Virginia Tech Puts Away Marshall In 31-14 Victory

By: David Cunningham | Managing Editor

Jaylin Lane’s punt return touchdown gave Virginia Tech a much-needed spark in the first half. (Ivan Morozov)

Virginia Tech scored on its first three second-half possessions to put away Marshall in a 31-14 victory, its first of the 2024 season.

The Hokies (1-1) had trouble getting going early, coming away with just a field goal on nine first-half drives. They righted the ship after the break, however, and the Thundering Herd (1-1) couldn’t keep pace.

Jaylin Lane’s 52-yard punt return touchdown as the first quarter expired was the lone bright spot for the Hokies in the first half. It was the second career punt return touchdown for the graduate student, a second-team All-Conference USA pick as a specialist at Middle Tennessee in 2022. He housed a 70-yarder in 2021 against Monmouth.

Outside of that, Tech struggled against the Herd in the first 30 minutes. John Love converted a 42-yard field goal in the second quarter — his 18th in a row dating back to October 2023 — but that was after the offense shot itself in the foot. It had first-and-goal from the Marshall 2-yard line on that possession but an illegal blocking penalty and a sack moved them back.

The Thundering Herd couldn’t do much offensively — Virginia Tech allowed just 77 yards on 29 first-half plays — but capitalized on special teams. It blocked Peter Moore’s punt with 3:28 remaining in the second quarter, and Ethan Payne punched it in after taking over from the 5-yard line.

Tech took a 10-7 lead into intermission and came out firing to start the second half. It ripped off a 12-play, 50-yard drive — which featured 11 rushing plays — capped off by a 1-yard score from Bhayshul Tuten.

The senior had a productive Week 2 for the Hokies, racking up 120 yards on 22 attempts (5.5 avg). It was the second-most carries in Tuten’s Tech career, just two shy of his mark vs. Pitt in 2023. He has 10 touchdowns in his last six games.

The Herd struck back on the next possession, which was jumpstarted by a 69-yard run up the middle by A.J. Turner. Dorian Strong brought him down at the Tech 18-yard line, but Stone Earle (13-of-36, 129 yards, 1 TD) hit Christian Fitzpatrick for an 18-yard strike on the next play.

Leading 17-14, the Hokies responded well, courtesy of a big play from Stephen Gosnell. Kyron Drones (14-of-21, 130 yards, 1 TD) found the graduate student deep down the sideline and he completely laid out to haul in the 49-yard pass. Four plays later, Drones ran it in from the 3-yard line.

The tide eventually turned for good when Virginia Tech safety Mose Phillips tipped a pass from Earle, which fell into the lap of Mansoor Delane with 2:03 left in the third quarter. The defense’s first turnover of the season set up another successful drive, capped off by a 5-yard pass from Drones to Da’Quan Felton.

In all, the Hokies finished with 338 yards on 72 plays. They also held Marshall to 278 total yards, including 149 on the ground. Their defense, which finished with 12 pass breakups, limited the Herd to 5-of-17 on third down and forced eight punts, too.

Tech is back in action next week at Old Dominion for a 6 p.m. ET kickoff on ESPN+. They lost in their previous two trips to Norfolk in 2018 and 2022.

Box Score: Virginia Tech 31, Marshall 14 

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  1. Few quick/late thoughts:

    I agree with folks calling for our OC to be replaced. The day one priority for this regime has been to pound the rock reliably; if you haven’t established this identity by year 3, you’ve failed. I’ve never seen a bad OC get MUCH better at his job. When you look at the top 10 rushing offenses so far this season, none of these programs consistently recruit better than us, so it isn’t a talent issue.

    K. Drones will likely turn out to be a better Pro-QB than a college QB in this system. I believe he offers Josh Allen intangibles and we’ll find out how badly we mismanaged him once he’s through with the program.

    Caveat: I listened to Bill Belichick recently on Pat McAfee discussing the utilization of play scripting by some coaches, and I think maybe it offers an explanation as to our first half offensive struggles. Some teams will script out several initial drives and are unlikely to make adjustments until the second half. If this is the case here we need to shorten the scripts to maybe one quarter of football or one/two drives, since they haven’t proven effective.

  2. Simple. VT is a running team that has nasty weapons at WR that can be set up by the run. Why don’t we put BOTH Tuten and Thomas in the backfield at the same time? These two are nasty. We need to see some more of Thomas. There are so many things they could do with those two weapons back there…roll them out to WR, pre snap movement, I formation-type blocking for each other, roll one out and one runs, inside handoffs then parlay that into lateral sweep. Just so many things. RUN! But mix it up with both in the backfield!!

  3. OK THIS IS A JOKE SO TAKE IT THAT WAY!
    I have a theory that OC Bowen has 2 playbooks; 1st half and 2nd half.
    Could somebody please steal that 1st half playbook and burn it!!

  4. We need to start every game in the 3rd quarter.
    Calling the players & coaches garbage is pathetic. Maybe you should become a Georgia or Ohio St fan, or better yet, a UVa fan.

  5. The offensive line is straight up not good. Disappointing considering all the returning players.

  7. I could nit be more disappointed in this team. Players & coaches both. Garbage! Is anyone on the team playing well? This should have been a 10-2 team that will struggle to go 6-6. Second week in a row I turned channel. Too unpleasant to watch.

    1. Certainly will not miss fair weather fans like you. Garbage? That comment says .much more about you than our fabulous players and young coaches.

        1. I don’t know if he is a fairweather fan or not. But I can say I will always cheer on the Hokies and watch until the end no matter what. However, if someone doesn’t see something wrong with this staff in year 3 I think that’s not doing VT justice. We can do both. We can be concerned and think some sort of changes need to be made AND be serious fans.

      2. Saw the first two games in person and heading to ODU on Saturday, but its okay to expect better out of this team and coaches. Marshall was basically not very good, had one preseason SB second team member and he is an OL. Next week is the duper Bowl for ODU, we better make some changes.

      1. Exactly on MCHokie. Are you happy with yourself for calling 19 and 20 year olds – garbage? Make you feel better?
        Go root for UVA pls.
        Hokies deserve waaaaaaay better!!!!

    4. They won by 17 pts vs a program that beat us last year. First half offensive woes aside, the D was MUCH better. 2 busted plays and a blocked punt from a shutout

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