| 2005 Sugar Bowl | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | January 3, 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Louisiana Superdome | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | New Orleans, Louisiana | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
A decade after Virginia Tech's selection the 1995 Sugar Bowl and five years after its appearance in a Sugar Bowl game that served as the national championship game, Tech was again selected to play in New Orleans' annual Sugar Bowl game. The No. 9 Hokies finished the regular season 10–2 and won the Atlantic Coast Conference championship their first year in the conference, winning an automatic bid to the game. Facing the Hokies were the No. 3 Auburn Tigers, who had gone 12–0 during the regular season. Normally, Auburn's undefeated season would have been justification for a spot in the 2005 BCS National Championship Game, but because two other teams had also gone undefeated during the regular season, Auburn, as the No. 3 team in the country, was left out of the National Championship game.
The 2005 Sugar Bowl kicked off at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana on January 3, 2005. The game's early going was marked by defense and field goals. Virginia Tech didn't score in the first half, and Auburn managed just three field goals, including one taken inside the Virginia Tech red zone after Auburn failed to score a touchdown from the Tech one-yard line. Tech also had a chance to score a touchdown from inside their opponent's one-yard line, but like Auburn, failed to do so. The Hokies elected to try for a touchdown rather than a field goal on fourth down, but were stopped. At halftime, Auburn had a 9–0 lead.
In the second half, both teams had more offensive success. Auburn scored the game's first touchdown four and a half minutes into the third quarter, widening the Tigers' lead to 16–0. Virginia Tech fought back, driving inside the Auburn 10-yard line before settling for a field goal attempt. Kicker Brandon Pace missed the 23-yard field goal try, leaving the score at 16–0. Tech would have other chances, however. With less than seven minutes remaining in the game, Tech scored its first points of the game after a six-play, 78-yard drive. A 29-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Bryan Randall made the score 16–6 after a missed two-point conversion. As time ran down, Tech closed the gap even further. With just over two minutes remaining in the game, Randall connected on an 80-yard pass to wide receiver Josh Morgan for a touchdown. With the score now at 16–13 and time running out, Tech elected to attempt an onside kick in hopes of having a chance for a game-winning offensive drive. Auburn recovered the kick, however, and ran out the clock.
Auburn won the game, 16–13, and Auburn quarterback Jason Campbell was named the game's most valuable player.
Read more about this topic: List Of Virginia Tech Hokies Bowl Games, Game Capsules
Famous quotes containing the words sugar and/or bowl:
“Some days your hat’s off to the full-time mothers for being able to endure the relentless routine and incessant policing seven days a week instead of two. But on other days, merely the image of this woman crafting a brontosaurus out of sugar paste and sheet cake for her two-year-old’s birthday drives a stake through your heart.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)
“It all ended with the circuslike whump of a monstrous box on the ear with which I knocked down the traitress who rolled up in a ball where she had collapsed, her eyes glistening at me through her spread fingers—all in all quite flattered, I think. Automatically, I searched for something to throw at her, saw the china sugar bowl I had given her for Easter, took the thing under my arm and went out, slamming the door.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)