BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — Carson Beck threw for 320 yards and four touchdowns to lead No. 14 Miami to a 34-17 victory over Virginia Tech on Saturday.
Malachi Toney had career highs in receptions (12) and yards (146) and had a touchdown, lifting the Hurricanes (9-2, 5-2 ACC, No. 13 CFP) to their third straight win and keeping alive their hopes of making it to the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game.
Beck, who completed his first 11 passes and finished
27 of 32, threw touchdown passes of 20 yards to Elija Lofton and 3 yards to Mark Fletcher in the first half, and Carter Davis added two field goals, as Miami scored on all four first-half possessions to take a 20-3 halftime lead.
Virginia Tech (3-8, 2-5) cut the lead to 20-10 on a 38-yard touchdown run by Jeffrey Overton on its first possession of the second half, but Miami answered with a 16-yard TD pass from Beck to Girard Pringle Jr. nearly seven minutes later.
Beck added a 20-yard touchdown pass to Toney in the final minute for the Hurricanes, who finished with 418 yards.
Marcellous Hawkins finished with 72 yards on eight carries for the Hokies, who had 194 yards rushing against the ACC’s No. 1 rushing defense (81.8 ypg) and lost their third straight game.
Miami: The Hurricanes have won three consecutive games by at least 17 points and are making a late-season push to get into the College Football Playoff.
Virginia Tech: The Hokies, who have lost five of six games, are playing out the season and getting ready to usher in the James Franklin era. Franklin was introduced Wednesday as the Hokies’ new coach, taking over for his former defensive coordinator at Penn State, Brent Pry, who was fired Sept. 14.
Miami plays at Pittsburgh on Saturday.
Virginia Tech plays at rival Virginia on Saturday.
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