Instant Takeaways From Virginia Tech's 35-26 Win Over Maryland
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Luke Reynolds caught the ball on fourth-and-1, backed his way past the line to gain and stepped out of bounds. The officials reviewed it and let it stand. With Maryland out of timeouts, that was the ballgame.
Virginia Tech beat Maryland 35-26 on Saturday night at SECU Stadium to move to 3-0 for the first time since 2017. It's also the Hokies' first win over a nonconference Power Four opponent since they beat West Virginia in the 2017 opener.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
1. Ethan Grunkemeyer was surgical when the Hokies needed him most.
Maryland came in with 10 sacks over two games, the most in the Big Ten. It got to Ethan Grunkemeyer once.
Grunkemeyer completed 31 of 39 passes for 314 yards and three touchdowns without an interception, and he did most of that after starting left tackle Justin Terry was helped off late in the first quarter. When the pocket broke down, he made plays anyway. Facing third-and-goal from the 18 after a sack and a false start, he stepped up and ran it in himself for a 13-0 lead.
His best work came right before halftime. Maryland had just cut the lead to 20-14 with 2:11 left, and Grunkemeyer answered with an 11-play, 75-yard drive in under two minutes. It ended with a 2-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Ja'Ricous Hairston with 16 seconds on the clock.
Through three games, he's 79-of-101 for 865 yards with seven touchdown passes and zero interceptions.
2. Luke Reynolds caught a perfect game.
Twelve targets. Twelve catches.
Reynolds finished with 107 yards and a touchdown, a career high in receptions, one week after his eight-catch, 108-yard game against Old Dominion. Before that game, no Virginia Tech tight end had reached 100 receiving yards since James Mitchell's 103 at North Carolina in 2020. Reynolds has now done it in back-to-back weeks.
The volume wasn't the impressive part. The timing was. He converted a third-and-1 with a 25-yard back-shoulder catch in the first quarter, then dragged his toes along the left sideline to move the chains on third-and-3 in the second. A 13-yard hitch picked up a third-and-9 in the third quarter. And when Tech needed 1 yard to put the game away, Grunkemeyer went right back to his former Penn State teammate.
Reynolds, who also scored on a 14-yard screen on the opening drive, has 25 catches for 265 yards and four touchdowns through three games.
3. Maryland moved the ball well, but Tech's long drives ruined any chance of a comeback.
This wasn't a shutdown night for the Hokies' defense. Malik Washington completed 30 of 43 passes for 359 yards and three touchdowns, and Chris Durr Jr. caught 12 passes for 109 yards and two scores. Maryland averaged 6.6 yards per play, better than Virginia Tech's 5.9, and scored touchdowns on all four of its red-zone trips.
The Terps just couldn't get the ball back. Tech's opening drive went 13 plays and took 6:45. The next touchdown drive took 5:49. The Hokies' only score of the third quarter, an 11-play, 67-yard march finished by Jeffrey Overton Jr.'s 2-yard run, took another 6:12. Maryland's first two possessions of the second half, meanwhile, ended in a three-and-out and a turnover on downs. By the time its offense got rolling, it trailed 35-14.
Two failed two-point tries kept Maryland two scores back. When Durr's 13-yard touchdown made it 35-26 with 5:34 left, Tech took over at its own 35 and never gave the ball back. Marcellous Hawkins Jr. converted a third-and-1 that survived a review, and Reynolds handled the fourth-and-1.
Maryland's offense finished the night where it spent too much of it, watching from the sideline.
Virginia Tech will start conference play as it travels to Boston College. Kickoff for the game is at noon.
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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.