Hokies squeeze Orange from start to finish in statement, old-school Thursday night victory

By Raza Umerani

Staff Writer

October 27, 2023

BLACKSBURG – On Thursday evening in Blacksburg, everything was perfect. The maroon and orange foliage across the campus of Virginia Tech painted the scene for a patented midweek primetime showdown on a picturesque 60 degree night. 

However, nothing was more pristine than Tech’s first half of football.

The Hokies (4-4, 3-1 Atlantic Coast) scored on each of their first six possessions to jump out to a 30-3 halftime lead over a lifeless Syracuse (4-4, 0-4) squad, then coasted in the second half to secure a 38-10 victory on Thursday night.

In all three phases of the game, Tech imposed its will. The Hokies outgained the Orange 528 yards to 138, ran 79 plays to Syracuse’s 43 and held the ball for 24 more minutes. 

But two figures stand out above the rest: the Hokies’ eight sacks — giving them 15 in their last two games — and their astounding 318 rushing yards, while not allowing the Orange to pick up a single yard on the ground. 

“I know you guys get tired of me talking about complementary ball, but that's the goal,” Tech head coach Brent Pry told reporters after the game. “That's the team we need to be. I thought we did that tonight again. We built on that. We started fast, which was something we emphasized this entire off period. We needed to do that against this group. The last couple of games they've had, the teams started fast: North Carolina, Clemson, Florida State. We knew that would be important.”

The zero rushing yards allowed marked the best performance against the run by a Tech defense since it held Florida State to -15 rushing yards in 2012. Fittingly, that game was also a Thursday nighter.

“I'd have to go back and see if, in my career, we've done that before,” Pry said. “I didn't realize it until I looked up late in the game. The most important thing is we're fitting better and we're tackling better.

“Zero rushing yards. I'll take that anytime.”

After registering just 23 sacks a year ago, Tech’s defense has already reached 30 sacks this season —  a mark that currently leads the Power Five, although most teams are yet to play this week.

“This place is known for sacking the quarterback,” Pry said. “And so I think the pride was hurt a little bit that we weren't able to do that well enough last year. There was a motivated group up front. Our skill set is better, we win more one-on-one, we get our hips through. Coach Price has done a great job with the group and we got to keep that coming.”

Tech’s 318 rushing yards were by far its most under Pry as it averaged a whopping six yards per carry thanks to strong running from Bhayshul Tuten, Malachi Thomas and quarterback Kyron Drones, who poured in 56 yards on the ground in addition to his 194 passing yards.

“I think we've got the best one-two punch in the country,” Pry said. “You know, Bhayshul comes out and Malachi is really back to a level that everybody knew Malachi could be. We didn't see it last year because of injuries, but he's a talented back as well.”

A key to the rushing game’s success remains the development of the Hokies offensive line, which subsequently continues to receive heavy praise.

“That may be the group I'm most proud of,” Pry said. “The most scrutinized group from the beginning. And they just kept ignoring the noise, working and working. I think Coach [Ron] Crook, Coach [Tyler] Bowen, Coach [Brent] Davis are getting a good plan that makes sense for our guys. They were able to do that the last couple of weeks.”

Even the Hokies special teams poured in valuable contributions as punt returner Tucker Holloway amassed 96 return yards and kicker John Love booted a career-high five field goals through the uprights — highlighted by a career-long 43-yarder.

“It's all three phases,” Pry said. “We talked about that all the time: special teams, the emphasis there and playing starters. ... It's an important part of the history here at Virginia Tech. I think there are ingredients to win here — great special teams play is part of it.”

The Hokies dominated this game from the onset as Syracuse began the contest with a combination of intentional grounding and holding penalties, backing up the Orange deep into their own end. After Tech’s defense nearly notched a safety, its offense marched right down the field to take a 3-0 lead. 

“It set the tone,” Hokies defensive lineman Norell Pollard said. “Coach Pry always harps on starting fast. That's something we probably didn't do in the first couple of games.”

Apropos on the second Cuse drive, which Tech responded to with a touchdown drive capped off by some unforeseen trickeration. From the Syracuse 16-yard line, Drones pitched the ball to Thomas, who threw a perfect pass to a wide open Da’Quan Felton in the endzone for the game’s first touchdown. 

“​​We've just been repping it in practice, and then we decided that we were gonna run it whenever we got inside the 25,” Thomas said. “So I was excited we did it. … I knew he was gonna be that open. We've been practicing it in past weeks whenever we've been running little tosses to the boundary, so we knew they were gonna bite on it.”

According to Thomas, the trick play was schemed up by Tech’s running backs coach Elijah Brooks. Needless to say, nobody was happier with the result.

“He was really excited,” Thomas said. “He was pressing me all week, ‘Don't mess it up because we're gonna call it.’ Just had to get in there and execute.

“It's very exciting to do different things like that just to see how versatile our offense really is.”

That wasn’t the first trick play dialed up by offensive coordinator Tyler Bowen on the night. On Tech’s first drive, wide receiver Jaylin Lane attempted a pass after a backwards pass from Drones, but it fell incomplete. Still, trickery seemed to be a theme on Halloween weekend for the Hokies. 

