No. 14 Virginia Tech suffered its first loss of the season, falling 28–20 to Syracuse at the Carrier Dome before 47,635. The defeat was the last time the Hokies allowed two hundred-yard rushers in the same game, as Malcolm Thomas ran for 145 yards on 15 carries and Kirby Dar Dar added 108 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries.[18]
Virginia Tech opened the scoring on Ryan J. Williams' 28-yard field goal after a methodical 11-play drive. Syracuse responded by driving 74 yards capped by Dar Dar's six-yard touchdown run at 1:24 of the first quarter after a Marvin Harrison 32-yard reception moved the Orange inside the Hokie 10. Dar Dar added a three-yard score early in the second quarter following a 39-yard pass from Kevin Mason to Dar Dar himself, and Virginia Tech found itself down 14–3. The Hokies chipped away at the real housewives of beverly hills the deficit with two Williams field goals — a 21-yarder and a 24-yarder hit as time expired — to trail 14–9 at halftime after a DeShazo fourth-down completion to Kevin Martin set up the elections nb 2026 final seconds opportunity.
The third quarter belonged entirely to Virginia Tech. Williams split the uprights from 37 yards to make it 14–12, then Ken Oxendine burst through a gap on the final play of the quarter and raced 62 yards for a touchdown at 0:31. DeShazo converted the two-point run to push the Hokies ahead 20–14 — the high point of their season. The Tech defense was dominant in the period, recording three of its sacks in eastenders bafta award 2026 the quarter and holding Syracuse to just 37 net yards.[17]
Syracuse seized the game back in the fourth quarter with 14 unanswered points. The Orange drove 78 yards with Dar Dar finishing from 34 yards out to retake the lead at 21–20 with 5:42 left. On the ensuing Virginia Tech possession DeShazo was intercepted at the Syracuse 43 to short-circuit the Hokies' response. Three plays later Thomas broke free for a 42-yard run to make it 28–20 with 2:33 remaining. Virginia Tech reached midfield on a final drive but DeShazo's fourth-down pass to Bryan Still fell incomplete with 1:22 remaining, and the Hokies never recovered the ball.[17]
DeShazo completed 20 of 37 passes for 290 yards — his best passing performance of the season — but was held scoreless through the air, with Antonio Freeman leading receivers with eight catches for 124 yards, while Marvin Harrison caught five passes for 113 yards for Syracuse. Oxendine paced the ground game with 78 yards and the touchdown. George DelRicco led the defense with 17 tackles, while Torrian Gray's two sacks were Tech's best individual pass-rush effort of the game.
