Syracuse football limps into matchup against surging Virginia Tech

Syracuse football (5-2, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) takes on Virginia Tech (5-3, 3-1 ACC) tomorrow coming off of the second loss of the season for Fran Brown’s squad.

SU fell to No. 18 Pittsburgh 41-13 last Thursday in a game that was never close. The Panthers led 31-0 at the half, partially due to some major mistakes by Orange quarterback Kyle McCord. The signal caller threw four interceptions before the break, and Pitt took three of them to the house. McCord added a fifth pick in the second half for good measure.

“I’ve never, at any level of football, got beat like this,” said the QB after the contest. “Obviously, I’ve been around a lot of good football as well. I think that, when you lose a game like this, in the way that we did, we have to continue to build on (our) winning habits.”

The passing game was unsuccessful for Syracuse last week, and the running game just took a hit. On Cuse Sports Talk’s Orange Nation, Fran Brown revealed that backup running back Yasin Willis will miss the matchup with Virginia Tech and stated that he trusts the reserves behind RB1 LeQuint Allen.

“(Willis) won’t be in, but, next man up,” said Brown. “I think (Jaden) Hart and Malachi James are gonna do a good job at running back. It’s just a next man up mentality.”

Allen put up just 32 rushing yards against Pitt. The junior had just 25 yards in September’s loss to Stanford, and over 70 in every other game. It’s clear that when Allen has success on the ground, the Orange have an advantage.

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Pittsburgh was undefeated and ranked, but Virginia Tech should not be taken lightly because it has three losses this season. In their first game of the year, the Hokies fell, in overtime, to Vanderbilt on the road, a team that received votes in the latest edition of the AP Poll. VT’s second defeat came against Rutgers in September by only three points. Virginia Tech’s most recent loss was to fifth-ranked Miami by just four points at the end of that same month.

The most prolific player on the Hokies is defensive lineman Antwaun Powell-Ryland. The senior is second in the country in sacks with 11. All of that pressure is part of the reason that Virginia Tech has allowed the second-fewest passing yards per game, 196, in the ACC. The 2023 All-ACC second-teamer did not have a productive day last time out, though. Georgia Tech limited Powell-Ryland to three tackles, none of which were behind the line of scrimmage.

On the offensive side of the ball, Virginia Tech and Syracuse are very dissimilar. SU is second in the ACC in passing yards per game with 359, while VT is second-to-last with 182. The Hokies’ rushing offense, second in the conference with 196 yards per game (compared to second-to-last Syracuse’s 90), is powered by running back Bhayshul Tuten. The senior has broken the century mark in rushing yards 5 times this season. Tuten’s masterpiece so far is a 266-yard, three touchdown performance against Boston College in mid-October. The North Carolina A&T transfer even added a 20-yard receiving touchdown to that dominant effort. Tuten picked up a lower-body injury against Georgia Tech, but practiced on Wednesday.

Virginia Tech is led by third-year head coach Brent Pry. The former Penn State defensive coordinator has a 15-17 record in his time in Blacksburg. In his weekly press conference, Pry was complimentary of his Syracuse counterpart and the Orange faithful.

“We’ve got our hands full with the environment up there,” declared the VT coach. “Tough place to play, good football team. Coach Brown, in year one, doing a heck of a job. He’s got momentum, he’s brought energy to the team. They’re playing aggressive, they’re playing fast.”

The last time the Hokies came to the Dome was in October of 2016; the Orange took the win. Tomorrow’s edition of this former Big East matchup kicks off at noon on 88.3 FM. WAER’s coverage begins at 11:30 with Countdown to Kickoff.