College Football Old School Game of the Week: Syracuse Beats Virginia Tech on McNabb's Walk-off TD Pass

Syracuse tight end Stephen Brominski makes the game-winning touchdown catch in the Orangemen's 1998 game with Virginia Tech.

 On November 14, 1998 the Syracuse Orangemen hosted the Virginia Tech Hokies in a important game in the race for the Big East conference championship and trip to either the Sugar or Orange Bowl in the inaugural year of the Bowl Championship Series or BCS.

Syracuse came into this game unranked with a 5-3 record as they had lost the previous week 35-28 to West Virginia which was their first conference loss as their previous two losses had been to non conference opponents Tennessee and N.C.State.

The Orangemen were led by senior quarterback Donovan McNabb who was making his 45th career start at quarterback as he had led Syracuse to at least nine wins in each of his previous three seasons.

Standing in his way were the Virginia Tech Hokies who came into the game ranked #16 with a 7-1 record under head coach Frank Beamer.

Beamer had made the Hokies into a power in the Big East Conference with "Beamerball"  where special teams and defense often chipped in with touchdowns to help the Hokies win games.

The Hokies hoped that "Beamerball" could overcome McNabb's efficiency as the two teams squared off in front of nearly 50,000 fans at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse.

After the Orangemen went three-and-out to start the game, the Hokies would get the ball at their 37-yard-line as their first two plays gained 12 yards which was followed by a Syracuse pass interference penalty to give Virginia Tech a 1st down at the Orangemen's 36-yard-line.

However, a quarterback sack would kill the drive as the Hokies would punt the ball back to the Orangemen who took over at their 15-yard-line as a 14-yard run by running back Kyle McIntosh and a 39-yard pass from McNabb to Jeff Lowe gave Syracuse a 1st down at the Virginia Tech 32-yard-line.

The Orangemen seemed to poise put points on the board especially after McIntosh ran for 11 yards on two straight runs to give Syracuse a 1st down at the Virginia Tech 21-yard-line, only to go backwards as a holding penalty push and a McIntosh run which lost four yards lead to another punt to the Hokies.

After both teams went three-and-out on their next possessions, the Hokies had the ball in Syracuse territory when quarterback Al Clark fumbled the football which was recovered by Syracuse defensive tackle Rickie Simpkins to give the Orangemen the ball at their 40-yard-line.

Two running plays picked up seven yards to set up 3rd & 3 when McNabb connected with Kevin Johnson for 32 yards to give Syracuse a 1st down at the Virginia Tech 21-yard-line.

The Orangemen would travel no further as they would settle for a 43-yard field goal by Nate Trout to give Syracuse a 3-0 lead with 1:14 left in the first quarter.

The Hokies would begin their ensuing possession at their 16-yard-line as two plays picked eight yards to set up 3rd & 2 when fullback Jarrett Fergurson took a handoff from Clark and raced 76 yards for the touchdown on the final play of the 1st quarter to give Virginia Tech a 7-3 lead.

The Orangemen would only drive from their 20-yard-line to their 34-yard-line on their next possession when "Beamerball" struck as Hokies cornerback Anthony Midget would block Donald Dinkins' punt leading to a scramble where the ball would end up in the end zone recovered by Ricky Hall for a Virginia Tech touchdown which increased their lead to 14-3.

Following another exchange of punts, the Orangemen got the ball at their 23-yard-line as a roughing the kicker penalty on 4th & 1 and a 27-yard pass from McNabb to Darryl Daniel put Syracuse at the Virginia Tech 23-yard-line when "Beamerball" once again made its presence felt.

As Syracuse wide receiver Maurice Jackson took the football on an end-around, he was met by Hokies free safety Keion Carpenter who stripped Jackson of the ball leading to cornerback Loren Johnson to catch the fumble in mid-air and return it for a 78-yard touchdown to extend the Virginia Tech lead to 21-3 with 3:09 remaining in the second quarter.

Virginia Tech defensive end Corey Moore helped the Hokies' defense to seven quarterback sacks.

It looked like the game was getting out of hand for Syracuse especially after their offense went three-and-out on their next possession to give the Hokies the ball back at the Orangemen's 36-yard-line with 2:33 left before halftime.

However, the Syracuse defense would not allow a 1st down as the Hokies would attempt a 48-yard field goal by Shayne Graham which he missed to keep the score 21-3 and give the Orangemen the ball at their 32-yard-line with 1:07 remaining.

After he ran for just one yard on 1st down, McNabb fired a deep pass for Johnson, who outjumped a Virginia Tech defendant, to make the 48-yard reception to set up a 36-yard field goal by Trout which trimmed the Hokies' lead to 21-6 as the first half came to an end.The Hokies would go three-and-out to start the second half to give the ball back to the Orangemen who took over at their 48-yard-line as a 28-yard run by McNabb on a 3rd & 14 helped set up his one-yard touchdown pass to tight end Stephen Brominski to cut the Virginia Tech lead to 21-13 midway through the third quarter.

