Logan Thomas took the Miami loss hard. Harder than usual.

The quarterback was dejected, coaches said, his head down in a towel following a 30-12 loss to Miami on Thursday, a game in which he ran for a career-high 124 yards and threw for 199 but also had three crucial turnovers and several off-target passes in big spots.

“It hurt him deeply,” quarterbacks coach Mike O’Cain said. “Logan is a tremendous competitor. You guys don’t see that side of him. Takes tremendous pride in how he plays. Wants to be good very, very badly. … I think he might have felt like he was the reason we didn’t win that ballgame.”

It’s the reason the normally media-friendly quarterback chose not to attend post-game interviews, despite being requested, a first for the junior. Honestly, he didn’t know what he would have said.

“I didn’t really have anything to say to you guys,” Thomas said. “You all were going to ask the same questions y’all ask every single game after a loss. It was going to be the same answers. I think you could have just said, ‘Logan Thomas said …’ and it would have been the same as every other game.”

“I guess I just took this game a little harder than the rest.”

Perhaps because it was such a significant game. Miami became the clear frontrunner for the ACC’s Coastal Division title with the win, moving to the front of a crowded field in the Coastal Division, a game and a half ahead of Virginia Tech in the standings (although whether the ‘Canes self-impose a bowl ban and take themselves out of the running for the division title remains to be seen).

Thomas knows he didn’t play his best. A few plays proved critical. He threw a pick on the opening drive at the Miami 11 on a pass intended for fullback Joey Phillips up the sideline.

“I didn’t even see the guy,” Thomas said. “He was stacked behind another one and he popped up when I moved to throw.”

A fumble proved costly on a third-and-goal from the Miami 1-yard line when Tech trailed 20-12 in the third quarter. Instead of getting some kind of points, the Hokies gave the ball away.

“There was a little bit of flinch by the center [Caleb Farris], and it’s one of those areas of the game that we all take for granted,” offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring said. “Logan felt the flinch and started to back up a little bit to get the play started. It’s a fine line.”

With it still an eight-point game in the fourth quarter and Tech facing a fourth-and-one from the Miami 39. The Hokies had a solid play-call, play-action faking it to the running back and having Phillips wide open coming out of the backfield. Thomas overshot him by several feet, a crushing incompletion that took the wind out of the Hokies’ sails. They were never close after that.

“Sometimes when you get a guy so wide open, you have a tendency to kind of, I use the term, ‘feather’ it out there,” O’Cain said. “You just want to touch it. The one thing you don’t want to do is miss him. And then you do. I’ve seen it over and over and over. … You don’t throw it naturally. You don’t just throw it as the same motion.”

“I let some guys on the team down,” Thomas said. “I want to play great every time I go out. It just happened that — I wouldn’t say I played poorly — but I didn’t play to the best of my abilities.”

Thomas normally lets plays or losses roll off his shoulders. Coaches have noted that he’s been good about not dwelling on mistakes throughout his career. But this game was different, probably because of what was at stake.

“I went up to him after the ballgame and I always, win, lose or draw, go see him and pat him on the back, hug him around the neck, whatever you do,” O’Cain said. “And he wasn’t in a mood to be talked to. Not that I talked to him, that’s not the right word. But I just let him go.”

“We expected to win,” Stinespring said. “We didn’t. It crushed us all.”

Now the challenge is bouncing back against a Florida State team that’s ranked No. 1 in the ACC in every major statistical category on defense.

Thomas has still done plenty of good this year. He’s thrown for 2,109 yards and 13 touchdowns, adding 422 yards and six touchdowns on the ground. Nobody on offense has made as big of an impact as him. But he hasn’t quite been as sharp as last year, completing 53.3 percent of his passes, down from 59.8 last year. His 12 interceptions were tied for the third-most nationally entering Saturday.

O’Cain is mildly concerned about the interceptions, but not as much as he thinks he could be.

“The thing that worries me more was if he was forcing the ball,” he said. “If that was the reason he was throwing interceptions, I would be overly-concerned. … But I don’t think he’s had an interception this year where he’s forced the ball. It’s been a high ball, it’s been a low ball or whatever it may be. … So I’m concerned, but not overly-concerned.

