The most revealing call James Franklin made against VMI came before Virginia Tech had even settled in.
It was fourth-and-1 at the Virginia Tech 49, barely two and a half minutes into Franklin’s first game on the Hokies’ sideline. The punt unit never moved. Marcellous Hawkins Jr. powered ahead for the yard, and the next snap turned into an instant knockout: Jeffrey Overton Jr. took the handoff and ripped 50 yards to the end zone, putting Virginia Tech in front before VMI’s offense ever saw the field.
That sequence said more than the final score ever could. Virginia Tech rolled to a 73-3 win, but the number is almost beside the point.
VMI is 0-2, has lost 12 in a row, and left Lane Stadium with its coach saying the Hokies were the most talented team his program has ever faced. A 70-point win over an FCS opponent doesn’t tell you whether anything has truly changed.
Franklin’s hiring on Nov. 17 came with a familiar knock attached. No one doubts his ability to recruit and build a roster.
The issue has always been what happens on Saturdays, especially when the game reaches a fourth down. The criticism sharpened during the Oregon loss that sparked the first “Fire Franklin” chants at Beaver Stadium, when he chose to punt on fourth-and-9 from the Oregon 36 while Dan Lanning went for it five times in the opening half.
Penn State fired him that month.
Against VMI, though, the call was simple. Fourth-and-1 at midfield against an FCS opponent in a scoreless first quarter is as close to a no-brainer as football gets.
The analytics point one way. The talent gap points the same way.
If Hawkins gets stopped, it barely registers in a game Virginia Tech was going to win by a mile anyway.
Still, Franklin has spent years hearing that the process was the issue, and on that first big decision, the process was right. Virginia Tech went 1-for-1 on fourth down.
That mattered in a building where Brent Pry’s team, last September against Old Dominion, opened the second half by failing to convert a fourth-and-short. ODU turned that into a field goal and a 31-0 lead on the way to a 45-26 Hokies loss.
Pry is now the defensive coordinator. Franklin is the one making the call on whether the offense keeps rolling.
Once Ethan Grunkemeyer hit Luke Reynolds for a 21-yard touchdown on the opening drive of the second half, Virginia Tech led 52-0 and the starters started to disappear. Grunkemeyer finished 17-of-20 for 224 yards and two touchdowns in a little more than a half.
What Franklin chose after that had an expiration date. He could have played it safe, tucked Bryce Baker away with a clipboard, and spent the rest of the day on a steady diet of runs and punts.
“We need to see what Bryce Baker is able to do,” Franklin said. “To put Bryce Baker in and just hand the ball off the whole second half, that's not fair to Bryce Baker.”
So Baker got the offense. He completed 10 of 12 passes for 127 yards and threw a 40-yard touchdown to Chanz Wiggins, the first career score for both players. Baker arrived from North Carolina with three years of eligibility remaining after this season.
Franklin brought 27 transfers to Blacksburg, including 12 from Penn State. He needs answers on what he has, and Saturday gave him the cheapest look he’s going to get.
In Other News...
Virginia Tech Still Has One Big Quarterback Decision Before Old Dominion
Virginia Tech heads into Week 2 with one of the more practical questions of the early season still hanging over it: who settles in as the backup quarterback behind the starter. James Franklin said Bryce Baker has put himself in the conversation, and that battle for QB2 has become part of the buildup to Old Dominion, even as the Hokies try to keep their focus on the larger shape of the season. Franklin also spent time praising the defense and talking through the value of how future games are scheduled, a reminder that the first few weeks can shape more than just the win-loss column.
Old Dominion brings a little extra edge because of what happened a year ago, but Franklin made clear the Hokies are treating this matchup as its own test rather than a chance to relive last seasons loss. The result is a familiar early-season mix of urgency and evaluation: Virginia Tech wants to clean up the details, keep building confidence on defense and, at the same time, sort out a quarterback depth chart that could matter later even if it does not decide Saturday. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Techs Quarterback Battle Isnt Over Behind Ethan Grunkemeyer
Virginia Tech left its season-opening win over VMI with one part of the quarterback picture looking settled and another still very much in motion. Junior Ethan Grunkemeyer handled the job well enough in the opener, completing 17 of 20 passes for two touchdowns, and the Hokies got the kind of steady start they wanted from the top of the depth chart.
The more interesting question now sits behind him. Head coach discussed the quarterback situation after the game and made clear the backup role is still a competition among Bryce Baker, Kelden Ryan and Troy Huhn, with Baker getting into the opener but no definitive No. 2 yet named. For a team trying to build early-season rhythm, that kind of uncertainty matters, and it gives the next stretch of practice a little extra edge. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Tech Gets A Charged Reunion With One Painful Opponent
Brent Prys return to Virginia Tech has already added an unusual layer to James Franklins first season in Blacksburg. Fired as the Hokies head coach in September 2025, Pry is back on the staff as defensive coordinator, and the schedule wasted little time in putting him in a spotlight game with extra meaning. Virginia Tech hosts Old Dominion on Sept. 12, 2026, with both teams off to 1-0 starts and the Hokies installed as the favorite.
The matchup carries an edge beyond the usual in-state intrigue because Old Dominion was the team whose victory helped trigger Prys dismissal. It is rare enough for a coach to return to the same program after getting let go, and even rarer for that reunion to come against the opponent most closely tied to the end of his first run. For Virginia Tech, it turns Saturday into more than an early-season test. It is also a charged reminder of how quickly the narrative around one program can turn. [Read more 🡒]