BLACKSBURG, Virginia (Ticker) -- Virginia Tech handed Connecticut a dose of reality.
The fifth-ranked Hokies scored two defensive touchdowns and another on Mike Imoh's kickoff return and rolled to a 47-13 victory over the Huskies, who lost star running back Terry Caulley to a knee injury early in the game.
Caulley entered the game as the nation's leading rusher with 601 yards but was injured on his second carry. He was carried off the field by teammates and did not return.
"I'm sorry about their tailback loss," Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said. "That's a tough loss for those guys. I don't think the injury really changed what they did and it didn't change what we did."
The seriousness of Caulley's injury was not immediately known.
When Virginia Tech hosted Connecticut two years ago, Hokies star running back Lee Suggs suffered a season-ending knee injury.
"It doesn't look good," Huskies coach Randy Edsall said. "It looks like they'll be some complications with that. This is no disrespect to a great young man, but this is a team game and you have to make sure you step up your game."
In just their third year on the Division I-A level, the Huskies (3-2) have made significant strides and will join the Big East Conference next year. They entered the game with the nation's fourth-best offense, but were no match for the Hokies (4-0), who have national championship aspirations.
Imoh returned the second half kickoff 91 yards, becoming the first Virginia Tech player to score on a kickoff return since Tony Kennedy did it against Louisville in 1992.
Just over four minutes later, Chris Clifton returned a blocked punt 16 yards to make it 40-0. In the first half, cornerback Eric Green returned an interception 84 yards for a score.
"I'm pleased with the different ways we scored," Beamer said. "It showed a lot of potential for this football team. I'm proud of how explosive we were."
Tailback Kevin Jones chipped in with 105 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries, his second straight 100-yard game. He ran for 188 yards and three TDs in last week's 35-19 win over Texas A&M.
Bryan Randall completed 6-of-14 passes for 64 yards and a TD for the Hokies.
Dan Orlovsky threw a pair of touchdown passes for UConn in the fourth quarter. Orlovsky completed 25-of-40 passes for 316 yards, a large chunk of it coming in the final period.
The Huskies ran 84 plays, compared to just 47 for Virginia Tech, and finished with a 443-368 edge in total offense. But Connecticut was victimized by a number of big plays.
"When you play the No. 5 team in the country, if you're going to spot 21 points through the return phase, you do not give yourself much of an opportunity to win," Edsall said.
The Hokies took the lead on Carter Warley's 28-yard field goal midway through the first quarter and made it 10-0 on Randall's 28-yard TD pass to Ernest Wilford.
Virginia Tech broke it open with a 17-point second quarter. Green's interception return and Jones' 23-yard TD run made it 24-0 before Warley kicked a 35-yard field goal with 38 seconds left in the half.
Any hopes of staying the game ended for Connecticut on Imoh's return to start the second half.
"Umoh had some nice blocking," Beamer said. "I thought he looked fast on that. He looked like a returner. He's a guy that's very gifted and has a lot of talent and I think we saw a lot of that on the return."
Virginia Tech's Cedric Humes capped the scoring with a 58-yard TD run with 6:44 remaining.
