What a whirlwind Saturday it was for the Virginia Tech football team. Right before kickoff at the JMA Wireless Dome, it was announced that starting quarterback Kyron Drones was going to be out. Also missing the game was running back Bhayshul Tuten and an already tall task got taller.
After playing a tremendous first 30 minutes of football behind QB Collin Schlee, and an optipmistic defense, the Hokies took a 14-3 lead into halftime. Then after forcing a punt on the opening drive of the second half, Virginia Tech went down the field for a touchdown and a 21-3 lead midway through the quarter. Then everything fell apart.
Syracuse scored touchdowns on three straight possessions to come from 18 down to up three in the blink of an eye with the game-winning touchdown happening on a Jeremiah Coney fumble. Virginia Tech answered with a Malachi Thomas touchdown run and a field goal, but the Orange drove down the length of the field for the game-tying touchdown with 30 seconds left in regulation to force overtime.
Instant reaction from Virginia Tech loss at Syracuse
- I'm sure Virginia Tech knew that Schlee had a good chance to play and they game-planned for that all week, but he played very well in place of Drones. He finished 16-for-24 for 206 yards and a touchdown while dealing with an injury in the fourth quarter and overtime.
- It was a game of missed opportunities for the Hokies. At the end of the first half, they had a chance to add points with timeouts and the ball near midfield but left potentially three points in their back pocket despite some sketchy officiating. In the fourth quarter, they were driving for a two-score lead but ended up having to settle for a field goal.
- Despite having a key fumble, Coney and Malachi Thomas each had a good day running the ball in place of Tuten. They combined for 170 yards rushing.
- Like at Vanderbilt in Week 1 and Miami on Sept. 27, needing one stop late in the game defensively the defense couldn't get it.
- See above for this one. Syracuse needed just two plays in overtime to score with ease to take the lead and it had the same feeling as it did at Vanderbilt in Week 1, a tired defense was unable to get one more stop.
- Penalties, penalties, penalties. Late in the first half in plus-territory, penalties took the Hokies out of field goal range, then in overtime with a 2nd-and-goal from the 10, a holding penalty made the job the tougher before a Schlee fumble ended the game.
Now the Hokies get ready for Clemson next week in Blacksburg before a bye-week then a road game at Duke and home game against Virginia remain needing one more win to become bowl-eligible. It's not going to easy.