One of the best traits about James Franklin as a head coach over the years was his ability to win the games that he and his teams are supposed too. However, that has become a reality of the past for Franklin and his teams, as Virginia Tech suffered an embarrassing loss to Stanford despite being 15.5-point favorites.
Virginia Tech lost to Stanford 40-22 after going down 21-0 early in the first half to fall to 6-4 on the season including 3-4 in ACC play while the Cardinal improved to 5-5 including 3-4 in ACC play.
James Franklin's reputation for taking care of business against the teams he's supposed to is dead for now. In Franklin's past five games as a head coach against a Power 4 team where he is favored by double-digit points, Franklin is now 1-4 with the losses to UCLA and Northwestern to end his Penn State tenure plus losses tonight and at California this year. The only win in that stretch was the Hokies' road victory at Boston College.
This was a disastrous performance from start to finish for Virginia Tech as the Hokies' offense was a mess early on. During the first five drives, VT had three turnovers plus a turnover on downs and a punt. The Hokies eventually got a touchdown on their sixth drive but were already in a 21-0 hole.
Tech's defense had a solid start forcing three-straight 3 and outs but once the dam broke, it broke badly. The Hokies gave up four-straight scoring drives to end the first half after that strong start, with VT's defense not showing much of a pulse otherwise. Stanford was
Tech did outscore Stanford 7-3 in the third quarter with a Davion Brown 69-yard touchdown giving the Hokies a glimmer of hope. However, Stanford scored on their first three drives of the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach.
Tech was only outgained 436-398 but the three turnovers were killers for the Hokies on offense. VT had its fair share of bizarre playcalls while not getting to the running game as early as they should've given Stanford's issues stopping the run and VT's improvement in that area. Tech's passing attack was a mess as the Hokies had those two interceptions along with allowing five sacks to a Stanford team that only had six sacks in the first nine games total.
Meanwhile, Tech's defense went from three 3 and outs to start the game to allowing 40 points on nine drives, with Stanford scoring on eight of those. The Hokies allowed 6.1 yards per play in this game including 5.7 yards per carry on the ground in what was a complete offensive performance for Stanford. The Hokies also only had one tackle for loss in the game via Kemari Copeland, which came with less than six minutes to go. Tech's pass rush was almost nonexistent in what was the worst game of the season for the defensive line overall.
Davis Warren was 16-31 for 203 yards plus three carries for 30 yards while Micah Ford ran for 149 yards and three touchdowns in what was an exceptional performance for Ford.
Ethan Grunkemeyer had his worse game as a Hokie as he was 17-34 for 270 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions, and a fumble he recovered while being sacked five times. Grunkemeyer looked out of sorts throughout this game holding the ball for too long while being inaccurate often in this game.
Jeff Overton Jr was one of the few bright spots for the Hokies with 19 carries for 107 yards and a touchdown plus a four-yard reception. Que'Sean Brown had six catches for 71 yards and a touchdown plus a fumble lost on a four-yard carry. Davion Brown had two catches for 81 yards including a 69-yard touchdown while Marlion Jackson had three catches for 62 yards.
This was a completely unacceptable performance from James Franklin and this Virginia Tech team. For a veteran coach in Franklin who knows what it takes to win, it simply inexcusable for his team to play that poorly and look that out of sorts regardless of what happened the previous week. That type of performance would be inexcusable for any coach but feels even more so for a coach who has a history of greater success yet has seen his teams be unable to take care of their business in the games they are supposed to win.
Franklin has been given everything necessary to compete at a much higher level than this, yet his VT team put up the type of performance that should absolutely bring some heat on the entire staff even with the general positive trajectory under Franklin so far prior to tonight. However, that positive trajectory has been flatlined today after an utterly embarrassing performance.
It's the type of awful loss that likely has some VT fans wondering what if VT hired the up-and-coming Bob Chesney instead of the bounce-back situation with James Franklin. And personally, it's hard to blame VT fans for feeling that way with UCLA 10-0 while VT suffers an 18-point home loss to a team that ranks 127th in SP+ and had lost its four other road games this season by at least 28 points each time. That's the definition of an embarrassing loss that has officially stalled the positive trajectory of the James Franklin era.
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