Syracuse (2-4, 0-2 Atlantic Coast) squares off against No. 17 Virginia Tech (4-1, 2-0) on Saturday at 3:45 p.m. at the Carrier Dome. The Hokies are coming off a 34-3 thrashing of North Carolina while the Orange is coming off a 28-9 loss at Wake Forest.

VT beat writer Andy Bitter of The Roanoke Times answers five questions about to what to expect in Saturday’s matchup.

The Daily Orange: Virginia Tech is a top three team in yards allowed per game and second in passing yards allowed. How do the Hokies have such a good pass defense? Is it a matter of a strong coverage unit or a strong pass rush?

Andy Bitter: It’s a combination of both, and the Hokies found out just how much those two go hand in hand last year. In 2015, they didn’t rush the passer well and found out the hard way that it’s tough to cover anyone down the field for four seconds, especially with a young secondary. This year, they’ve done better at confusing offenses, mixing in zone coverages and shifting defensive fronts, which is allowing them to get after the quarterback more. Virginia Tech’s 11 sacks don’t sound very impressive, but the Hokies have done a good job of pressuring the quarterback even if they’re not taking him to the ground.

In the secondary, they avoided the shuffling from last year, allowing all four of the starters, plus the nickelback, to learn one spot and develop. That’s shown on the field. The fundamental mistakes aren’t there as much this year, and with everybody returning from the end of last year and those young players maturing, you’re seeing a more confident group this year that can shake off a missed coverage on one play and not let it affect them on the next.

The D.O.: Have the Hokies gone up against an offense as fast as the one they’ll play against Saturday? Have they been preparing for it any differently?

A.B.: North Carolina was supposed to be pretty fast, although the weather last week didn’t allow the Tar Heels to crank it up much. East Carolina never really got out of the blocks either. The Hokies certainly got a taste of tempo in last year’s Independence Bowl against Tulsa, which is coached by another coach from the Baylor offensive tree in Philip Montgomery. But really, the best practice the Hokies have had with tempo is at practice every day. That’s the speed at which Justin Fuente would like Virginia Tech to play. Now, it hasn’t always hit that pace during games this year. For the most part, it hasn’t had to. But practices have been going at a pretty good clip since Fuente arrived last winter. It’s not something that’s going to be foreign to them. That’s for sure.

The D.O.: Were you surprised at just how dominant VT was against North Carolina last week? How did they pull off such a lopsided victory?

A.B.: I was a little surprised because I didn’t think either team was going to be able to put up a ton of points in that rain. But the Hokies did, in part because of great field position and in part because of a pretty strong plan of attack in the weather. Tech had six scoring drives, with its longest being 41 yards. The other five were all shorter than 30 yards, so the defensive effort to get the ball to the offense in great field position paid dividends.

But Fuente had a good offensive plan too, scaling back the playbook to include a lot of quarterback draws and keepers, which didn’t require too many moving parts. Quarterback Jerod Evans ran a career-high 21 times for only 49 yards, but he had some critical runs that flipped field position when the game was in doubt. Then the Hokies hit on a few shots down the field, completing a long pass to receiver Bucky Hodges and a touchdown to running back Sam Rogers. The score probably shouldn’t have been as lopsided as it was based on the conditions, but Tech took full advantage of all of its opportunities and North Carolina did so on next to none.

The D.O.: Do you think there’s any chance SU pulls off the upset? Can this be a “trap game” for VT?

A.B.: I could see some element of a trap game here, simply because it comes in a run of games that include North Carolina, Miami and Pittsburgh for the Hokies, the three other serious contenders in the Coastal Division. But this has been a Tech team that’s taken care of its business almost every week. In the latter years of the Frank Beamer era, you could almost always count on the Hokies to play to the level of competition on the other sideline (the 6-3 double-overtime loss at Wake Forest in 2014 is a prime example).

But Fuente has pushed all the right buttons so far this year, and you haven’t seen any dropoff or lackadaisical play from the Hokies from week-to-week. They’ve outscored opponents 55-6 in the first quarter, which tells you they come out of the gate pretty good. And this is finally an offense that is capable of going toe-to-toe with anybody in the league. It used to be that the Hokies would never know what they’d get on offense on a given day and had to rely on Bud Foster’s defense to carry the flag in more than its fair share of games. That’s no longer the case now, and that makes these Hokies much tougher to catch on an off day.

The D.O.: What’s the one big factor you’ll be looking for in Saturday’s game?

A.B.: I’m curious to see if Virginia Tech actually goes out and handles a team it should beat soundly. Like I’ve said, the last couple years have been marred by inconsistent play. And the Hokies have been prone to letdowns the week after getting big wins. Well, last week’s against UNC was as big as they’ve had under Fuente, shooting them up to 17th and 19th in the polls. It’ll be interesting to see how the Hokies handle that smidgen of success.

Everybody’s been telling them how good they are this week and all the talk about Virginia Tech being “back” is out there. Those are the moments when a team can get knocked off its pedestal. If the Hokies come out and take care of business like a 20-point favorite should, then it shows that Fuente is able to sidestep some of the past landmines. If they come out and struggle, it’s a sign that maybe Tech isn’t as mentally strong as it wants to be. Given where both of these programs are, a really good, mature team should go up to the Carrier Dome and play a complete game that’s never in doubt.

Published on October 13, 2016 at 10:16 pm

Contact Tomer: tdlanger@syr.edu | @tomer_langer