Three Things We Think, Three Things We Know About Virginia Tech After Two Games

Virginia Tech is 2-0 for the first time since 2021. The 73-3 win over VMI was the program's largest margin of victory in 104 years. The Hokies are still unranked, with 11 AP votes.

They've scored 117 points and gained 89 rushing yards against the only FBS team they've played. Two weeks into the James Franklin era, that's most of what we've got.

None of it gets tested until Saturday night in College Park. Here are three things we think, and three things we know about this Hokies team.

Three things we think

1. Luke Reynolds is the most important skill player on this offense

Reynolds leads the team with 158 receiving yards and three touchdowns, and his 13 catches are tied with Que'Sean Brown for the high. Against Old Dominion, he set career bests with eight grabs for 108 yards and two scores. No Hokies tight end had cleared 100 yards since James Mitchell in 2020.

The usage matters more than the numbers. On fourth-and-2 from the Old Dominion 10, up 17, Franklin left the offense on the field and Ethan Grunkemeyer threw it to his tight end in the flat. Offensive coordinator Ty Howle has even put Reynolds in the Wildcat at the goal line, a direct snap to a Penn State transfer in his first season here. That play lost two yards, but it shows the trust that he has in his tight end.

2. The offensive line decides this season

Forty-two carries, 89 yards, 2.1 a pop. Marcellous Hawkins Jr. and Jeffrey Overton Jr. combined for 25 carries and 90 yards, and Overton, who went for 104 on nine a week earlier, never broke one longer than eight.

First-and-goal from the 1 produced three points.

Right guard Montavious Cunningham will be available Saturday after his fourth-quarter ejection for appearing to throw a punch. So the line gets its starter back. It still has to move a Big Ten front after failing to move a Sun Belt one, and Old Dominion won 10 games and a bowl game last season. That wasn't a bad defense having a good day.

3. Saturday is the true opener

Maryland is 2-0 too, having beaten Hampton 62-0 and winning 38-14 at UConn. Sophomore quarterback Malik Washington went 34 of 41 for 347 yards and two touchdowns against the Huskies, including a program-record 18 straight completions.

Virginia Tech opened as a slight favorite. A win would match last season's entire win total and deliver the program's first nonconference Power Four victory since 2017.

Two blowouts at home showed what this roster looks like when nobody pushes back. Saturday will tell us what happens to Virginia Tech when it gets knocked down.

Three things we know

1. Brent Pry's defense is living in the backfield

Twelve sacks and 32 tackles for loss in two games. Both lead the FBS. Last season Virginia Tech ranked 110th nationally in sacks and tied for 108th in tackles for loss.

The 18 against VMI were the most in a Hokies game since at least 1987. Old Dominion coughed up seven sacks, four fumbles and a Tyson Flowers scoop-and-score, and converted 4 of 13 third downs.

Mylachi Williams has three sacks and six tackles for loss. Cortez Harris has three sacks. Both followed Franklin from Penn State.

So did the man calling it, eventually. Pry was fired as Virginia Tech's head coach last September, one of those three losses coming at home to this same Old Dominion team 45-26. Franklin hired him back in February.

"I think Coach Pry is the best defensive coordinator in college football," Franklin said.

2. Grunkemeyer is still very, very accurate

Through two games: 48 of 62 for 551 yards, four passing touchdowns, one rushing score, zero interceptions, good for a 77.4% completion percentage.

His 31 completions against Old Dominion tied for the third-most in school history, three short of Don Strock's 34 in 1972. The 327 yards were the first 300-yard game of his career and the most by a Hokie since Ryan Willis went for 344 at Boston College in 2019. He spread it to 11 receivers.

3. Special teams is a weapon for the Hokies

John Love is 4-for-4 on field goals and has never missed an extra point in college. He has scored 27 points in two games and moved into sixth on Virginia Tech's all-time scoring list.

Tech blocked two VMI punts and recovered one in the end zone for a touchdown. Brown fielded a punt at his own 20 against Old Dominion and ran it back 79 yards before a Monarch caught him at the 1.

The Hokies have punted three times all season, and all three landed inside the 20. That's not much of a sample from a team that scored on its first six possessions against VMI and its first five against Old Dominion.

Maryland won't allow that. Special teams have been a bonus through two weeks. Saturday it becomes a way to win field position in a game that might come down to it.

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