The Hokies were, frankly, a poor pass-rushing team in 2021 and 2022.

They recorded 25 and 23 sacks, respectively, in those seasons, a third of which came in three performances: North Carolina in 2021 and Boston College and Liberty in 2022. They were the lowest and third-lowest season sack totals for Virginia Tech since joining the ACC in 2004.

That makes what the Hokies did on Thursday night in their destruction of Syracuse even more impressive. While the red-hot offense scored the points, the defense set the tone, sacking Orange quarterback Garrett Shrader eight times throughout the 38-10 victory.

It was the second consecutive game in which Tech impressed up front after it recorded seven sacks against Wake Forest. The 15 sacks in back-to-back games are the most since the historic 1999 team did it in two road contests at Pitt and West Virginia.

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