heelchair, attended a Bills game last season.He began his 33-year coaching career in 1961 as a defensive line coach with the University of Buffalo.Buddy Ryan was the architect of the greatest defense our league has seen, Bears chairman George H. McCaskey said in a state

DURHAM, N.C. -- Virginia Tech took the lead with some Beamerball. The Hokies kept hold of it with another program staple -- some tough defense at the right time.Adonis Alexander returned a blocked field goal 75 yards for the early, go-ahead touchdown, and No. 19 Virginia Tech held on to beat Duke 24-21 on Saturday and remain in control of the ACCs Coastal Division race.We took what could have been a really difficult situation, and the kids did a great job, first-year Tech coach Justin Fuente said.It was classic Beamerball -- even without Frank Beamer, whos in his first year of retirement.Travon McMillian ran 14 yards for a TD and Jerod Evans passed for 192 yards and scored on a 7-yard run, carrying three Duke defenders along for the ride, for the Hokies (7-2, 5-1, No. 23 AP).Daniel Jones pulled Duke within three points with his second touchdown run of the game, a 2-yarder with 7:10 to play.The Blue Devils got the ball back with 5:55 remaining after forcing a three-and-out, but it looked like they gave it right back when Shaun Wilson fumbled at the 35. But that decision was overturned after a review determined Virginia Tech rover Terrell Edmunds should have been called for targeting, giving the Blue Devils the ball at midfield.These Hokies didnt buckle. Dukes next three plays netted three yards before the Blue Devils punted back, and Virginia Tech ran out the final 4:06, with Evans converting the game-sealing third-and-3 with less than 2 minutes to go.I was pleased with the way the team responded after that event, Fuente said. That was an opportunity to kind of let the air out of your balloon, so to speak, and it certainly did not happen. The defense responded, the offense got the ball and ran the clock out to finish the ball game.Jones, who finished with 148 yards passing, also scored from 7 yards out late in the third quarter to make it 21-14, before Joey Slye extended the Hokies lead to 10 with a 27-yard field goal on the next possession.Wilson had a short touchdown run for the Blue Devils (3-6, 0-5), who have lost three straight and are 1-4 since upsetting Notre Dame.THE TAKEAWAYVirginia Tech: The path to the Coastal Division title still runs through Blacksburg, thanks to that 34-3 win at North Carolina last month. Nothing came easy after they went up 21-7 in the second quarter, but at least the Hokies handled success better than last time and now they will wrap up their first ACC title game berth since 2011 with home wins against Georgia Tech next week and Virginia on Nov. 26.Duke: The Blue Devils have to be in win-or-else mode the rest of the way if they want to extend their school-record postseason streak to five years. They could reach a bowl game with a 5-7 record because of their high APR scores -- and if theres a shortage of six-win teams -- but at this point, theres a serious question about whether Duke will make it to the five-win mark. What we have is a good football team without a very good record, coach David Cutcliffe said.POLL IMPLICATIONSThis victory may not send the Hokies much higher, but at least they made enough timely plays to avoid a repeat of the Syracuse loss last month that sent them tumbling out of the Top 25.PLAY OF THE DAYWith the score tied at 7 -- and two snaps after Jones misfired on a sure-thing touchdown pass that would have given Duke the lead -- the Blue Devils brought in AJ Reed, who to that point had made just 3 of 7 field goals all season, to try a 30-yarder.Greg Stroman came off the left edge to block it, and after Alexander scooped it up and took off downfield, Stroman delivered a crushing block on Reed that helped spring him for Techs second special-teams TD of the season and first off a blocked field goal since 2005.INJURY REPORTStroman did not return after he injured his right ankle during a hit from Jeremy McDuffie while fielding a second-quarter punt. He was carried to the sideline and carted to the locker room. Fuente did not provide any details on Stromans status.QUICK HITSEvans was held without a touchdown pass for the first time this season. ... Virginia Tech was held to 399 total yards. The only time the Hokies finished with fewer this season was in the victory at North Carolina in hurricane conditions.UP NEXTVirginia Tech: Faces Georgia Tech next Saturday before making a visit to Notre Dame.Duke: Has a short week to prepare for its fiercest rival, North Carolina, on Thursday night.---Follow Joedy McCreary at http://twitter.com/joedyap. