MORE FROM THE GAME - PODCAST: The drive home after the Virginia Tech game | Pitt gets the biggest win in the biggest way | Postgame video: Pat Narduzzi | Postgame video: Ollison and the OL| Pitt blows out Virginia Tech | Postgame video: Players talk about the win | Slideshow: Photos from Pitt's win over Virginia Tech | Narduzzi on the seniors and the win over Virginia Tech

The Pitt defense had just come up with a goal-line stand against the Virginia Tech offense and the Panthers were up 45-22 lead with five minutes left on the game clock. All the while, Pitt senior running backs Darrin Hall and Qadree Ollison were in the midst of a conversation on the sideline.

Hall, the record-holder for the longest run in Pitt history with a 92-yard jaunt against Duke last year was telling his fellow senior to go for it.

“Before the play we talked about and I was like, ‘You can go 97’ and he was like, ‘If I go 97 I’m flipping in the end zone,’ “ Hall said.

Ollison did go 97 yards and he did flip into the end zone as he promised, and Pitt walked away with a 52-22 victory over the Hokies to improve to 6-4 on the season and 5-1 in the ACC.

“He came up to me and that’s my brother and I love him to death and he came up to me and gave me a big hug and told me that there was nobody else that he wanted to have the record other than me,” Ollison said.

As it stands, the 97-yard run is the longest play in Pitt football history. It was just one of the few ways Ollison got into the record books for his performance Saturday. The 235-yard outburst against the Hokies put Ollison over 1,000 yards on the season with 1,054. He is now the sixth running back in Pitt history to have multiple 1,000-yard seasons. Ollison rushed for 1,121 yards during the 2015 season as a freshman. During his sophomore season he took a step back with James Conner as the starter, and Ollison split time with Hall last season as well.

“Just being patient, trusting the process,” Ollison said of waiting his turn after his freshman season. “Really just taking advantage of all the opportunities that you get because you don’t get a lot of them. So it was great to get back there, back to 1,000.”

Conner was in attendance on Saturday, as was Pitt legend and 1976 Heisman trophy winner, Tony Dorsett. Those former Pitt players being there meant something to Ollison.

“It’s just special, man; James being an honorary captain and talking to us before the game and he mentioned to us before the game he was just talking about opportunity, he said we had the opportunity to do something great today and he was right,” Ollison said.

Now Ollison can be mentioned up there with some of the great running backs in Pitt history. In addition to breaking the record for longest play, and being the sixth back to rush for 2 1,000 yard seasons - he is now 10th all-time in the school’s record book for rushing yardage passing up NFL Hall-of-Famer Curtis Martin.

“I told our kids afterward, you watch Qadree Ollison up on that ladder singing that fight song, and it's hard to believe it'll the last time he'll get to stand up on that ladder, and that's emotional,” Narduzzi said of his senior suiting up at Heinz Field for the last time.

The records might not stop for Ollison either. Pitt has never had two 1,000 yard backs in a single season; Ollison got there on Saturday and Hall is not far behind, since he has 844 yards himself and finished 186 yards on seven carries on Saturday. For two players who have fought for carries against each other through the years, the two are closer than you would expect. Both players are putting up big numbers and have been vital to Pitt’s turnaround this season with Pitt having won four of its last five games.

“We’re not competing against each other, we’re just trying to win games,” Hall said. “We’re honestly just trying to win games, we don’t care who gets the credit, we’re just going to go out there and give our best.”

Added Narduzzi, “And you look at both those guys, where they were four years ago, five years ago and where they are now, it's been a long haul. Those guys are two great backs that are going to play in the NFL, and those are two special guys.”