Kyron Drones threw two touchdown passes and scored another on the ground as Virginia Tech bounced back from a tough last-minute loss to No. 7 Miami, defeating Stanford 31-7 on Saturday.
Bhaysul Tuten added 73 rushing yards and a touchdown, helping the Hokies (3-3, 1-1 ACC) with a strong performance from their defense. Tuten, a transfer from North Carolina A&T, reached over 3,000 career rushing yards.
Drones completed 14 of 19 passes for 201 yards, throwing touchdowns to Stephen Gosnell and Da’Quan Felton. He also scrambled for 17 yards in Virginia Tech’s first matchup with Stanford since the 2011 Orange Bowl. Felton had four catches for 84 yards.
“That’s what we need to be offensively, defensively, special teams,” Hokies coach Brent Pry said. “A well-rounded effort against a good team at their place after a tough loss.”
The Hokies worked hard all week to move past the disappointing loss to the Hurricanes on September 27. In that game, Drones and Felton connected for a 30-yard touchdown in the final seconds, but the call was reversed after review.
Virginia Tech never let Stanford get that close.
As Drones efficiently led the offense, Tuten kept the momentum going on the ground. Tuten, who was the second-leading rusher in the ACC going into the game, consistently broke through Stanford’s strong run defense to help the Hokies snap their two-game losing streak.
“We came out and we ran the ball extremely well today,” Tuten said. “I think it definitely shows us that we’re the top run offense in the league.”
Stanford (2-3, 1-2 ACC) switched quarterbacks after Ashton Daniels left last week’s game against Clemson with an ankle injury, but the outcome was still similar.
Justin Lamson, who played a limited role in the Cardinal’s first four games, completed 13 of 24 passes for 103 yards with one interception. Virginia Tech held Stanford to just 258 yards of total offense.
“We have to be a defense that can cause some mayhem,” Pry said. “That’s the style of defense we want to play.”
After Stanford kicker Emmel Kenney’s 53-yard field goal attempt missed during the opening drive, Virginia Tech quickly answered with a scoring drive. Wide receiver Jaylin Lane caught two passes for 26 yards, then ran 24 yards on a reverse to set up Drones’ 17-yard touchdown pass to Gosnell.
Tuten scored on a fourth-down play in the second quarter, giving the Hokies a 14-0 lead at halftime.
Virginia Tech extended their lead to 21-0 when Drones threw a 55-yard touchdown pass to Felton, who caught the ball near the Stanford 35 and ran into the end zone without being touched.
Stanford’s only score came from a trick play in the third quarter when running back Micah Ford threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Elic Ayomanor late in the period.
“We just never had any big plays, really,” Stanford coach Troy Taylor said. “We didn’t do enough offensively to create some space and some big plays. We had some opportunities there, but we didn’t play well enough in all three phases.”
John Love added a 46-yard field goal for Virginia Tech in the fourth quarter.
