BLACKSBURG — Backed into a corner after two straight losses, Virginia Tech’s football team stormed off the ropes and came out fighting Thursday night at Lane Stadium.

Getting well again against a bunch that has rapidly become their favorite ACC punching bag, the Hokies rode a school-record 253-yard rushing performance from redshirt freshman tailback Darren Evans and whipped Maryland 23-13 in front of 66,233 fans.

“The offensive line was just blowing the defensive line off the ball,” said Evans, whose previous best rushing game was a 94-yard effort against Georgia Tech.

“They were making humongous holes. Anybody could’ve ran through those. I knew we were going to run the ball a lot. … The game plan was just to run the ball.

With the victory, Tech (6-3, 3-2 ACC) remained in the driver’s seat for the league’s Coastal Division title. If they win their final three games — at Miami next Thursday and home against Duke (Nov. 22) and Virginia (Nov. 29) — the Hokies will head to the Dec. 6 ACC championship game at Tampa, Fla.

The victory was Tech’s third straight over Maryland since joining the ACC in 2004. The Hokies have outscored the Terps 106-28 in the trifecta.

Evans carried a career-high 32 times in surpassing Mike Imoh’s 243-yard game against North Carolina in 2004. He broke off runs of 50, 45 and 29 yards in boosting his season rushing total to 772 yards.

Evans said the Hokies thought the Terrapins were a “little timid in the middle” after watching Maryland on video.

“After a while, I think they got tired of hitting me,” Evans said. “They got tired of hitting the offensive line. ... They were a little soft in the middle at times. We [were] just running up the gut. We [were] hitting them in the mouth just like we’ve been talking about all week.”

The Hokies, who became eligible for their 16th consecutive bowl game with their sixth victory, finished with 400 total yards, surpassing their previous high this season of 377 against Nebraska.

Tech’s 273 rushing yards also was a season high, eclipsing their previous best of 261 yards against Furman.

Led by Evans’ 13 carries for 116 yards, Tech led 17-3 at halftime, getting a 5-yard touchdown pass from Sean Glennon to tight end Greg Boone for a touchdown and a 1-yard TD plunge by Evans.

The first of three field goals by Dustin Keys — a 30-yarder with nine seconds left in the half — put the Hokies up 14 going to the locker room.

Virginia Tech upped its cushion to 20-3 on a 35-yard field goal only 2:16 into the second half and appeared to be on its way to rout when Evans’ 45-yard gallop took the ball to the Maryland 43. But the drive stalled and Tech punter Brent Bowden pinned the Terps on their own 2.

But Maryland (6-3, 3-2) refused to fold the tent. Getting a much-needed big play, quarterback Chris Turner found wideout Darrius Heyward-Bey on an underneath route over the middle. When Tech safety Kam Chancellor missed him, the speedster turned on the jets and outran a flock of defenders for a 63-yard touchdown to cut the Hokies’ lead to 20-10 with 6:43 left in the third quarter.

A botched punt by Chancellor at the Hokies’ 11 allowed Maryland to creep closer late in the quarter. After Tech’s defense held Maryland to a 27-yard field goal by Obi Egekeze’s, the Hokies had to be wondering if things were beginning to unravel.

“I thought that was a pretty game … parts of it. Then in the third quarter, we got some ugly things,” Tech coach Frank Beamer said. “But our defense hung in after the botched kick and held them to a field goal.”

Set up by Macho Harris’ 14-yard punt return to the Maryland 43, the Hokies kept pounding Evans behind their big front line. They went 33 yards in 11 plays and ate nearly six minutes off the clock before settling for a 27-yard field goal by Keys that pushed their lead back to 10.

The Hokies averted losing three straight games for the first time since 2002.

It was all about the run. Now they’re on the run again towards a possible third Coastal Division title in four years.

“We said we needed to run the football better,” Beamer said. “And when [Evans] got in there, he got hot. When he got we just kept giving it to him. He really ran the ball strong.”

Sean Glennon, who was a game-time decision to play, went the distance, completing 14 of 20 passes for 127 yards. Tech’s defense limited Maryland to 228 yards, including an abysmal minus-12 yards on the ground. Turner was 19-for-31 passing for 240 yards.