“It’s just a matter of going out there and playing and just throwing the ball like it’s practice. I know it’s more pressure on you, more heat on you and all that, but try to throw it like it’s practice.”

Thomas is simply trying to move forward. Teammates have told him they have his back, even in tough times. That’s what he considers important.

“You can’t do anything about the past,” Thomas said. “You can only focus on the future. People can say what they want, but they’re not inside the program. That’s OK with us. Coach O’Cain and coach Stiney, they always say we’re the three most talked about people around town. That’s fine. It’s cool with me. People can say what they want. But I’m not going to listen to it. [O’Cain and Stinespring] aren’t going to listen to it. Everything is within this program.”

Teammates think he’ll bounce back.

“I think if you look at, for instance, Michael Jordan’s career, and everybody talks about the big plays he made, but they never bring up the ones he didn’t make,” said tight end Zack McCray, who is Thomas’ cousin. “Sometimes you don’t make that big play or sometimes it just doesn’t work out the way you want it to. But I just feel when you fall down, it just makes for a better comeback. I just think it’s a lesson to learn at the end of the day.”

Follow me on Twitter and Facebook.

Here are a few more notes and quotes from Saturday night’s offensive interviews …

• That last quote is correct. McCray is a tight end now. The redshirt sophomore from Brookville, the same high school as Thomas, made the switch today. The move has been discussed before. McCray, who has been buried on the depth chart at defensive line — a little too small to be a true tackle, a little too slow to be a true end — initiated it. “I think this move is going to be great,” he said. “It has me motivated to go out there and be better at something. I’m really, really passionate about this to go out here and just work and make the team better in some way.”
• Stinespring noted that Tech is losing three senior tight ends after this year — Eric Martin, Randall Dunn and George George. The move gives the Hokies some depth at the position, with Ryan Malleck, Darius Redman, Dakota Jackson and Duan Perez-Means, another converted defensive lineman, playing there. “We like being able to play two [tight ends] if we can, and with us losing three, again, knowing Zack in high school and recruiting Zack, I think he brings something to the table for us,” Stinespring said. “We felt like in the spring we would do it. So right now, why not get a jump start on it?”
• McCray said he’s actually played tight end longer than he has defensive line, going back to his middle school days. In fact, he was recruited as both by most schools. Tech was actually one of the only ones who recruited him on defense only. A large reason McCray chose that route was because Thomas, who was a year ahead of McCray in school, was also recruited as a tight end coming out of high school. After Thomas graduated, McCray, who was the No. 5 recruit in the state in 2010, continued to excel on defense, but also did more on offense as a senior, playing tight end, receiver and even some H-back. He caught 44 passes and had two touchdowns as a senior but was used mostly as a blocker. He described himself as a balanced tight end in that sense.
• The biggest challenge McCray thinks he’ll have is learning the playbook. He’s realistic about not being able to digest it in the final three weeks of the season. “If the next three weeks works out, it’s good,” he said. “And if it doesn’t, my feelings aren’t going to be hurt by it.” Physically, he thinks the transition should be no problem. At 6-foot-5, 256 pounds, he was always on the lighter side for a defensive lineman, continually trying to keep on weight. On offense, he’s about the same size as Martin, one of Tech’s bulkier tight ends. “I think defensive end, I think that’s going to help the physicality of stuff,” McCray said.
• Thomas had a career-high 22 carries against Miami, one more than he had against Clemson. He also took some shots, getting up slowly after one run near the goal line. “That’s why we lift,” he said. “That’s why we condition as much as we do. So I feel fine physically. Obviously, you have your bumps and bruises that you need to heal up, but I feel good.”
• Coaches have mentioned failed execution as being the biggest reason for the offense’s — and really the team’s — struggles this season. But they’re having a tough time putting their finger on why that’s the case. “You can’t,” O’Cain said. “If you did, you’d get it corrected right now and it’d be over. Sometimes the ball bounces right and sometimes it doesn’t. And if you start saying, well it’s this or this or this or this, then it sounds like you’re making excuses.”
• Stinespring pointed out some possible reasons, though. “There’s time when you’ve had to revamp your line a little bit,” he said. “We haven’t communicated some things as well as we did earlier in the year. Some of it has to do with perhaps a little bit of youth at times. … There’s a lot of little things that add up that have prevented us from having consistency and the success that we believe we should be having. We’ve been productive. It just hasn’t been consistent.”
• That’s not the best thing to have happening with Florida State coming to town Thursday. As mentioned before, the Seminoles lead the ACC in every major statistical category on defense — rushing (72.9 ypg, 3rd nationally), passing (154.2 ypg, 6th nationally), total (227.1 ypg, 2nd nationally) and scoring (12.0 ppg, 3rd nationally). “[They have] very few weaknesses,” Stinespring said. “I haven’t found any.”
• How do the Hokies go about attacking the kind of defense that’s solid across the board? “You really have to focus yourself on what you’re doing and how well you’re doing it,” Stinespring said. “If we have a lack of execution and you’re having those problems, then you’re really putting yourself behind the 8 ball. We’ve just got to really make sure, whatever is in the game plan, we’re going to be as precise in what we’re doing and as coordinated in our attack as we can possibly be. You need to play as close to perfect as you can possibly play to give yourself a chance for success.”

