Trending in different directions
Stumbling Hokies to face a Syracuse team that’s hitting its stride
Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuente sounds envious when he talks about the challenge his struggling Hokies will face today against Syracuse.
“This is a team that’s found their identity,” Fuente said of the Orange (3-4, 0-3 ACC). “They have really found, in my estimation, ... a quarterback, and certainly found their tailback.”
Those are things the Hokies (3-3, 1-1) can’t say. After taking No. 13 Notre Dame to the wire before losing 32-29 at home, Virginia Tech floundered offensively last weekend in a 28-7 Coastal Division loss to No. 23 Pittsburgh. Quarterback Braxton Burmeister was 11 for 32 for 134 yards against Pitt, and the running game totaled 90 yards on 28 carries, 3.2 yards per attempt.
The Orange enter the game trending in the opposite direction. Syracuse has the nation’s second-most productive running back in Sean Tucker, who averages 135.4 yards and has scored 11 touchdowns. Only nine of those came rushing; he also leads Syracuse with 224 yards on 14 catches, including two for TDs. His five straight 100-yard games match the program record, not bad for a school that’s featured the Hall of Fame trio of Jim Brown, 1962 Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis and Floyd Little.
“Sean is different. He’s something that doesn’t come along very often,” Orange coach Dino Babers said. “We need to use that, and that’s what we’re doing.”
The Orange also appear to have settled on a quarterback in Mississippi State transfer Garrett Shrader, who has started the past four games, leading to the exit this week of two-year starter Tommy DeVito to the transfer portal.
Shrader’s running ability has helped jump-start the Orange offense. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Shrader totaled 315 rushing yards and four TDs in last-play losses to Florida State and then-No. 19 Wake Forest, but was held to just 6 yards on seven carries in last week’s 17-14 loss at home to Clemson.
Some other things to watch:
Sputtering
Fuente arrived in Blacksburg with a reputation as an offenseminded coach, but things have not panned out this season behind Burmeister and the absence of an effective running back. Burmeister leads the Hokies in rushing with 212 yards and is completing less than 54% of his passes.
Against Pitt, “Ultimately the execution left plenty to be desired,” Fuente said.
Cardiac ’Cuse
Syracuse has lost all three of its ACC games — the first two on the last play and last week 17-14 in the final minute against Clemson when Andre Szmyt missed a 48-yard field-goal attempt that would have tied it.
“We’re getting tired of the way
that we’re losing,” redshirt senior defensive lineman Josh Black said. “We’re one play away these last three games. That’s what makes it so frustrating to us.”
Pack your bags
After playing six of their first seven games at home, the Hokies will play away from Blacksburg on four of their next five weekends. Their stops include Georgia Tech and longtime rivals Boston College, Miami and Virginia.
Don’t I know you?
These longtime Big East rivals have met just twice as members of the ACC — the last time in 2016, a 31-17 Orange victory. Syracuse leads the all-time series 10-8. The losses include a 62-0 beatdown for the 16th-ranked Orange in 1999, the year the Hokies went on to play for the national championship.