Three Keys to Victory for Virginia Tech This Friday vs. Pitt
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Nobody has scored on Pitt in the first quarter this season. Nobody has scored on the Panthers in the third quarter, either.
That's the defense walking into a sold-out Lane Stadium on Friday night. Virginia Tech (4-0, 1-0 ACC) hosts Pitt (4-0, 1-0 ACC) at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. The Hokies score 43.3 points per game, second in the ACC. The Panthers allow 8.5 PPG, the best in the league.
One of those numbers is going to look worse on Saturday morning.
A win would give Virginia Tech its first 5-0 start since 2005. Head coach James Franklin wants no part of that conversation.
"I get that for the media, and I get that for the fans and everybody," Franklin said Monday. "But we've got to find a way to be 1-0 this week."
Here's how the Hokies get there.
1. Get the ball out fast, and get it to Luke Reynolds
Pitt ranks second in the ACC in total defense (244.5 yards per game) and run defense (53.3). Franklin said the Panthers want to "make it one-dimensional, stop the run," then come after the quarterback with a blitz package he called "really good."
"They've got a really good plan and it causes conflict," Franklin said. "There's no doubt about it. You've got to do a great job of getting the ball out quickly."
That's a tough ask for a line running on backups. Left tackle Justin Terry will miss several weeks, according to a team spokesman, and guard Brody Meadows left the Boston College game in the first half. Right guard Montavious Cunningham is expected back Friday.
The pressure release is tight end Luke Reynolds. He caught 25 passes for 265 yards and four touchdowns over the first three games, leading all Power Four tight ends in each category.
"It's like finding Waldo. He's all over the place," Narduzzi said Monday. "He's big, he's athletic, and he's a great blocker too."
Quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer is completing 74.3% of his passes, and Pitt has allowed two passing touchdowns all season. The Hokies won't win deep behind a makeshift left side. Screens and pop passes to Reynolds, plus checkdowns to running back Jeffrey Overton Jr., can make Pitt think twice about sending a sixth man blitzing.
2. Win first and second down against Damon Ferguson Jr.
Pitt beat UCF and Syracuse, its two Power Four opponents, without a touchdown pass. Quarterback Mason Heintschel went a combined 28-of-52 for 335 yards and an interception in those games. The Panthers won them on the ground.
True freshman Damon Ferguson Jr. leads Pitt with 239 rushing yards after Ja'Kyrian Turner, last season's leading rusher, missed the UCF and Syracuse games with an injury. The Panthers average 176.5 rushing yards per game.
"They do a really good job of stressing you out with traditional paths, formations, RPOs," Franklin said.
Virginia Tech has the front for it. The Hokies allow 83.3 rushing yards per game, 14th in the FBS, and are first in the country with 45 tackles for loss. Defensive end Cortez Harris leads Virginia Tech with five sacks.
If the Hokies stuff Ferguson on early downs, Heintschel makes his first road start of the season on third-and-long in front of a sellout crowd. Virginia Tech holds opponents to a 27.3% third-down conversion rate, tied for 14th nationally.
3. Steal a short field
Virginia Tech's offense could use a head start, and the defense hasn't provided many. The Hokies have one interception through four games, 114th in the FBS, and a minus-1 turnover margin.
The return game has been more generous. Wide receiver Que'Sean Brown ranks second in the country with 204 punt return yards on just eight returns. That includes a 79-yarder against Old Dominion and a 50-yarder at Boston College.
Both ended in John Love field goals.
The ODU one stings. Brown's return set up first-and-goal at the 1, and the Hokies lost a yard, lost two more with Reynolds taking a Wildcat snap and threw an incompletion before settling for three.
Pitt hasn't allowed a first-quarter point all season. A takeaway or a Brown return inside Panthers' 40 is the fastest way to change that. Turning it into seven might be the fastest way to 5-0.
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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.