Virginia Tech Gets First Win Total Projection For The James Franklin Era

Virginia Tech football's 2026 campaign is rapidly approaching, and with it, comes the aspirations for a better campaign. Last year, the Hokies went 3-9, dropping their first three games and firing then-head coach Brent Pry on Nov. 14, a day after an insipid 45-26 loss to Old Dominion.

Hokie Nation, we got our guy 🤝

Coach Franklin’s here to win 🏆

➡️ https://t.co/qFtXyikfDR
🏆 https://t.co/dA4VWjes9z pic.twitter.com/J2MTYyAILt
— Virginia Tech Football (@HokiesFB) November 17, 2025

FanDuel set Virginia Tech's win total at 6.5 victories. Should the Hokies finish with a 6-7 or 7-6 record, it would be the fifth time in the past nine seasons with that mark. Virginia Tech has not eclipsed that mark since the 2019 season, when it went 8-5, losing its final two games and dropping a potential chance at the ACC Championship game with a loss to archrival Virginia.

What could be critical is whether Virginia Tech can get out to a good start. Between 2016 and 2020, Virginia Tech started out 4-2 in four seasons (2016, 2018-2020) and 5-1 in 2017. Since then, the Hokies have not started with a record over .500 in their first six games of the season. Here's a look at the Hokies' first six opponents:

Sept. 5: vs. VMI (Lane Stadium; Blacksburg, Va.)
Sept. 12: vs. Old Dominion (Lane Stadium; Blacksburg, Va.)
Sept. 19: at Maryland (SECU Stadium; College Park, Md.)
Sept. 26: at Boston College (Alumni Stadium; Chestnut Hill, Mass.)
Oct. 2: vs. Pitt (Lane Stadium; Blacksburg, Va.)

All six contests appear attainable, and if the Hokies can enter the tougher stretch of conference play with four or five wins under their belt, it could set up well for, at a minimum, a bowl appearance under Franklin in year one.

The Hokies receive a rougher draw in regard to their conference slate down the line; they contest Clemson, SMU and Miami all on the road, though they draw Virginia at home this year. The Cavaliers went 11-2 and advanced to the ACC title game last year, falling to Duke 27-20.

Virginia Tech will have a new quaretrback as its starter this year. Kyron Drones has exhausted his eligibility and, in his place, Ethan Grunkemeyer, who transferred over from Penn State, will presumably be the starter.

"Yeah, I feel really good about the room in terms of the competition and how it looked before," said Virginia Tech head coach James Franklin on Feb. 4. "I will say, it's not ideal in terms of how we spaced it out. In a perfect world, we would have got a senior or junior, backed up by a sophomore, backed up by a freshman type of deal. ... It's not like it's your turn to choose and you choose this guy. There's still a recruiting process, and we needed to go out and get the best available guys that we could.

"I wish they were a little bit more spread out, but again, I am happy with the talent. I am happy with the wiring, how these guys are wired. I think you have to be wired differently at the quarterback position and how you go about your business. So, I'm very pleased with that right now. To your point, I wish it was spaced out a little bit, but at the end of the day, we got a lot of young talent in that room that has a chance to be a part of Virginia Tech. Not only present, but future."

The Hokies' 2026 campaign begins on September 5 vs. VMI, but before that, Virginia Tech's spring game will take place on April 18. The kickoff is set for 3 p.m. ET, with admission free of charge for fans.

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