3 bold takeaways from Virginia Tech blowing out Old Dominion

The third time proved to be the charm for the Virginia Tech football team when it came to playing at Old Dominion. After being upset in their first two trips to Norfolk, the Hokies made sure that it wouldn't happen a third time in a row.

Behind a stout second-half defense and an offense that once again had a strong second-half, Virginia Tech improved to 2-1 with a 37-17 victory over the Monarchs. As the Hokies head back to Blacksburg to prepare for Rutgers next Saturday, here are three takeaways from their 20-point victory on the road.

Kyron Drones and Bhayshul Tuten combine for over 200 rushing yards

Earlier this week head coach Brent Pry said that Kyron Drones playing as well as he can is the key to the Hokies offense and Saturday night, the duo of Drones and Bhayshul Tuten again proved to be too much for the Monarchs. They combined for over 200 yards rushing and three touchdowns as the Hokies pulled away by outscoring ODU 23-7 in the second half.

Drones scored his touchdown in the first quarter on fourth down and Tuten added a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns. Drones finished with 117 rushing yards and Tuten 115. Again, if Drones and Tuten can run the ball, it opens up the whole playbook for offensive coordinator Tyler Bowen.

Virginia Tech's defense dominated

Really, aside from two drives in the second quarter and a late fourth-quarter drive against Virginia Tech's twos on defense, the Hokies dominated that side of the ball. Antwaun Powell-Ryland finished with four sacks, two forced fumbles, and one recovery. They stopped everything Old Dominion tried to do in the third quarter and allowed their offense to slowly add on and pull away.

Mansoor Delane had another interception, Oklahoma transfer Kelvin Gilliam had some key tackles and the linebackers played very well at the second level. They finished with five sacks and totaled seven tackles for losses. Once again, it was a good showing by Chris Marve's unit.

Virginia Tech is a Top 15 team........ in the second half of games

If the Associated Press Top 25 was ranked on just second-half performances only, the Hokies are a legit Top 15 team. I'm not kidding. Yes, they didn't finish the comeback at Vanderbilt in Week 1, but they pulled away from both Marshall and Old Dominion with a strong final 30 minutes in both games.

The offense controlled the ball in the second half and the defense just didn't allow the Monarchs much, if anything, and again, their only score on the Virginia Tech backups. Now if only Brent Pry and his staff can figure out how to get this over 60 minutes we just might have the team we thought we'd see from the beginning.

In the end, the Hokies got the win and it's on to Rutgers.