KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech's Tyrod Taylor (right) escapes the grasp of Virginia's Matt Conrath during the third quarter of the Hokies' 17-14 win over the Cavaliers on Saturday.

KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times

Virginia's Ras-I Dowling (19) gets upended by Virginia Tech's Tyrod Taylor (5) after Dowling tried to pick off a pass from Greg Boone that was intended for Taylor. Trailing the play is Tech's Jarrett Boykin. Taylor, Tech's quarterback, was in the pass pattern because the football was snapped instead to Boone in the Hokies' "Wild Turkey" formation.

KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times

Virginia's Cedric Peerman (right) runs ahead of Virginia Tech's Rashad Carmichael during the second quarter of Saturday's game at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg. The Cavaliers led by a touchdown at halftime, but the Hokies came back to win 17-14.

BLACKSBURG -- Talk about going from the outhouse to the penthouse in a hurry.

One week removed from his worst effort in a Virginia Tech uniform, quarterback Tyrod Taylor responded with the best game of his short career, propelling the Hokies to a 17-14 victory over Virginia on Saturday afternoon at Lane Stadium.

Led by Taylor's 274 total yards, Tech captured their third Coastal Division title in four years and punched its ticket to next Saturday's ACC championship game in Tampa, Fla. In a rematch from last year's title game, Tech (8-4, 5-3 ACC) will face Boston College (9-3, 5-3), which sewed up the Atlantic Division crown by beating Maryland 28-21 on Saturday.

The Hokies couldn't have done it without Taylor. The talented sophomore did it with his legs -- running 16 times for 137 yards -- and his arm, completing 12 of 18 passes for 137 yards and one touchdown. He didn't have a turnover, a week after he suffered two interceptions and two fumbles in five first-half possessions in Tech's 14-3 win over Duke. Taylor was yanked midway in the second quarter and never returned.

"I wish we had played this game last Sunday, that's how bad I wanted to play," Taylor said. "My best game of my career? Yes, because it meant a lot to the team. I had a couple of good games last year, but this one meant a lot. To get this one and let the seniors go out with a win in their last home game and to go to the ACC championship was a great deal."

Speaking of great deals, the Cavaliers (5-7, 3-5) were hardly that for Tech this time. The Hokies' ninth victory in 10 meetings against their in-state rival -- including the past five straight -- was anything but easy.

Virginia lost in spite of the dazzling debut of junior Vic Hall at quarterback. Hall, who also had three tackles and one sack at his normal cornerback spot, rushed for 109 yards and scored on runs of 40 and 16 yards to give the visitors a 14-7 halftime lead.

Hall, a surprise starter at QB, got the Cavs in position to win with a 39-yard gallop to the Tech 24 with 5 minutes left. But after two plays lost a yard, Cavs' regular starting QB Scott Verica came in and fired the ball into the end zone, where it was easily intercepted by Hokies rover Dorian Porch with 2:15 left.

"The ball couldn't get there quick enough," a happy Porch said. "Oh, no, it was floating ... floating. They were trying to hit it over the linebacker and underneath me. I got underneath it and took the ball.

"Yeah, definitely it's big. I'm real excited about the play, gave us the opportunity to put the game away."

After Hall's 40-yard run gave UVa a 7-0 lead on the game's opening possession, Tech responded with a 13-play, 65-yard drive capped by Taylor's 3-yard TD pass to Jarrett Boykin.

Tech, which finished with 392 total yards -- its second highest output of the season -- trailed at halftime after a couple of long drives that resulted in no points.

A 14-play, 63-yard thrust down field in the first quarter ended in a missed 22-yard field goal by Dustin Keys, and a 14-play, 59-yard drive in the second quarter ended when a Sean Glennon pass was picked off in the end zone by UVa's Byron Glaspy.

"We should have cashed those in for a touchdown and really put the game out of place," Tech tight end Greg Boone said. "But other than that, I think the offense grew up today and showed how we can move the ball."

Down 14-7, Tech didn't wait long to get even after getting the ball first in the second half. Two plays after Taylor zig-zagged his way through a herd of defenders 73 yards to the UVa 9, Boone took a shotgun snap in Tech's new "Wild Turkey" formation and burrowed 4 yards into the end zone to square the game at 14.

One possession later, Tech marched 13 plays in 72 yards to the UVa 1. But that drive went for naught when Boone was stopped for a 4-yard loss on fourth down with 4:16 left in the third quarter.

Tech finally got the score that ultimately decided matters -- a 28-yard field goal by Keys -- with 6:37 left in the game.

While Tech's defense was solid again, allowing only 249 yards, Taylor's on-target passing and big days by young receivers Boykin (6 catches for 65 yards) and Danny Coale (5-for-66) were the big story for the Hokies.

"There's a lot of talk that I'm not a very good passer, so every time I go there, I play with something to prove," Taylor said.

Glennon, who played sparingly, going 3-for-9 passing for 39 yards, said it was Taylor's most accurate throwing day of the season.

"And to bounce back from his worst game this year shows that he's not going to hang his head or lose confidence," Glennon said. "He had a complete opposite performance as from last week and showed the Tyrod Taylor we expect. He hit a few passes that were down the field. I know that's always been a criticism that he doesn't hit the passes down the field. I'm sure he's feeling much better this week."

Coale added: "Yeah, Tyrod can throw the thing. He can run it, too. You saw today that he can throw. We see him everyday. We know what we can do. The biggest thing is you've got to make 70,000 believe it, too. Today, he did that."

And Tech is heading to another ACC title game, looking for its third championship in five years.

"Some years mean more than others But this one, I think, is about as special as it gets," Tech coach Frank Beamer said.