Virginia Tech Football Avenges 2025 Defeat to Old Dominion, Swoops Over Monarchs 44-21

The Hokies avenged last year's 19-point loss, moving to 2-0 after a dominant affair where they led 34-6 at the half over ODU.

Virginia Tech Athletics

BLACKSBURG — At the halftime mark of Virginia Tech football's 2025 tussle with Old Dominion, the score was 28-0 in favor of ODU.

Fast forward a year, and the two programs were in completely different places — not just in the scoreboard, which represented a near-flip-flop with the Hokies, but in the ethos. For the former: Virginia Tech football led ODU at the half this year by the same amount it trailed in 2025: 28 (score: 34-6).

Virginia Tech (2-0) is in a vastly different spot than its disastrous 3-9 campaign in 2025 campaign — and it showed Saturday in its 44-21 victory over Old Dominion (1-1). The win gave the Hokies their first 2-0 start since the 2021 season. The Monarchs, meanwhile, entered the clash without the quarterback and all the O-line starters that won it last year's showdown in Blacksburg.

"You talk about the most important stats in football: turnovers, explosive plays, third and fourth down, conversions, sacks, starting field position, and penalties — we won all those, and usually when you do that, good things happen," said Virginia Tech head coach James Franklin. "So, a lot of cool stuff to build on, a lot of cool stuff to learn from. Some discipline things that we still got to get cleaned up."

A good afternoon in Lane 🙌#LetsGoHokies | @PenFed pic.twitter.com/p10ellJLdt

— Virginia Tech Football (@HokiesFB) September 12, 2026

In the victory, quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer completed 31 of his 42 passes, throwing for 327 yards, two passing touchdowns and no interceptions, though he took three sacks.

The Hokies' defense was stout, as well, compiling 14 tackles for loss, seven sacks and four forced fumbles. Defensive end Mylachi Williams finished with 2.5 tackles for loss and two sacks, while fellow end Cortez Harris notched 3.5 tackles for loss and two sacks.

Old Dominion quarterback Quinn Henicle, in contrast, went 13-of-21 for 187 yards and one touchdown, though he was sacked seven times. He finished with 83 net rushing yards, the byproduct of a 76-yard house call in the final quarter with the game already a 31-point affair.

Virginia Tech's first drive looked to be raring for a touchdown — Grunkemeyer totaled 54 yards on the opening series, the bulk of which came off a throw down the seam to tight end Ja'Ricous Hairston that went for 30 yards. Yet, an incompletion and a 0-yard gain from running back Marcellous Hawkins forced the Hokies into a third-and-long situation. Grunkemeyer was sacked on the subsequent play for a 12-yard loss, bringing out the field goal unit for a 39-yard try that kicker John Love sank.

Virginia Tech forced a quick three-and-out from Old Dominion, and the Hokies' next drive was a 14-play, 77-yarder that culminated in a Hawkins touchdown where the fifth-year tailback burst to the right for a 20-yard score.

Old Dominion's next drive was temporarily wiped out when quarterback Quinn Henicle was strip-sacked by Hokies defensive end Aycen Stevens. Virginia Tech linebacker Keon Wylie recovered the fumble and took it back for a score — it was then wiped out and given back to the Monarchs because Wylie dropped the ball before he crossed the goal line.

"The thing that I'm kicking myself about is like for the last 16 years, I show the team like every clip in college football or the NFL of guys not finishing through the end zone and doing that, and it drives me bonkers," Franklin said. "And I show it over and over and over and over again. And now, everybody across the country is going to be showing ours. So that's something I'm not real happy with. And we'll learn from it. And it didn't hurt us today, but but we'll learn that lesson to make sure it never happens again."

On the next play, the same thing happened anyways, sans dropped ball. Henicle coughed up the ball on the ensuing sequence, and fifth-year safety Tyson Flowers scooped the ball up for a 14-yard fumble return score to set the Hokies' lead back at 17-0.

ARE YOU SERIOUS?!

What a WILD sequence in Blacksburg!

