all yours
The sight of Jerod Evans being helped off Heinz Field with an apparent ankle injury was a troubling one for No. 25 Virginia Tech.
Not only were the ACC Coastal-leading Hokies trailing Pitt, but Evans -- the conference's most efficient passer -- had been a big reason why they were atop the division to begin with.
But whatever fears were being harbored in Blacksburg and on the Hokies' sideline were alleviated as Evans hit Cam Phillips with an impressive throw on the run for a 35-yard gain. Evans threw for a career-high 406 yards and two touchdowns, helping Virginia Tech to 17 points on three straight possessions in edging the Panthers 39-36.
Sorry, Coastal Chaos.
It may be time to crawl back into your burrow, realize you won't be seeing your shadow and forget about those extra weeks of winter ... or whatever it is that agents of mayhem, turmoil and utter messes do.
At 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the ACC, the Hokies have Duke, Georgia Tech, and Virginia remaining (with a trip to out-of-conference Notre Dame sprinkled in). That's two league opponents who are under .500 in the 2-5 Cavaliers and 3-4 Blue Devils, while Georgia Tech is 4-3.
The Hokies will surely be favored in all those games, and while they're tied atop the division with North Carolina, Virginia Tech holds that tiebreaker thanks to a 34-3 rout on Oct. 8.
As much as the win over the Panthers was another showcase for Evans, it may have truly been a lesson in just how impressive his targets are.
Granted, it was against a Pitt defense that came in 122nd in FBS and dead last in the ACC against the pass. But the 6-foot-7 Bucky Hodges continues to be a matchup nightmare as he caught six passes for 145 yards and a score, Phillips had 109 yards and Isaiah Ford had 10 receptions, including a school-record 23rd receiving TD.
Virginia Tech has had a penchant for confusing performances, like its turnover-plagued loss to then-No. 17 Tennessee at Bristol Motor Speedway, and a confounding 31-17 defeat at Syracuse a month later. Those two games are responsible for seven of the team's 14 turnovers.
It's this version of the Hokies, though, the one that haven't turned the ball over in the last two games, that would make for an interesting matchup with the Atlantic's leader in No. 3 Clemson.
Any thoughts of that matchup, though, must wait. But given that they've made it through the toughest part of the schedule with three wins over the Coastal's hierarchy, the Hokies are unquestionably in the driver's seat.
Forgive Justin Fuente if he starts to get comfortable in it, even if there were a few motion-sickness inducing moments in Pittsburgh.
Follow Cory McCartney on Twitter @coryjmccartney and Facebook. His book, 'Tales from the Atlanta Braves Dugout: A Collection of the Greatest Braves Stories Ever Told,' is out now, and 'The Heisman Trophy: The Story of an American Icon and Its Winners' will be released Nov. 22, 2016.
