Five Things We Hope to Learn About Virginia Tech in Season Opener vs. VMI

SP+ projects Virginia Tech to beat VMI 68-0 on Saturday and gives the Hokies a 100% win probability. The Keydets rank 376th among every school Bill Connelly rates across all divisions. The scoreboard won't tell anybody anything. The tape might.

Head coach James Franklin named Ethan Grunkemeyer his starting quarterback Monday, five days out. That closes the loudest question of the offseason and leaves a stack of quieter ones. Here are five, with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. on the ACC Network.

1. What Ty Howle's offense actually looks like

Grunkemeyer completed 69.1% of his throws for 1,339 yards, eight touchdowns and four interceptions at Penn State last season, starting the final seven games and winning the last four. He's a known quantity to his coaching staff and almost nobody else.

Franklin offenses feed the tight end, and offensive coordinator Ty Howle coached Tyler Warren to Penn State's first John Mackey Award in 2024. Tech has the personnel to prove it in Luke Reynolds and Benji Gosnell. Watch the groupings on the opening script. Twelve and 13 personnel on the first drive say more about Howle's intentions than anything that happens after halftime.

2. Whether the offensive line holds up

Left to right, it's Justin Terry, Layth Ghannam, Kyle Altuner, Montavious Cunningham, and Aidan Lynch. The interior is the settled part. Altuner started all 12 games at center as a redshirt freshman, logging 793 snaps, and Ghannam made 10 starts at left guard.

The bookends are the question. Terry arrives from Ohio State without a college start, and Lynch flips to right tackle after grading out on PFF at 45.6 last season, the lowest mark among returning Hokie linemen. VMI won't test either of them. But communication shows up on the first stunt they see, and a line that can't sort out an FCS twist has a long October ahead.

3. How Brent Pry's front handles assignment football

VMI hired head coach Ashley Ingram in December after 16 years at Navy and two seasons at Division II Carson-Newman, where he went 16-6 running the triple option. He brought the offense with him. The Keydets opened Aug. 29 at Idaho State and lost 38-10, running 52 times for 229 yards.

Here's the part worth writing into the story rather than around it: nobody else on Virginia Tech's schedule runs this. Saturday measures eye discipline and gap integrity, not whether defensive coordinator Brent Pry's scheme will work against the best the ACC has to offer.

4. Who plays when it stops mattering

Franklin declined to name a backup quarterback Monday. North Carolina transfer Bryce Baker, Kelden Ryan and true freshman Troy Huhn are all still in it, and a 68-point projection means all three could get snaps.

The depth question runs past quarterback. Linebacker Gabe Williams, Tech's top signee in the 2024 class, is out with a long-term injury, his second in three years. Defensive tackle Emmett Laws hasn't practiced this fall. Franklin has already moved Clemson transfer Sherrod Covil Jr. from safety to outside linebacker to cover it.

"You make plans based on everybody being healthy," Franklin said. Saturday is the first look at Plan B.

5. Special teams, beyond the kicker

SP+ ranks Tech's offense at No. 38 and its defense at No. 39. It ranks the special teams 89th.

That isn't about John Love. The senior captain has made 54 of 64 career field goals and all 114 of his extra points. Coverage and return work are exactly what a blowout lets you evaluate honestly, because nobody's protecting a lead. If the Hokies are still losing the field position battle in the fourth quarter to the 376th-ranked team in the country, that's a real data point

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