Three Major Storylines for Virginia Tech's Week Four Game vs. Boston College

Both teams played Saturday, and only one of them liked what it found out. Virginia Tech went to College Park and won 35-26, ending the longest non-conference winning streak in the FBS at 20 games and snapping a 15-game skid of its own against non-conference Power Four opponents. It was the first road win of the James Franklin era. Boston College stayed home, led Maine 16-0 after a quarter, and then needed a first down with less than two minutes to finish off an FCS team 22-16.

Here are three storylines for the game.

1. The Hokies start conference play.

The Hokies are 3-0 for the first time since 2017. VMI and Old Dominion didn't tell anyone much. Last week's game against Maryland did.

Virginia Tech scored touchdowns on five of its first six possessions, carried a 35-14 lead into the fourth quarter, and held on. The win came against a Maryland team that had beaten everyone outside its conference for 20 straight tries.

Virginia Tech has won three straight in this series. The last meeting was Oct. 17, 2024, a 42-21 Hokies win in Blacksburg. That game saw Bhayshul Tuten rush for a single-game rushing record, running for 266 yards on 18 carries. Tuten scored four touchdowns that game.

2. Boston College takes the ball away. Grunkemeyer hasn't given it up.

Through three games, Boston College is second in the country in interceptions with six. Lined up against them on Saturday is a quarterback who hasn't thrown one since early November of last year.

Anthony Palano is a big reason for the Eagles' success on defense. The redshirt sophomore linebacker arrived from Washington State by way of South Dakota State, was named a captain before he'd played a snap for the Eagles, then opened the season with a team-high 13 tackles at Cincinnati.

Against Rutgers, he had nine more, two for loss, plus the first sack of his career, a 10-yard takedown of AJ Surace. He stopped Rutgers twice on fourth down. And in the fourth quarter, he intercepted two passes, making him the first Boston College player with two in a game since 2023.

Ethan Grunkemeyer hasn't given anyone one. He hasn't thrown an interception this season, and he's put up two 300-yard games doing it: 327 against Old Dominion and 314 at Maryland. Maryland is the tell. The Terrapins came in with 10 sacks in two games, most in the Big Ten, and got to him once, with starting left tackle Justin Terry helping off late in the first quarter.

3. Brent Pry's first conference game back.

Pry is Virginia Tech's defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, months after going 16-24 as head coach and getting fired three games into last season. Saturday is his first conference game since.

His defense has been two different units. It sacked Old Dominion's Quinn Henicle seven times and forced three turnovers, including a Mylachi Williams strip that Tyson Flowers returned for 14 yards for a score. Then Maryland's Malik Washington completed 30 of 43 for 359 yards and three touchdowns.

Boston College won't attack the same way. Mason McKenzie, a redshirt junior from Division II Saginaw Valley State, leads the Eagles in passing and rushing, with 648 yards through the air and 225 on the ground. He's at his most dangerous on the move. Against Rutgers, he accounted for 346 yards.

He's also been careless with the football. McKenzie has thrown five interceptions in three games, two of them to FCS Maine last week. That is tied for the most interceptions thrown this season in the country.

Boston College has done most of its offensive damage in the first quarter this year. Of the 65 points it has scored this season, 30 of them came in the first quarter. On the flip side, Virginia Tech has allowed just three points in the first quarter so far this season.

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