While Virginia Tech practiced Monday night, wide receiver Marcus Davis achieved some Internet infamy, when a video of his lackluster blocking effort against Florida State that had been making the rounds on Hokies message boards found its way onto the national sports blog, Deadspin.

Here’s the video in question:

Asked about it after practice, Davis brushed it off.

“I really don’t think too much of it,” he said. “I think somebody was a little bored and had a little extra time on their hands and figured they can go out and make a video. But like I said earlier, they don’t know the half of what actually went on.”

Davis said a number of the plays in the video were passing plays, adding, “You can’t block in the back. That’s obvious.”

He also admitted to getting the signal wrong on one play and didn’t realize the play was coming to his side, a mistake that got him chewed out by receivers coach Kevin Sherman.

“He said, ‘We can’t have those mistakes in this game.’ We was playing a great team,” Davis said. “At the same time, learn from it. It was one time in the game. It really wasn’t a big deal. We corrected it this morning on film. So we’re not going to let it happen again.”

The video brought swift and, at times, vicious commentary on blogs and Twitter about the mercurial fifth-year receiver. ESPN NFL analyst Trent Dilfer wrote on Twitter that it “was a disgrace to all the Hokies that invest so much.”

“From the first game to now, I’ve made great improvements in my blocking,” he said. “It’s not always perfect. It’s not always pretty. But at the same time, I can say that I’ve gotten better from it, which is a plus.

“I’ve still got things that I need to work on being a receiver in general. That’s just one thing that I want to continue to work on.”

He tried to put it out of his mind.

“It is what it is,” Davis said. “I hope everybody gets what they want from it. It really doesn’t faze me.”

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• In the scrum of interviews tonight, I didn’t get to receiver Demitri Knowles. But former News & Advance compadre Chris Lang did and tweeted that Knowles has been told he’ll start against Boston College. This echoes Frank Beamer‘s statement earlier in the day that Knowles will get more playing time the last two games. Tech has used multiple receiver packages to start games all season, so it’s unclear who, if anybody, he’d be displacing in the starting lineup. Knowles and Dyrell Roberts are listed as co-No. 1′s at the flanker spot.
• I have searched for video of the Hokies’ final scoring drive and, alas, have not found it anywhere online. I guess I’ll have to wait until FrenchWasp does his always-enlightening breakdown of the FSU game on The Key Play for exact video. But quarterbacks coach and play-caller Mike O’Cain seemed very confident with how he called plays down the stretch against the Seminoles, even though the Hokies didn’t get into the end zone on their second-to-last drive and had to settle for a field goal. (I’m taking his word for his recollection of the plays here without having seen the video.)
• First, O’Cain said the plan was not to run three straight times near the goal line right before the field goal. The Hokies had a wrinkle that they had run a couple times earlier that they were going to call if Florida State showed them man coverage. The Seminoles instead gave a zone look all three times near the goal line. “One out of three times I’m going to get man coverage down there,” O’Cain said. “Well, I never got it. … If I got man coverage I was going to throw it. That’s what we wanted to do. But zone coverage we were going to run the football.”
• O’Cain said the third-and-three from the FSU 6 that got stuffed a yard short of the first down marker was the same play the Hokies had run for a touchdown in the third quarter, when quarterback Logan Thomas barreled in behind a pulling Michael Via for a touchdown. (Check the video here at 7:27 for that play.) The Hokies went back to that same play late in the game. “And it would have been cleaner this time,” O’Cain said. Except that the pulling guard, Brent Benedict, missed a block. “[He] couldn’t locate the linebacker,” offensive line coach Curt Newsome said. Had that block been made, O’Cain said, Logan would be “going to be 1-on-1 with a safety at the 1-yard line. I’ll take that matchup every time.”
• Despite the result, O’Cain didn’t second-guess himself about the play-calls at the end. “If I had to do it over again, if I had to make the same call on third down and three, I’d make the same call on third down and three,” he said. “Because I think we had what we wanted. Now, had they out-numbered us and had more than we can block, that would not have been good. But we had just what we wanted. As good a situation as we could have. And that’s kind of how the season has gone. We’ve had situations like that. Just not cashing in, in all areas.”
• O’Cain said he was nevertheless encouraged by the offense’s performance. The Hokies put up 385 yards and 22 points against an FSU team allowing much less than that coming into the night. “People are going to be saying he doesn’t know what the heck he’s talking about, but we’ve played better than what has shown at the end,” O’Cain said. “We played better in Miami than to have 12 points. Better at Clemson than to have 17 points. … And really better the other night than to have 22 points. … Yes, we feel like we played better. The bad thing about it is it just doesn’t show up anywhere, except us when we come in Sunday to watch the film.”
• Despite Thomas’ struggles this year — his 14 interceptions are tied for the second most nationally — O’Cain’s confidence in his quarterback has not wavered. “I’ve called the games just like I would have called them if he completed every pass he was throwing,” he said. “Nothing has changed.”
• In fact, O’Cain said Thomas, who was 19-for-34 for 298 yards and accounted for two touchdowns last Thursday, played “tremendous” against Florida State, despite the two interceptions that proved critical. “Other than about two throws, he played as good as he’s played since he’s been here,” O’Cain said. “In everything you ask him to do. Running the football. There were probably eight times that he had to get us in the right play — did a great job of that. Effort. In every area. Played tremendous. The only thing people see are the two interceptions he throws. That’s the only thing they remember. And they don’t see all the other little things that have to take place for us to even have a chance to win it at the end. If he’s not out there, we probably don’t have a chance to win it at the end.”
• Does it bother him, the criticism Thomas has taken? “Of course. But that comes with the territory,” he said. “You understand that when you play that position, you coach that position. … You live with that if you play that position, because it goes the other way. A lot of times you get a lot more credit than you deserve when things are going well. That’s one of the only positions that everybody thinks they know what they should be doing. Because they see him every time. He’s out there and he’s on an island. So yeah, it bothers you, but at the same time, you move on and keep going.”

