BOSTON (AP) — Logan Thomas threw for two touchdowns — the second a 7-yarder to Randall Dunn in overtime — and ran for another score to help Virginia Tech keep its bowl hopes alive with a 30-23 comeback win over Boston College on Saturday.
The Hokies (5-6, 3-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) need to beat rival Virginia at home next Saturday to become bowl-eligible for the 20th straight season.
The Eagles (2-9, 1-6) look to avoid matching their worst record since 1989 next week at North Carolina State.
The victory snapped Virginia Tech’s seven-game losing streak away from Lane Stadium. It was the longest since nine straight in coach Frank Beamer’s first two seasons — 1987-88.
Thomas completed 16 of 33 passes for 247 yards and added a 1-yard touchdown run.
Cody Journell kicked three field goals for Virginia Tech.
Rolandan Finch rushed 26 times for 133 yards and Nate Freese booted three field goals for BC.
Chase Rettig was 13 of 30 for 129 yards and one touchdown for the Eagles.
Boston College won the toss before overtime and elected to play defense first. Virginia Tech scored on its initial possession.
The Hokies then held BC, tackling David Dudeck 5 yards short after he collected a swing pass from Rettig on a fourth-and-11 play.
With Virginia Tech holding a 20-16 edge, BC grabbed the lead when Dudeck, a freshman, took a handoff, hesitated at the line and burst through an open hole for his first career a TD run — a 12-yarder with 4:11 to play.
The Hokies then marched 62 yards in 10 plays, with Journell’s third field goal of the game — a 41-yarder — tying it at 23-all with 65 seconds left.
The crowd booed when BC elected to run the ball three times on its next possession, starting at its 17.
Virginia Tech, which trailed by 10 at the half, took a 17-13 lead on Thomas’ 37-yard TD pass to Marcus Davis late in the third quarter. The play came on a third-and-17 after BC elected to accept a holding call and move the Hokies out of field goal range. The Eagles had stopped Thomas on a scramble up the middle on the prior play near the 22.
On the ensuing drive, Freese’s third field goal of the game — a 42-yarder — cut it to 17-16, but Journell’s 42-yard field goal with 6:15 to play restored the Hokies’ four-point lead.
Trailing 13-3, the Hokies’ Demitri Knowles returned the second half kickoff 75 yards to the Eagles’ 20. Seven plays later, Thomas lunged the ball across the goal line on fourth-and-goal from the 1 after being stopped initially at the line. The play was reviewed and upheld.
BC grabbed a 10-3 lead early into the second quarter when Rettig connected on a well-executed, play-action pass for a 2-yard TD to Alex Amidon, who was wide open in the right corner of the end zone. Finch ran for 38 yards and Rettig hit tight end Chris Pantale for 23 on the 86-yard drive.
Beamer made what ended up being a costly decision late in the half, helping give BC enough time to march down for a 35-yard field goal by Freese with 4 seconds left in the half.
The Hokies elected to go for it on a fourth-and-3 at the Eagles’ 40 and Knowles, after catching a pass, had the ball knocked out of his hands by linebacker Nick Clancy on what would have been a first down. Rettig completed consecutive passes for 26 yards total, then connected with Amidon for 16 before the Eagles had to settle for Freese’s kick.
BC had taken a 3-0 lead when Freese kicked a 36-yard field goal at the end of the Eagles’ first drive of the game after Spiffy Evans’ 40-yard punt return gave them the possession at the Hokies’ 29.
Virginia Tech tied it on the next possession on Journell’s 26-yard field. The score was set up by 69-yard pass from Thomas to Corey Fuller deep down the middle on a third-and-19 from the Hokies’ 10.
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