Virginia Tech and North Carolina had a game for the ages with the Hokies winning the longest game in ACC history 43-41 in 6 overtimes. The Hokies had lots of great performances, but these two players stood out the most to earn this week's Hokies of the Game honors.
Offensive Hokie of the Game: Quincy Patterson
There were a lot of potential choices here, but Quincy Patterson's performance in the second half and overtime to help lead Virginia Tech to victory earned him this week's Offensive Hokie of the Game honors.
Patterson came in the second half after Ryan Willis struggled to open it, and stepped up running for 122 yards and a touchdown while going 3-6 for 54 yards and 1 TD through the air. Most importantly, Patterson scored the game-winning two-point conversion on what was a memorable game for Patterson.
On this day, Patterson showed that he can be a competent passer to go with his great power-running that is very reminiscent of Jerod Evans. Additionally, the fact that Patterson was able to step in and help lead this team to victory shows a lot about his potential at QB and should be part of the reason for him being the backup over Ryan Willis going forward.
Tre Turner had a big game with 5 catches for 106 yards and 1 touchdown as Turner was a playmaker from his 55-yard touchdown to turning screens into quality gains. Deshawn McClease was productive on the ground with 13 carries for 72 yards and a touchdown while Damon Hazelton had 3 catches for 43 yards and 2 touchdowns including a one-handed, 18-yard TD catch while having an arm held to force a third overtime.
Before being injured, Hendon Hooker showed why he's the Hokies' best quarterback currently going 8-12 for 127 yards and a touchdown while running for 41 yards. Hooker did have his first turnover as a starter via a fumble, but Hooker continued to show that his quality protection of the football is a big reason why he's VT's best QB.
Defensive Hokie of the Game: Rayshard Ashby
Rayshard Ashby's strong junior season continued as he earned our Defensive Hokie of the Game honor for the third time this season.
Ashby may not have had some of the flashiest plays, but the starting mike linebacker was a rock for he Hokies leading Virginia Tech with 17 tackles including 2 total tackles for loss. Throughout this game, Ashby was all over the field making important defensive plays that may not have grabbed a lot of attention, but were the critical to victory.
That's the type of player Ashby has become, someone who makes every play that he's supposd and doesn't make mistakes. That may mean he won't have the fanciest highlight reel, but the junior linebacker is the consistent mike that a Bud Foster defense absolutely has to have.
Khalil Ladler received serious consideration after coming off the bench and making both two-point conversion stops in fifth and sixth overtimes. If anything, Ladler is now known as the greatest defensive player in the history of overtime, two-point conversion contests.
Caleb Farley was well on his way to running away with till an injury kept him out of the second half and overtime, but was impressive in the first half with a career-high four pass breakups. VT's starting DTs for this game were impressive as Jarrod Hewitt had 2.5 sacks while true freshman Norell Pollard had 2 sacks in what was the best game of the season for VT's defensive tackles to date despite not having Deshawn Crawford.
