Roanoke

Hokies still have mindset of 'win out' after 'tough loss' at Syracuse

V.Rodriguez25 min ago

BLACKSBURG — Virginia Tech's response from the heartbreaking loss at Miami in late September had the Hokies positioned well in the ACC standings heading into November.

The schedule shaped up to where Tech's home game against Clemson had the potential to be a matchup that determined which team had the inside track for a berth in the conference championship game in Charlotte.

Syracuse threw a wrench into that plan. The Orange's overtime victory snapped Tech's three-game winning streak and made the path challenging to get back into contention for an ACC title game appearance.

Last weekend's setback hasn't changed the Hokies' outlook heading into Saturday's 3:30 p.m. showdown with the No. 19 Tigers inside Lane Stadium. Tech (5-4, 3-2 ACC) still needs one more victory to reach bowl eligibility and it could reach that mark by beating a team ranked in the AP Top 25 for the second time under Brent Pry.

"Mindset the rest of the season is win out. That was our mindset going into Syracuse and we just had a tough loss," cornerback Dante Lovett said Tuesday. "I feel like everyone, even though we lost, we still have the mindset of we're going to go in and still win out.

"We still have a bye week to make sure we get healthy going into Duke and UVa, and I feel like that's going to be a big key to success and not letting up there, stepping on the pedal and going and just going full head of steam the rest of the season."

Tech's goals at the beginning of the season included playing for the ACC title. The Hokies haven't been eliminated from rallying to be one of the two teams playing for an automatic bid to the 12-team College Football Playoff, but they are currently behind two teams they have lost to in the standings (Miami and Syracuse) and no longer control their destiny.

"I'll say the mindset (is) still the same," running back Malachi Thomas said. "We just want to go out every week and just prepare the way that we've been preparing and just get a W."

The Hokies' potential of winning out will come down to finishing games that are decided by a touchdown. Tech's 38-31 loss at Syracuse was its fourth one-score setback this season and dropped it to 1-11 in those games under Pry.

Tech either led or was tied at the two-minute timeout in the fourth quarter in each of the four losses. It led against Vanderbilt, Miami and Syracuse and was tied against Rutgers.

"For me, I went back and looked at each of the games this year," Pry said. "What was the mindset? What was the approach? How did I handle it personally? Whether it's time management, timeouts. How did we call the game as an offensive play-caller, as a defensive play-caller?"

Vanderbilt and Miami scored go-ahead touchdowns on the first play after the two-minute timeout. Rutgers' go-ahead field goal also came on the first play after the two-minute timeout.

Syracuse's game-tying score came with 29 seconds remaining.

"It was definitely tough. We felt like we should have closed it out, but they had a really good drive coming down and they punched it in the end zone," Lovett said of last weekend's loss at Syracuse. "It was kind of disappointing, but as a team, we know that we've got to finish better. It was a lot of details that we didn't finish on that we know for a fact that we learn from the experience and we know now not to make the same mistakes. It was a hard one, but it'll be all right though. We'll definitely get it fixed."

Pry added he evaluated how he, his staff and his team performed in those late-game situations similar to how the entire group handled the slow starts that plagued the team at the beginning of the season.

The Hokies have progressed in how they've started games. They scored 21 first-quarter points over the season's first four games. They have tallied 42 first-quarter points over the last five games.

"Just like with the slow starts, we made some adjustments. How do we find a way to start fast, from a schematic standpoint, play-calling standpoint, practice mindset?" Pry said. "So we're doing the same thing that way, looking at these close finishes and what do we have to do to get over (the hump) and have a closer's mentality, finish these things out? So we're taking a hard look at it from a lot of angles."

The Hokies are 2-1 after losses this season. The only time they fell after a loss was the controversial setback at Miami, and rebounding from the loss at Syracuse can get them back on track with potentially keeping their goals alive.

"I think the guys have been able to put the last one behind us and approach the next one about let's go be the best team we can be, let's go be the best version of who we are, the team we know and believe we can be," Pry said. "I don't think we've done that yet. And I think everybody strives for that all year long. We need to go play our best game and come out of it with a victory, and that's what's going to be required of this group. That's the challenge. It's going to require our best game to go out here and get a victory. And we're certainly capable."

Damien Sordelett (540) 981-3124

ACC FOOTBALL

No. 19 Clemson at Virginia Tech

Saturday, 3:30 p.m., ESPN

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