We have reached the final edition of our 2024 Virginia football schedule preview with the traditional Thanksgiving weekend matchup between UVA and Virginia Tech.
VIRGINIA TECH
2023 Record:7-6 (5-3 ACC)
The Hokies showed significant improvement last season after a disappointing 2022 that saw them record just three wins, their fewest in a season since 1992. They increased their win total to seven wins and captured their first bowl win since 2016 in year two under coach Brent Pry.
From a national perspective, it was a quietly successful season for a program that has managed a winning record nearly every season for the past three decades. If not for some underwhelming early season performances that resulted in a 1-3 start to the year, the Hokies may have made more noise near the top of the ACC. VT's seven-point home loss to Purdue, 19-point loss at Rutgers, and seven-point loss at Marshall were blemishes in an otherwise successful campaign.
The Hokies finished tied for fourth in the conference and dominated in their ACC wins, beating Pitt and Wake Forest by 17, Syracuse by 28, Boston College by 26, and Virginia by 38. Those were the five teams that finished at the bottom of the conference last season, but the Hokies can only play the teams on their schedule, and they did put up a good fight against a good NC State team, losing by seven at home.
The strength of VT last year was easily its rushing attack. As a team, the Hokies ranked fourth in rushing yards per game (189.77) and yards per carry (4.95). Luckily for Pry and his staff, the team's starting backfield of dual-threat quarterback Kyron Drones and running back Bhayshul Tuten is back in 2024.
Tuten, an All-ACC Honorable Mention at running back was also an All-ACC Second Team selection as an all-purpose player. He averaged 28.9 yards per kick return and took two kickoffs back for touchdowns. Tuten also added 239 yards and two touchdowns on 27 receptions out of the backfield. Despite all that, his ability in the ground game was the most productive. He ran for 863 yards and 10 touchdowns while averaging 66.4 yards per game and 5.0 yards per carry. Those marks ranked him eighth, seventh, tenth, and eighth in the ACC, respectively.
Drones was right behind him with 818 yards and five touchdowns while averaging 62.9 yards per game and 4.9 yards per carry. VT's signal caller wasn't as effective in the passing game, however. He surpassed 230 passing yards in just two games all season and completed only 58.2% of his passes for the season, ranking tenth in the ACC. His 160.38 yards per game were only the ninth most in the conference. His passing efficiency of 137.28 ranked seventh. But he avoided the critical mistakes, throwing just three interceptions on the season, and when he did complete passes, they went for 12.56 yards per completion, the fifth most in the ACC.
Drones will have nearly every one of his top receiving threats back next season. Tight end Dae'Quan Wright transferred to Ole Miss after earning an All-ACC Honorable Mention, but top wide receivers Jaylin Lane, Da'Quan Felton, and Stephen Gosnell all return. Former Old Dominion star receiver Ali Jennings transferred to VT last season but missed most of the year due to a knee injury. He will be back this fall as well. Jennings caught 116 passes for over 2,000 yards and 14 touchdowns in his two seasons at ODU.
Lane led the Hokies with 41 receptions and finished second in receiving yards (538) and touchdowns (6) last season. Felton led the latter two categories with 667 and eight, respectively, on his 38 receptions. Gosnell added 22 receptions for 348 yards and three touchdowns.
The Hokies also return most of their key players on the defensive side of the ball. Perhaps most importantly, Second Team All-ACC defensive end Antwaun Powell-Ryland returns after recording team highs of 14.5 tackles for loss, 9.5 sacks, and three forced fumbles. He ranked second in the ACC in sacks and tied second in forced fumbles with three.
Leading tackler and All-ACC Honorable Mention linebacker Keli Lawson returns after recording 80 tackles in 2023. He also had six pass breakups, the second most on the team, and four quarterback hurries, the third most on the team. Safety Keonta Jenkins returns as well after making 50 tackles. His 10 tackles for loss only trailed Powell-Ryland's mark of 14.5. Alongside Jenkins in the secondary, All-ACC Third Team cornerback Dorian Strong returns, too. Strong led the Hokies with three interceptions and eight pass breakups. His 11 total pass defenses tied with Virginia safety Jonas Sanker for seventh most in the ACC.
VT's most notable transfer additions also came on the defensive side of the ball. The Hokies added seven players via the transfer portal, five play defense from which defensive tackle Aeneas Peebles from Duke and linebacker Sam Brumfield from Middle Tennessee State stand out. Peebles was an All-ACC Third Team selection last season upon recording 44 tackles and five sacks. Brumfield recorded 82 tackles, 3.5 sacks, and eight quarterback hurries while forcing three fumbles to earn Second Team All-Conference USA honors.
The Hokies did lose a notable defensive contributor to the portal in cornerback Derrick Canteen. Despite starting only three games last season, Canteen recorded 43 tackles, the sixth most on the team. He broke up five passes, the third most on the team behind Strong and Lawson. Canteen was one of 18 players to head into the portal but was the only significant contributor to do so.
THE MATCHUP
The Cavaliers are 38-60-5 against the Hokies all-time. UVA has beaten VT only once since 2004 and twice since 1999. They are 2-21 in the past 23 matchups and last won in 2019.
Virginia Tech will not be the toughest opponent Virginia faces this season. That honor likely belongs to Clemson or Notre Dame. However, given the recent history of this in-state rivalry, a win against the Hokies may feel less likely than an upset of one of the stronger opponents on the schedule for Virginia fans.
In this historically bad stretch of roughly two decades, the Cavaliers have had a mix of embarrassing blowout losses and devastating nailbiters. Since 2012, Virginia has lost ten of 11 matchups. Three of the losses came by 18, 38, and 42 points. The other seven came by 10 or fewer including five losses by five points or fewer. Three of them came by only a field goal. Last season, however, was the 38-point loss.
The Cavaliers trailed 24-0 at halftime and then proceeded to give up another 24 points in the third quarter alone. VT's first possession of the second half was a one-play, 84-yard touchdown pass to Da'Quan Felton from Kyron Drones. The Cavaliers, trailing 31-0, responded with a field goal but immediately conceded a 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown from Bhayshul Tuten.
Virginia scored on three plays on its subsequent drive and the Cavaliers never pulled any closer, eventually losing 55-17 in a game they were never truly competitive in.
Malik Washington turned in a 14-reception, 115-yard day, and Malachi Fields had two touchdowns and 89 yards on six receptions. Otherwise, the Cavaliers offense was severely lacking. The rushing attack produced just 43 yards on 29 attempts. Only two rushes went for at least 10 yards all day.
Meanwhile, Tuten ran for 117 yards on 16 carries to lead a VT rushing attack that amassed 252 yards and three touchdowns. Drones had one of his best passing days of the year as well, completing 10-of-22 passes for 244 yards and three touchdowns. In other words, Virginia allowed the Hokies 24.4 yards per completion.
For comparison, Anthony Colandrea put up 243 yards and two touchdowns, but he did so on 29-of-46 passing for an average of 8.4 yards per completion. He also was sacked six times while Drones was sacked zero times.
Put simply, UVA's offense was too inefficient overall and too reliant on the passing game. The defense had no answers for VT's dynamic rushing attack. Even the special teams units weren't up to the task as they allowed a kickoff return for a touchdown. Everything that could have gone wrong seemed to do just that.
This year, Virginia will try to go into Blacksburg to find just its third win over its rival since the turn of the century and its first at Lane Stadium since 1998.
