The Biggest Decision James Franklin Got Right Against VMI

Fourth-and-1 at Virginia Tech 's 49, two and a half minutes into the James Franklin era. The punt team stayed on the sideline.

Marcellous Hawkins Jr. got the yard. One snap later, Jeffrey Overton Jr. took a handoff 50 yards to the end zone, and the Hokies led before VMI's offense had touched the ball.

Virginia Tech won 73-3, and that number is close to meaningless. VMI is 0-2, has dropped 12 straight, and left Lane Stadium with its coach calling the Hokies the most talented team his program has ever played. Beating an FCS opponent by 70 tells you nothing about whether this thing is fixed.

The fourth down told you something.

The thing that followed him to Blacksburg

When Virginia Tech hired first-year coach James Franklin on Nov. 17, the objection wasn't about recruiting. Nobody has ever questioned whether Franklin can stock a roster. The objection was about Saturdays, and the specific charge was fourth downs. In the Oregon loss that produced the first "Fire Franklin" chants at Beaver Stadium, he sent out the punt team on fourth-and-9 from the Oregon 36 while Dan Lanning went for it five times in the opening half. Penn State fired him that month.

Be honest about the degree of difficulty. Fourth-and-1 at midfield against an FCS team in a scoreless first quarter is about as close to free as football gets. The math says go. The talent gap says go. If Hawkins gets stuffed, nobody writes a column about it in a game the Hokies win by 60 anyway.

But Franklin has spent a decade being told the process was the problem, and the process on that snap was correct. Tech finished 1-for-1 on fourth down. Last September, in the same building, Brent Pry's team opened the second half against Old Dominion by failing to convert a fourth-and-short; ODU kicked a field goal to go up 31-0, and the Hokies lost 45-26.

Pry is the defensive coordinator now. Franklin is the one deciding when the offense stays on the field.

The other call worth crediting

Ethan Grunkemeyer's 21-yard touchdown to Luke Reynolds on the opening drive of the second half made it 52-0, and most of the starters came off. Grunkemeyer finished 17-of-20 for 224 yards and two scores in a little more than a half.

What Franklin did next has a shelf life. He could have handed Bryce Baker a clipboard and a run-run-punt script.

"We need to see what Bryce Baker is able to do," Franklin said. "To put Bryce Baker in and just hand the ball off the whole second half, that's not fair to Bryce Baker."

So Baker ran the offense. He went 10-of-12 for 127 yards and threw a 40-yard touchdown to Chanz Wiggins, the first career score for both of them. He came in from North Carolina with three years of eligibility left after this one.

Franklin brought 27 transfers to Blacksburg, 12 of them out of Penn State. He needs to know what he has, and Saturday was the cheapest look he's going to get.

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