There's something to be said about getting to come home and play in front of your family when achieving your dreams of playing at the highest level of college football. For Antwaun Powell-Ryland, his return to the 757 went about as well as anyone could imagine becoming the second Hokie along with Bruce Smith to multiple four-sack games in his career to help lead the Hokies to victory.
Virginia Tech beat Old Dominion 37-17 to improve to 2-1 on the season while the Monarchs fell to 0-3. Tech's impressive second half should give them lots of momentum heading into an important non-conference game against Rutgers before their huge Friday night showdown against Miami.
This was a game of three halves in a way as the Hokies came out fast for the first time this year scoring touchdowns on their first two drives for the first time since October 23rd, 2021 against Syracuse.
Things started to spiral after the Hokies failed a fourth down conversion with ODU slowly turning the momentum and then quickly growing it from there. It was a response reminiscent of Vanderbilt when Brent Pry postgame described the Hokies as "shellshocked" in the aftermath of Kyron Drones' interception that day.
Tech was able to hold on to a 14-10 lead going into halftime though and then do what they did against Vanderbilt, take over the game in the second half.
After a 3 and out from the defense, Kyron Drones had a grown man 53-yard run but that drive stalled out with a field goal.
Tech could have let ODU linger from there, but Antwaun Powell-Ryland took control of this game for Tech after that with a pair of sacks including a forced fumble on third down to give the Hokies the ball in the red zone and permanently give the Hokies the momentum, with Tech outscoring 23-0 in the second half. APR did what stars did and assert himself to make sure that an underdog opponent didn't even get a glimmer of hope to think they could still come back in this game.
Overall, Antwaun Powell-Ryland was the biggest star of this game with his second four-sack as a Hokie, tying the school record he had already tied with four sacks against Wake Forest last season. He also had a pair of forced fumble plus a fumble recovery to go with his seven total tackles in what was a dominant game for APR.
Tech was the dominant team for three of the four quarter, with ODU only able to surge in the second quarter. The Hokies were particularly good in the second half having more points (23) than ODU had yards (19) after John Love's 48-yard field goal, though ODU then went on a long drive after that.
Part of the reason for the turnaround was Tech's increased focused on the running game combined with Kyron Drones' impressive improvisations with his own legs. Both Drones (9.8) and Tuten (5.5) averaged over five yards per carry in what was a very good rushing display full of their fair share of explosive plays. For the game, Tech averaged 5.7 yards per carry with the whole rushing attack deserving plenty of credit for that.
Tech outgained ODU 465-293 overall with a lot of those ODU yards coming after the backups and deeper were in for both teams.
Defensively, Tech dominated a poor ODU offensively with seven total tackles for loss including five sacks, giving ODU’s young quarterbacks a multitude of issues. Tech’s best stretch came in the third quarter when they held the Monarchs to 0 yards. The Hokies also forced a pair of turnovers via the APR second half strip sack and a Mansoor Delane interception, his second consecutive week with an interception.
Kyron Drones had arguably his best performance of the season going 15-26 for 176 yards, one touchdown, and one interception while running for 117 yards and a touchdown. While it wasn't his best passing performance of the season, his rushing made a massive impact on this dominant victory for the Hokies.
Drones was particularly impressive as a scrambler not only making some great runs but also doin a great job keeping his eyes downfield and finding some open receivers including most notably the 46-yard play with Jaylin Lane where Drones recovered from a fumbled snap to pick up the ball, roll out, and find an open Lane who turned a solid gain into a huge play.
Even though he was a little banged up, Bhayshul Tuten could not be slowed down with 21 carries for 115 yards and two touchdowns. Tuten continues to be a nightmare for opponents breaking his fair share of tackles while also making plenty of plays all over whether he was running between the tackles or on the edge.
Jaylin Lane was the star of the opening quarter with five catches for 106 yards and a touchdown in the first 15 minutes on his way to finishing with seven catches for 106 yards. Lane showed off his explosiveness and ability to make guys miss while being one of the tone setters early who helped the Hokies take control in the first quarter. He also had a nice 20-yard punt return during the second half, finishing the night with three punt returns for 29 yards.
Beyond APR, Kelvin Gilliam had a strong performance with six tackles including his first career sack while Sam Brumfield had his best game of the season with six tackles including one for loss. Caleb Woodson got the start at Will linebacker and delivered with seven tackles including 0.5 for loss while Mansoor Delane had a pair of tackles to go with his second interception of the season.
Multiple players talked postgame about how tonight was about "changing the narrative" that anyone could possibly think there was some sort of rivalry between the Hokies and Monarchs due to the past upsets in Norfolk. This game was a stark reminder that this is simply a fun but predictable in-state matchup and not a rivalry, with the Hokies delivering a performance for at least three quarters that was reflective of what we thought this team would be.
Now the tougher tests that will decide what this season is begin with a physical Rutgers team coming to Blacksburg next week before a massive showdown with clear ACC favorite Miami in South Florida in less than two weeks.
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