Back-to-back strip sack fumble recoveries by @HokiesFB. This one stands for the touchdown. pic.twitter.com/F4NX9ZtA1R

— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) September 12, 2026

Old Dominion scored on its next drive — the byproduct of Josh Rodriguez making two catches for 55 yards that flipped the field. The latter, a 34-yard catch where Rodriguez planted his knee down on the left sideline, was looked at by the ACC, but the initial call of a catch was upheld after review. The Monarchs couldn't reach the end zone, however, settling for three points.

There was no doubt on Virginia Tech's next series — a drive where it was placed in fourth down twice and came through both times. On the latter, the Hokies faced a fourth-and-2 situation at Old Dominion's 10-yard line where a field goal was plausible and expected.

Instead, Grunkemeyer and Co. went for it on a play-action pass, with the Penn State transfer finding tight end Luke Reynolds open four yards away. Reynolds darted to the left and stretched his arms past the pylons for his second touchdown of the season, elevating Virginia Tech's lead to 24-3.

For good measure, Virginia Tech's defense took advantage of another Old Dominion miscue. Seizing control off a high snap, defensive end Mylachi Williams forced another fumble, one that linebacker Kaleb Spencer recovered to set the Hokies up at the Monarchs' 20-yard line. Williams also forced the fumble that set up Flowers' score.

The offense continued to chug along; Grunkemeyer collected his second touchdown of the game when he escaped the pocket and found an open Reynolds for a 16-yard score. Reynolds totaled 84 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns on six catches in the first half, while Grunkemeyer was 21-of-27 for 211 yards and a pair of scores.

Reynolds finished the game with 108 receiving yards off eight catches, while Ayden Greene and Que'Sean Brown led the receiving room with 44 and 41 receiving yards, respectively.

Late in the third quarter, Virginia Tech finally allowed its first touchdown of the 2026 season. Running back Devion Roche made gains of six, 14 and 10, while Rodriguez hauled in a 34-yard pass from Henicle to set up ODU at Virginia Tech's 2-yard line. The Hokies forced the Monarchs into a fourth-and-goal situation, though Henicle found wide receiver Leon Haughton Jr. open on the right sideline to slice the Hokies' lead to 24.

On the ensuing drive, Grunkemeyer found Que'Sean Brown for a 12-yard gain, one exacerbated by a 15-yard facemask penalty on the Monarchs. On fourth-and-1, Old Dominion was sunk by an unsportsmanlike penalty that moved Virginia Tech to the Monarchs' 1-yard line and a play later, Grunkemeyer drove it in on a quarterback sneak.

Old Dominion struck back on the subsequent sequence; Henicle took advantage of wide-open space to scamper 76 yards to the end zone. The Monarchs went for two on the play; their initial attempt was incomplete, but they were given a second go-around thanks to defensive pass interference on Virginia Tech linebacker Sherrod Covil Sr. Henicle took advantage and burst around the right on the second 2-point conversion chance, stretching for the right pylon to cut the lead to 44-21 Hokies.

Virginia Tech offensive lineman Montavious Cunningham was ejected near the end of the game for appearing to throw a punch, resulting in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Franklin mentioned that Cunningham got up in the locker room unprompted and apologized for the miscue.

"The thing that bothers me the most is we had addressed it earlier in the game, and that happened again," Franklin said. "So we got to be better in that area for sure. ... We make mistakes, all of us, myself included. When you make a mistake, you man up to it, you own it, you take responsibility, and you move forward. So the fact that Montavious was able to get up in front of the team and do that, I respect that and I appreciate that. I think so do his teammates as well. So we'll learn from it and move forward, but it's a costly penalty, and we've got make sure that things like that don't happen in the future."

Virginia Tech's third clash of the season comes against Maryland on Saturday, Sept. 19 at 7:30 p.m. ET on either FOX or FS1. Should the Hokies win that clash, it would be their first non-conference Power Four victory since 2017, which is also the last year Virginia Tech started its season 3-0. What's Grunkemeyer's objective to improve on for the Week 3 game?

"Just putting a full game together," Grunkemeyer said. "I think that we've had our opportunities and had some plays, but I think that putting it all together would be huge for our offense. And we've shown flashes, but just to keep building."

After Maryland, Virginia Tech opens ACC play on the road in Chestnut Hill, Mass., against Boston College on Saturday, Sept. 26; kickoff time and TV channel for the contest have yet to be announced.