Grading Virginia Tech's Position Groups In Its 40-22 Loss to Stanford
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Ethan Grunkemeyer threw three interceptions on his first 300 passes this season. Against Stanford, he threw two in his first eight.
Both went to Stanford safety Charlie Eckhardt, who also forced a fumble. Then came the sacks. A Cardinal defense that ranked last in the ACC with six in nine games took Grunkemeyer down five times.
Virginia Tech lost to Stanford 40-22 Saturday night at Lane Stadium as a 15.5-point favorite. The Cardinal had lost 15 straight road games, the longest active streak in FBS. The Hokies (6-4, 3-4 ACC) have lost two straight.
Pass defense got the attention this week. Coach James Franklin said after the SMU loss that the Hokies had to be better “specifically in our zone coverages.” The secondary was fine. Stanford won at the line of scrimmage on both sides, running for 233 yards on 41 carries against a defense whose opponents had averaged 3.41 yards per carry through nine games.
Quarterback: D+
Grunkemeyer finished 17-of-34 for 270 yards with two touchdowns, two interceptions, and five sacks. The first pick came on a throw slightly behind freshman Davion Brown, who took a hit as the ball popped up to Eckhardt. The second was on Grunkemeyer. On second-and-22 from the Stanford 40, Eckhardt jumped a throw meant for Que’Sean Brown, and Stanford went 78 yards for the game’s first touchdown.
He also hit Davion Brown for a 69-yard score on fourth-and-5 and Marlion Jackson for 49. But 188 of his 270 yards came after halftime, with the Hokies down 24-7.
Running back: A-
Jeffrey Overton Jr. ran 19 times for 107 yards and a touchdown, his fourth 100-yard game, and didn’t lose yardage on a single carry. On the Hokies’ only first-half scoring drive, the sophomore converted a fourth-and-inches and scored from 2 yards out. He’s at 869 yards on 145 carries, an even 6.0 per carry.
Wide receivers: C-
Que’Sean Brown led the group with six catches for 71 yards and the 9-yard touchdown. He also fumbled on the first play of a second-quarter drive, and Micah Ford scored four plays later for a 21-0 lead. Davion Brown had two catches for 81 yards, and Jackson had three for 62. Ayden Greene dropped a fourth-and-8 throw that ended the first drive of the second half.
Tight end: C
Luke Reynolds caught one of three targets for 25 yards, plus the 2-point conversion. That’s a quiet night for a player who came in with 493 receiving yards and six touchdowns.
Offensive line: D+
Stanford had three sacks in the first quarter and five by the middle of the third, after six total in its previous nine games. The run blocking held up better. Virginia Tech’s non-quarterback runs gained 137 yards on 25 carries. Montavious Cunningham left limping late in the first quarter.
Defensive line: F
Virginia Tech came in with 84 tackles for loss and hadn’t made fewer than five in any game. Against Stanford, it made one. Nobody had a sack.
Aycen Stevens entered with 8.5 sacks and finished with one tackle. Ford ran 27 times for 149 yards and three touchdowns. A front built on negative plays made one.
Linebackers: D
Stanford’s first three possessions went nine plays for 2 yards. The Cardinal scored on eight of their last nine. Keon Wylie led the team with 11 tackles, but Ford got stronger as the night went on: 53 yards on his first 13 carries, 96 on his last 14.
The costliest mistake erased the Hokies’ best defensive play. Cornerback Thomas Williams picked off Davis Warren in the first quarter and went 75 yards for a touchdown, but linebacker Curtis Jones Jr. was flagged for offside. Warren ran it in from 16 yards later on the same drive.
Secondary: C
Warren went 16-of-31 for 203 yards with no touchdown passes, and Stanford converted 5-of-14 third downs. After SMU, the Hokies will take that.
The deduction belongs to cornerback Jaquez White, whose holding penalty on a second-quarter third-and-7 extended a touchdown drive. Cornerback Isaiah Brown-Murray and safety Tyson Flowers tied for second on the team with seven tackles each. That’s where Ford’s runs were ending.
Special teams: C
Messiah Mickens returned two kickoffs for 51 yards. John Love made both extra points. The late onside kick didn’t work. Nothing here decided the game.
Coaching: D-
Franklin went for it on fourth down on the first drive of each half and came up empty both times. The first, a fourth-and-1 at the Stanford 46, went to Grunkemeyer, not Overton.
The early play mix is the bigger question. Overton had three carries in the first 11 minutes. By then Grunkemeyer had thrown eight passes, two of them to Eckhardt. Franklin said after SMU that the Hokies could have run more early in that game, too.
After a week of talk about coverage for defensive coordinator Brent Pry’s group, Stanford ran it 41 times meeting little resistance.
Overall: D-
I put Virginia Tech’s chances at 88% in this week’s confidence meter, mostly because Stanford couldn’t rush the passer and Grunkemeyer didn’t turn it over. Stanford had three sacks and two interceptions by the end of the first quarter.
Virginia Tech has given up 91 points in its last two games, and it still needs one more win for its first seven-win regular season since 2019. SMU and Stanford combined for 452 rushing yards in eight days, 38% of what the Hokies have allowed all season. Miami is next, Saturday, Nov. 21, at Hard Rock Stadium.
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James Duncan serves as a staff writer for Virginia Tech On SI, covering football, men’s and women’s basketball and recruiting. He is a 2026 Virginia Tech graduate, having majored in Sports Media and Analytics with a minor in Professional and Technical Writing. Duncan previously covered the Washington Commanders as a reporter for The Lead, where he reported on the team throughout an offseason.