App St's Presley: Va Tech not an elite team
Cornerback Ed Gainey sat with a stunned look on his face with two Appalachian State teammates, trying to comprehend a 66-13 loss to No. 13 Virginia Tech.
In the end, he said, it was all on the Mountaineers, and no solace could be taken from having been thrashed by one of the highest ranked teams in the Bowl Subdivision.
''Not at all,'' he said. ''We made a lot of mistakes. We brought this upon ourselves. They are a good football team, but we're just as good as they are.''
Seated beside him, quarterback DeAndre Presley nodded in agreement.
''Not taking anything away from them, but I wouldn't classify them as an elite team,'' he said after his least productive game as a starter. ''We stopped ourselves so many times. ... We made them look better than what they were. I believe so.''
The Hokies looked pretty good in rolling up the second-most points ever allowed by the Mountaineers. It was surpassed only by a 72-14 loss to Chattanooga in 1978.
David Wilson ran for 162 yards and three touchdowns, Logan Thomas threw the first two TD passes of his career and the defense held the Mountaineers to 61 first-half yards to lead 38-0.
Wilson scored on runs of 20, 19 and 3 yards - the first just 47 seconds into the game after Antone Exom recovered a fumble by Presley at the 20. Wilson also broke off runs of 48 and 33 yards before yielding to reserves in the third quarter.
Thomas was pulled early after completing nine of 19 passes for 149 yards, with scoring throws of 7 yards to Randall Dunn and 4 yards to Jarrett Boykin. Thomas was not intercepted.
The Mountaineers, among the top-rated teams in the Championship Subdivision, arrived with what promised to be a high-powered offense led by Presley, but the multiple spread didn't fool the Hokies. Appalachian State was outgained 291-61 by halftime, before the backups took over.
Jamal Jackson, who replaced Presley, threw a 46-yard touchdown pass to Brian Quick late in the third quarter, making it 52-6, and ran 15 yards for the Mountaineers' other touchdown.
Before it was over, the Hokies had their second-highest point total in coach Frank Beamer's 25 seasons, topped only by 77 points against Akron in 1995.
Presley, who last season became the 13th Division I quarterback to throw for 2,000 yards and run for 1,000 in a season, never got going. He finished seven for 18 for 89 yards with two interceptions and ran 13 times for 43 yards. His fumble on the second offensive play didn't help, because Wilson took a pitch headed left on the next play and quickly made it 6-0.
By the time an 11-yard run by Presley gave the Mountaineers their initial first down, Cody Journell had added a 28-yard field goal and Josh Oglesby a 4-yard scoring run for the Hokies.