North Carolina is already ineligible for the postseason, and thus, Coastal Division title this year. Might Miami join it?

According to the Associated Press and several South Florida newspapers, it’s a possibility the Hurricanes will self-impose a second straight bowl ban in an effort to lessen future NCAA penalties related to ongoing investigations.

Follow me on Twitter and Facebook.

Here’s an excerpt from that story:

“Such a decision would be an attempt to lessen the impact of whatever sanctions ultimately get imposed against Miami. Those sanctions are likely to be handed down early next year, based on the expectation that the Hurricanes will receive their notice of allegations — in essence, the end of the investigation phase and start of the penalty phase — from the NCAA in the next few weeks.”

The NCAA often goes easier on teams that self-impose penalties, provided they go far enough. North Carolina vacated wins from 2009 and ’10 and reduced nine scholarships for violations that included academic fraud, impermissible agent benefits, participation by ineligible players under Butch Davis, but the NCAA tacked on a 2012 postseason ban and three years’ probation as well. (I mistakenly reported this as a self-imposed ban last week.)

That took the Tar Heels out of contention for the ACC division title and participation in the championship game this year. But would Miami, which is the frontrunner in the Coastal Division with a 4-2 record and only has league games against Virginia and Duke remaining, consider doing the same?

Miami officials, according to the story, will only take action once Miami becomes bowl eligible, a similar tack it took last year when it self-imposed a bowl ban in Al Golden‘s first year. The decision was made by university leaders, athletic administrators and outside counsel, without input from Golden.

But the Hurricanes were 3-5 in the league and in fourth place of the division. This year, they could make their first appearance in the ACC championship game and have a shot at playing in a BCS bowl, in their home stadium no less.

Then again, Miami has four losses already this season with a roster made up mostly of underclassmen. Would the school rather bite the bullet this year in hopes of keeping future postseason hopes alive, when it might be capable of accomplishing more in the postseason, perhaps even in a nationally relevant game?

It’d  be an odd move, but take the case of Ohio State, which in the face of NCAA sanctions chose not to self-impose a bowl ban last year when it finished the regular season 6-6 and lost to Florida in the Gator Bowl. The NCAA did it for them this year. Now, the Buckeyes are 9-0 in Urban Meyer‘s first season, with no hopes of winning the Big Ten or playing in the national title game.

If Miami does self-impose a bowl ban, amazingly it would keep Virginia Tech alive in the Coastal race. Removing Miami and North Carolina — the two teams in the division to beat the Hokies — would make the race between Duke (3-2), Virginia Tech (2-3) and Georgia Tech (2-3). The Hokies hold head-to-head tiebreakers over both of them, with a 4-4 champion being a distinct possibility.

