Wofford Terriers at Virginia Tech Hokies

Kyron Drones, Hokies roll to 38-6 win over Wofford in first game under interim coach Montgomery

Drones completed 27 of 32 passes for the Hokies (1-3), who were playing their first game since the university administration fired coach Brent Pry on Sept. 14. Philip Montgomery, the Hokies’ offensive coordinator, is serving as the head coach for the remainder of the season.

“It’s been an emotional week,” Montgomery said. “I couldn’t be more proud of our players. I couldn’t be more proud of our coaches. This is just one week. We’ve got to continue to keep building. We’ve got to continue to keep growing. But it was good to have that (the win) happen for them. They went out and earned it, they went out and did it, and I couldn’t be more proud.”

The Hokies jumped out to a 21-0 first-half lead and never looked back against the FCS Terriers (0-4). Drones completed passes to seven receivers in the first half — 11 for the game — and threw touchdown passes of 19 yards to Devin Alves and 18 yards to Ayden Greene on back-to-back possessions in the second quarter.

Behind Drones, who scored on two short runs in the second half, the Hokies finished with a season-high 461 yards.

“I thought Kyron played within the system and played within himself and took what they gave him,” Montgomery said. “Be needy, not greedy is what we’re always talking about, and I thought he did a good job of that.”

Jayden Whitaker threw for 142 yards, with an interception for the Terriers, who finished with just 141 yards.

“You’ve always got to give credit to the people you’re playing,” Wofford coach Shawn Watson said. “It had a lot to do with them, and we’ve got a lot of young guys out there. It was a combination of both, to be honest. … They give you a handful, and then we’ve got some young ones out there trying to execute against that. It makes for a hard day.

“We’ve just got to keep moving our football team forward. That’s college football.”

The takeaway Wofford: The Terriers had lost three close games to start the season, but were never in this one. They now hope for better outcomes when they start Southern Conference play in two weeks.

Virginia Tech: A program now in transition, the Hokies dominated in every statistical category as expected and took a small step toward salvaging what has been a disappointing season. They open conference play Saturday at NC State.

Missing players As many as 12 Virginia Tech players missed the Wofford game presumably to contemplate their futures, including starting linebacker Caleb Woodson, cornerback Caleb Brown, and safety Quentin Reddish. The transfer portal is open for 30 days following a head coach’s dismissal.

“We’re going through all of that with all of them,” Montgomery said. “It’s going to be us talking about it and us working through it. There are some injury things in that. There are some other things. But we’ll be fine.”

Up next Wofford hosts Western Carolina on Oct. 4

Virginia Tech plays at NC State on Saturday.