Tuten, Virginia Tech rush to 38-10 win over Syracuse

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Bhayshul Tuten rushed for 118 yards and a touchdown to lead Virginia Tech to a 38-10 victory over Syracuse on Thursday night.

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.

“We’ve got great kids, and we’ve surrounded them with good people,” Virginia Tech coach Brent Pry said. “They’re getting better all the time, and that’s what you’re supposed to do over the course of a season — improve. We’ve been able to do that, even if it didn’t show up in the win-loss column. We’ve gotten better each week with some important things. We’ve got a good culture in our locker room, and we’ve got to keep building on it.”

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.

“It’s starting to be a theme,” Syracuse coach Dino Babers said of his team’s slow starts. “I’m not satisfied with that. We have to find a way to stop that. We’ve got to get in these games and not get out of them. I’m a little upset about that, so we’re going to go back and we will do — and I will do — whatever we can to make sure that we have the opportunity to find a way to start faster.”