Many college coaches are reluctant to put freshmen in prominent roles, and a pair of University of Miami turnovers in the first quarter Saturday night illustrated why, helping Virginia Tech grab the early momentum and open up a 28-14 halftime lead at Sun Life Stadium.
Freshman Stacy Coley electrified the crowd on Miami’s second offensive play with an 81-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown to give Miami an early 7-0 lead. But fumbles by Coley and freshman Artie Hicks resulted in long scoring drives that gave Virginia Tech a 14-7 lead by the end of the period.
Coley, a product of Northeast High in Oakland Park, showed his breakaway speed when he took a quick throw from Stephen Morris near the line of scrimmage, made one move and outran the Virginia Tech defense to the end zone. The play was UM’s longest of the season, eclipsing an 80-yard pass from Morris to Allen Hurns against Savannah State.
After Miami forced a punt on the Hokies’ next possession, Coley raced upfield and was about to break free when he was hit by punter A.J. Hughes and fumbled. Tariq Edwards recovered at the Hokies’ 46 and they proceeded to drive 54 yards to a 10-yard scoring run by tailback Trey Edmunds.
Burns appeared about to break the subsequent kickoff, but was overtaken by Derek Dinardo and fumbled. Dinardo recovered at the Virginia Tech 49 and quarterback Logan Thomas guided a five-play, 51-yard drive that was capped by a 2-yard TD run by Edmunds that put the Hokies up 14-7. Joshua Stanford fumbled on the next-to-last play of the drive, but teammate D.J. Coles recovered.
Uniforms unveiled: The Hurricanes unveiled a new uniform named "The Smoke" in the Homecoming game. The jersey itself feature an anthracite (gray) top with the word "Hurricanes" above the numbers on the back instead of player names. It has "Deserve Victory" written in the back neck yoke. The name of the uniform refers to UM players running through smoke before home games.
The helmet is a Hydrographics design with gray smoke accents rising from the back base, representing the UM tradition of “running through the smoke” prior to home games. UM became the first team to wear the helmet design, which was created by Hydrographics in Oregon.
Thomas Hokies' best passer: Thomas broke the school record for passing touchdowns when he connected with Joshua Stanford for a 32-yard TD pass in the second quarter, giving him 25 for his career, while adding to a number of school records he had already broken.
Thomas completed 15-of-19 passes in the opening half for 183 yards and a touchdown.
The 6-foot-6, 254-pound senior from Lynchburg, Va., came into the game with Virginia Tech career records for total offense (9,463), passing yards (8,152), completions (633), TD passes (48) and rushing yards (1,266).
Hokies struggle at Sun Life: While Virginia Tech has put up some impressive numbers since joining the ACC in 2004, the Hokies had had little success at Sun Life Stadium prior to Saturday night. In 10 seasons the Hokies had gone 60-17 against ACC opponents, 41-8 against the Coastal Division and 29-9 on the road, but were only 2-5 at Sun Life.
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