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BLACKSBURG, Virginia (Ticker) -- Lee Suggs established a school record with his 30th and 31st career rushing touchdowns, but in the end had little to celebrate as No. 9 Virginia Tech crushed Connecticut, 52-10. A 6-foot junior from Roanoke, Virginia, Suggs scored on runs of one and 49 yards in a 1:58 span early in the second quarter to give the Hokies (1-0) a 28-10 lead with 12 1/2 minutes to play in the opening half. Suggs surpassed Cyrus Lawrence for most rushing touchdowns in school history. Lawrence starred for the Hokies from 1979-82. But Suggs, who carried 12 times for 99 yards, suffered a torn ACL in his left knee in the third quarter and could be lost for the season. The extent of the injury will be determined during surgery on Monday. "I think we operate on Monday and hope for the best," Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said. "Lee has put so much into this. We just hope it works out for the best." The Huskies (0-1), in only their second season of Division I-A competition and still four years away from joining Virginia Tech in the Big East Conference, were held scoreless after Keron Henry's 15-yard TD run brought Connecticut within 14-10 late in the first quarter. "I thought there were a lot of positives that came out of this game today in terms of where we are with our program and what we are doing," Connecticut coach Randy Edsall said. "Virginia Tech is just an outstanding football team." Grant Noel, a junior who is taking over for top NFL draft pick Michael Vick, completed a three-touchdown second-quarter explosion for, the Hokies with a 19-year scoring strike just over 11 minutes into the period that gave Virginia Tech a 35-10 halftime advantage. A junior who had attempted only 12 career passes entering the day, Noel completed all but four of his 20 attempts for 267 yards and three touchdowns. He opened the scoring with a 48-yard TD toss to Andre Davis just 1:52 into the contest and hit running back Jarrett Ferguson for an eight-yard score shortly thereafter. Beamer recorded his 100th win as Virginia Tech coach. He has a record of 100-61-2 (.613) in 14-plus seasons at the school and the Hokies have won 11 of their 15 openers under Beamer. "I hate to do this, but I have to congratulate (Beamer) on his 100th win," Edsall said. "They are going to be well tuned to make a run at a national title this year." En route to ammassing 606 yards of total offense, Virginia Tech scored on its first five possessions, pleasing the 53,662 in attendance at Lane Stadium. Keith Burnell had touchdown runs off three and two yards in the second half as the game turned into a rout. However, Beamer might come under some criticism in the upcoming days as he allowed Carter Warley to boot a 39-yard field goal on the game's final play. Freshman Keron Henry started behind center for Connecticut and completed 10-of-29 passes for 110 yards with one interception. He also led the Huskies with 35 rushing yards as Connnecticut gained just 74 yards on the ground. The Hokies, behind Suggs and Burnell (71), totaled 283 rushing yards.
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