Safety Michael Cole is not expected to play against Boston College this week after suffering a scary neck injury in Virginia Tech’s 28-22 loss to Florida State last Thursday.

His situation going forward remains unclear. Team trainers and doctors will meet with Cole and his family this afternoon to go over his test results, a team spokesman said.

Cole, a Cave Spring grad, stayed down at the end of a play in the third quarter against the Seminoles, lying motionless on the field. As the Lane Stadium crowd came to a hush, he was immobilized on a spine board and taken to the hospital as a precaution after experiencing numbness in his upper extremities. He maintained consciousness throughout.

A CT scan did not show a fracture but he was diagnosed with a cervical neck sprain. The hospital discharged him that night. He had full feeling in all of his extremities, although he was advised to wear a cervical collar for support.

Head coach Frank Beamer said Cole stopped by the office Friday and was “in good spirits.” The situation Thursday was difficult to go through as a coach, though.

“Very concerning,” Beamer said. “No matter what team it is, whether it’s your team or somebody else’s, you really don’t want to see that. And for it to be one of your own, and a kid that football means this much to, really cares about Virginia Tech and really cares about performing, your heart goes out for him.”

It’s unclear how the Hokies will adjust their nickel coverage with Cole out. Freshman Desmond  Frye, who has had extremely limited playing time this year, took his place against FSU. Beamer said he “is a kid with a lot of ability.” He also said cornerback Donovan Riley, another freshman who notched his first career interception against the Seminoles, could be in the mix as well.

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Here are a few more notes and quotes from Beamer’s Monday teleconference …