“We needed to mix it up and keep defenses honest,” Pry said. “They're a pretty aggressive group. The gadget plays, the misdirection, it slows them down. I thought we were able to run them a little bit early and keep investing there. They become a fatigued defense. And Tyler [Bowen], again, I think he had a great game plan. He's done a heck of a job these last couple of weeks. Entire offensive staff put together a good plan that's challenging but our guys can execute — particularly Kyron being able to manage the offense and make good decisions.”

After the Hokies forced another three-and-out and embarked on another field goal drive, they found themselves up 13-0 at the end of a first quarter which didn’t feel particularly close. Somehow, the second quarter was even better.

After yet another drive stalled in the red zone — leading to Love’s third field goal — Syracuse picked up its first first down of the night before Hokies defensive end Antwaun Powell-Ryland finally made his presence felt with his first sack of the ballgame. 

That gave the ball back to Drones, who found Felton on a picture perfect deep ball up the near sideline that hit the Norfolk State transfer right in the hands for a 62-yard catch and run to the endzone.

“I'm always confident,” Felton said. “I chose Kyron, Kyron chose me.”

Although the game was just over a third of the way complete, that felt like the early dagger in the heart of the Orange. But it didn’t stop the Hokies from piling it on in the first half.

After Syracuse finally got on the board with a solid field goal drive, Tech found itself back in the endzone after a defensive pass interference and a beautiful deep shot to Lane set up a three-yard Tuten touchdown plunge to make it a 27-point first half rout. 

While the following 30 minutes of play were far more subdued, Tech still had plenty to feel good about. On Syracuse’s first possession of the third quarter, Powell-Ryland and fellow defensive end Cole Nelson — the game’s No. 25 jersey recipient — converged on Cuse quarterback Garrett Shrader in the endzone for a safety, increasing the lead to 32-3. 

“I was ready to go,” Powell-Ryland said. “As soon as I saw the way the tackle was standing, I felt like it was a pass. So I had to make sure I got my motor right.”

Powell-Ryland ended the game with two of Tech’s eight sacks, marking his third multi-sack game of the season and bringing his season total to nine sacks — including six in his last two games. The transfer from Florida has been one of the most impactful players for Tech all season long.

“I feel like our focus has gotten way better,” Powell-Ryland said. “Really, I just feel like we came to the point where, after a few games, we knew that we could actually win games and it was on us to win the games not anyone else. It's not the other team, it's on us.”

The rest of the game was merely a formality. While the Orange were able to score their first touchdown since Oct. 7 against North Carolina with a six-yard toss from Shrader to tight end Dan Villari, Tech milked the clock to perfection with several long field goal drives to put the game away. 

For the third straight home game, it felt like the Hokies played their best game in the last two seasons. The win not only brings Tech back to .500 on the season, but puts the Hokies squarely in the race for Charlotte, now being tied for second in the conference. After starting 1-3 with some very tough losses, the Hokies have turned the season around.

“The strength and character in this football team and these coaches,” Pry said. “Those guys never wavered. They poured it in every day, they were consistent, they were hungry, they trusted the process. That's where it starts. We got great kids, and we surrounded them with good people. And they're getting better all the time. That's what you're supposed to do over the course of the season: improve. We've been able to do that even if it didn't show up in the win-loss column. We were getting better each week with some important things. We got a good culture in our locker room. And we just got to keep building on it.

“I think that's the challenge: to continue to get better. I tell them all the time, don't put a ceiling on anything you're doing individually or us as a team. Just bust through that, don't think that way. We don't let them talk about things down the road. I told them in the locker room and I'll tell them again tomorrow, we have to get better each and every day this week to have a chance to go and be the better team on Saturday at Louisville.”

The players echoed those exact same sentiments after the game.

“We didn't lose confidence,” Thomas said. “It just motivated us to work harder and better. Because we were always there and we just had to work on playing complementary football altogether. Every time we touch the field, go score.

“The future is very bright. We're just gonna leave it up to God and we'll just see how far we can take it.”

With just one bad quarter in their last 16, the Hokies are one of the league’s hottest teams. As such, Pollard didn’t shy away from the possibility of the team’s potential destination in the coming weeks when asked about what the team can accomplish.

“[Getting to the] ACC Championship,” he said. “But you know, we preach one week at a time, going 1-0. And not even just one week — one day, one moment at a time. Just be where your feet are and everything is gonna take care of itself.”

Meanwhile, Thursday’s loss marked the fourth consecutive ACC defeat for the Orange after a 4-0 start to the season. In its last three games, Syracuse has been outscored by an incredible margin of 99 points — a combined score of 119-20. Once again, they simply couldn’t get anything going on either side of the ball and got absolutely crushed as a result.

“There wasn’t really much they could do but wait for the clock to hit zero,” Pollard said.

Tech will look to keep its winning ways going next week in a tough road test against No. 18 Louisville (6-1, 3-1) next Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, ACC Network) while Syracuse returns home for the first time since September to take on Boston College (4-3, 2-2).

“By no means are we where we need to be or want to be,” Pry said. “We'll have tons to clean up. We’ve got to get better this week, like we've done each week. If we do that, we'll have a chance to be 1-0 this week going over to Louisville.”