Another slow start plagues Hokies in loss to Rutgers

BLACKSBURG — Bhayshul Tuten shrugged his shoulders and took a moment to think. The Virginia Tech running back was central in the Hokies' rally from a two-touchdown deficit in the fourth quarter Saturday. Another slow start was nearly wiped out by a frenzied final 15 minutes.

As Tuten thought about what transpired in a 26-23 loss to Rutgers in front of a capacity crowd at Lane Stadium, he couldn't pinpoint what exactly has been the issue surrounding Tech's slow offensive starts. He was just fed up with it defining the Hokies' nonconference schedule.

"I have no clue," Tuten replied. "We just need to get it fixed, honestly."

Tech (2-2) for the second time in nonconference play overcame a double-digit halftime deficit. It actually roared back in the season opener at Vanderbilt and took a seven-point lead before ultimately falling in overtime.

The Hokies entered the fourth quarter Saturday trailing by 16 points.

A two-play drive after an electric punt return from Jaylin Lane allowed the Hokies to cut the deficit in half. Another defensive stop led to another scoring drive with Tuten scoring for the second time in the quarter, and another two-point conversion evened the score at 23.

Those two scoring drives of 39 and 80 yards featured the Hokies getting back to the run game.

Tech ran the ball eight times for 89 on those two drives. Tuten had three runs of more than 10 yards, and he scored on runs of 14 and 2 yards.

"I think we just started playing our brand of ball," Tuten said. "Players making plays and Coach (Tyler Bowen, offensive coordinator) called the game how we wanted it to be called."

Tech was able to rally back by limiting the nation's second-leading rusher, Kyle Monangai, to season lows of 84 rushing yards and 3.2 yards per carry.

Rutgers quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis threw for a season-high 269 yards, but he was sacked three times and forced to run the ball (11 times) after not being under much pressure in the first two games.

"I think this week it was really the main focus was stopping the run," Tech linebacker Jaden Keller said. "Every practice, every meeting was all about stopping the run. That was the No. 1 objective."

But, like the loss at Vanderbilt, a fourth-quarter drive proved to be the difference on the scoreboard.

Rutgers (3-0) opened the drive after Tuten's tying touchdown with a quick screen pass to Ian Strong. The flow of the play was taking Strong to the middle of the field, and he cut toward the sideline to avoid the congestion. It led to a 63-yard gain that put the Scarlet Knights in field-goal range.

Jai Patel's 24-yard field goal with 1:56 remaining proved to be the winning points.

"Usually those type of screens usually are designed to go inside, so we had a bunch of guys traveling and coming inside trying to make the play," Keller said. "He just happened to cut it back out."

Tech quarterback Kyron Drones' third-down pass on the next drive was deflected by Robert Longerbeam, who caught the ball and immediately fell to the ground to secure the interception.

Rutgers was able to run the final 90 seconds off the clock for its first win in Blacksburg. The Scarlet Knights lost in their previous six trips.

"I don't think Kyron made a bad decision at the end of the game right there," Hokies coach Brent Pry said. "Their kid made a heck of a play. He jumped up, batted the ball and then caught it. I mean, the guy's wide open that we're throwing it to and we're going to move the sticks, we're going to get out of bounds. They made a good play right there."

It was Drones' second turnover of the game and the Hokies' third giveaway of the contest.

Tech recorded a fumble recovery late in the second quarter when Rutgers was attempting to take a two-touchdown lead.

The poor field position led to Drones being sacked in the end zone for a safety as Rutgers took a 16-7 lead into halftime.

"You can't lose the takeaway battle and the explosive play battle and win the game," Pry said. "Very difficult. And we almost did it."

Drones completed 13 of 27 passes for 137 yards. He added 60 rushing yards on nine carries.

Thirty-three of his rushing yards came on the touchdown drive that tied the game in the fourth quarter.

"I think there's enough good things that we've got to build on and lean into," Pry said. "We've got to look at the things that we don't do well. Some of them need to be thrown out and let's stop hitting our head against the door. There's been success offensively ... but there's not enough of it. We've got to, again, we can't start the way we started today. We've got to be better than that."

Tuten rushed for 48 of his game-high 122 yards in the fourth quarter. He finished with three touchdowns after scoring on a 23-yard run early in the second quarter to trim the deficit to 14-7.

"His toughness is evident right now. He's not 100%. And we're taking good care of him during the week and he's coming out there," Pry said. "It takes a minute to get going, but he gets greased up and we've got to get him touches. He's hard to deal with when he's on point and he's playing well."

The loss, which is the 13th straight against a nonconference opponent currently in a Power Four conference, prevented the Hokies from winning three straight games for the first time since the 2019 season.

Tech also fell to 1-9 in one-score games under Pry.

That includes both of its losses this season to Vanderbilt and Rutgers.

"Of course you look at it, right, and man you talk about finishing," Pry said. "I mean, the screen got out on us, but the defense had really kind of tightened up. They were getting some stops and giving us a chance to get back in the game. We had a chance right there to finish well. We're a couple of plays away from finishing the way we want against a good football team."

Damien Sordelett

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