Virginia Tech rallies from down 24-0 to win Belk Bowl

Virginia Tech scored three third-quarter touchdowns to rally from a 24-0 halftime deficit Thursday and trail Arkansas 24-21 heading into the fourth quarter at the Belk Bowl.

REPLACING BEAMER: With a win in the Belk Bowl, Fuente would become the first coach in Virginia Tech history to win 10 games in his first season. I told our guys in the first half, ‘we played what we coach: “the things we see, the things we asked and the things we do'”. Arkansas (7-6) committed four second-half turnovers, ending the season with three losses in its last four outings.

Arkansas racked up 12 penalties to Virginia Tech’s 4. Arkansas had a chance to get something going on offense with less than eight minutes left. Allen threw his third interception of the half to Terrell Edmunds, giving the Hokies possession at the Razorbacks’ 8-yard line. But he can also run the ball, ranking 10th in the ACC at 58.4 yards per game along with 10 TDs. Austin Allen appeared to be on fire in the first half, but was terrible in the second. It was a dramatic turnaround, denying the Razorbacks three consecutive bowl victories for the first time. This game is one of those bowl games where it depends on which version of both teams shows up.

Arkansas and Virginia Tech are making their first-ever Belk Bowl appearances, and this is also the first-ever matchup against each other.

Allen finished 18 of 31 passing for 278 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. Cornerback Anthony Shegog made a diving interception to seal the takeaway. That drive was for 44 yards. They scored on an Evans-to-Chris Cunningham pass of 5 yards on the next play.

Arkansas led 24-0 at halftime after totally dominating the first half, turning a pair of Hokie turnovers into 10 points and running the ball right at a team that could not get out of its own way.

That lead jumped to 24-0 on an Allen touchdown pass to Keon Hatcher midway through the third. “We did not play well in the first half, and they did play well, but our kids didn’t panic”.

Evans bungled a handoff on the first offensive snap of the game, and Arkansas linebacker Brooks Ellis recovered to set up Cole Hedlund’s 38-yard field goal to set the tone for the half. The brief discussion resulted in Arkansas retaining possession after a penalty on the Hokies.

Arkansas coach Bret Bielema has two words about standout tight end Jeremy Sprinkle ahead of Thursday’s Belk Bowl. Arkansas came out in the first half and completely sliced through Virginia Tech’s defense, scoring 24 unanswered points and putting up 258 yards to go to the locker room with a commanding lead.