Virginia Tech took care of business with a dominant 44-21 victory against Old Dominion led by an impressive passing performance from Ethan Grunkemeyer plus a dominant defense that had 14 tackles for loss including seven sacks plus four forced fumbles. The Hokies are now 2-0 for the first time since 2021 while James Franklin's total margin of victory of 93 points in his first two games are the most for a VT head coach in his first two games at the helm since Sally Miles' combined 98-point margin in 1905.
After the victory, James Franklin had this to say during his postgame press conference.
Opening Statement
“Again, appreciate everybody coming out to cover Virginia Tech. We don't take that for granted, and we appreciate it. I didn't see what the numbers were and things like that, but make sure that we thank our fans. Again, something that really attracted me to this place is the fan base that we have and the support that we get. A lot of fan bases complain about 12 o'clock games. Not our fan base. They're here. They're going crazy. There's an opportunity to breakfast tailgate. There's an opportunity to post-game tailgate as well. So we appreciate our fans. We appreciate our students, the fraternities, the sororities, everybody coming out and supporting us because we're going to need that. And we're going to need it next week as well on the road. This is a real drivable game that's going to make sense. We've got a ton of alumni in the area, so we need that place full of Virginia Tech fans next week.
"I want to thank our D-squads. I thought our D-squads, which is our scout teams, what we call the developmental squad, I thought they really won this game today. They deserve a ton of credit. I thought they were awesome for us on Tuesday and Wednesday. Not a very fun job. No one gets to see it. No one talks about it, but it's critical. And I thought they did a great job. You know, we 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. Usually when you do that, good things happen. 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, not securing the ball all the way through the end zone. Those things I take a lot of pride in. Our discipline and our ability to finish things the right way, so that's disappointing. We've got to get some things cleaned up from a protection standpoint as well, and then we've got to be able to finish drives. We can't have a huge punt return down to the one, and that equals a field goal. Same thing, our offense gives up a strip sack, which gives up some points. So there's a ton of things that we've got to get cleaned up. The positive is we were able to play a ton of guys this week again and that is valuable but then we also gave up a long touchdown run because of the substitutions that were on the field. It will benefit us in the long run but not really, really happy with the standard being held and the execution of that group when they got on the field.”
On the Defense’s Performance
“I think if you look at the stats when our starters were on the field, I think they're going to be pretty impressive. And our whole thing with Brent (Pry) and Sean (Spencer) and our time together has been about being disruptive and getting people off schedule and getting them into obvious passing situations. And I think you guys got a chance to see today what we've been talking about. Our edge players as well as our D-tackles and how disruptive those guys can be.
"So yeah, I think we played a style today that we want to continue to be able to play being disruptive and getting people off schedule and pressuring the quarterback. You've got to give that quarterback a ton of credit. He took some big hits and just kept getting up and just kept getting up and then did a really good job, obviously, late in the game with his legs. I think that team's going to have a good year in their conference. They are tough and they are physical and they are resilient. I thought they handled the adversity today well.”
Have you ever had back to back strip sacks with one fumbled at the endzone and the next returned for a touchdown like today?
“No, but I think it's a great sign of our defense responding to adversity. I thought that was super impressive. The thing that I'm kicking myself about is for the last 16 years, I showed 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. And I showed 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 we'll learn that lesson and make sure it never happens again.”
On Ethan Grunkemeyer's Performance and His Connection with Luke Reynolds
“I think the combination of Grunk, Q, and Luke is problematic. When you've got a tight end on one side and a slot receiver on the other, that's difficult for a defense to stop. If you've got one guy, there's ways schematically to take that guy out. But when you've got a guy on either side of the formation, that's challenging. And then we've got to continue to get A.G. more involved. I think Davion Brown, Fat Rat, will continue to get better as the season goes on. I think we get our running backs involved in the passing game a little bit more as well. I think that's going to be important for us. But yeah, really good. Statistically, when your quarterback is able to throw that many completions, especially when you combine him and Bryce, that's a good thing. They've been playing good football here for a long time at Virginia Tech, so whenever you can tie a school record, I think that's a good thing. And not only that, decision-making, didn't turn the ball over, protected the football in terms of decision-making in the passing game. I'm not talking about the strip sack. So that's a positive, too. So we've got to continue to build on that. The game plan for us is to get Luke and Q as many touches as we can. But again, I think A.G., we've got to keep him involved because he's such an experienced player. He made a huge play for us today, I think, all third down. And then I think Davion Brown is just going to continue to get better and better and better.”