If that’s the case, there’s a chance Tech could be 6-6 and qualify for the title game, where a loss would put it under .500. That would normally eliminate a team from bowl contention.

But UCLA was in the same situation last year, playing in the inaugural Pac-12 title game at 6-6 because USC was ineligible. The Bruins filed a waiver with the NCAA to play in a bowl even if they lost to Oregon. They did and were 6-7 but had their waiver granted. They went to the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.

It would probably be little consolation for a Hokies fan base despondent over what is turning out to be the school’s worst season in 20 years. But it could be a possibility.

It all depends on Miami’s decision, which could come as early as next week, once the ‘Canes become bowl eligible. As if the Coastal Division race couldn’t get any crazier.

Virginia Tech continued its downward spiral of a season Thursday night with a 30-12 loss at Miami. The Hokies are looking at some must-win games just to be bowl eligible, something I don’t think anybody would have predicted before the season.

Now that I’ve landed in Greensboro, here are five thoughts about last night’s game.

Follow me on Twitter and Facebook.

1. Despite his struggles, it’d be foolish to go any other route but with Logan Thomas as quarterback.

Thomas put up some decent numbers at Miami, including a career-high 124 rushing yards, thanks to a 73-yard touchdown run up the gut, and 199 passing yards, but I don’t think anyone could make the argument that he was sharp. He completed only 19 of 37 passes, missing open receivers. His first-quarter interception in the red zone on a pass to fullback Joey Phillips was a terrible read and badly underthrown. He underthrew a wide open Demitri Knowles on a pass near the sideline in the third quarter that would have been a big gain. His biggest miss might have come on the fourth-and-one in the fourth quarter, when he overthrew Phillips out of the backfield after a play-action fake. (Play-calling critics have plenty to rant and rave about from this game, but that play was drawn up about as well as you could do it). On top of that, he fumbled at the goal line in the third quarter when Tech was close to trimming a 20-12 deficit.

That said, he’s still the Hokies’ best option at quarterback. He made a few plays Thursday and had to shoulder the load for a running game that still is off a tick, carrying it a career-high 22 times and taking a pounding at the end of several runs. He’s a gamer, and his up-and-down play this year notwithstanding, that’s something the coaches recognize and the team respects. Running back Tony Gregory said as much afterward, saying everyone still has Thomas’ back. And if Thomas is going to return for 2013, like he says he will, Tech will need to have him in a good frame of mind to lead this team. There’s a reason he was named the first junior captain in Frank Beamer’s tenure (although not showing up for post-game interviews was a decidedly un-captain-like move).

I got a couple tweets sent my direction and a blog comment or two in the second half and after the game to this effect – why not give Mark Leal a chance? The backup quarterback always seems to be the most popular player on the team, but there’s not any evidence that Leal, who has only played in garbage time, would be better for this offense. ESPN’s Todd McShay said it correctly – Thomas has all the potential in the world; you just hope he can put it all together. Those moments have been fleeting this year, but he’s still Tech’s best offensive weapon by far.

2. Nobody knows quite how the running back rotation is going to work, and that might include the coaching staff.

We had heard all week that the running back rotation would be pared down. Or, at the very least, we heard that the Hokies had already done that, shifting the load to J.C. Coleman and Gregory while having Michael Holmes take a backseat. Thursday’s rushing split didn’t follow that logic at all. Gregory had 10 carries for 50 yards. Holmes, surprisingly, got eight carries for 27 yards. And Coleman, who didn’t get a carry until the second quarter, had five carries for 23 yards. Beamer had a lengthy, meandering explanation for the split afterward that basically amounted to Coleman not getting as much work because of game situations. He also said the team wanted to get Holmes going. That seems to be a reverse course from the last two weeks.

Coleman is still only 2½ weeks removed from a 186-yard day against Duke. Six touches against Miami (he had one reception that went for two yards) doesn’t seem like nearly enough for someone who has displayed a game-breaking ability. Gregory showed a nice burst on his runs, and a 5-yard average is nothing to scoff at. Holmes had a nice run or two but still didn’t display much of anything that showed why the coaching staff is insistent on getting him a good share of the work.

