Virginia Tech heads into its Oct. 10 trip to Cal with the betting market firmly on its side.
FanDuel Sportsbook has the Hokies installed as 10.5-point favorites over the Golden Bears, with the over/under sitting at 52.5 points for the Saturday afternoon matchup in Berkeley.
That number comes on the heels of a frustrating 35-33 loss to Pitt, a game Virginia Tech nearly stole late. The Hokies chipped away at an 11-point deficit with a Noah Chambers safety and Davion "FatRat" Brown’s first receiving touchdown of his college career, but John Love’s 36-yard field goal try to win it drifted wide left.
“We had a chance, obviously, to win it at the end,” said Virginia Tech head coach James Franklin. “Everybody’s going to focus on the last play, and this isn’t coach-speak. We’re going to watch this tape and there’s going to be 20 plays that we could’ve made throughout the game to put us in a better position and not be in that situation at the end.”
Even in defeat, quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer turned in a huge statistical day. He threw for a career-high 434 yards, the second-most passing yards in a single Virginia Tech game dating back to at least 1987 and trailing only Bryan Randall’s 504-yard effort against Syracuse in 2002. The flip side was ugly, too: Grunkemeyer lost one of two fumbles and threw two interceptions, his first picks of the season.
For the year, Grunkemeyer has completed 131 of 177 passes for 1,446 yards, good for No. 7 in the FBS. He’s added 11 touchdown throws against four interceptions, and his 79.7 quarterback rating on ESPN ranks No. 23 nationally.
Virginia Tech’s 4-0 start was its first since 2017, built on wins over VMI, Old Dominion, Maryland and Boston College before the Pitt setback snapped the run.
Cal, meanwhile, enters this one with a different kind of pressure. The Golden Bears opened with a 45-24 loss to UCLA in Berkeley, then beat Syracuse 21-18 to start ACC play 1-0. Since then, though, they’ve taken a sharp turn, falling 49-7 to Wagner and then dropping back-to-back games to Clemson and UNLV.
The UNLV loss was especially costly. Jackson Arnold accounted for five scores against the Cal defense in a 39-31 game, and quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele left in the second quarter after taking a hit to the head and did not return. Sagapolutele has completed 107 of 164 passes this season for 1,180 yards, eight touchdowns and five interceptions.
Virginia Tech and Cal are set to kick at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Oct. 10, with ACC Network carrying the broadcast.
In Other News...
Virginia Tech's ACC Title Hopes Now Hinge On One Brutal Reality
Virginia Tech walked out of Pittsburgh with the kind of loss that lingers, one that hardly reflected the box score but still counts all the same. The Hokies outgained Pitt by 204 yards and still fell 35-33, undone by four turnovers and a missed 36-yard field goal as time expired, a finish that left their unbeaten mark gone and their spot in the ACC picture much less secure.
Even so, the path to the conference title game is not closed, just narrowed to a maze of future results and tiebreakers that now matter every bit as much as what Virginia Tech does on the field. Pitt, meanwhile, has its own concern after starting quarterback Mason Heintschel was lost for the season with an ACL injury, a blow that could shape the Panthers' role in the race from here. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Tech Gets A Chance To Settle Down At Cal
Virginia Techs unbeaten start is gone after a 35-33 loss to Pitt, but the Hokies now get a chance to reset in a different part of the country. Their next stop is Berkeley on Oct. 10, where theyll face California as the favorites by SP+ and try to turn the page from a game that was decided by just a couple of points.
California comes in with its own recent results and personnel questions, which should make this a useful measuring-stick trip for Virginia Tech as it looks to steady itself. It is the kind of ACC road test that can tell you plenty about a teams response, and this one will also be easy enough to follow from afar with the broadcast details already set. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Tech Still Has A Bowl Path Fans Wont Ignore
Virginia Techs loss to Pitt changed the conversation around the postseason, but it did not shut the door on a solid bowl landing. The Hokies still have multiple projection paths in front of them, with some outlets sending them to the Sun Bowl against Arizona and others leaving them in the Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando, a reminder that the rest of the schedule still has real weight.
The margin for error is thinner now, especially after a game in which Virginia Tech actually outgained Pitt but got burned by turnovers and a missed field goal. With Clemson and SMU still ahead, those matchups will go a long way toward determining whether the Hokies can push toward eight or nine wins and improve their postseason position before the selections finally settle. [Read more 🡒]