Tyson Flowers blocked a first-quarter VMI punt, giving Virginia Tech the ball at the 9-yard line and setting up a touchdown on the next play. Cortez Harris blocked another punt in the second quarter, and Knahlij Harrell recovered it in the end zone. The offense supplied touchdowns on its first four possessions, beginning with Jeffrey Overton Jr.’s 50-yard run. By the end, Virginia Tech had beaten VMI 73-3.
That is about as complete a debut as James Franklin could have arranged. Virginia Tech hired the former Penn State head coach in November 2025, making this his first season in Blacksburg. His first game showed that the new operation could overwhelm an overmatched opponent without waiting around to settle in.
Now the Hokies have to show that their fast start, clean quarterback play and defensive disruption can survive a game carrying real baggage.
Old Dominion at Virginia Tech
Saturday, Sept. 12, noon ET · The CW Network
The simulation gives Virginia Tech a 71% chance to win. That makes a Hokies victory the expected result, but the opponent keeps it from feeling routine.
Virginia Tech hosts Old Dominion one year after the Monarchs’ 45-26 win at Lane Stadium came during the Hokies’ 0-3 start, which preceded Brent Pry’s dismissal. The sequence matters without requiring a claim that one game caused the coaching change. The same opponent now returns to the same stadium to face Franklin’s first team.
The details make the memory sharper. Old Dominion led 28-0 at halftime in 2025, then completed its first victory in Blacksburg and its first road win over a Power Four team. Virginia Tech does not need to erase that night; it needs to avoid reproducing the early disorder that made the second half largely academic.
Keep Grunkemeyer’s offense on schedule
Ethan Grunkemeyer completed 17 of 20 passes for 224 yards and two touchdowns against VMI, taking neither a sack nor an interception. That efficient debut established him as the starter Franklin’s reset can build around, but Old Dominion should tell us more about how he operates when easy rhythm is less abundant.
The distribution was as encouraging as the completion rate. Que’Sean Brown caught six passes for 109 yards and a touchdown, while tight end Luke Reynolds caught five for 50 yards and scored on a 21-yard pass from Grunkemeyer. Brown gave Grunkemeyer an explosive target, while Reynolds gave him a dependable option at tight end instead of leaving the passing game dependent on one kind of throw.
Watch whether those answers remain available after an incompletion, a negative play or a loud early series. A comfortable win matters, but sustained access to Brown and Reynolds would say more about how portable the Week 1 passing structure might be.
Make Pry’s first defensive result travel
Brent Pry entered the season as Virginia Tech’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, and he confirmed during camp that he would call the defense. Because Pry is calling the defense, the five-sack opener was the first evidence that his return in a narrower role could restore the disruption his defenses are supposed to create.
Pry’s unit held VMI to minus-4 rushing yards, produced five sacks shared among five defenders and got an interception from Thomas Williams. Those numbers established disruption across the unit. Against Old Dominion, the revealing part will be whether the Hokies can create that pressure without losing their organization when the Monarchs resist the first punch.
Stop giving possessions away
Virginia Tech committed 11 penalties for 93 yards against VMI. The 70-point margin made them survivable; this matchup offers no reason to assume the same cushion.
After reviewing the film, Franklin called the penalties drive killers and said the performance was not disciplined enough. That makes cleaner football a specific Week 2 demand, even after a 70-point win. Fans should be looking for fewer pre-snap disruptions, fewer avoidable extensions and an offense that does not make Grunkemeyer recover yards the Hokies already earned.
Virginia Tech’s interactive guide and the model’s methodology frame the expectation; the rematch supplies the harder standard. Old Dominion will show whether Virginia Tech can pair Grunkemeyer’s efficiency and Pry’s disruption with the composure that last week’s score never forced it to prove.