NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY/AP) — Old Dominion football beat 13th-ranked Virginia Tech 49-35 Saturday night in the biggest win in the Monarch’s history and one of the biggest upsets in Hokie history. 

Blake LaRussa came off the bench to throw for 495 yards and four touchdowns. He entered the game on ODU’s second series, completed 30 of 49 and rushed for a touchdown to lead the 28½-point underdog Monarchs (1-3) to a stunning win over the Hokies (2-1) from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Old Dominion went into the game with nine straight losses. The Hokies were the widely favored choice to win the contest at at S.B. Ballard Stadium.

Jeremy Cox’s 40-yard touchdown run with 1:34 remaining sealed the biggest win in program history. After the game, the ODU faithful stormed the field.

VIDEO (App/Mobile Users): ODU fans storm the field 

The Hokies (2-1) led 28-21 after a 72-yard touchdown pass from Josh Jackson to Damon Hazelton with 32 seconds left in the third quarter, but ODU scored on its next two possessions, taking a 35-28 lead on a 15-yard touchdown run by Cox with 9:57 to go — the Monarchs first lead of the game.

Things got worse for Virginia Tech, as Jackson went down with a lower leg injury on the first play of the ensuing drive. Backup quarterback Ryan Willis led the Hokies on a 75-yard march that ended with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Chris Cunningham with 7:15 remaining, tying the game at 35.

GALLERY (App/Mobile Users): ODU upsets No.13 Va. Tech, 49-35

But the Hokies simply had no answer for ODU. LaRussa polished off a 75-yard drive with a beautiful 29-yard fade pattern to Jonathan Duhart for a touchdown with 5:11 left that was the game winner.

“At night when you dream about this game, this is what you picture,” Monarchs wide receiver Travis Fulgham said.

Led by LaRussa and Cox, ODU finished with 632 yards of offense against a Virginia Tech team that has prided itself on defense for decades under coordinator Bud Foster. Cox rushed for 130 yards.

Steven Peoples paced the Hokies with a career-high 156 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Jackson threw two touchdown passes before leaving with the injury.

“I told them, ‘I liked you guys a lot better when everybody told you you were terrible,'” Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuente said about his team. “When everybody told you you didn’t have any chance in that first game, and all you did was work your tails off.’ And then now we get all feeling good about ourselves and we got brought back down to earth. We got what we deserved.”

Longtime ODU coach Bobby Wilder called it “one of the biggest moments in Hampton Roads sports history.”

Virginia Tech beat ODU 38-0 in Blacksburg last year. This was the second meeting of a scheduled 13 over 14 seasons, including six in Norfolk.

THE TAKEAWAY

Virginia Tech: The Hokies looked flat coming off an unscheduled open week courtesy of Hurricane Florence, which forced last Saturday’s cancellation of Virginia Tech’s game against East Carolina. The Hokies’ defense looked nothing like the unit that had given up just 20 points combined in the first two games.

Foster will have to shore up a banged-up secondary as Tech heads into ACC play.

ODU: The Monarch appear to have found a leader in LaRussa, who came into the game with 183 yards passing as a reserve, but surpassed that in the first half. The 5-foot-11 LaRussa showed uncanny accuracy against Virginia Tech’s man coverage, taking advantage of the 6-foot-3 Duhart and 6-3 Travis Fulgham (188 yards). He may just be the spark the Monarchs needed after getting off to a dismal 0-3 start that included losses to Liberty, FIU and Charlotte.

UNDISCIPLINED HOKIES

Frustrations boiled over at several points throughout the second half for the Hokies, who ended up being penalized seven times for 95 yards. The cluster of penalties included four unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, which drew the ire of Fuente.

“It’s inexcusable,” Fuente said. “What happened was we got in the middle of a real game – a real competitive game and things weren’t going our way, and that’s how we responded. And that’s inexcusable.

WAVY’s Nathan Epstein, Taylor O’Bier and Kevin Green contributed to this report.