The point might be moot. The rotation might be because none of the backs is quite talented enough – or, at the very least, ready at this point of their career – to be a featured tailback. Then again, Virginia Tech has crafted solid seasons out of running backs who wouldn’t be NFL stars before (Branden Ore, Cedric Humes, etc.). It’s probably just as much, if not more, a function of the blocking, which has been lacking all year. Whatever the underlying reason, I don’t think you’ll see the Hokies come up with a solution by the end of this year.

3. The defense is capable of shutting teams down in stretches, but not for a prolonged time.

The third quarter seemed like vintage Virginia Tech defense. Miami had three yards. The Hokies pressured ‘Canes quarterback Stephen Morris. They allowed no points and forced five straight punts at one point. But those stretches have been few and far between this season. I realize the offense and special teams put the defense in a bind on those first two touchdowns, but they didn’t put up much of a fight to keep the Hurricanes out of the end zone (the touchdown pass to Mike James out of the backfield looked like a replay of ones the Hokies gave up at Pittsburgh and at Clemson). Miami seemed to have receivers running free in the secondary for most of the first half and fourth quarter. And despite a recent resurgence, Tech’s defensive line produced no sacks (the stat sheet also said no hurries, but that can’t be accurate, given the pressure Morris was under for a while there).

Something seems missing from this defense, and it probably comes back to disruption. The Hokies didn’t force a turnover Thursday. But it’s more than that. Part of Virginia Tech’s defensive success over the year has been creating turnovers and, in many cases, directly turning those into points. But they haven’t had a defensive touchdown since the 2010 ACC championship game against Florida State. That’s 24 straight games. With a team that has a razor-thin margin between winning and losing, not having those kind of game-changing plays has had a major effect. The 1999 team had six defensive touchdowns. As recently as 2008, the Hokies have five defensive touchdowns. But in the last four years, they’ve had three total. That’s a drastic change.

4. Special teams are a problem that can’t be overlooked.

I’ve been writing  for a while that Virginia Tech’s special teams have actually been improved this year, what with Kyshoen Jarrett and Knowles supplying threats in the return game, Cody Journell being pretty consistent in the kicking game and A.J. Hughes being a major upgrade at punter in terms of average. And it’s true that individually, some players have put up some good numbers.

But in a larger sense, there have far too many big special teams mistakes (and really, there are no other kind on special teams) that have turned the tide of games. Hughes dropped a snap against Georgia Tech. The Hokies gave up a kick return for a touchdown against North Carolina. Christian Reeves inadvertently touched a short punt to turn it over at Clemson. And last night, Hughes bobbled a snap that led to a blocked punt, the kick coverage team gave up an 81-yard return to Duke Johnson and Journell missed a long field goal and an extra point.

Beamer insists the issues are execution-related. And he has a point. Simply catching the snap and staying in your lane are execution problems. But coaching has to have something to do with that. Tech reps special teams as often as it ever has, yet these problems keep popping up on a weekly basis and have for a while (roughing the kicker penalties in last year’s ACC title game and Sugar Bowl proved costly, and Danny Coale’s ill-advised fake punt attempt will not soon be forgotten). Beamer made his reputation on being a special teams guru, but that part of the Hokies’ game has lagged for years now. If “Beamer Ball” wasn’t already long-expired concept, last night might have cemented it as one.

5. This isn’t something that looks like it’s going to get fixed this year and there’s a legitimate chance the Hokies’ bowl streak could end.

Despite the insistence by Beamer that this team is close, it’s hard to buy that argument. The Hokies have now lost four games by double digits – Pittsburgh by 18, North Carolina by 14, Clemson by 21 and Miami by 18. Those are not outcomes where four or five plays make all the difference. Going back to last year, Virginia Tech is 2-7 in its last nine games against teams from Bowl Championship Series conferences. The Hokies’ seven-game losing streak away from Lane Stadium is the longest streak since the a nine-game skid in 1987-88. And it doesn’t figure to get any better next Thursday, when Florida State, the ACC’s best team , comes to Blacksburg. Virginia Tech managed one touchdown against the league’s worst defense. What will it accomplish against the league’s best?

