{"id":426688,"date":"2024-12-01T22:48:39","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T22:48:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=426688"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Virginia-Tech-defeats-rival-Virginia-to-end-skid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Virginia-Tech-defeats-rival-Virginia-to-end-skid\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia Tech defeats rival Virginia to end skid"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Making his first start at quarterback, William &#8220;Pop&#8221; Watson III threw for 254 yards and a touchdown Saturday night as Virginia Tech stopped in-state rival Virginia 37-17 in Blacksburg to clinch bowl eligibility. Watson, who replaced the injured Kyron Drones, completed 14 of 21 passes as the Hokies (6-6, 4-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) snapped a three-game losing streak. Bhayshul Tuten added 124 yards on 18 carries, sealing the outcome with a 58-yard touchdown run at the 6:12 mark of the fourth quarter. Tony Muskett hit 19 of 36 passes for 178 yards and two interceptions while rushing for 62 yards and two scores on 18 carries. His 5-yard touchdown run with 13:12 remaining allowed the Cavaliers to pull within 30-17 after trailing 27-3 in the third quarter. But Virginia (5-7, 3-5) couldn&#8217;t complete the comeback and as a result, won&#8217;t be eligible for a bowl game. If Watson were nervous about being Virginia Tech&#8217;s third starting quarterback in as many games, he sure didn&#8217;t show it early. He led the team on a 90-yard drive to start the game, Tuten rushing the last 6 yards for a 7-0 lead with 9:06 left. The Hokies grinded out another long drive on their next possession, gobbling nearly seven minutes of clock before John Love booted a 44-yard field goal at the 1:16 mark. The Cavaliers got on the board with 2:46 left in the half on Will Bettridge&#8217;s 37-yard field goal but experienced a disastrous last two minutes. On the first play after the two-minute timeout, Watson found Jaylin Lane for a 66-yard touchdown pass. Muskett fired an interception in the final minute that led to Love&#8217; 31-yard field goal and a 20-3 advantage at the half. Watson made it 27-3 with a 5-yard scoring jaunt with 10:05 left in the third quarter, five plays after Muskett was stopped for no gain on 4th-and-1 at the Virginia 45. Muskett scored on a 2-yard run less than five minutes later before Love hit a 28-yard field goal for a 30-11 Virginia Tech cushion. &#8211;Field Level Media<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/images\/imgupload\/ef0905c15ad16e526dacc0069a4e2f6e.jpg\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><\/p>\n<p>Nov 30, 2024; Blacksburg, Virginia, USA; Virginia Tech Hokies defensive lineman Antwaun Powell-Ryland (52) sacks Virginia Cavaliers quarterback Tony Muskett (7) during the first quarter at Lane Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>-Peter Casey-Imagn Images<br \/><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Making his first start at quarterback, William &#8220;Pop&#8221; Watson III threw for 254 yards and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-426688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426688\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}