BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — Micah Ford rushed for 149 yards and three touchdowns and Stanford’s defense forced three turnovers to lead the Cardinal to a 40-22 victory over Virginia Tech on Saturday.

The Cardinal (5-5, 3-4 Atlantic Coast Conference), who scored their most points in an ACC game since joining the league, snapped a 15-game road losing streak, which was the longest in school history and had been the longest active streak in FBS. Stanford’s last road win came Sept. 20, 2024 at Syracuse.

The Cardinal are also one win away from bowl eligibility, which would be an accomplishment for a program with five consecutive losing seasons.

“We’ve made no bones about playing for an extra game,” Stanford coach Tavita Pritchard said. “We’re one step closer to that. With this team, we’ve gotten better every single game. We want to be a team that is better today than we were yesterday and better next week than we were this week.”

Virginia Tech (6-4, 3-4) entered the game as 15.5-point favorites according to BetMGM Sportsbook, but the Hokies turned the ball over three times in the first half, fell behind 21-0, and never recovered in losing their second consecutive game.

The Cardinal scored 14 points off Virginia Tech turnovers and scored on its final four possessions of the first half to lead 24-7 at halftime. Stanford safety Charlie Eckhardt caused all three turnovers, intercepting two passes and forcing a fumble.

Eckhardt’s second interception led to Stanford’s first score, a 16-yard touchdown run by quarterback Davis Warren for a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter. Eckhardt forced a fumble by Virginia Tech’s Que’Sean Brown that was recovered by Jay Green led to a 5-yard touchdown run by Ford that gave the Cardinal a 21-0 lead with 7:40 left in the first half.

“Have to shoutout the defense,” Pritchard said. “There were some short fields there, so better scoring range to be able to do that (lead 21-0). And then finishing drives. I think it starts with running the football and having the ability to do that. That opens everything up. But look, the players make this come to life. … It was just guys showing up and making plays.”

Ford also scored on runs of 3 and 2 yards, the latter coming with 8:27 left in the game that gave the Cardinal a 37-14 lead. Ford has rushed for more than 100 yards in three of the Cardinal’s past four games.

Jeffrey Overton Jr. led the Hokies with 107 yards rushing and a touchdown.

“We did not meet anyone’s expectations, including myself,” Virginia Tech coach James Franklin said. “We’re not playing winning football. … A lot of areas where we’ve got to get better. A lot of work to do.”

Takeaways

Stanford: The Cardinal’s defense entered the game ranked last in the ACC in scoring defense (37.3 per game), total defense (454.1 yards per game), and total sacks (six). But that unit sacked Virginia Tech’s Ethan Grunkemeyer five times, held the Hokies to just 398 total yards, and played arguably its best game against a Power 4 team this season.

“Coming into this game, I knew our defense had a chance to play really, really well,” Pritchard said. “The way that they’ve been practicing and preparing, and the way that we matched up (with the Hokies). I did think we had a good chance to play well on defense.”

Virginia Tech: This was a dreadful home performance by the Hokies in all phases. The offense turned the ball over and couldn’t protect Grunkemeyer, and the defense now has given up 91 points and more than 1,000 yards in the past two games.

More on Eckhardt

Eckhardt also finished with a season-high 10 tackles and a sack in arguably the best performance of his career.

“Absolutely relentless effort and attitude all the time,” Pritchard said of Eckhardt. “He loves to play football. He loves practicing football. He just exudes everything we want about competition and effort and relentlessness and self-improvement. Chuck embodies so much of what we want to be in this program, and I’m just so happy for him tonight.”

Up next

Stanford: Plays Saturday at California.

Virginia Tech: Visits Miami on Saturday.

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