Virginia Tech Football: 3 huge overreactions from win over Boston College

It’s safe to say that Virginia Tech football coach Brent Pry has been waiting for his team to play well on the road. Saturday afternoon at Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Mass., his Hokies gave their second-year head coach the performance he was looking for.

Virginia Tech dominated on offense, defense, and special teams in a very impressive 48-22 win over Boston College. Offensively, the Hokies racked up 600 total yards, they scored 35 unanswered points against the Eagles and Bhayshul Tuten scored three touchdowns and quarterback Kyron Drones threw for a pair.

Malachi Thomas found the end zone for a 35-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Drones had touchdown passes to Jaylin Lane and Stephen Gosnell and he also had a 70-yard completion to Da’Quan Felton in the second quarter when he drew Boston College offside and took a shot down the field.

Defensively the Hokies were stout and aside from one first-quarter drive where the Eagles drove down the field and scored, they kept them in check.

After the Hokies improved to 5-5 and moved one game closer to becoming bowl-eligible, here are three overreactions from their win over Boston College.

Virginia Tech smokes a good bowl-eligible team

In picking this game, I went with Boston College and went them for one reason, I needed to see something from the Hokies in a game away from Lane Stadium where they would prove to me that could win a game away from Blacksburg.

You can make the case that Rutgers and Marshall back in September were winnable games, but the Hokies just couldn’t get it done on the road. ACC games at Florida State and Louisville were two very tough games, but Virginia Tech didn’t do anything to help themselves in two blowout losses.

Leading into this game, the feeling was that the Hokies were getting a Boston College team that could be just what they needed and it turned out that way. At 6-3, BC’s record is a little misleading. Their five-game winning streak included wins over Georgia Tech, Army, Syracuse, Virginia, and Connecticut. Their sixth win earlier this year was over FCS Holy Cross by three at home where they needed a late turnover to seal the deal.

Boston College is. going to get a bowl game and that should take some of the heat off of Jeff Hafley for now, but by no means are they your normal 6-4 Power 5 team right now.

Boston College’s running game is overrated

Going into the game, all the talk was surrounding the Boston College running game and how they had the top rushing attack in the ACC and was 10th nationally.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, they were already missing running back Pat Garwo, who is a tough bruising back, and right before kickoff, it was announced that Kye Robichaux was going to miss the game with an injury. That was a huge break for Virginia Tech and they took full advantage.

Quarterback Thomas Castellanos still played and he is a big threat to scramble out of the pocket and hurt teams with his legs and he did at times, while Alex Broome took the carries in Garwo and Robichaux’s absence, but after the one big first quarter drive that lead to a touchdown, Virginia Tech kept the running game in check.

Part of it was because BC had Castellanos throw the ball early and he threw a pair of interceptions to Dorian Strong, but with the Hokies scoring early and often, it forced the hands of the play calling for Boston College, and that played into the hands of Chris Marve’s defense.

It was a case of the perfect timing for the Hokies to play the Eagles whose running game is a lot better than they showed. Tech held them to 124 yards which is outstanding on the road.

Virginia Tech is going bowling

Well, Virginia Tech certainly took one step closer to becoming bowl-eligible by collecting their fifth win of the season and still have two more chances to get one, beginning next Saturday at home against North Carolina State, then Thanksgiving Weekend at Virginia. Neither is going to be easy, to say the least, but at least they finally got a road win.

This week, NC State quarterback MJ Morris made the stunning announcement that he was not going to play the rest of the season, which means Brennan Armstrong will finish the season under center. Morris was very good in wins for the Wolfpack, but Dave Doeren has his 7-3 team playing well and coming in off an impressive win over Wake Forest on Saturday.

Virginia has been playing their opponents very tough this season and they have an impressive win at North Carolina. They put a scare into Louisville Thursday night by holding a fourth-quarter lead, but the Cardinals were able to rebound and win the game. Hokies fans should know that going to Charlottesville is never easy for Virginia Tech. How badly would the Cavaliers love to end Tech’s bowl hopes at home to close out the season?

Virginia Tech still has an opportunity to become bowl-eligible and right now after winning this weekend, it would be disappointing if they didn’t. It felt like the win at BC was one that saved their season, but that won’t be true until they get No. 6. If there is one thing that this season has taught us about the Hokies, it’s not good to assume something is going to happen, until it does and that includes one more win.