Jeffrey Overton Jr.’s 76-yard touchdown run with 4:58 left in the fourth quarter lifted Virginia Tech to a 21-14 win over host Boston College in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams on Saturday afternoon at Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Overton finished with a career-high 290 yards on 25 carries to lead the Hokies (4-0, 1-0), who rattled off 15 points in the final frame to erase a 14-6 deficit after leading 3-0 at halftime.
The sophomore running back’s deciding run came one play after Boston College was forced to punt, failing to respond to a 10-play, 80-yard drive.
After Ethan Grunkemeyer (22-of-35, 147 yards, one touchdown) found Marlion Jackson in the corner of the end zone for a 14-yard score, Overton ran in the game-tying 2-point conversion.
The Hokies racked up 239 of their 374 total yards in the second half. Before the game opened up, John Love accounted for the first two scores on field goals of 45 and 22 yards.
The loss spoiled Boston College (2-2, 0-1) quarterback Mason McKenzie’s all-around productive day. The Saginaw Valley State transfer rushed for 138 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries while throwing for 111.
The Hokies carried the momentum of scoring the game’s first points to the other side of halftime, sacking McKenzie while forcing a 3-and-out before Que’Sean Brown broke off a 50-yard punt return to the Boston College 10-yard line. However, three straight stops on Marcellous Hawkins, Jr., left the visitors to settle for a 22-yard field goal by Love.
McKenzie swung the game in the Eagles’ favor for the first time with 9:52 left in the third. He scored on a 5-yard touchdown run one play after a 45-yard gain across midfield. Luca Lombardo kicked the go-ahead PAT.
Max Tucker recovered a Hawkins fumble on the ensuing series. The hosts proceeded to go 3-and-out after the turnover, but a Tucker stop forced a turnover on downs after the following 10-play drive over 5:05, carrying into the 1:15 of the third quarter.
McKenzie led the Eagles back into the end zone after a 9-play, 67-yard drive in 5:04, completing it with a 2-yard touchdown with 11:09 left in regulation. Completions of 13 and 20 yards led to the score.
After a holding call negated a 4th-and-2 stop and kept Virginia Tech’s next drive alive, Grunkemeyer’s connection with Jackson and the Overton 2-point conversion knotted the score.
The two teams were a combined 1-for-15 on third down in the first half, with the lone conversion on a Hawkins rush helping to set up Love’s 45-yard field goal with 16 seconds left before intermission. The kick capped a 13-play drive, which was the longest of the first half.
Neither team found a rhythm in the opening quarter, though Boston College had a 94-29 advantage in total yards. McKenzie had 47 on six carries. Early in the second, three straight Overton carries helped Virginia Tech cross midfield on a drive that reached the opposing 26-yard line, but got stopped on 4th-and-1.
