No. 13 Virginia Tech rallies past No. 19 Nebraska

BLACKSBURG

Seconds before Tyrod Taylor let fly one of the most memorable passes in Virginia Tech history, the coach's wife was nearly in tears on the sideline.

Cheryl Beamer clutched her trembling hands in a position of prayer. She worked on the details of a consolation speech for her husband Frank.

"I knew he was going to be so upset," she said. "And then..."

As the ball was in flight, Hokies offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring stood up in the press box. He had a perfect, overhead view of wide receiver Danny Coale when he slipped behind Nebraska's defense - while Taylor distracted defenders with a prolonged scramble - and streaked wide open down the right sideline.

A low Lane Stadium grumble grew into a roar as the pass floated toward its target. A rowdy and rather large contingent of Cornhuskers fans froze.

"Is it coming down?" Stinespring wondered. "You don't breathe."

Just before the ball dropped into Coale's arms, Virginia Tech had mustered only 190 yards of offense. When the Hokies took over at their own 12-yard line with one minute and 44 seconds remaining in the game, trailing 15-12, they had managed just 48 yards in the second half.

"And then," Cheryl Beamer said, "the greatest finish I think I've ever seen in my life."

Coale pulled down the prayer and ran 81 yards with it, setting up the No. 13 Hokies for a thrilling 16-15 comeback victory over the No. 19 Cornhuskers.

After Coale stepped out of bounds at the Nebraska 3-yard line, Taylor was sacked for an 8-yard loss, then threw an incompletion, and needed one more improbable pass.

On third down, with barely 30 seconds left, Taylor dropped back and saw an end zone full of blanketed receivers. He scrambled. And scrambled. And scrambled. He pointed and waved, directing traffic for his targets.

"We're just like the fans probably at that point: Throw it! Run it! Get rid of it!" Stinespring said. "You're screaming but he's not hearing you. Nobody's hearing you."

Mammoth defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska's star who had batted down four passes and sacked Taylor once already, grabbed the quarterback's jersey from behind.

"I knew somebody had me," Taylor said, "and I just had to stay up."

He did, flinging a pass to a diving Dyrell Roberts - who also had a defender draped over his back - with 21 seconds left. Moments earlier, Roberts had dropped a fourth-down pass with nothing but green grass in front of him.

It looked like he had ended the Hokies' hopes of a comeback. He had become the goat, it seemed, after returning the opening kickoff 76 yards to set up Tech's first touchdown.

Following Roberts' drop with 2:12 to go in the game, he sulked on the sideline. Taylor told him to stop.

"I just let him know the game was not over," he said. "I was going to give him the ball back."

Tech's defense, which bent but didn't break all day, forced Nebraska to punt after just three plays. Roberts and the Hokies had one last gasp.

They only had that chance because the defense - despite allowing nine plays of 15 yards or longer - limited the Cornhuskers' scoring to five field goals. In fact, had the Huskers held on, it would've been the first time since before World War II they'd won a game without reaching the end zone.

Instead, Roberts slid to the turf with a touchdown tucked safely in his arms. The 11-yard scoring strike sent an entire stadium into ecstasy.

Roberts' grandfather joined a frenzy of fans rushing the field to celebrate. He wrapped his grandson in a hug and shouted: "You made it! You made it! Son, you made it!"

"It's the greatest redemption ever," Roberts said.

For Stinespring, it was even more than that. It was, if he may say so, a miracle. He struggled to find words to describe his feelings when officials raised their hands to signal the most unlikely touchdown of his career.

"When the hands went up, we went up," he said. "Other than when you have children and witness their birth... it was the greatest feeling I've been around in my life."

Kyle Tucker, (757) 446-2374, kyle.tucker@pilotonline.com