The greater concern now is merely making a bowl game. I’ve long thought Boston College and Virginia would be games Tech would have an easy time winning. I don’t have that belief now. This isn’t a team that’s proven it can win on the road, so even beating a Boston College team whose coach might be on his way out is no guarantee. Virginia has obviously not been good this year, but if ever there was a reason to be motivated for the finale of a regrettable season, wouldn’t it be to end your state rival’s nearly two-decade long bowl streak?

Tech fans who haven’t had to deal with this situation in 20 years are understandably upset right now. It will be interesting to see if the coaching shakeup so many have clamored for all these years finally happens now that Tech has almost no shot of winning the Coastal Division and could be sitting at home for the holidays, an unthinkable outcome at the start of the year. Beamer has preached togetherness after the losses, something completely in character for the long-time coach. He said both coaches and players are to blame for the team’s situation and both coaches and players will have to be the ones to pull the Hokies out of it. But what he does after the season might be a different story. At age 66, he has only a few coaching years remaining. If he thinks it’s necessary, will he be willing this close to retirement to make a major overhaul to the coaching staff? A change is not cure-all. Many such decisions have backfired on coaches across the country. But it will be interesting to see if Beamer chooses to go that route, especially now that Tech’s record confirms something is amiss.

Tough deadline tonight, but here’s my story for Friday’s paper. And here’s a link to Aaron McFarling‘s column.

We’ll be flying back today, but I hope to write my five thoughts post on the plane at some point. Finding time to post it between flights might be an issue. I might not get it up online until later in the day.

Now for a little bit more.

** First things first, as I mentioned in the story, the Coastal is essentially out of the discussion for the Hokies now. Virginia Tech (4-5, 2-3 ACC) is now a game and a half behind Miami (5-4, 4-2 ACC), which also owns the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The ‘Canes have only Virginia and Duke left on their ACC slate, so it’s time for the Hokies to readjust their goals. The ACC title it out of reach. So is the Coastal Division. What’s left?

“I think the greatest thing you can play for, when it’s all said and done, is pride,” head coach Frank Beamer said. “When it looks tough, you really see what people are made out of, and things are really tough right now. We’ve probably got the best team in the ACC coming next Thursday. … So things are tough. But pride and trying to get to a bowl game — we’ve still got that to play for.”

The players sounded shocked afterward that that’s what their goals are.

“We’re so used to winning here,” linebacker Jack Tyler said. “It’s kind of a weird feeling. … We’ve been so good for so long. We have the coaches to get us back there and the players. We have the talent. We just have to execute and get it right on the field.”

They Hokies vowed not to fold up shop.

“We haven’t not made it to a bowl game in forever here at Tech,” cornerback Antone Exum said. “We have to make sure that doesn’t happen. … Nobody wants to go out losing, nobody wants to lie down for anybody. We’re not going to lie down for anybody. We are going to give it our best shot and play our hearts out. I know I am.”

** Let’s take the loss in pieces. The offense managed only 12 points and failed to score on seven second-half possessions against a Miami defense that entered the night allowing an ACC-worst 499.1 yards and 32.4 points per game.

The Hokies had four red zone possessions and produced only six points, turning the ball over twice. The first came on an interception by Logan Thomas on an underthrown ball to fullback Joey Phillips on the opening drive. The second came on a critical play in the third quarter, when he mishandled a snap on a third-and-goal from the Miami 1 and fumbled it away.

“I don’t fault our effort,” Beamer said. “I do fault our execution.”

The offensive effort was even more jarring, considering Miami finished the game minus two defensive starters. Safety Deon Bush came out of the game after a hard hit with his helmet on J.C. Coleman that drew a flag. Linebacker Denzel Perryman left the game late with an ankle injury.

Virginia Tech finished with 421 yards, 65 more than Miami, a difference that was much more drastic earlier in the game.

“It hurts, it really does hurt to drive the ball up and down the field like that and not get any points,” right tackle Vinston Painter said. “It hurts as an offense. It hurts as a lineman.”

