Virginia Tech will have Montavious Cunningham available for Saturday’s trip to Maryland, with the starting guard avoiding the automatic first-half suspension that can come with an ejection.
Coach James Franklin said Monday that Cunningham’s removal from last week’s win over Old Dominion was recorded by officials as a flagrant unsportsmanlike foul, not “fighting,” which is the NCAA ruling that would have triggered the ban. Cunningham was tossed early in the fourth quarter after punching ODU defensive lineman DeAndre Lynch in the goal-line pile on Ethan Grunkemeyer’s 1-yard touchdown quarterback sneak.
The distinction matters for the Hokies, who have used Cunningham at right guard in each of their first two games this season. Cunningham arrived at Virginia Tech from Georgia State before the 2024 season, started four games in 2025 and then missed the rest of that season because of an injury.
If Cunningham had been unavailable, fifth-year Brody Meadows would have been the next man up. Meadows has spent five years in Blacksburg, appearing in 26 games with two starts.
Franklin said Saturday that the penalty bothered him most because he had already warned Cunningham earlier in the game about running “hot.” He called the play “selfish,” saying Cunningham put a personal fight with Lynch ahead of the team.
Even so, Franklin said Cunningham took responsibility in the locker room and apologized to his teammates without being prompted.
“He manned up,” Franklin said Saturday, “and the reality is, for all of us, we make mistakes, all of us, myself included. When you make a mistake, you man up to it, you own it, you take responsibility and you move forward.
The fact that Montavious was able to get up in front of the team and do that? I respect that and I appreciate that and I think so do his teammates.”
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For Virginia, the challenge is as much mental as physical. The Cavaliers will need speed, depth and discipline to survive the kind of night where one missed fit or late adjustment can quickly snowball. The cleanest answers are the ones defenses always hope for in a game like this: force incompletions, get ball-carriers out of bounds and find any clock stoppage possible to reset personnel. Against this kind of offense, though, even those small wins can feel hard-earned. [Read more 🡒]
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Virginia Faces One Big Test As Key Cavaliers Still Loom
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John Rudzinskis defense will be asked to handle a West Virginia offense that brings an agile quarterback in Michael Hawkins Jr. and a dangerous back in Cam Cook, which is enough to test Virginias front on its own. On the other side, there is still some uncertainty around a few pieces that could change the balance for Virginia, including the status of its star linebacker and whether receiver Flores is ready to enter the mix, leaving the Cavaliers with a little more intrigue than their early rankings would suggest. [Read more 🡒]