NEW ORLEANS, La.—
It's a tough morning for the Hokie nation.Virginia Tech made a valiant comeback last night in New Orleans only to come up short in overtime against Michigan in the Sugar Bowl.
The 78th Sugar Bowl marked the Hokies 19th straight postseason appearance and a chance for Frank Beamer's team to post its first ever 12 win season. It was a first half that featured more than a few wacky plays and changes in momentum. The Hokies dominated the stat sheet but had just two Justin Myer field goals to show for it, and trailed 10-6 at the break.
"They weren't stopping us. We were stopping ourselves," Virginia Tech quarterback Logan Thomas said.
The Wolverines took at 17-6 lead in the third quarter on Junior Hemingway's second TD catch of the night from Denard Robinson. But the Tech 'D' gave Robinson fits all night, holding the fleet footed one to 13 yards rushing.
"I knew coming into the game that keeping him in check was gonna be key because he is a dynamic athlete. I felt that we did a great job on defense," said Virginia Tech defensive end James Gayle.
“We prepared for that all week. We knew that he was a dynamic player and the running back was as well. We were just gonna have to keep him contained in that box and i felt like our defense played very well,” said Virginia Tech linebacker Tariq Edwards.
That defense held Michigan to 34 second half yards and gave the Hokies a chance. Logan Thomas snuck in from a yard out early in the 4th quarter and then found a leaping Marcus Davis on the two pointer, tying the game at 17.
But a botched rugby punt led to a Michigan field goal before Myer answered with his 4th field goal of the night to force overtime.
Thomas then found Danny Coale on third down and Coale appeared to make a spectacular scoring grab only to have the officials overturn it on replay.
“I thought I did. It was a touchdown on the field and I thought it would be hard to overturn. But obviously they saw something so that's kind of how it goes sometimes,” Coale said.
Coale finished his Hokie career with 117 yards receiving.
The play is designed to throw it out to the corner so I hit the corner and he got a hand on it and made a great play,” Thomas said. “From the two angles we saw, we thought it was a touchdown. We couldn't see any other way. It's tough to know that we were that close.”
Hokie running back David Wilson was limited to 82 yards on the ground.
“I was standing right in front of him, less than three feet away, when he caught it and I turned around to the ref and he said touchdown, and then they decided to review it and say it's not a touchdown and then we put our kicker in a tough spot,” Wilson said.
Myer then missed from 36 yards out, his first misfire of the game and the Wolverines booted the game winner. Despite outgaining the Wolverines 377 to 184, the Hokies lost a heartbreaker 23 to 20.
Field position too many times we gave a good football team. That's tough to overcome but our guys tried their best to do it and hung in there great,” Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said. “A couple of close calls were probably the difference in the ballgame.”
The Hokies lose for just the third time this season and for the third consecutive time in the Sugar Bowl. But this one will take a little longer to get over and hurts just a little bit more.
