For the past almost eleven months since James Franklin's arrival in Blacksburg, everything has been mostly smooth sailing for Virginia Tech. Even last week's heartbreaking loss to Pittsburgh wasn't a discourager with the Hokies in a rebuild.
However, it's safe to say that the honeymoon period for James Franklin is over after a dismal performance to a California program that had talk needing a new coach after only one season ended in defeat.
Virginia Tech lost to California 25-20 to fall to 4-2 (1-2 ACC) on the season while the Golden Bears improved to 3-3 (2-1 ACC).
The loss came on a day where the Golden Bears were without their starting QB Jaron-Keawe Sagoputele plus starting RB Adam Mohammed and the nation's leader in interceptions Kingston Lopa. The Hokies were double-digit point favorites and seemed like a much smoother ship compared to Cal who just changed offensive playcallers during the middle of its previous game against Cal. And in the end, the Hokies once again lose despite having a great chance to win it on the final play.
The frustration was clear postgame with WR Ayden Greene making clear that he felt the Hokies didn't play to the level they should have and that if the Hokies were at their best, it shouldn't have been the close game that it was today.
"In my personal opinion, that shouldn't have been a game. That shouldn't have came down to the last play. It shouldn't have played out how it played out. And that's our fault, that's us. We got to be better in a lot of areas and we got to learn from these mistakes. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result," Greene said.
That need for improvement in a lot of areas was made quite clear on a day that was tighter than expected.
This was a dicey game for the Hokies from the get-go with no points scored in the first quarter and VT carrying only a 14-10 lead into halftime. Despite that, Cal wasn't showing too many signs of enough life to make a significant comeback. That was until a third quarter fake punt changed things with Dorian Thomas going untouched through the formation and taking it 29 yards for a huge first down. While Cal ended that drive with only a field goal after a goalline stand, it was a back-and-forth game the rest of the day.
Cal's passing attack was the strength through despite the fact that they were onto backup Jackson Brousseau, a transfer who wasn't a full-year starter for a Colorado State program that fired its head coach. Brousseau lit up the Hokies for 329 yards and a touchdown on 29 completions among 43 pass attempts. That touchdown was a prayer into the endzone with Carson Perry-Smith tracking it down in a sea of Hokie defenders for the three-yard touchdown with 4:06 to go.
That kicked off a frenetic closing few minutes as the Hokies marched down the field with a nine-play, 73-yard drive capped off by an Ethan Grunkemeyer touchdown to take a 20-19 lead with 1:15 remaining.
However, VT's defensive disappointment continued with a pair of penalties pushing Cal into field goal range before a 31-yard completion to Ian Strong put Cal at the 2. The Golden Bears chose to play for the score with Ashten Emory running it in from two yards with 18 seconds to go to give Cal a 25-20 lead.
The Hokies weren't out of it yet as Cal decided to send a low, short kickoff that Ja'Ricous Hairston returned to the 40. VT then drew a pass interference followed by a Marlion Jackson catch for 20 to the 25 with six seconds remaining. Tech smartly attacked a Cal defense that gave acres of space after that with Ethan Grunkemeyer quickly finding Jackson for 18 more yards to set up one play at the 7. Tech got a decent look but was unable to get it to Luke Reynolds, though Tech had some rightful complaints about the lack of a pass interference call on that play. Franklin was asked about what looked like pass interference after the game and had this to say about it.
"As you guys know, I don’t officiate and I don’t have comments about officiating. There’s very strict rules about that. My job is to coach my team and get us to execute on offense, defense and special teams. But things should be called consistently on both sides. We did not play the ball in the air enough with our defense at critical moments and it cost us. And it should be evaluated for both teams the exact same way, especially at critical moments," Franklin said.
Regardless, Tech did not play well enough to win this game and got the result it deserved in the end. Tech's pass defense was horrid in this game allowing 321 yards to a backup quarterback. Their cornerback play, an expected strength coming into the season, remains a major weakness and will be something every opponent looks to exploit moving forward. Ian Strong and Chase Hendricks were both a level above Tech's cornerbacks with Hendricks having seven catches for 94 yards while Strong had five catches for 97 yards.
