Rogers, Evans leads Virginia Tech past Virginia, 52-10

Published Nov. 26, 2016 5:13 p.m. ET

foxsports

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) Sam Rogers ran for a career-best 105 yards and two touchdowns and Virginia Tech tuned up for next Saturday night's Atlantic Coast Conference championship showdown against No. 4 Clemson with a 59-10 victory against Virginia on Saturday.

Rogers, one of 13 seniors honored before the game, scored on runs of 8 and 32 yards for the Hokies (9-3, 6-2), whose ticket for the title game was punched when North Carolina lost to North Carolina State on Friday. It will be Virginia Tech's first appearance since 2011.

The victory was the Hokies' 13th in a row in the series, and sent Virginia (2-10, 1-7) to its seventh consecutive loss.

Jerod Evans threw for two touchdowns and ran for another for Virginia Tech, allowing the junior college transfer to set school single season records with 26 touchdown passes (Tyrod Taylor had 24 in 2010) and 3,752 total yards (Logan Thomas had 3,500 in 2012).

THE TAKEAWAY

Virginia: The Cavaliers have a long way to go to get to the talent level and mindset Bronco Mendenhall expects. Returning Kurt Benkert to the field after a series of skittish performances behind shaky protection and benching last week was probably meant to give him something to build on, but the Cavaliers will also have to rebuild their offensive line and replace Taquan Mizzell and Keeon Johnson, two key seniors.

Virginia Tech: The Hokies' three most recent victories were all by three points and all on the road: at Pittsburgh, at Duke and at Notre Dame. In between, they lost a home game to Georgia Tech in there, so dominating should bolster confidence heading into next weekend.

UP NEXT

Virginia Tech will face Clemson in the ACC championship game next Saturday in Orlando, Florida.

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