Orange and Hokies Square off Thursday

SYRACUSE at VIRGINIA TECH
Game Details: 7:30 p.m. | Thursday, Oct. 26
Location: Blacksburg, Va. | Lane Stadium
Tickets to Remaining Home Games: Cuse.com/Tickets
Game Links: Watch | Listen | Live Stats
Television: ESPN
Radio: Syracuse Sports Network from Learfield
Twitter: @CuseFootball | @Cuse
Syracuse Links: News | Roster | Schedule | Notes
Virginia Tech Links: News | Roster | Schedule | Notes

ORANGE CONCLUDE ROAD SWING AT VIRGINIA TECH
• Syracuse plays its final game of three-straight road contests at Virginia Tech on Thursday.
• The game will air on ESPN, with Matt Barrie (PxP), Dan Mullen (analyst) and Harry Lyles Jr. (reporter) on the call.
• The Orange conclude their first three-game stretch of true road games since the 1996 season. After hosting Clemson on Sept. 30, it will be more than a month before Syracuse returns to the JMA Wireless Dome to host Boston College on Nov. 3.

SERIES HISTORY
• Thursday's game will be the 20th all-time meeting between Syracuse and Virginia Tech.
• The Orange have won two-straight against the Hokies and own an 11-8 advantage in the series.
• Syracuse and Virginia Tech met every year from 1992-2003 when both were members of The BIG EAST Conference. Thursday's game will be the third meeting between the teams since the Orange joined the ACC in 2013.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
• Syracuse's strength of schedule through its first seven games ranks 12th in the nation according to ESPN's College Football Power Index (FPI), and has the most-difficult schedule to date of any team in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
• Only Alabama (7-1), Texas (6-1), LSU (6-2) and Notre Dame (6-2) have a better record than the Orange (4-3) among teams in the top-12 of the strength of schedule metric.
• All three of 'Cuse's losses have come against teams ranked in the top 20 of ESPN's FPI.
• Football Power Index measures teams' true strength on net points scale; expected point margin vs. average opponent on neutral field.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
• Syracuse is in the midst on a 34-day stretch without a game played in the JMA Dome.
• The stretch is the third-longest in college football this season, with Coastal Carolina (37 days between home games) having the longest, followed by Arkansas (35). The Razorbacks' stretch includes a neutral site game.
• The last time Syracuse did not have a home game in the month of October was in 2008, when two byes and two road games accounted for the stretch. The Orange's last 30+ day stretch without a home game that included three road contests was in 1996.
• When the Orange do return home, it'll be a Nov. 3 Friday night affair with Boston College. The team will then play a neutral site game vs. Pitt (Nov. 11) and a game at Georgia Tech (Nov. 18) before the next Saturday home game on Nov. 25 vs. Wake Forest. The 56 days between Saturday home games trails only New Mexico State's 63 day stretch without a Saturday home game for the longest such streak in the FBS.

THURSDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
• Syracuse will play its first Thursday regular-season game since the Orange traveled to NC State on a Thursday in the 2019 season. Last year's Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl was also played on a Thursday.
• The Orange are 17-8 (.680) in weekday games since beating Kansas State in the 2010 Pinstripe Bowl.
• Syracuse has won seven of their its 12 weekday games.

BYE, BYE, BYE
• Since 2009, Syracuse is 12-9 in games when it has an additional week to prepare, including a 8-8 record in regular-season games after a bye. The Orange's other four victories in that time are bowl wins that followed the 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2018 campaigns.
• Head coach Dino Babers has won three of his last-six games with an additional week of preparation, including a win against then-No. 15 ranked NC State following the Orange's bye last season.

ALL-PURPOSE ALLEN
• RB LeQuint Allen has scored eight touchdowns this season, which lead the team and rank fifth in the ACC. He's currently on pace to break into the top-10 of single-season rushing touchdowns in program history, needing five more over the remaining five games to do so.
• Allen ranks seventh in the ACC in all-purpose yards with 668. Five of the six players who rank above him in that category have returned kickoffs this season.
• He also leads the Orange in receptions with 23.
• In his first collegiate start - the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl - Allen tallied 154 yards from scrimmage and caught 11 passes in the bowl game, breaking Marvin Harrison's SU record (7) for most receptions in a bowl game.
• Allen also recorded rushing, passing and receiving touchdowns in 2022, making him the first SU player to accomplish that trio in the same season since 1989.

AT A LOSS
• Syracuse ranks third in the ACC and 14th in the nation in tackles for loss, averaging 7.3 per game.
• The Orange recorded a season-high 13.0 TFLs against Clemson, which were one shy of the the most for Syracuse under the direction of head coach Dino Babers.
• DL Caleb Okechukwu and LB Leon Lowery had three TFLs each against the Tigers. It was a career high for Okechukwu.

POINT OF NO RETURN
• Syracuse has not allowed a kickoff return this season when the kickoff has taken place from the 35-yard line.
• The Orange gave up 12 yards on a kickoff in the third quarter against Army that was from the 20-yard line. The 12 kickoff return yards allowed this season lead the nation.
• Syracuse is the only FBS teams that has given up less than 20 total yards on kickoffs this season.
• Syracuse's 37 touchbacks this season are tied for eighth in the nation.
• The Orange allowed their first return yards of any kind of the year when Purdue returned a punt six yards. Western Michigan's fourth quarter punt return was the first official return of any kind against the Orange, but the Broncos did not gain any yards on the return.

A WIN WOULD …
• Improve Dino Babers' record to 41-52 as head coach of the Orange.
• Give the Orange their first ACC road win of the season.
• Give Syracuse its 753rd all-time victory (includes 11 wins from 2004-06 that were vacated by the NCAA). The Orange currently rank 21st on the FBS ledger of winningest programs. Syracuse is one of 33 FBS schools to have accumulated 700+ wins.

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Players Mentioned

LeQuint Allen

Leon Lowery

Caleb Okechukwu

Syracuse University Athletics