** Thomas finished with 199 passing yards and a career-high 124 rushing yards, 73 of which came on a touchdown run. But he was off for most of the night.

He had three turnovers and completed only 19 of 37 passes, missing some open throws. The most glaring miss came in the fourth quarter, with Tech down 20-12. The Hokies got into a fourth-and-one at the Miami 39 and had a nice play set up. Thomas sold a play-action fake and had Phillips wide open coming out of the backfield. He overthrew him by several feet, turning the ball over on downs, a play that summed up the night.

For the first time, Thomas declined to show up for interviews with the media afterward, although teammates came to his defense.

“It just not Logan,” running back Tony Gregory said. “It’s all of us.”

** The stats will say Tech ran for 222 yards, but it’s misleading. Seventy-three of those yards came on Thomas’ run, when a linebacker slipped and created a huge hole for him to run through in the middle of the defense.

Take that out and the Hokies had 149 yards, only 98 of which came from their tailbacks. Gregory had 10 carries for 50 yards, Michael Holmes had eight for 25 and Coleman had five for 23, the opposite of the paring down of the running back rotation coaches had spoken about this week.

“There’s no question we’d like to run the ball better,” Beamer said.

The split of carries was bizarre. Coleman, who coaches said was assuming a larger role, didn’t have a carry in the first quarter. Holmes, who coaches said was getting a reduced role, got significant time. Beamer’s answer for why was perplexing.

“We kind of got down to packages a little bit and trying to take advantages of guys’ skills,” Beamer said. “Those packages weren’t called there in the first part of the game. We’d like to get Holmes going, get him back there at the tailback position. Let him get going. … Just the way the game went was J.C.’s deal.”

** The special teams mistakes continue to pile up. Punter A.J. Hughes didn’t handle a wide snap correctly, took too long to get it off and had a punt blocked. That led to an early touchdown. One possession later, the Hokies gave up an 81-yard kick return to Duke Johnson.

Asked about the problems, Beamer said it wasn’t a difficult fix.

“It’s pretty simple,” he said. “The punters catch the ball and you kick it. When you’ve got a lane in a kickoff coverage, you stay in that lane. It’s pretty simple, and we spend a lot of time on that. You just execute.”

More on the special teams problems in a follow-up story for Saturday.

** While there was lots of focus on the offense, the defense didn’t have a great first half. Put in unfavorable situations because of special teams gaffes, the Hokies couldn’t keep Miami out of the end zone.

Miami quarterback Stephen Morris connected with Allen Hurns for a 16-yard touchdown pass after the blocked punt. After the long kick return, Mike James got free out of the backfield and was wide open for a 16-yard touchdown that made it 14-3.

“[The short fields are] frustrating, but at the same time it’s nothing we can’t handle on defense,” Tyler said. “We have to do what we have to do and that’s make stops. Giving up 30 points isn’t going to win a game either.”

The Hokies’ defense hung tough for a while after that. After those two quick touchdowns, the Hokies gave up lots of yardage but no touchdowns, forcing Miami to kick field goals after drives of 70 and 82 yards.

But they gave the offense ample opportunity to mount a comeback in a third quarter, when Miami only gained three yards. The Hurricanes were forced to punt five straight times to start of the second half. Tech couldn’t capitalize with any points.

Things got out of hand late. Miami broke through with a 69-yard drive highlighted by a trick play, a wide receiver pass back to Morris that went for 20 yards. Johnson got into the end zone on a 7-yard run to make it 27-12, an insurmountable lead considering how the game was going.

** Beamer kept coming back to execution as the reason for the Hokies’ struggles, again citing four or five plays that could have changed the tenor of the game, a refrain growing old to a frustrated fan base.

“Turning the ball over in the red zone twice? That’s what I’m talking about. Execution,” he said. “Defensively, we gave up a couple of long plays. Execution. We got a punt blocked. A guy bobbles the ball and get a punt blocked. Execution. Kickoff coverage — we got a guy that gets out of position and all of a sudden pops on us. Execution.”

** Beamer had a serious discussion with the officials after the end of the first half, wanting to know why the clock kept running when the Hokies had gotten close to a first down.

