BY JIM McCONNELL

BLACKSBURG--

After just four games as a starter, Dustin Keys already has done one thing neither Pace nor Dunlevy accomplished: kick a game-winning field goal.

Actually, the Brooke Point High School graduate has two game-winners to his credit. He booted a 21-yarder to beat Georgia Tech on Sept. 13, then connected from a career-long 45 yards as Virginia Tech edged North Carolina last Saturday.

He's 5 for 5 on field goals and 7 for 7 on extra-points since missing one of each in the Hokies' season-opening loss to East Carolina.

"I'm just as confident as I was going into the season," Keys said yesterday, as the Hokies began preparations for Saturday's non-conference game at Nebraska.

"Yeah, my confidence builds on making field goals, but as far as missing the kick against ECU, my confidence didn't go down because I knew I was capable of making it. I just didn't get ahold of the ball as well as I would've liked to."

Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer, who personally supervises the Hokies' kickers, said he never lost faith that Keys could get the job done.

"We kick so much and have so much competition in practice, you get a feel for who's good," Beamer added. "He's a good kicker. He knows it, and I know it."

Still, after walking on at Virginia Tech and waiting four years for a chance to kick in a college game, Keys acknowledged he was disappointed about his inauspicious debut.

"[The missed extra point] was the most heartbreaking kick. It's one of those things you don't ever think can happen to you, but it can very easily if you don't pay attention to what you're doing," he added.

Keys talked to his father, who was his kicking coach in high school, the day after the game. Jack Keys told Dustin that he had downloaded some footage of the ECU kick from the Internet and noticed that his plant foot wasn't in the right place at contact.