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/joedy-mccreary---More AP college football at www.collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25 Cheap Air Max 97 Uk Sale . A lawyer for MLB, Matthew Menchel, confirmed Wednesday the league dropped its case against Biogenesis of America, its owner Anthony Bosch and several other individuals. The lawsuit had accused Biogenesis and Bosch of conspiring with players to violate their contracts by providing them with banned performance-enhancing substances. Air Max 97 Uk Sale . Spiller left Week 3s 27-20 loss to the New York Jets with a thigh injury, but fully practiced with the team all week and expects to be ready to go on Sunday. http://www.cheapairmax97uksale.com/ . LOUIS -- Roman Polak was celebrating even before Alexander Steen scored the winning goal in Saturdays 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. Air Max 97 Uk Cheap Online .B. - Sebastien Auger made 44 saves as the Saint John Sea Dogs edged the visiting Acadie-Bathurst Titan 2-1 on Saturday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. Cheap Air Max 97 Online . Hargreaves began his career in 2008 with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and has played with the Edmonton Eskimos and last season with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Former NFL head coach and influential defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan died Tuesday. He was 85.Ryan, who was outspoken and coached in the NFL for 26 seasons, was known for?building some of footballs top defenses with a relentlessness that focused on creating havoc on the field.He was many things to many people -- outstanding coach, mentor, fierce competitor, father figure, faithful friend and the list goes on, his son, Buffalo Bills?coach Rex Ryan, said Tuesday in a statement. But to me and my brothers Rob and Jim, he was so much more. He was everything you want in a dad -- tough when he had to be, compassionate when you didnt necessarily expect it, and a loving teacher and confidant who cherished his family. He truly was our hero.James Solano, Buddy Ryans agent, said he died in Kentucky, where he lived on a ranch in Shelbyville, but did not give a cause.?Funeral services are scheduled for Friday in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky.I wonder who just lost their defensive-coordinating job in heaven, former?Chicago Bears?defensive tackle Steve?McMichael told ESPN on Tuesday.James David Ryan was a Korean War veteran who went to Oklahoma State, then got a masters degree from Middle Tennessee State even while coaching. He got his first major job in the pros in New York, then of the American Football League, in 1968. Ryan was the linebackers coach for the Joe Namath-led Jets, a boastful, confident team that fit his personality.Those Jets led the AFL in defense in his first season on staff, then shocked the Colts in the Super Bowl 16-7.Thats something my dad was very proud of, said Rex Ryan, who is entering his second season as the Bills head coach. When [former Jets coach Weeb] Ewbank hired him, he had to make a difference. If he felt he wasnt making a difference, then his career as a professional coach would be short.Buddy Ryans first job as a defensive coordinator came in 1976 with the Minnesota Vikings under Bud Grant, like Ewbank a Hall of Fame coach. He spent two years there before moving to the rival Bears, where he concocted the 46 defense that overwhelmed the league with its aggressiveness and unpredictability.With the Bears, Ryans renown skyrocketed. The 46 defense was founded on sending more blitzing players than an offense could block. And in 1984, the Bears tallied 72 sacks, a record that still stands. The 85 Bears capped their Super Bowl title with seven sacks.Ryans defenders, featuring such Hall of Famers as linebacker Mike Singletary and ends Dan Hampton and Richard Dent, came from all angles and were nearly impossible to budge on the ground -- not that teams had more success in the air, either.Some say the 46 is just an eight-man front, said Buddy Ryan, who named the scheme after safety Doug Plank, who wore that number. Thats like saying Marilyn Monroe is just a girl.Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera, a member of the 85 Bears, tweeted his condolences.Ryan and head coach Mike Ditka often feuded during that 15-1 85 season and Super Bowl run. They nearly slugged it out at halftime of Chicagos only defeat, at Miami on a Monday night in December. (Ryan later punched offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride on national TV on Jan. 2, 1994, when both were assistant coaches with the Houston Oilers.)We won a Super Bowl together, and we would have never did it without each other, Ditka told SportsCenter on Tuesday. Buddy was far before his time, really. He did things defensively that people had no concept of. It took a long time for people to figure out what to do against his defense, not that they ever figured it out.What Buddy did was genius. He was way ahead of his time.At a meeting the night before the Bears beat New England in Super Bowl XX, Dent said a teary Ryan informed his players that he was leaving to coach in Philadelphia: You guys are going to be my champions. Lets kick some tail, Ryan said.Hampton then kicked a film projector out of defensive line coach Dale Haupts hands, and McMichael flung a chair across the room, its legs impaling a chalkboard.After the game, Ryan was carried offf the field next to Ditka.ddddddddddddHe was a hell of a coach. Period, Ditka said. And his players loved him. Theres not much more you can ask than that. I dont profess to be a hell of a coach, and I know what my players think about me, so he had one over on me, thats for sure.Said McMichael: People ask all the time, Why didnt you guys win another Super Bowl? Well, Buddy Ryan went to Philadelphia. Period. Doesnt anybody understand that? That was the first tooth being pulled out of the snarl.Such was the devotion that players felt for Ryan, who guided the Eagles to the playoffs in 1988, 89 and 90. But they lost all three playoff games, and he was fired after the 1990 season by Eagles owner Norman Braman despite a 43-35-1 record.Earlier that season, Ryan bragged that his Eagles would so badly beat up the Washington Redskins in a Monday night game that theyll have to be carted off in body bags. The Eagles defense scored three touchdowns in a 28-14 win and knocked nine Redskins, including two quarterbacks, out of the game.Its a tough, physical, rough game, said ESPNs Mike Golic, who played for Ryan with the Eagles. And Buddy epitomized that style of play more than any other coach I had at any level. ... He wanted the results, and he put you in position to make plays.You loved playing for him because he coached the way you wanted to play the game: attack mode. Attack, attack, attack. And if you dont think were attacking much now, just wait and were going to attack even more. Oh wait, you dont think were blitzing enough, were going to blitz more. Were going to hit you in the mouth. Were going to knock you down. Theyre going to have to carry you off the field. That was his mentality, and thats what you kind of absorbed as a player.A year earlier, Philadelphia routed the Dallas Cowboys 27-0 on Thanksgiving Day with hardly any holiday feelings in the air. Cowboys kicker Luis Zendejas said Ryan put a $200 bounty on him, something Ryan laughed off as ridiculous.Buddy Ryan was arguably one of the greatest defensive masterminds in NFL history and forever left his mark on the Eagles organization and the city of Philadelphia, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said in a statement.Arizona hired Ryan as head coach in 1994, and the Cardinals went 12-20 in his two years there. He never coached again, letting twin sons Rex and Rob carry on the family legacy.For Rob and me, weve had the great fortune of sharing the coaching profession that he was so proud of and cherished so much, Rex Ryan said. There is no way we can possibly begin to measure how much football we have learned from him over the years and we are forever thankful to him for instilling within us his unwavering love for the game of football.While today is a tough day for all of us in the Ryan family, we are consoled in knowing how much dad was loved by so many and the love he gave back in return. Though we will miss him dearly, we take comfort in knowing that his memory will live on through all of us.Buddy Ryan, suffering from the aftermath of a devastating stroke and battling cancer and confined to a wheelchair, attended a Bills game last season.He began his 33-year coaching career in 1961 as a defensive line coach with the University of Buffalo.Buddy Ryan was the architect of the greatest defense our league has seen, Bears chairman George H. McCaskey said in a statement. He was brilliant when it came to the Xs and Os of the game, but what made him special was his ability to create an unwavering confidence in the players he coached. From the day he was hired in 1978, his defenses bought into more than the scheme, they bought into him and took on his personality.Buddy was brash, intelligent and tough. He was a perfect match for our city and team. ... He is one of the teams all-time greats. Our prayers are with his family.ESPN Staff Writers Mike Rodak, Jeff Dickerson and The Associated Press contributed to this report. ' ' '