Beamer’s contention was that with a close play, the clock should stop for a measurement. The Hokies didn’t get it, but there was miscommunication about whether or not Tech wanted a timeout.

Here’s how Beamer described it: ”I was waiting for them to stop the clock to measure or give us a first down and stop the clock. The clock is going to stop either way. Well the clock didn’t stop. And finally I called a timeout. So then they measure and now we’re a little bit short. And, they didn’t come to me, but they said they came over and said, ‘Do you want your timeout?’ But no one asked me. So now, they put the ball back in play and start the clock again. And we’re sitting there with three timeouts.”

Beamer said 6 or 7 seconds ran off when the officials didn’t stop the clock before the measurement and 7 or 8 after they started it again without granting Tech a timeout.

“We would have had one more shot at a play there,” Beamer said. “It’s miscommunication. It’s kind of an unusual situation. Just … things not going quite right.”

** Here are a few stats of note:

• Miami was 1-for-12 on third downs.
• Tech had a 34:21 to 25:39 time of possession advantage.
• The Hokies had zero sacks.
• Miami was 6-for-6 in red zone scoring.
• Johnson had 13 touches and 218 all-purpose yards.
• Demitri Knowles had a solid game returning kicks, taking back four kicks for 145 yards. His long went for 51 yards.

** So what now? It’s a strange position Virginia Tech is in right now, one the Hokies haven’t experienced in a long, long time.

“I’ve always said there’s a thin line between being OK and not OK,” Beamer said. “I think sometimes you just assume you should win 10 games and that should happen. But it doesn’t just happen. You get in there with some inexperienced players at times, but his late in the season there’s certainly no excuse either. Just not quite clicking.

“It’s a team game and we’re just not quite clicking. I think everyone’s trying as hard as they can, but it’s very frustrating, very disappointing. I know our fans are disappointed and I’m disappointed because we’re disappointing them. But we’re trying to get this right. You’ve got to keep hanging in there and it’s going to turn around.”

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Halfway through, it’s Miami that has inside track to being the Coastal Division frontrunner.

Two Virginia Tech special teams gaffes, a sharp showing by quarterback Stephen Morris and big plays by freshman running back Duke Johnson have given the Hurricanes a 20-12 halftime lead at Sun Life Stadium.

Morris has 140 passing yards and two touchdowns and Johnson 146 all-purpose yards on four touches, including an 81-yard kick return and a 65-yard run, for the ‘Canes (4-4, 3-2 ACC).

Hokies quarterback Logan Thomas has 122 passing yards and a career-high 120 rushing yards at the break, keeping Virginia Tech (4-4, 2-2 ACC) close.

The Hokies’ punt team let them down early. A wide snap forced A.J. Hughes to take extra steps before punting it. He never got it off. Rayshawn Jenkins blocked it for Miami, giving the Hurricanes possession at the Tech 16, setting up a Morris touchdown pass to Allen Hurns.

Virginia Tech put together a nice drive coming back, getting a 51-yard kickoff return by Demitri Knowles, but the Hokies stalled out at the Miami 5, settling for a 22-yard Cody Journell field goal to pull within 7-3.

The Hokies’ special teams let them down again, though. Johnson raced 81 yards on the ensuing kickoff before finally being dragged down. Two plays later, running back Mike James wasn’t covered out of the backfield, catching a pass and trotting into the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown to make it 14-3.

The Hokies got on the board again in the second quarter. On third-and-three, Miami’s defense parted down the middle, allowing Thomas to run a career-long 73 yards untouched for a touchdown. Journell missed the extra point, keeping Tech down 14-9.

But Johnson again made an impact, ripping off a 65-yard run to the Hokies 10 to set up a Jake Wieclaw field goal that gave Miami a 17-9 lead.

Wieclaw tacked on a 31-yard field goal on the next drive, one that started at the ‘Canes 4, to make it 20-9.

The Hokies had one final shot at putting up points but managed the clock poorly before the end of the half, having to settle for a 20-yard field goal by Journell that made it 20-12.

Virginia Tech has 284 yards to Miami’s 213.