Running game paces Virginia Tech

VIDEO PLAYLIST

• Hokies' Defense Shuts Down Marshall

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Top 25 Overview

It was over when... The Hokies scored 17 points in the span of three minutes and 29 seconds in the third quarter. That turned a close 14-7 halftime lead into a blowout. Gameball goes to... Branden Ore. Ore rushed for 146 yards and a touchdown after taking over for starting tailback Cedric Humes, who broke a bone in his right arm in the first half. Stat of the game... 150: The number of total yards Marshall had through three quarters against the Hokies' D. Complete Top 25 Overview

Team Stat Comparison
1st Downs	20	25
Total Yards	281	409
Passing	117	176
Rushing	164	233
Penalties	7-36	2-10
3rd Down Conversions	9-18	2-7
4th Down Conversions	1-1	0-0
Turnovers	2	1
Possession	33:54	26:06

Individual Leaders

Marshall Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Morris 14/28 117 1 1	Virginia Tech Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Vick 11/16 163 1 1 Holt 1/2 13 0 0
Marshall Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Bradshaw 22 99 1 22 Small 14 57 0 12 Morris 7 8 0 18	Virginia Tech Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Ore 19 146 1 45 Humes 10 58 1 13 Bell 5 25 1 9
Marshall Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Fitzgerald 6 67 0 24 Small 3 28 1 17 Bradshaw 2 5 0 4 Morris 1 6 0 6	Virginia Tech Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Morgan 4 63 0 25 Royal 3 34 0 13 Clowney 2 56 1 48 Ore 1 13 0 13

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER				MRSH	VT
	TD	4:24	CEDRIC HUMES 11 YD RUN (BRANDON PACE KICK) Drive info: 6 plays, 64 yards.	0	7
SECOND QUARTER				MRSH	VT
	TD	13:36	AHMAD BRADSHAW 13 YD RUN (IAN O'CONNOR KICK) Drive info: 12 plays, 80 yards.	7	7
	TD	5:09	BRANDEN ORE 14 YD RUN (BRANDON PACE KICK) Drive info: 11 plays, 80 yards.	7	14
THIRD QUARTER				MRSH	VT
	FG	11:51	BRANDON PACE 19 YD FG Drive info: 8 plays, 78 yards.	7	17
	TD	11:01	VINCE HALL 15 YD DEFENSIVE FUMBLE RETURN (BRANDON PACE KICK)	7	24
	TD	8:22	DAVID CLOWNEY 48 YD PASS FROM MARCUS VICK (BRANDON PACE KICK) Drive info: 3 plays, 78 yards.	7	31
	FG	1:23	BRANDON PACE 23 YD FG Drive info: 12 plays, 55 yards.	7	34
FOURTH QUARTER				MRSH	VT
	TD	13:07	GEORGE BELL 2 YD RUN (BRANDON PACE KICK) Drive info: 6 plays, 35 yards.	7	41
	TD	0:19	LENFORD (CHUBB) SMALL 17 YD PASS FROM BERNARD MORRIS (IAN O'CONNOR KICK) Drive info: 11 plays, 84 yards.	14	41

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) -- Three minutes, 29 seconds.

That's how long it took Virginia Tech to score 17 third-quarter points Saturday, including another defensive score, en route to a 41-14 victory against Marshall.

Starting with a field goal with 11:51 remaining, the burst also included Vince Hall's 15-yard fumble return for a touchdown and a 48-yard pass from Marcus Vick to David Clowney, giving the No. 3 Hokies (6-0) a 31-7 lead with 8:22 left in the quarter.

"It was real quick," Clowney said of the game-changing outburst.

The Hokies led 14-7 at the break, having played sluggishly, and coach Frank Beamer said he hardly needed to say a word in the locker room at halftime.

"They knew what needed to be done," Beamer said. "I think they did a great job of going back out there and quickly taking the game back over."

The key was Hall's touchdown, which came only two plays after Brandon Pace's 19-yard field goal when Chris Ellis was sacking Bernie Morris and the ball came free.

It was the Hokies' fourth defensive touchdown of the season.

"It was a pick!" Hall joked, trying to enhance his own contribution to the play. "It fell straight into my hands. I made sure I was going to hold onto it and score."

After stopping Marshall on four plays, the Hokies needed just three to drive 78 yards: George Bell ran for five, Vick hit Josh Morgan for 25 and Clowney for the TD.

The Hokies outgained Marshall 200-1 in the third quarter.

Marshall (2-3) had done well to keep the Hokies off-balance in the first half, going away from its usually pass-happy strategy and running the ball effectively (131 yards) behind Bluefield, Va., native Ahmad Bradshaw and Chubb Small.

In the third quarter, "we had a meltdown," coach Mark Snyder said. "We compounded our mistakes by turning the ball right back over and giving them an easy touchdown."

The Hokies did their share, too, to turn it into the rout that was expected.

Branden Ore had just 23 carries coming into the game but replaced Cedric Humes when Humes broke a bone in his arm in the second quarter. Ore ran 14 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter, pausing in the backfield to give his blockers time to get in position, and then broke off a team season-high 45-yard run on the first drive in the third quarter.

"I just went into another zone, got my focus and really got myself ready to take care of the team," the redshirt freshman said after finishing with 146 yards. "There's no better feeling than that."

Ore's performance caught the Thundering Herd off-guard.

"He did a good job, and we did a poor job tackling," Snyder said.

Ore's rushing total was the highest for a redshirt freshman at Virginia Tech since Kevin Jones ran for 155 against Temple in 2001, and it made Vick's job easy.

"A little speed, a little juke," Beamer said of Ore, who carried 19 times. "For the first game out of the blocks playing when it counted, I though he did well."

Humes, meantime, is scheduled to have surgery Sunday, Hokies trainer Mike Goforth said, and will be out up to six weeks. The Hokies are off next weekend and expect to have co-starter Mike Imoh back from a sprained ankle when they play at Maryland on Oct. 20.

Vick was 11-for-16 for 163 yards. He also threw an interception, only his second this season, on a ball that glanced off Morgan's hands to Chris Royal.

Royal, a free safety and the older brother of Hokies wide receiver Eddie Royal, hoped to be matched against his brother at some point, but it never happened.

They did have a confrontation after a play, however, when both were talking trash to each other and did a little shoving and Chris got called for a personal foul.

Humes had 58 yards on 10 carries, including an 11-yard scoring run in the first quarter. Bell added a 2-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter for the Hokies.

Morris, who threw 60 passes last week in the Thundering Herd's 16-13 overtime victory against Southern Methodist, had half of his 28 attempts in the fourth quarter, the last a 17-yard touchdown pass to Small. He was 14-for-28 for 117 yards.

Bradshaw finished with 99 yards on 22 carries and scored Marshall's first touchdown with a 13-yard run in the second quarter. Small had 57 yards on 14 carries.