October 1, 2011 Week 5 · Regular Season Belt defended

Clemson defends the belt, 23–3, on the road at Virginia Tech.

Home · Challenger

Virginia TechAP No. 11 3

Away · Defending Holder

ClemsonAP No. 13 23

AP poll, week 5: Clemson No. 13 at Virginia Tech No. 11 · No. 1 that week: West Virginia. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Clemson came in 14 days into reign #278, which began with a win over Auburn, with one defense already behind it; this was its second defense. Clemson went on to defend it 3 more times before Georgia Tech took it on October 29, 2011, 42 days after the reign began.

For Virginia Tech this was its 14th shot at the belt; it had never held the belt.

It was the 2nd of 4 belt games between the two; going in, Clemson led the belt series 1–0; all-time Clemson leads 4–0. Every meeting →

AI-Written

Recap

Clemson's defense set the tone early, with Xavier Brewer picking off a Logan Thomas pass on Virginia Tech's opening drive. The Tigers got on the board first with a Chandler Catanzaro field goal in the first quarter. Virginia Tech answered with a field goal of their own in the second quarter, but Clemson took control with a pair of touchdown drives capped by Andre Ellington's 1-yard plunge and a 32-yard Tajh Boyd-to-Dwayne Allen connection in the third quarter. The Tigers put the game away in the fourth quarter with Mike Bellamy's 31-yard rushing touchdown, holding the Hokies scoreless in the second half to preserve the belt.

Xavier Brewer interception on Virginia Tech's first drive, setting early defensive tone for Clemson
Andre Ellington 1-yard touchdown in Q2 following 23-yard Watkins reception, giving Clemson 10-3 lead
Dwayne Allen 32-yard touchdown reception in Q3, extending Clemson's lead to 17-3
Mike Bellamy 31-yard touchdown run in Q4, sealing the belt defense

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

Virginia TechClemson

Total yards258323

Rushing yards133119

Passing yards156213

First downs1717

3rd down conv.4/167/17

Turnovers21

Penalties–yards6–605–61

Time of possession21:0615:01

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q1 10:01	Virginia Tech	+0 yd	Logan Thomas pass intercepted by Xavier Brewer at the Clem 31, returned for no gain to the Clem 31.
Q1 2:12	Clemson	+31 yd	Chandler Catanzaro 31 yard field goal GOOD.
Q2 7:48	Clemson	+14 yd	Tajh Boyd pass intercepted by Jayron Hosley at the Clem 45, returned for 14 yards to the Clem 31.
Q2 4:35	Virginia Tech	+34 yd	Justin Myer kickoff for 67 yards returned by Jaron Brown for 34 yards to the VTech 48, VIRGINIA TECH penalty 15 yard Personal Foul on Wiley Brown accepted for a 1ST down.
Q2 4:35	Virginia Tech	+24 yd	Cody Journell 24 yard field goal GOOD.
Q2 1:49	Clemson	+23 yd	Spencer Benton kickoff for 65 yards returned by Tony Gregory for 23 yards to the VTech 28.
Q2 2:45	Clemson	+23 yd	Tajh Boyd pass complete to Sammy Watkins for 23 yards to the VTech 12 for a 1ST down.
Q2 1:49	Clemson	+0 yd	Chandler Catanzaro extra point GOOD.
Q2 1:49	Clemson	+1 yd	Andre Ellington rush for 1 yard for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q3 10:42	Clemson	+32 yd	Tajh Boyd pass complete to Dwayne Allen for 32 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q3 11:30	Clemson	+27 yd	Tajh Boyd pass complete to Jaron Brown for 27 yards to the VTech 39 for a 1ST down.
Q3 10:42	Clemson	+0 yd	Chandler Catanzaro extra point GOOD.
Q4 9:12	Clemson	+20 yd	Tajh Boyd pass complete to Dwayne Allen for 20 yards to the Clem 37 for a 1ST down.
Q4 6:12	Clemson	+31 yd	Mike Bellamy rush for 31 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Virginia Tech

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Logan Thomas	15/27	125	4.6	0	1	19.7

Clemson

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Tajh Boyd	13/32	204	6.4	1	1	34.1

Rushing

Virginia Tech

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	LONG
David Wilson	20	123	6.2	19
Logan Thomas	12	8	0.7	15
Tony Gregory	1	2	2.0	2
Josh Oglesby	6	1	0.2	11

Clemson

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Mike Bellamy	6	47	7.8	1	31
Andre Ellington	16	40	2.5	1	7
Tajh Boyd	10	28	2.8	0	14
Sammy Watkins	3	4	1.3	0	2

Receiving

Virginia Tech

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	LONG
D.J. Coles	4	44	11.0	16
Danny Coale	5	41	8.2	15
David Wilson	2	21	10.5	15
Jarrett Boykin	3	10	3.3	6
Josh Oglesby	1	9	9.0	9

Clemson

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Dwayne Allen	4	75	18.8	1	32
Jaron Brown	3	56	18.7	0	27
Sammy Watkins	3	38	12.7	0	23
Andre Ellington	2	20	10.0	0	11
DeAndre Hopkins	1	15	15.0	0	15

Show more stats (5 more categories)

Interceptions

Virginia Tech

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Jayron Hosley	1	14	0

Clemson

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Xavier Brewer	1	0	0

Kick Returns

Virginia Tech

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
David Wilson	2	36	18.0	19	0
Tony Gregory	3	24	8.0	23	0

Clemson

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Jaron Brown	1	34	34.0	34	0

Kicking

Virginia Tech

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Cody Journell	1/1	100.0	24	0/0	3

Clemson

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Chandler Catanzaro	1/1	100.0	31	2/2	5

Punt Returns

Virginia Tech

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG
Jayron Hosley	4	27	6.8	19
Kyle Fuller	1	9	9.0	9
Kyshoen Jarrett	1	3	3.0	3

Clemson

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
DeAndre Hopkins	1	0	0.0	0	0

Punting

Virginia Tech

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Scott Demler	8	235	29.4	0	0	44

Clemson

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Dawson Zimmerman	8	331	41.4	0	0	50

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 312740259) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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