• Beamer said the staff will sit and talk about what they’ll do with the whip linebacker position. Senior Alonzo Tweedy started there last week in place of redshirt freshman Ronny Vandyke and had an active night, with six tackles and one and a half tackles for a loss.  ”He flies around there and is very athletic, very good when he’s stunting,” Beamer said.
• Michael Holmes had an undisclosed injury that he was dealing with last week, Beamer said. That’s why he didn’t get in the game. Beamer thinks the redshirt freshman will be good to play against Boston College but added that he thought J.C. Coleman (16 carries, 41 yards) and Tony Gregory (8 carries, 19 yards) ran hard when they were in the game, despite meager stats against FSU’s stout rushing defense.
• Regarding Tech’s two-minute defense before the half and at the end of the game, when the Seminoles scored two crucial touchdowns, Beamer  again said it comes down to execution. “We’ve just got to play the coverage and play it well, play it better,” he said. “That’s pretty much it. We got there and are trying to play coverage, trying to pressure them a little bit, and just end up not executing what we needed to do.”
• Redshirt freshman receiver Demitri Knowles is going to get in the game “more and more,” Beamer said. “I think he’s a threat,” Beamer added. “I think he’s getting better each and every week. I think even though he hasn’t played a lot of football, he does things very naturally, catching the ball. So we’re going to work on getting him in there quite a bit these next couple weeks.” Knowles had two catches for 43 yards against FSU.
• Beamer said Tech will revisit its kickoff situation too. Since freshman Brooks Abbott took over for Michael Branthover, the Hokies have struggled with their coverage. UNC’s Sean Tapley returned a kick for a touchdown. Miami’s Duke Johnson had an 81-yard return. FSU’s Lamarcus Joyner had a 42-yarder. “We need hang time and we need distance,” Beamer said. “And one or the other for sure. We’re getting in between right now.”
• With Branthover doing kickoffs, Tech got seven touchbacks in 14 attempts and opponents started on their own 17-yard line on average. With Abbott, the Hokies have nine touchbacks in 39 attempts, with opponents starting at their own 33-yard line on average.

ESPN exercised its option for a 6-day hold again on the Nov. 24 games, meaning the kickoff time and channel for the Virginia Tech-Virginia game at Lane Stadium won’t be announced until after this week’s slate of games, on Sunday morning at the latest.

Here are the times it did announce today:

Saturday, November 24

• Georgia Tech at Georgia, ESPN, Noon
• Florida at Florida State, ABC,ESPN or ESPN2*, 3:30 pm
• South Carolina at Clemson, ESPN or ESPN2*, 7 p.m.
• Boston College at NC State, TBA*
• Miami at Duke, TBA*
• Maryland at North Carolina, TBA*
• Virginia at Virginia Tech, TBA *
• Vanderbilt at Wake Forest, TBA*

*Game times and networks to be announced no later than by noon on Sunday, Nov. 18.

That was not a finish that many Hokies fans were hoping for last night. If you’d like to revisit it, here’s our coverage from Virginia Tech’s last-minute 28-22 loss to Florida State.

Now that it’s had some time to settle in, here are five thoughts about the game, and judging from the tenor of comments in the previous post, they’re less harsh than what a lot of people are thinking.

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1. I see a lot of criticism of the offensive play-calling and quarterback Logan Thomas in particular, and I just don’t get it.

I get that Thomas threw two interceptions that weren’t pretty. I get that the play-calling near the goal line at the very end could have been more imaginative. I get that there’s a general sense of frustration that’s been building with the staff over the years that triggers a visceral, negative reaction anytime something doesn’t go particularly well with the offense. But I don’t think this game compares to previous ones this year in which the offense didn’t pull its weight.

Scoring 12 points and committing critical errors against Miami is a bad offensive night. Scoring 22 (or 20 if you take away the safety) and committing a few errors against a defense the caliber of Florida State is nothing to hang your head about. The Hokies had 385 yards on FSU. Only Clemson has had more this year (and not by too much). The Hokies scored 22 points. Again, only Clemson scored more. Thomas threw for 298 yards. Nobody has done that against FSU this year. Remember, the ‘Noles were ranked first in the league and in the top-six nationally in every major defensive statistical category. Nothing was going to be easy, and I’d say the Hokies exceeded the admittedly meager goals that many had set for them coming in.

Now. could the play-calling  have been more innovative near the end by the goal line, when a touchdown would have put Tech in a much more favorable situation? Yes. But it’s a tough scenario. Three straight runs there probably wasn’t what the fans wanted to see, but it was a situation where Tech was trying to burn the clock and get in the end zone at the same time. Passing there and risking an incompletion would have just given FSU more time on the clock coming the other way. (Running also forced them to burn at least one of their three timeouts.) As for the third-down call, a Thomas run on a read play up the middle had worked well for a touchdown earlier in the half. Is it a safe call? Yes. A little predictable? Yes. But it has been one of the Hokies’ better plays all year. I don’t see the problem with going to a play the team runs well. There’s only a handful to choose from this season.