Following another Virginia Tech three-and-out, the Orangemen would travel from their 43-yard-line to the Hokies' 12-yard-line until they settled for a 30-yard field goal by Trent which made it 21-16 in favor of the Hokies with 57 seconds left in the third quarter.

Now it looked the game was in Syracuse's favor especially on the second play of the Hokies' ensuing possession when defensive lineman Marc Pilon intercepted a shovel pass to give the Orangemen the ball at the Virginia Tech 22-yard-line.

After running back Dee Brown was dropped for a three-yard-loss on 1st down to end the first quarter, McNabb ran for 15 yards to give Syracuse a 1st & goal at the Hokies' 10-yard-line as two running plays for five yards and a four-yard pass to Daniel set up 4th & goal from the one-yard-line.

Pasqualoni decided to go for the touchdown which he got when fullback Rob Konrad punched it in for the one-yard touchdown to give Syracuse the lead for the first time in the game at 22-21.

The Orangemen decided to go for two after the touchdown to make it a three-point game when McNabb was picked off by Loren Johnson on a pass intended for Kevin Johnson.

Loren ran down the field hoping to get into the end zone to give two points to the Hokies when he was caught 10 yards short of the end zone by McNabb as the senior cornerback tried to flip the ball to a teammate only to have fall to the turf and bounce into the end zone where linebacker Jamel Smith fell on the ball to give Virginia Tech two points and the 23-22 lead with 12:23 left in the fourth quarter.

After both teams went three-and-out on their next possessions, the Hokies got the ball at their 39-yard-line when they put together their best drive of the second half as Shyrone Stith ran the ball four straight times for a total of 32 yards to put Virginia Tech at the Syracuse 29-yard-line.

After an offsides penalty gave the Hokies another five yards, the Syracuse defense rose to the occasion as they pushed the Virginia Tech offense backwards as the Hokies lost eight yards on the next three plays, forcing them to settle for a 49-yard field goal by Graham to extend the lead to 26-22 with 4:42 left in the game.

The Orangemen would begin their ensuing possession at their 17-yard-line hoping to put together a drive that would result in a game-winning touchdown.

Donovan McNabb would throw for 232 yards and two touchdown passes while running for 57 yards on 21 carries.

The drive would begin with an incomplete pass which was followed by a nine-yard run by McNabb to set up 3rd & 1 when Brown ran for three yards to give Syracuse a 1st down at its 29-yard-line.

A 12-yard pass from McNabb to Kevin Johnson gave Syracuse a fresh set of downs at their 41-yard-line as an one-yard run by McNabb, a two-yard pass to Johnson and an incomplete pass would set up a do-or-die 4th & 7 at the Syracuse 44-yard-line with 1:45 remaining.

That is when McNabb scrambled up the middle for a 41-yard run to keep Syracuse alive as the Orangemen had a fresh set of downs at the Virginia Tech 15-yard-line.

Following an incomplete pass on 1st down, McNabb would hit Jackson for 14 yards to give Syracuse a 1st & goal at the Hokies' one-yard-line.

McNabb would hand the ball off to Konrad who would be stopped for no gain to bring up 2nd down when McNabb threw an incomplete pass intended for Brominski only to draw a roughing-the-passer penalty to give the Orangemen a fresh set of downs at the Virginia Tech one-yard-line.

McNabb would take the snap and ran to his left hoping to fire a pass for a Syracuse receiver when he was dragged down by Hokies defensive end Corey Moore for a 12-yard loss but more importantly took time off the clock as the Orangemen were out of timeouts.

McNabb was able to get the offense set to spike the ball on 2nd down leaving five seconds left on the clock as McNabb came to the sidelines so exhausted that he vomited.

McNabb would gather himself as he got ready for the game's final play where he took the snap and ran to his right, then fired a pass for the left corner of the end zone where Bromisnki outjumped Hokies linebacker Michael Hawkes to make the catch for the 13-yard touchdown to give Syracuse a 28-26 win and sending the Carrier Dome into a frenzy.

The heartbreaking loss ended the Hokies' hopes for a BCS Bowl berth as they would finish the regular season with a 8-3 record to earn an invitaton to play Alabama in the Music City Bowl where the Hokies would win 38-7 to finish the season #19 in the final coaches poll and #23 in the final AP poll.

As for the Orangemen, they would go on to defeat Temple 38-7 to set up a winner-take-all game with Miami for the Big East conference title where McNabb accounted for five touchdowns as Syracuse destroyed the Hurricanes 66-13 to earn a trip to the Orange Bowl.

However, the Orangemen would fall to the Florida Gators 38-10 to finish the season with a 8-4 record and #23 ranking in the final coachees poll and #24 ranking in the final AP poll as McNabb would go on to an 13-year NFL career predominately with the Philadelphia Eagles to which he lead to a Super Bowl appearance in 2005.