Virginia Tech will spend plenty of time reliving John Love’s missed 36-yard field goal at the buzzer, but the final snap in Friday night’s 35-33 loss to Pitt at Lane Stadium was only the ending. It was not the whole story.
Love, who had converted 42 of his first 44 field-goal tries from inside 40 yards in his Virginia Tech career, pushed the 45th attempt wide left as time expired. That miss will be replayed and argued over for a long time. James Franklin wants the conversation to start much earlier.
The Hokies outgained Pitt 499-295 and still came away empty. Franklin said the film would show “20 plays that we could have made” to prevent the game from ever coming down to Love’s foot.
Virginia Tech led 17-7 in the second quarter before Pitt marched 75 yards in 10 plays for a touchdown, with 42 of those yards handed over by Hokie penalties. The biggest break came on third-and-16 from the Tech 38, when Mason Heintschel’s incompletion should have forced a punt. Instead, Kenny Woseley Jr. drew an unnecessary roughness flag and then an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, moving Pitt 26 yards and setting it up at the 12.
Franklin pointed to pre-snap and post-whistle mistakes afterward. Virginia Tech was flagged eight times for 82 yards and ran for just 65.
The second-quarter damage didn’t stop there. With Tech ahead 24-14 and 1:13 left before halftime, Ethan Grunkemeyer threw an interception to Cameron Lindsey at the Tech 23. Two plays later, Heintschel connected with Cataurus Hicks for 22 yards, and it was the first interception of Grunkemeyer’s season.
“Can't turn the ball over four times,” Franklin said.
Pitt then lost Heintschel to injury on the fourth play of the second half, but the Panthers kept the pressure on the ground. They ran six straight times, covered 54 yards, and took a 28-24 lead on Damon Ferguson Jr.’s 15-yard touchdown.
That’s where Virginia Tech really lost control. The Hokies followed with three straight possessions that ended in a lost fumble, a punt, and another lost fumble. In the third quarter, they managed only 27 yards and finished minus-12 on the ground.
The flags kept feeding the problem. Offensive pass interference on Davion Brown wiped out a 6-yard completion and turned a manageable down into second-and-20.
Two snaps later, Jaeden Moore stripped Grunkemeyer on third-and-17. On the next possession, an illegal use of hands penalty on Layth Ghannam changed second-and-1 into second-and-16.
Pitt didn’t immediately make Virginia Tech pay every time. A fourth-and-1 pass fell incomplete at the Tech 19, and a low snap ruined a long field-goal attempt.
But the third chance stuck. Jeffrey Overton Jr. fumbled on second-and-1 at midfield, Pitt recovered at the Tech 41, and four plays later Holden Geriner found Hicks for 29 yards to make it 35-24 with 13:55 remaining.
Virginia Tech had two more chances inside the Pitt 18 in the fourth quarter and came away with nothing both times.
First, down 11, Ayden Greene’s 48-yard catch set up second-and-6 at the 18. Grunkemeyer went for the end zone, and Shawn Lee Jr. picked it off at the 3.
The Hokies responded immediately. Noah Chambers’ safety and Overton’s 62-yard return of the free kick set up a 28-yard touchdown pass to freshman Davion Brown, trimming the deficit to 35-33 with 10:07 left.
Then the offense went cold again. On a drive that started at its own 35 with 7:31 to play, Tech ran Overton twice for a net loss of one yard, and Nathan Totten’s punt traveled just 15 yards.
The final possession was Virginia Tech’s best offensive stretch after halftime. It went 62 yards in 16 plays, stayed alive on a 23-yard fourth-and-5 throw to Luke Reynolds, and reached the Pitt 19 with 37 seconds left. But three runs from there gained only one yard, leaving Love to try to finish it.
Love’s miss will own the highlight loop, but Franklin made clear it shouldn’t carry all the blame. He called Love “the best kicker in the country” and said he’d send him back out “back out there for the same situation every single time.”
The bigger issue was the turnover battle. Virginia Tech finished minus-4, with four giveaways and no takeaways.
Pitt turned those mistakes into 14 points and left with the win. The Hokies now have nine giveaways in five games.
Virginia Tech visits Cal on Saturday, Oct. 10, and the work ahead has little to do with its kicker.
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Pitt Escaped Virginia Tech With A Win Fans Will Debate All Week
Virginia Tech had a chance to turn a tight finish into a statement win, but the ending at Pitt will sit with Hokies fans for a while. John Love lined up for a 36-yard field goal as time expired, and when the kick missed, Virginia Tech was left with a loss despite a performance that gave it plenty to feel good about elsewhere.
Ethan Grunkemeyer posted a career-high 434 passing yards, a number that should have been enough to carry the evening into the win column. Instead, the final kick sparked the kind of debate that lingers after a one-score game, with some fans still wondering about whether it was truly good, while James Franklin declined to pin the result on the officials. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Tech's Next Line Says Plenty After That Brutal Pitt Loss
Virginia Tech is trying to turn the page quickly after a heartbreaking 35-33 loss to Pitt, one that featured Ethan Grunkemeyers career-high 434 passing yards and still ended with the Hokies empty-handed. The numbers from that afternoon suggested an offense that can push defenses around, but the result was a reminder that strong production does not always translate into a win when a game tightens late.
The next chance to respond comes Oct. 10 against California, where Virginia Tech is listed as a 10.5-point favorite by FanDuel Sportsbook. It is the kind of line that says plenty about the expectations surrounding this matchup, and for a Hokies team still carrying the sting of the Pitt game, the focus now shifts to whether it can back that status up on ACC Network. [Read more 🡒]