BLACKSBURG, Va. — Tyler Van Dyke threw for 351 yards and two touchdowns to lead Miami to a 20-14 victory over Virginia Tech on Saturday.
Van Dyke, coming off a 496-yard performance in Miami’s loss to North Carolina, threw touchdown passes of 5 yards to Frank Ladson Jr. and 17 yards to Colbie Young in the first half for the Hurricanes (3-3, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), who snapped a three-game losing streak.
"This whole thing today, honestly, it's about the players in that locker room," Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. "Everything has to be about the players. The way they prepared, the way they overcame injuries … and to be on the road and to still find a way to win, those guys in there (locker room) deserve all the credit. They deserve all the credit, and they deserve praise for it."
Virginia Tech (2-5, 1-3), which has lost four straight, trailed 20-0 before scoring twice in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Grant Wells' 3-yard touchdown run with 3:20 left cut the deficit to 20-14.
But Miami converted twice on third down on the ensuing drive, with the final conversion coming on Van Dyke’s 9-yard run on third-and-6 from the Miami 46 with under a minute left. Virginia Tech had no timeouts, so two Van Dyke kneel-downs ended the game.
"Just get first downs," Van Dyke said of the offense's mindset going into that final drive. "Run the clock out and get first downs … We just had to stop the momentum, stop the bleeding, and did a great job of it."
Van Dyke completed 29 of 46 passes for the Hurricanes, who finished with 458 yards. Young had nine catches for 110 yards.
Miami held Virginia Tech to just 257 yards and sacked Wells six times.
"There is just so much evidence of who we can be as a team," Virginia Tech coach Brent Pry said. "That's what I told them (his players). We've got to stop stubbing our toe and finding ways to not make people earn it. We've got to stop that."