As for Thomas, I thought it was a gritty performance. He shook off that early pick and was pretty sharp for much of the night. A couple drops or less-than-stellar efforts on catchable passes by his receivers didn’t help. But he had a good rapport with Corey Fuller, making some really nice throws in tight spots. People will fixate on the interceptions, especially the last one, but that came with 27 seconds left, when FSU knew Tech had to pass to have a chance. You try to make a play in that situation and live with the consequences. I can’t fault Thomas for that.

This is not to say that Virginia Tech still doesn’t have offensive issues or that nothing will be done about it in the offseason. But lumping this performance in with the eggs the Hokies laid at Pittsburgh, Clemson and Miami is unfair.

2. Corey Fuller is by far Virginia Tech’s best wide receiver.

Marcus Davis still has the better numbers this year, but anyone who has watched this team knows that Fuller is the more effective receiver. Thursday night crystallized that. Fuller was the team’s go-to receiver all night and finished with seven catches for 124 yards and a touchdown. But what was most impressive was his ability to come up in big spots. All three of his catches on Tech’s first touchdown drive came on third down, the first, a 33-yarder, jumpstarting what had been a stagnant offense (all three were spot-on throws by Thomas, incidentally, including the 4-yard fade pattern for the touchdown).

Contrast that with Davis and Dyrell Roberts, the team’s other two senior receivers. Davis had a big 54-yard catch early but largely disappeared after that, only popping up in less-than-flattering moments later on. His fumble after a play that would have been negated by a penalty anyway led to a touchdown that gave FSU a 20-10 lead. He had an earlier drop that I remember and couldn’t haul in a well-thrown deep ball from Thomas up the sideline in the fourth quarter that hit his hands. A catch would have put Tech in a scoring opportunity. Roberts had one catch for 11 yards on the final drive, but he didn’t put too much effort going up for a slightly overthrown ball from Thomas near the end zone in the second quarter. It looked like it might have been within reach. It’s clear after watching the game that Thomas has the most confidence in Fuller to make a play when the ball goes his way– a comfort that you could see with Jarrett Boykin and Danny Coale last year. Considering the outcomes he’s had throwing to each of his receivers, it’s no secret why.

3. For most of the night, that was the Tech defense of old.

The stats have been mentioned before, but they bear repeating, just to give you a sense of the kind of night Virginia Tech had. Florida State finished with negative 15 rushing yards, its lowest total since at least 1973. The Hokies sacked EJ Manuel five times. They had 10 tackles for a loss. They held FSU to 3-for-14 on third-down conversions. They held Manuel to a 59 percent completion percentage, 11 percent lower than his season ACC-leading mark. The Seminoles averaged 4.6 yards per play, 3.1 yards less than their season average coming in. Overall, it was the kind of ball-hawking, aggressive defense that Virginia Tech fans have grown accustomed to over the years. And it was all the more impressive considering FSU’s offensive success coming in. The ‘Noles led the league, averaging 524.6 yards and 44.8 points a game. They finished with a season-low 311 yards and their second-lowest total with 28 points.

Tech had a number of defensive standouts. Senior Alonzo Tweedy made the most of his first starting opportunity this year, making six tackles and adding another speed threat to a pass rush that hounded Manuel all night. The Hopkins brothers, Derrick and Antoine, got the start together at the tackle spots and combined for six tackles and 2.5 tackles for a loss. End James Gayle had two TFLs and a sack. Linebacker Jack Tyler led the way with eight tackles, getting a big safety near the end that helped the Hokies nearly pull the game out. All in all, Virginia Tech’s front seven played one of its best games in a long time, especially considering the opponent.

