BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — Bhayshul Tuten rushed for 118 yards and a touchdown to lead Virginia Tech to a 38-10 victory over Syracuse on Thursday.
Malachi Thomas rushed for 87 yards and quarterback Kyron Drones added 65 yards rushing for the Hokies (4-4, 3-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), who amassed season highs in rushing yards (318) and total yards (528) and won for the third time in the past four games.
Virginia Tech never trailed, scoring on its first six possessions. Da’Quan Felton hauled in two touchdown passes, including a 62-yarder from Drones and a 16-yarder on a tailback pass from Thomas. Tuten added a 3-yard touchdown run, and John Love kicked three field goals as the Hokies led 30-3 at halftime.
The Hokies had 341 yards and 17 first downs in the first half.
Syracuse (4-4, 0-4) now has lost four straight games by an average of 29 points per game. Quarterback Garrett Shrader paced the Orange with 138 yards passing and a touchdown but was sacked eight times.
TAKEAWAYS
Syracuse: The Orange looked horrible from the start, committing penalties on three of their first five offensive plays and finishing with just 62 yards in the first half. This performance did nothing to end speculation about coach Dino Babers’ future. Babers, who is in his eighth season at Syracuse, is now 40-53 as the coach and has led the Orange to just two winning seasons and two bowl appearances.
Virginia Tech: The Hokies continue to take advantage of a weak ACC slate, Their three wins in this stretch have come against Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, and Syracuse — the bottom three teams in the standings. They’ll find out more about themselves in their next game when they travel to No. 18 Louisville.
UP NEXT
Syracuse: The Orange host Boston College on Nov. 3.
Virginia Tech: The Hokies play at No. 18 Louisville on Nov. 4.
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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll
