Virginia Tech has already done the part that can’t be taken away. The Hokies beat Clemson 20-16 on Oct. 24, snapped a drought that stretched back to 2007, and punched their ticket to a bowl in James Franklin’s first season.
But that win also exposed how narrow the path is. Virginia Tech ran 37 times for 70 yards, Ethan Grunkemeyer was sacked six times, and Clemson controlled the third quarter 146-13 in total offense.
Now comes the month that will define how high this team can climb.
The Hokies are 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the ACC, and they get this weekend off before the schedule turns brutal. It starts with a Friday night trip to No.
19 SMU on Nov. 6, then Stanford visits Lane Stadium on Nov. 14.
After that, Virginia Tech goes to No. 1 Miami on Nov. 21 before closing with Virginia in Blacksburg on Nov.
- The floor is already in place after last year’s 3-9 finish.
The ceiling is still up for grabs.
Three players will shape where this season ends up.
Grunkemeyer has been the steady hand Franklin wanted when he brought the redshirt sophomore with him from Penn State. He’s completed 187 of 262 passes for 2,140 yards, 17 touchdowns and two interceptions, with both picks coming in the 35-33 loss to Pitt. The numbers tell one story, and the offense around him tells another: Virginia Tech’s 2025 passing game is averaging 284.4 yards per game after last year’s offense managed just 166.3, which ranked 117th nationally.
He’s also delivered in moments that don’t show up cleanly in the box score. Down 16-13 at Clemson, Grunkemeyer guided an 11-play, 69-yard march and capped it with a fourth-and-1 touchdown pass to tight end Luke Reynolds from the Clemson 5.
The concern is what happens before he gets the chance to throw. Grunkemeyer has been sacked 23 times in eight games, and six of those came against Clemson.
SMU and Miami have plenty of film on that. Virginia Tech doesn’t need him to post another 434-yard day like he did in the Pitt loss.
It needs him upright and out of the kind of negative plays that wreck drives, and that won’t be his burden alone.
That brings the focus to Jaden Stevens, who has become one of the most important pieces on the roster by changing positions and changing the shape of the defense. He arrived in Blacksburg from Indianapolis as a linebacker recruit, moved to defensive end before the 2024 season, and now leads the Hokies with 10.5 tackles for loss and 8 sacks after finishing last year with 14 tackles and half a tackle for loss.
His value is obvious in the team numbers. Virginia Tech leads the country with 77 tackles for loss, but it ranks 91st in pass efficiency defense. The pass rush has been doing a lot of the heavy lifting for the coverage behind it.
That setup gets its biggest test in Miami Gardens. Miami just watched Darian Mensah throw for 387 yards and four touchdowns in a 52-23 win over Pitt, the same Pitt team that beat Virginia Tech.
Stevens was quiet at Clemson, finishing with three tackles and no sacks, though the Hokies still got four sacks from four different players. Mylachi Williams delivered the last one, taking down Clemson on fourth-and-9 with 48 seconds left.
The depth is there. Against Miami, Virginia Tech needs its top rusher to be the one setting the tone.
Still, the clearest swing piece in November is Bhayshul Tuten, not Grunkemeyer.
The redshirt freshman from Woodbridge, Va., has 639 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 113 carries, good for 5.7 yards per attempt. He’s added 23 catches for 214 yards and two scores. His biggest performance came at Boston College, where he carried 25 times for 209 yards and broke off a 76-yard touchdown in a 21-14 win.
Strip out that game, though, and his production drops to 61.4 yards per outing across the other seven. Over the last two games, he’s totaled 111 yards on 24 carries. At Clemson, he managed 26 yards on 10 attempts.
The team-wide rushing numbers say the same thing. Virginia Tech is averaging 139.8 rushing yards per game, which ranks 98th nationally, and 3.7 yards per carry. When the ground game stalls, everything else gets harder.
Tuten doesn’t need another 200-yard explosion. He just needs to make first down feel alive again.
If he can push the run game back toward 5 yards a carry, Grunkemeyer gets better down-and-distance situations, and the defense gets more rest. If he can’t, the Hokies will be asking their quarterback to solve Miami the same way they barely solved Clemson.
That next test arrives in Dallas, where Virginia Tech plays SMU at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN on Nov.
- The Hokies already survived one game with 70 rushing yards.
They have until then to make sure they don’t have to live that way again.
In Other News...
Virginia Tech's Offense May Hinge On One Crucial Scoring Race
Virginia Tech heads into the 2026-27 season with a clearer offensive picture than it had a year ago, and a lot of that starts with the return of Amani Hansberry and Ben Hammond. The Hokies expect both to be central pieces as they open the year, with Hansberry bringing back-end production and Hammond positioned to take on a much larger role after his rise last season. Around them, the staff also added transfer Elohim, giving the lineup another proven scorer to lean on.
What makes this offense interesting is how quickly the hierarchy could settle in once the games begin. Hansberry and Hammond are expected to be in the mix for the top scoring spot, while Elohim gives Virginia Tech another reliable option who should ease the burden on both returners. If that balance holds, the Hokies may have enough firepower to make the opening months look a lot different than the uneven stretches that have often defined this group. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Tech's Final Four Could Change Everything For James Franklin
Virginia Tech has already done enough to secure bowl eligibility, but the next month is where James Franklins first season will really be judged. At 6-2 and sitting fourth in the ACC standings, the Hokies have given themselves a solid foundation, yet the remaining schedule is the kind that can change the tone of an entire year, with four games left and two of them coming on the road against ranked opponents SMU and Miami.
For Franklin, the stretch run is about more than simply padding a record. Senior defensive end Aycen Stevens has helped stabilize one side of the ball, while receiver Brown remains on pace for a major milestone of his own, giving the offense a clear centerpiece as the stakes rise. How Virginia Tech handles this final test will go a long way toward defining not just the season, but the early direction of Franklins tenure. [Read more 🡒]