But …

4. The two-minute defense is an issue.

The loss had a familiar sting for the Hokies. Two of Florida State’s touchdowns came in two-minute situations, the last being a six-play, 68-yard drive that ended with a 39-yard touchdown by Rashad Greene. The Cincinnati loss came on a last-second touchdown pass of the same length. This one came on a breakdown in the secondary. The Hokies didn’t communicate with each other on the correct coverage, at least according to cornerback Antone Exum. That seemed to be an issue for some of the night. Detrick Bonner got beat deep for a big play early when it looked he was still talking out what coverage to be in when the ball was snapped. I can imagine having freshman Desmond Frye in the game on the final drive because of Michael Cole‘s scary injury didn’t help the communication. This isn’t a one-time deal. I’m sure Virginia Tech fans who have followed the program longer than I can name a couple games that got away from the Hokies at the end. I will say, although the type of play was different, this ending had a similar type of feeling to the touchdown toss that Matt Ryan made to that same end zone to help Boston College eek out a win in 2007.

And like that game, in which a pretty good quarterback made a nice play in big spot, I think a lot of credit needs to go to Manuel. He made some clutch throws after being planted into the ground repeatedly throughout the night. Most quarterbacks would be gun-shy after that, but he was poised and put passes on the money on the final  drive. He threw for 326 yards, 144 of which came on the touchdown drive just before the half and the one at the end of the game. Greene had touchdown catches to finish both of them, beating Kyle Fuller off the line for the first and finding a soft spot in the coverage — with a little help from a pick by the tight end — to get open for the game-winner. They were big-time plays in both situations. And while Tech can’t be happy with the way it defended either one of those plays, Greene did a solid job of getting open to make them happen.

5. From the fight the Hokies put up, it seems like this team at least has what it takes to win these last two games.

After an uninspired effort at Miami, I openly wondered if Virginia Tech had mailed it in for the season. After watching the Hokies’ effort against Florida State, I would say that’s not the case. They played hard. They played to the end. They played well for stretches. But they just came up short against a very good team. If the Hokies had lived up to their preseason billing, this kind of loss against a quality opponent wouldn’t have been too far-fetched. It doesn’t make sense, then, the notion that a struggling Virginia Tech team played FSU this close and it’s somehow indicative of everything that’s wrong with the program. It’s a third straight loss to a league foe — the first time that’s happened since the Hokies were in the Big East in 2002 –but it bore little resemblance to the defeats at Clemson and Miami. You didn’t feel like Tech deserved to win either of those games. That wasn’t the case Thursday night.

The rest of the season is laid out pretty plainly for the Hokies. Win the next two or they’ll be sitting at home in the postseason. What’s left is not a Murderer’s Row of opponents. Boston College figures to be playing its last home game under Frank Spaziani. Who know how the Eagles will react to that. Virginia, depending on how it does the next two weeks, might be playing for its own postseason life. That’d be odd stakes if both Tech and UVa were 5-6 heading into the matchup this year. It’d be big for the winner, but obviously not the greatest of accomplishments only to be going to a third-tier bowl. If Virginia Tech plays like it did Thursday night, I think it’ll win both of those games. Of course, that’s been the challenge of this season — finding a consistent level of play. Who knows if the Hokies team that showed up last night will do so the final two weeks?

It was a heartbreaking 28-22 loss for Virginia Tech against No. 8 Florida State on Thursday night and a brutal deadline for us writers. Here’s my game story. And here’s Aaron McFarling‘s column.

Here are a few more notes and quotes …

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** Unlike losses earlier this season that ended in blowouts, Virginia Tech stuck close in this contest, grabbing the lead on a field goal with 2:19 to play but giving it back on a 39-yard touchdown catch by Florida State receiver Rashad Greene with 40 seconds left.

“It’s heartbreaking,” cornerback Antone Exum said. “You never want to lose like that, especially when you put everything out there on the line and leave everything on the field.”

Head coach Frank Beamer was dejected after but, like he has time and again this season, couldn’t fault his team’s effort.

“I am proud of our football team,” said Beamer, who came up just shy of his eighth career win against a top-10 team. “We just couldn’t get the thing to totally bounce our way. Again, we had the lead and we couldn’t hold it.”

** First, an injury note I’d like to get up top: Safety Michael Cole suffered a scary injury in the third quarter, staying down at the end of a play and lying motionless on the field. He was stabilized to a spine board and taken to LewisGale Montgomery Hospital for further testing.

Hokies trainer Mike Goforth said in a statement afterward that Cole never lost consciousness on the field but had neck pain and numbness in the upper extremities. Still, he was able to move all of his extremities.

