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Florida State roughs up Virginia Tech

Oct 26, 2008 - 1:04 AM TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Ticker) -- Florida State's defense handed Virginia Tech more than just an Atlantic Coast Conference defeat Saturday.

The 23rd-ranked Seminoles forced a pair of turnovers and knocked Virginia Tech's top two quarterbacks from the game en route to a 30-20 victory.

"This year we've won the close games. Now can we keep it up? I don't know but that's your key," Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden said. "We're just good enough to get ahead of you looks like.

"This game seems like no different from the one last week or the one the week before that where you're behind at the half and come back and win."

After jumping into the rankings while idle last weekend, Florida State put on a defensive show for the home crowd in its first game in Tallahassee in nearly four weeks.

Christian Ponder completed 11-of-19 passes for 161 yards and connected with Taiwan Easterling on a 4-yard touchdown to give the Seminoles (6-1, 3-1 ACC Atlantic) the lead for good in the third quarter.

"Give Florida State credit. They are an explosive team," Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer said. "Ponder is doing a great job for them."

The injury bug bit the Hokies on the first play from scrimmage when starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor left the game with a high left ankle sprain. While the sophomore was rolling out to his right, he was taken down by Toddrick Verdell for one of Florida State's six sacks in the contest.

Senior Sean Glennon came on for Virginia Tech (5-3, 2-2 Coastal) and led the Hokies to a 10-0 advantage after the first quarter.

With the Hokies leading, 3-0, Glennon capped off a 7-play, 64-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run.

Easterling pulled in a spectacular scoring catch to give the Seminoles a 17-13 lead with 6:05 left in the third quarter. Ponder found him in the back of the end zone, and the freshman got one foot in bounds with a pair of Hokies pulling him down.

"When it comes down to crunch time we've been able to pull it out," Ponder said. "But we need to fix some things where it doesn't come down to that and correct the first half. We've been coming out a little slow and not executing as well and we need to fix that."

Glennon completed 9-of-16 for 133 yards. But just as they did to Taylor, the Seminoles pressured Glennon throughout the contest.

Florida State sacked Glennon on four separate occasions and forced him out of the contest late in the third quarter with a left leg injury on Dekoda Watson's sack.

"(Taylor) creates a lot or pressure for you on defense," Florida State defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews said. "We had a little trouble with Glennon there when he came in. He threw the ball around and we didn't rush as well as we need to, we didn't cover as well as we need to."

Antone Smith and Marcus Sims scored rushing touchdowns for Florida State, which sits in a tie atop the Atlantic division at 3-1 with Maryland.

Virginia Tech turned to converted wide receiver Cory Holt as the third-string quarterback. He connected with Andre Smith on a 4-yard touchdown to pull the Hokies within seven, but Graham Gano's third field goal of the day iced the game for Florida State.