J.C. Price wrote it on the whiteboard in the position room at the beginning of the week. The message frustrated the Virginia Tech defensive linemen to no end leading up to Saturday night’s game against Pitt.

“2021: 208 yards. 2022: 326 yards.”

Those were Pitt’s rushing totals in the last two meetings with Tech.

The Hokies used that as motivation to prepare for the Panthers, determined to fix the run defense woes, and it worked in a 38-21 win. Pitt ran the ball 24 times for just 38 yards, an average of 1.6 yards per rush. It was a complete 180 after allowing over 200 yards on the ground in back-to-back games at Rutgers and Marshall.

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