A CT scan at the hospital did not show a fracture and Cole was scheduled to be discharged to go home Thursday night.

** This is Tech’s first three-game conference losing streak since the end of the 2002 season when it was still a member of the Big East. The Hokies, who got up to No. 3 in the polls that year, lost to Pittsburgh, Syracuse and West Virginia in succession.

This loss puts them in a bigger bind, though. Tech needs to win its last two games at Boston College and at home against Virginia just to become bowl eligible and extend the school’s postseason streak to 20 years.

“After a loss like this, the first thing you want to do is get back on the field,” quarterback Logan Thomas said. “That’s the way I feel, and I hope that’s the way the other guys feel.”

“We’ve still got two wins to get to be bowl eligible,” Exum said. “And we will get them.”

** Virginia Tech scored 12 unanswered points to take a 22-20 lead with 2:19 to play, but it could have been more. Thomas scored on a 5-yard run late in the third quarter before linebacker Jack Tyler forced a safety.

The Hokies started the ensuing drive at their own 44-yard line with 6:51 to play after a nice return by J.C. Coleman. But they couldn’t pull off the twin goals of scoring a touchdown or bleeding the clock all the way down.

Thomas completed a 15-yard pass to Tony Gregory on third down to move the chains. After a run, back-to-back passes to Corey Fuller and Dyrell Roberts produced first downs, getting the ball to the 24.

But the Hokies stalled out near the goal line. Three runs from the FSU 13 netted only nine yards. The last, a read play by Thomas up the middle, was stopped a yard shy of the marker.

“We actually had the perfect play drawn up,” Thomas said. “We just missed a block or I would have scored.”

Tech instead had to settle for a 21-yard field goal by Journell.

** It left too much time for FSU, though. EJ Manuel, who threw for 326 yards, showed why he’s one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the nation. He completed 4 of 7 passes for 66 yards, including the 39-yarder to Greene that was the dagger.

“We got mixed up on the coverage we were in,” Exum said of the game-winning play. “They picked us off and a guy was running free to the middle.”

“It was just something we practice every Thursday, two-minute drill,” FSU running back Lonnie Pryor said. “We knew we had to go out there and score to win the game. We practice it every Thursday. We wasn’t worried. We wasn’t nervous.”

It left Tech’s defense crushed.

“Those are situations where we need to play, we need to come up and make a stop,” Tyler said. “That’s what’s deflating about it  That’s what we want to do, is be in that situation, and we still didn’t get it done.”

** The defense had an otherwise strong day, making the breakdown at the end all the more heartbreaking.

The Hokies held the Seminoles to 311 yards, more than 200 below their season average. They matched a season-high by sacking Manuel five times and finishing with 10 tackles for a loss.

FSU finished with negative-15 yards, tied for the third-fewest the Hokies have held an opponent to under Beamer. Arkansas State had negative-28 yards in 1997. Temple had negative-24 in 1998. Two others teams — East Carolina in 2011 and Temple in 2000 — also finished with negative-15 yards.

The Seminoles’ previous season-low this year was 125 rushing yards at N.C. State. It was their worst rushing effort going back to at least 1973.

** Offensively, Tech wasn’t as sharp as it could have been, but the Hokies’ 385 yards were still more than anyone but Clemson had gained against Florida State’s league-best defense this season.

Thomas was 19-for-34 for 298 yards and a touchdown but had two picks. The first was a bad read on an underneath route that Tyler Hunter jumped for a pick. The second was on a ball thrown behind Corey Fuller in the final minute, again picked off by Hunter.

The Hokies’ success came mostly in the air, though. Fuller had a team-best seven catches for 124 yards and a touchdown, hauling in a 4-yard pass in the end zone on a well-thrown fade from Thomas. It was the second 100-yard game of Fuller’s career. He now has a team-high five receiving touchdowns.

Tech, like most teams FSU has played, found running lanes hard to come by. The Hokies finished with 87 rushing yards, led by Coleman’s 41 on 16 carries. Tony Gregory had 19 yards on eight carries. Thomas, who was sacked twice, had 13 yards on 10 carries. 

Michael Holmes did not get a carry, the kind of narrowing down of the running back rotation many thought would happen last week against Miami.

