Virginia Tech gets a road test at California Memorial Stadium on Saturday, and the biggest wrinkle may not be the trip itself. It’s the quarterback situation on the other sideline.
Cal’s Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele left last week’s loss to UNLV after hitting his head on the turf late in the first half and did not return, even though he was medically cleared. First-year coach Tosh Lupoi said the Bears will revisit his status during the week.
“If Jaron is ready to rock, then awesome,” Lupoi said.
That leaves the Hokies having to get ready for two different quarterbacks, and the drop-off is not as clean as the label backup would suggest. Redshirt junior Jackson Brousseau started eight games at Colorado State last season, stepped in against UNLV, and helped Cal claw back into the game. He finished 19-of-32 for 200 yards and two touchdowns, and the Bears were ahead 25-24 in the fourth quarter before falling.
Either way, Virginia Tech knows it will see a Cal offense that has struggled to put points on the board against stronger competition. In three games against power-conference opponents, Sagapolutele went 61-of-104 for 572 yards with four touchdowns and four interceptions, and Cal averaged 18.3 points. The Bears were also short-handed at running back against UNLV, managed just 69 rushing yards, and threw the ball 59 times.
That should bring a real test for a Virginia Tech front that has gotten steady production from senior end Aycen Stevens, who has recorded a solo sack in five straight games.
The Hokies are coming off a frustrating loss of their own. Against Pitt, junior quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer had thrown 136 passes across four games without an interception, then gave the ball away three times in a span that helped sink Tech in a two-point game.
He threw two picks, lost a fumble on a strip sack, and was involved in a botched exchange that became the fourth turnover. Pitt turned those mistakes into 14 points.
Even so, Grunkemeyer also threw for a career-high 434 yards, and Tech is not approaching this game as if it needs to hide its passing attack.
The more interesting matchup may be on the back end for Cal. Redshirt sophomore safety Kingston Lopa leads the FBS with five interceptions, but he left the UNLV game on the first defensive snap.
His status could loom even larger here than Sagapolutele’s. After Lopa exited, UNLV hit touchdown passes of 70 and 36 yards before halftime.
Virginia Tech’s run game also has something to prove after a sharp drop-off last week. Sophomore Jeffrey Overton Jr. ran for 209 yards at Boston College, then the Hokies managed only 65 against Pitt after averaging 177.8 over their first four games.
Cal offers a chance to reset there, too. The Bears are 121st in the FBS against the run, allowing 187.4 yards per game.
Some of UNLV’s 173 rushing yards came from quarterback Jackson Arnold, who ran for 110, and Grunkemeyer does most of his damage from the pocket. That opens the door for Marcellous Hawkins Jr. as well. Tech’s leading rusher from last season has carried 18 times for 51 yards over the past two games.
The schedule only gets tighter from here, with Georgia Tech coming to Lane Stadium on Oct. 17 and Clemson following a week later. For now, though, the focus is on Saturday and the turnover battle that already bit both teams last week.
The ACC’s availability reports will clarify Cal’s quarterback situation by the end of the week. Nothing sorts out the turnovers but Saturday.
In Other News...
Virginia Tech's Next Two Games Will Test What Pitt Exposed
Virginia Tech comes out of its open date facing a stretch that should say plenty about where the Hokies really stand. The next stop is Georgia Tech on Saturday, Oct. 17, at 3:30 p.m. ET on the ACC Network, and it arrives after a recent run that has already put the offense and defense under the microscope. The broader picture around both teams makes the timing matter even more, with each side carrying recent results, standout performers and the kind of midseason questions that tend to sharpen once the calendar turns deeper into October.
For Virginia Tech, this is also about more than one Saturday in Atlanta. The Hokies upcoming travel and the next portion of the schedule will force them to show whether the issues exposed recently were a one-game problem or something more persistent. Georgia Tech has its own momentum to manage, but for Virginia Tech the real value of this matchup is in what it can reveal before the road gets any tougher. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Tech Faces A Cal Problem That Could Decide This Road Test
As Virginia Tech gets ready for its trip to Cal, James Franklin is spending as much time on uncertainty as on the opponent itself. He said there are still questions about how Cal wants to attack offensively, but he made it clear the Hokies are preparing for a quarterback they respect in Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, whose presence gives this road test a different kind of edge.
Franklin also revisited Grunkemeyers recent performance, offering a quick checkpoint on where Virginia Tech stands at the position before heading across the country. The bigger message, though, was about details the Hokies can control: protecting the ball, forcing turnovers on defense and tightening up in practice before a game where the margin could be shaped by whichever team handles the unknowns better. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Tech Let A Winnable Pitt Game Slip Away
Virginia Tech walked away from a 35-33 loss to Pitt with the uneasy feeling that a winnable conference game had been there to take. The Hokies outgained the Panthers in total yards and spent much of the night with enough offense to keep the pressure on, but turnovers and penalties kept undercutting their chances to put the game away.
In a race where every result matters, the loss leaves Virginia Tech tied with Pitt in the ACC standings and adds another layer of frustration to what could have been a useful step forward. The margin was slim, the opportunities were there, and the Hokies will now have to carry the sting of knowing this one was within reach. [Read more 🡒]