On Montavious Cunningham’s Ejection and Brody Meadows Being Next in Line
“Brody's played a ton of football around here, so we got a lot of confidence in it. We viewed him as a starter. The thing that disappoints me about Montavious is he was getting hot earlier in the game, and I already addressed it with him. There was some stuff back and forth, but he lost his composure at that moment. We call them selfish penalties. After the whistle, you've got a personal battle with somebody, and you allow that personal battle to be put in front of the team. And now our team is going to face adversity because of it.
"So the thing that bothers me the most is we had addressed it earlier in the game, and then it happened again. So we got to be better in that area for sure. But again, I was impressed with Montavious in the locker room in front of his entire team. He got up and apologized. He manned up. And the reality is for all of us, 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 cost and penalty. And we've got to make sure that things like that don't happen in the future. What's the book, Brian (White)?”
AD Brian White: “Extreme Ownership.”
“Extreme Ownership. He did that after the fact. What we've got to eliminate is the reason to take Extreme Ownership after the fact. We've got to be better at that.”
Was Montavious Cunningham’s apology unprompted?
“Yeah, unprompted. I didn't say anything. I didn't say anything. What we do is we have all the seniors up in the locker room after games, and they get a chance to kind of talk and say what they want to say and need to say. A couple of them spoke. IBM and Ayden (Greene), they've been really good. Kaleb (Spencer) as well. But then Montavious did that unprovoked, which, again, I respect and appreciate.”
Did the ODU game have any extra special meaning for Brent Pry given what happened last year?
“This year is this year. We didn't play last year's team. We had a ton of respect. I talked about it all week long. We've lost to that team three times since 2018 I think, we've lost to that team three times out of seven times. They had our attention. They earned the respect. But besides that, we're playing this team, this season, this coaching staff, and I think we all feel fortunate and blessed to get a win. There's things that we're proud of and there's things that we've got to get cleaned up and coach. And Brent is showing really every single day and each week why we're fortunate to have him, why I'm glad he's here. I think he's, if not the best defense coordinator, one of the best defense coordinators in college football, and I'm not speaking on that after two games. I'm speaking on that after being with each other for a long period of time.
"We just got to keep building on it. There's a ton of things that we got to get corrected today and there's a ton of things that we got to get cleaned up. But I know Brent will do that. I know Ty Howle will do that. I know Doug Shearer will do that as well, as well as all the coaches. One of the things we got to get cleaned up, you got to give their quarterback and their receivers a ton of credit. You talk about accurate vertical balls and you talk about some big-time catches, tightly contested. Now what do we got to do better? We got to look back for the ball for two reasons. So number one, we can make a play on the ball. And for number two, when there's contact occurring, if you're looking back for the ball, you can get away with a lot of contact. We didn't do that. So we got to get that fixed as coaches. And I know we will.”
Question was on Cortez Harris and Mylachi Williams’ performance (5.5 combined tackles for loss) and when he knew they were ready to make an impact for a Power 4 team.
“Yeah, I'm just proud of them, right? I'm proud of that whole group. I'm proud of the guys that stayed. I'm proud of the guys that came. I don't know if I said this last week or not. Everybody gets frustrated with the transfer portal, but I think one of the positives is every single player in our locker room and in this team meeting room, they chose to be here. I think there's power in that because you don't got to do it, you get to do it, you chose this. The reality is as coaches, we're just holding them to who they say they want to be. And that's our standards, and that's what we drive them on every single day to try to be the best we possibly can and get better every single day. To see those guys come here and are having fun, and the Virginia Tech players that were here have embraced them, and they did a really good job coming in with humility and allowing the locker room to embrace them before they're running their mouth. That's one of the worst things you can do as a leader or as someone joining a new organization is come in and try to force it to happen, just let it naturally happen. And they did that through their hard work and their humility and their attention to details. So I'm happy for them.
"At this point in my career, I want the players to achieve all their dreams collectively as well as individually. We want to make the Virginia Tech faithful proud. We want, like I told you before, I want Coach Beamer sitting on his couch or if he happens to be in South Carolina or wherever he is, I hope he's watching the game and proud. And Bud’s proud. And I got a text before the game from Michael Vick. I hope he's proud. Bruce Smith sent me a text this week and I hope he's proud. We just want to continue building this thing and put things, put a team on the field that conducts yourself in a way and plays the game the way you guys want. That's why some of those post whistle penalties, that doesn't fit that. So we got to get those out. J Pearson's in the back. That's what we're working so hard. I'm working so hard to have the players and this team achieve their dreams, but also that Brian (White) and J Pearson and our president and our rector and all of our fans and alumni love this place so much that they feel good about what we're building and how we're building it and who we're building it with.”
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