** Some other quick hitters:

• PK Cody Journell made field goals of 35 and 21 yards but pulled a 43-yarder in the second quarter. His career long remains 42 yards. It was Journell’s second field goal miss in the last two weeks after missing a 47-yarder at Miami.
• WR Marcus Davis had two catches for 68 yards, making a nice catch after contorting his body on a 54- yard pass in the first quarter, but he had a couple of big mistakes. He fumbled near midfield at the end of a reception that was going to be negated by a penalty anyway, setting up an FSU touchdown in the third quarter to go ahead 20-10. In the fourth quarter, he dropped a deep ball that was well thrown by Thomas. Tech would punt on the possession.
• Senior Alonzo Tweedy stepped into a starting role at whip linebacker and took full advantage, finishing with six tackles and 1.5 tackles for a loss and providing a speed element to the edge of the Hokies’ defense.
• CB Kyle Fuller and Tyler led the defense with eight tackles apiece. DE James Gayle had two tackles for a loss, including one sack. Tyler, Tweedy and Antoine Hopkins all had 1.5 tackles for a loss.
• For FSU, defensive end Cornellius “Tank” Carradine had a game-high 11 tackles, including a sack.
• Freshman CB Donovan Riley intercepted his first career pass, thrown into the game early on a third-down play near the goal line. A tipped pass bounced right into his hands at the 1-yard line.
• Walk-on Josh Trimble recovered a muffed punt by Hunter in the second quarter, giving the Hokies the ball at the FSU 34. Tech didn’t go anywhere with it and the drive ended with Journell’s missed field goal.
• Thomas’ rushing touchdown was the 18th of his career. Only Tyrod Taylor (23) and Bob Schweikart (21) have more in Tech history at quarterback.
•  Tech had a seven-game home winning streak snapped.

** The game was the second the Hokies have lost in the last minute of the fourth quarter this year. They lost to Cincinnati 27-24 at FedEx Field on a touchdown pass with 13 seconds left.

This loss left a similar feeling.

“It’s hard because I thought we played well enough to get the win,” Tyler said. “Quite frankly, I think we’ve played well enough to get a lot of wins this year. It just doesn’t seem to be happening. The balls aren’t bouncing our way and we’re not making plays when we need to. It’s frustrating, it’s deflating. I think we’re all crushed.”

BLACKSBURG — A defensive slugfest gave way to two well-executed drives before halftime at Lane Stadium, where No. 8 Florida State has a 13-10 lead on Virginia Tech after 30 minutes.

After the Hokies (4-5, 2-3 ACC) went ahead on a 4-yard touchdown catch from Corey Fuller, the Seminoles (8-1, 5-1 ACC) marched 71 yards in five plays before EJ Manuel found Rashad Greene for a 25-yard touchdown pass.

It was a surprising finish to what had been a defensive stalemate for most of the first half. FSU had 161 yards of offense, with minus-8 rushing yards. Manuel threw for 169 yards, however.

Virginia Tech had 162 yards, getting 116 in the air from Logan Thomas, who was 7-for-16 with an interception and a touchdown.

The defense did a good job of keeping the Hokies in the game early, coming up with an interception near the end zone in the first quarter and holding Florida State to 52- and 45-yard field goals by kicker Dustin Hopkins that gave the ‘Noles a 6-3 lead.

Tech wasted a couple opportunities to take early control. A Thomas touchdown run was negated by a holding penalty, leading to a field goal by Cody Journell early on.

After FSU’s Tyler Hunter muffed a punt, giving Tech possession at the Seminoles’ 30, the Hokies couldn’t get a first down. Journell pulled a 43-yard field goal attempt wide left, keeping Tech down by three.

Just before the half, Fuller caught third-down passes of 33 and 15 yards to move the chains before Thomas put a fade pass in the right spot to Fuller for a touchdown and 10-6 lead.

FSU answered in less than two minutes. Greene beat cornerback Kyle Fuller off the line for the touchdown catch to cap the drive.

The Hokies have eight tackles for a loss and two sacks in the first half. Alonzo Tweedy, making his first start this year at whip linebacker, had five tackles and 1.5 tackles for a loss.