No. 12 Hokies beat up on Blue Devils

Sean Glennon threw for 258 yards and two touchdowns in relief of injured Tyrod Taylor and No. 12 Virginia Tech's defense shut down Duke yet again in a 43-14 win Saturday.

Eddie Royal and Branden Ore also scored touchdowns for the Hokies (6-1, 3-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) during a 21-point second quarter, which gave them a 34-7 lead at the break en route to their seventh straight win in the series.

Virginia Tech finally allowed Duke (1-6, 0-4) to score for the first time in three meetings on a short touchdown keeper from Thaddeus Lewis in the first quarter. But the Hokies gave the Blue Devils little else to celebrate, allowing 194 total yards — with much of that coming with the outcome assured — and getting a blocked punt to set up Ore's short touchdown run.

Taylor, a freshman who had earned the starting job after Glennon struggled in his first two games, left early in the second with a sprained right ankle. Glennon entered the game with Virginia Tech leading 13-7, but directed consecutive touchdown drives to take the drama out of this one.

On the first, Glennon went 4-for-4 for 69 yards on a drive that ended with Kenny Lewis Jr.'s 5-yard scoring run. Then, after Duke went three-and-out, Glennon found Royal for an easy 25-yard score on the right side to make it 27-7 with 6:40 left in the half.

Ore's 2-yard score after Stephan Virgil's blocked punt made it 34-7 less than a minute later. Jud Dunlevy added three field goals, while Glennon also found Josh Morgan for a 40-yard touchdown to make it 43-7 late in the third quarter.

Lewis, knocked out of last year's game with a concussion on a late hit, completed 13 of 24 passes for 119 yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown with an interception.