This Date in College Football Belt History – December 7

December 7, 2002 -The 18^th ranked, 9-3 Virginia Tech Hokies of coach Frank Beamer were the final obstacle between the top-ranked, 11-0 Miami Hurricanes of coach Larry Coker & a shot at their second consecutive BCS Championship.  The Hokies had played six Belt games in their history but had never been victorious while the Hurricanes were on a 30-game Belt reign.  Miami’s All-American RB Willis McGahee scored 6 touchdowns to lead the Hurricanes to a 56-45 victory.  Miami scored twice in the 1^st quarter on a 1-yard touchdown by McGahee & a 49-yard touchdown pass from All-Big East QB Ken Dorsey to All-Big East WR Andre Johnson for a 14-0 Hurricane lead.  The 2^nd quarter saw both teams score 21 points each.  The Hokies got scores on a 1-yard run by RB Lee Suggs, a 4-yard pass from QB Bryan Randall to WR Shawn Witten & a 7-yard pass from QB Grant Noel to WR Ernest Wilford.  All three of Miami’s touchdowns came on runs by McGahee.  He scored from 4, 3, & 10 yards as the Hurricanes took a 35-21 halftime lead.  The offensive slugfest continued in the 3^rd quarter when McGahee added two more touchdowns on runs of 1 & 31 yards.  Virginia Tech got a 96-yard interception return for a touchdown by Hokies’ S Willie Pile when Hurricanes’ RB Jarrett Payton tried unsuccessfully to hit Dorsey on an option throwback.  Virginia Tech’s PK Carter Warley’s extra point kick was blocked & the Hokies trailed 49-27.  Virginia Tech’s CB DeAngelo Hall returned a Hurricanes’ punt 71 yards setting up Warley’s 20-yard field goal for the Hokies.  Suggs added a 9-yard touchdown run after Hokies’ CB Roynell Whitaker returned a Dorsey interception 56 yards but the Hurricanes still led 49-37 heading into the 4^th quarter.  Dorsey connected with All-Big East TE Kellen Winslow, Jr. on an 11-yard touchdown pass &, with 10:06 to play, Miami led 56-37.  Virginia Tech got a 4-yard touchdown run from Suggs & 2-point conversion but with 1:51 to play, still trailing 56-45, the Hokies was unable to overcome the deficit.  Miami held on for the 11-point win in the highest scoring game to date in Belt history & made their reservations for the Fiesta Bowl.  McGahee finished with 205 yards rushing with six touchdowns, Dorsey finished with 300 yards passing with a touchdown, & Johnson had 6 catches for 193 yards.  For the Hokies, Randall threw for 165 yards with a touchdown while rushing for 132 yards.  Miami finished the season 12-1; Big East Champions, ranked 2^nd nationally while the Hokies finished 10-4 & ranked 18^th nationally.  Virginia Tech would play for The Belt again in 2004.

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