Hokies Run Over By Pitt, Abanikanda In 45-29 Loss

By Carter Hill

Staff Writer

October 8, 2022

PITTSBURGH — It’s quite the rare occurrence for Virginia Tech football to see success on the gridiron up in the Steel City.

Now 1-7 in newly-named Acrisure Stadium, the Hokies seldom seem to perform when it lines up against Pitt, particularly on the defensive side of the ball.

Take the 2018 contest for example. The Hokies gave up nearly 500 yards on the ground, with 235 coming from Qadree Ollison in the 52-22 loss.

How about flashing back to the 2020 season, where Tech surrendered 404 yards in the air to standout quarterback Kenny Pickett?

What was once known as Heinz Field never has been a friendly place to the maroon and orange. And behind the Panthers’ (4-2, 1-1 ACC) star running back Israel Abanikanda’s record-setting 320 yards and six touchdowns, 2022’s contest was no exception.

“That’s who they are: They want to run the football and we know that,” head coach Brent Pry said after the team’s 45-29 loss.

“We’ve got to do a better job of coaching and playing the edge of the defense,” Pry continued. “We’ve got to tackle better. At times, we slipped into this grab mode. It just doesn't work against good backs. You’ve got to put your pads down and finish.”

Abanikanda’s breakout performance was one to remember. The junior from Brooklyn, N.Y. became just the second Pitt back to rush for six touchdowns in a single game in program history, totaled the most rushing yards in a single game in program history and was tabbed the first BCS player to top 300 rushing yards with six touchdowns in a game since Ricky Williams did so with Texas in 1998.

Abanikanda also tied the ACC record for most scores in a game and eclipsed Tony Dorsett’s 303 yards on the ground to smash the previous single-game record in Panthers history.

“We’ve got some things to clean up there,” Pry admitted. “It bothers me tremendously because that’s not who we want to be defensively. That was the deciding factor in the game.”

As far as what’s been cleaned up, Tech’s offense looked sharpest it has all year long. The Hokies (2-4, 1-2 ACC) amassed their highest point total so far this season, and, for the first time in 2022, Pry’s squad looked both comfortable and methodical when moving the ball throughout the duration of the contest.

A big reason for Tech’s offensive improvement was the return of sophomore running back Malachi Thomas, who had missed the first five games of the season due to injury.

The 6-foot, 198-pounder ran for 84 yards on 15 carries with a touchdown — on his first carry of the season — in his return to the fold. And with the Georgia native back in the mix from the remainder of the 2022 campaign, it’s easier to envision the Hokies’ offense being able to click just a tad bit better going forward.

Starting quarterback Grant Wells played his best game of the season, too. The Marshall transfer went 25-for-47, throwing for 277 yards and a touchdown to bring the offense back to life.

“I think against a good defense, we played our best game of the year offensively,” Pry said. “I think [with] Malachi, we have to continue to get him greased up. He had 15 carries. He looked pretty good, shaking off some rust.

“I thought Grant played his most confident game. And Kaleb [Smith], we can’t ask him to do anything more.”

Smith, Tech’s most targeted receiver, tallied a career-high nine catches for 152 yards, catapulting the Hokies to a respectable 403 yards of total offense, much-improved from weeks past.

It was the offense that kept the maroon and orange in the game, too. Down 31-16 late in the third quarter, Wells hit Da’Wain Lofton on the far side of the end zone for a 43-yard strike to pull Tech within eight. It was Lofton’s first touchdown catch of the year.

And four plays from scrimmage later, Radford High alum PJ Prioleau blocked a punt on Pitt’s own goal-line that was recovered by Nyke Johnson to put six points on the scoreboard.

Then trailing just 31-29 after a failed two-point conversion, a Smith fumble on the ensuing Tech drive swung the momentum back to the Panthers, leading to Abanikanda’s fifth house call of the day to put Pitt back up two-possessions.

A missed 36-yard field goal off the leg of Will Ross, his first of the year, and then another Abanikanda breakaway run — 80 yards untouched — that reached the end zone on the very next play sealed the day for the reigning ACC champions.

In the end, a day with a lot of good was outweighed with a lot of bad for Tech.

Ultimately, an absent defense, more penalties in big moments and crucial special teams mistakes that included a blocked PAT and multiple shanked punts doomed Virginia Tech in a day filled with a glimmer of hope for this Tech team going forward.

And for Pry, it’s still a glass half full approach going forward.

“That’s the closest we’ve come to playing complimentary football, which is what we hope to do to give us a chance to win a game on the road against a good ACC opponent,” Pry, still looking for his first road win as a head coach, said.

“Momentum kept shifting, we hung in there, we battled, we clawed back in it. We just didn’t do enough things well enough to win the game in the end. Certainly some good things, but against a good football team at their place, we’ve got to coach better and we’ve got to play better.”