When asked about the pass defense after, Franklin was quick to point out the area of issue in his opinion.
"We got opportunities for turnovers and we don’t make them. We’ve got to play the ball in the air. When the ball’s in the air, we’ve got to have the confidence to play the ball in the air so if there is contact, you’re making a play at the ball, you can get away with a lot of that if there’s is contact. And it’s also going to let you come away with a lot of turnovers, which we’re not getting right now," Franklin said.
Penalties also remain a major issue as the Hokies had seven for 88 yards including two 15-yard penalties on Cal's game-winning touchdown drive. This is the fourth time in six games that the Hokies have had 75 penalty yards or more and the fifth time in six games that the Hokies have had at least six penalties. This is something that Noah Chambers referenced specifically as a major issue in this game.
"There's a lot of self-inflicted penalties and stuff like that that I feel like we caused, that we could have prevented, and we work our tails off all week long, preparation-wise, prepare for stuff like this, and we just got to keep getting better as well," Chambers said.
The run defense remains a strength as the Hokies held Cal to 82 yards on 26 carries which drops to 24 carries for 62 yards when you exclude the nine-yard loss on Kemari Copeland's sack and the 29-yard fake punt carry for Dorian Thomas. That adds to the frustration because of how one-dimensional that the Hokies made Cal in this game.
Offensively, VT was 1-for-7 on third downs of four yards are more with Cal consistently blitzing on clear passing down situations and the Hokies having no answers for it. Ethan Grunkemeyer was a little up-and-down in this game but part of that was certainly due to the pressure he experienced. However, Grunkemeyer made some nice throws in this game and finished the day going 21-31 for 288 yards and a touchdown while adding a rushing one-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter that put the Hokies up 20-19.
Tech's rushing attack was inconsistent but improved from last week as they averaged 4.55 yards per carry on 29 non-sack carries (132 total non-sack rushing yards). Jeff Overton Jr continues to impress even if he doesn't consistently get space to make plays as he had 12 carries for 73 yards plus four catches for 40 yards. Marcellous Hawkins had a couple nice runs but faced the same tough-sledding that Overton did and had only 45 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries.
It is important to note that Tech's offensive line injury issues grew as Montavious Cunningham suffered an injury early and did not return. That led to Gavin Crawford coming in at right guard for Cunningham, Crawford's first significant appearance of the season.
Que'Sean Brown led the receivers with seven catches for 63 yards while Ayden Greene was a big play machine early with two catches for 62 yards and a touchdown. Luke Reynolds also added four catches for 58 yards including a spectacular juggling catch while falling early in this game.
John Love's struggles continued today as he missed field goals from 55 and 39, giving him three consecutive missed field goals dating back to last week for the first time in his career. After the game, James Franklin had this to say about Love's struggles and what the message is to him.
"I love John. He’s got a ton of experience. He works his tail off. We need to create competition at every position. Everybody needs to feel that every single day. And that’s one of the things that’s important, right? Whether it’s snappers, whether it’s kickers, whether it’s punters, whether it’s DBs, whether it’s quarterbacks, you’ve got to create pressure in practice to put them in those moments, and you have to have another guy that, if they’re not getting it done, that they know that. So we’re going to have to create some more competition. There’s no doubt about that. And there’s challenges that come with it. But I have a ton of confidence in John. He’s had a great career, but nobody really cares about career right now. It’s what we’re doing right now and it’s what you do today. And the reality is, you’re only as good as your last win. You’re only as good as your last kick," Franklin said.
That isn't exactly an endorsement for Love or an endorsement for the depth behind Love. It'll certainly be something to monitor to see if Love can find his previous form again or if VT considers making a change in the coming weeks.
This is the first truly disappointing loss for Virginia Tech under James Franklin. The Hokies have a serious issue with the pass defense while the offensive line is a concern given the massive amount of injuries. Add in a slew of penalty issues and John Love being in the first funk of his career, and it's the first time that Tech fans have experienced some serious disappointment under Franklin.
Moving forward, the Hokies clearly have a lot to work on if they want to turn thigns around and show that the 4-0 start was partly about their own talent and not just about the weakness of their opponents.
