• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Ore's monster game, defense leads Virginia Tech past Clemson

Oct 27, 2006 - 4:57 AM BLACKSBURG, Virginia (Ticker) -- James Davis came in with all the hype. It was Branden Ore who provided all the highlights.

Ore rushed for 203 yards and two touchdowns and Virginia Tech frustrated the nation's top scoring offense en route to 24-7 Atlantic Coast Conference victory over No. 10 Clemson.

Davis came into the nationally televised game as the ACC's leading rusher and a major reason the Tigers (7-2, 4-2 ACC Atlantic) had designs on a reaching the conference title game for the first time under coach Tommy Bowden.

Ore entered second in the conference in rushing. The sophomore has been called on to shoulder much of the offensive burden with the Hokies (6-2, 3-2 Coastal), who have been struggling to find consistency in the passing game.

While the Hokies' defense was able to shut down Davis, Ore continually pounded his way through the Tigers' front.

Ore carried 37 times, including touchdowns runs of 11 and three yards in the third quarter, when the Hokies broke open a tight game to build a 24-7 lead.

"There's no question about the qualifications of those two guys (Clemson's James Davis and C.J. Spiller), I'll promise you that," Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said. "But we're proud of Branden Ore. He's kind of a special guy, too. I think he showed that."

"Our guys have got a lot of publicity because we've run the ball last few weeks but we thought he was very equal to what we had on the field," Bowden said. "Their back is good, but I think we're better tacklers than that."

It was the second straight huge game for Ore, who rushed for a career-best 207 yards in a 36-6 victory over Southern Mississippi last Saturday.

"What a performance by that guy," Beamer said.

Davis, who was averaging 120.1 yards on the ground, was limited to 30 on 12 carries. The sophomore rushed for a career-high 216 yards and two touchdowns in last Saturday's 31-7 victory over then-No. 13 Georgia Tech.

"You can't put a lot of guys up there and take the running game away, which they did," Bowden said. "Disappointing thing is that they said, OK, we're going to make you beat us throwing and catching. We're going to make you throw and catch to beat us and we couldn't do it."

The Tigers came into the contest averaging 42.25 points, having reached at least 27 in each game. But they were blanked after putting together an 11-play, 77-yard drive on their second possession.

Clemson gained 86 yards on its first two possessions but just 80 on its next 13 times with the ball. The Tigers finished with just eight first downs and 10 three-and-outs.

"We talked about being in the right spot and I thought we were in the right spot most of the time," Beamer said. "You didn't see gaps in there, or holes in there, because if you did, those two running backs will come out the other end."

One of the lone times Davis found any running came with 6:09 left in the first quarter when he raced around left end for a six-yard touchdown, giving Clemson a 7-0 lead.

In addition to Davis' ineffectiveness, the Tigers also received little in the passing game. Will Proctor completed just 11-of-28 passes for 86 yards and an interception.

However, the Hokies responded with a 12-play, 84-yard drive. Quarterback Sean Glennon capped the march with a one-yard TD run with 63 seconds left in the first quarter.

Glennon completed an efficient 9-of-15 passes for 108 yards.

Brandon Pace's 37-yard field goal with 11:36 remaining in the first gave the Hokies a 10-7 lead.

On the Tigers' first possession of the third quarter, Proctor was intercepted by linebacker Xavier Adibi at his own 35. That miscue helped set up Ore's 11-yard score that made it 17-7.

Ore capped the scoring with a one-yard TD run with 2:07 left in the third quarter.