Tuten broke Virginia Tech's all-time single-game rushing record with a 266-yard performance on just 18 carries. He found paydirt three times on the ground â which included two long breakaway runs of 83 and 61 yards, respectively â and caught one pass for a 20-yard score in the second quarter.
The senior from Paulsboro, N.J., averaged 14.8 yards per carry against the Eagles. The majority of his work came on first down, where he had 13 rushes for 242 yards and three touchdowns, good for an average of 18.6 yards per attempt. Through seven games, he's racked up 871 yards on the ground and 12 scores, both of which are improvements on last season's totals (of 863 and 10, respectively). He's averaging 7.0 yards per rush, too (up from 5.0). Moreover, his 124.4 yards per game average (up from 66.4) ranks seventh in the country.
"He's a dawg," Tech head coach Brent Pry said of Tuten. "... I thought the holes were big holes he was running through. Once he gets out there in the open, he's hard to catch now. Very proud of the way he played tonight. He's a special back."
Chaplin was a key piece of the offensive line that paved the way for Tuten's record performance. The Hokies' 368 yards on the ground were the most in a single game in the Pry era, surpassing the 362 from last season's Military Bowl vs. Tulane.
The group kept quarterback Kyron Drones clean, too, allowing just one sack. It's drastically improved in that area since the start of the season, when it yielded four sacks in back-to-back games at Vanderbilt and vs. Marshall. In the five contests since, it's surrendered just six.
Chaplin, who hails from Seabrook, S.C., was the highest grader on the offensive line against BC, per PFF, earning a career-best 88.8 offensive grade. He received an 83.7 pass-blocking grade and an 84.7 run-blocking grade, too, the latter of which was a season high.
"We take a lot of pride in how well the other people on our team do, especially our running back, our quarterback," offensive line coach Ron Crook said. "We know if he's having success, we're doing what we're supposed to do, what we're expected to do. We talk all the time, it's the only position in sports where your only responsibility is to protect somebody else, so when those people are able to go have success, it's important to us and we enjoy that quite a lot."
Powell-Ryland one-upped the legendary Bruce Smith and other great Hokies defensive ends like Cornell Brown and Corey Moore against the Eagles with the third four-sack performance of his career. He was the first player in school history to accomplish the feat.
The Portsmouth native became the first Tech player to notch double-digit sacks since Darryl Tapp in 2005, too, and is currently tied for the nation's lead in sacks with 11, an honor he shares with San Diego State's Trey White. His 20.5 career sacks are tied for ninth in Tech history with Nathaniel Adibi, and he needs six more to tie John Engelberger for fourth all-time:
- 46: Bruce Smith
- 36: Cornell Brown
- 35: Corey Moore
- 26.5: John Engelberger
- 22: James Gayle, Chris Ellis
- 21.5: Ken Ekanem, Darryl Tapp
- 20.5: Antwaun Powell-Ryland, Nathaniel Adibi
However, everyone ahead of him or tied with him on the all-time list played in 40-plus career games at Tech, with the exception of Corey Moore (33). Powell-Ryland's worked his way up the list in just 20 appearances.
"He's very confident," Pry said of Powell-Ryland. "He's hungry. He's one of those guys you can look to him to make a play when you need it. He's proven that."