BLACKSBURG, Va. — Virginia Tech came within inches of preserving its unbeaten start Friday night, but John Love’s potential game-winning 36-yard field goal was controversially ruled no good as time expired, handing the Hokies a heartbreaking 35-33 loss to Pitt at Lane Stadium.
The Hokies (4-1, 1-1 ACC) had battled back from an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit and driven into field-goal range on their final possession, only for Love's kick to sail directly over the left upright and be ruled wide.
Virginia Tech struck first and controlled the game early on. Pitt (5-0, 2-0 ACC) won the toss and deferred, and the Hokies needed just 76 seconds to march 75 yards on four plays, capped off by a 38-yard touchdown reception on a screen from Que'Sean Brown.
Though it was his only score, Brown had the best game of his young Virginia Tech career, hauling in seven catches for 147 yards.
The Hokies didn't stop there.
After forcing the Panthers to go three-and-out, Virginia Tech put together a six-play, 77-yard drive to take a 14-0 lead before five minutes had drained from the clock.
Brown once again did much of the damage, making a pair of catches for 42 yards before Virginia Tech turned to the ground game. Three consecutive runs finished with a one-yard quarterback sneak from Ethan Grunkemeyer for the touchdown.
After 10 offensive plays, though, Virginia Tech's blistering start came to a halt.
The Hokies continued to keep Pitt off the board, with the two teams trading punts before the Panthers finally found some offensive momentum late in the first quarter.
Facing third-and-seven, Pitt appeared in danger of going three-and-out for the fourth consecutive time. Instead, a first-down completion extended the possession, a 30-yard pass pushed the Panthers into Virginia Tech territory and Ja'Kyrian Turner capped the drive with a 20-yard touchdown run on the next play.
Turner led Pitt on the ground with 65 yards on 14 carries, with the first-quarter score being his only touchdown.
Virginia Tech kept the Panthers at a distance for most of the second quarter, eventually adding a 26-yard John Love field goal to extend its advantage to 17-7.
Pitt responded with a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that was heavily aided by Virginia Tech penalties, including a roughing-the-passer call on a failed third-and-16.
Penalties plagued the Hokies throughout the night. Virginia Tech finished with eight penalties for 82 yards, compared to Pitt's seven for 58.
The Hokies continued to have an answer for Pitt's scores, though.
On the first play of the ensuing possession, Grunkemeyer connected with Brown for 51 yards. A few plays later, he found Ayden Greene wide open for a touchdown to restore Virginia Tech's 10-point advantage at 24-14.
The Hokies then forced another quick three-and-out and appeared to have an opportunity to regain complete control of the game.
Instead, the turnover problems began.
Facing third-and-six, Grunkemeyer tried to check the ball down to a contested Davion Brown. A fight for the football ended with a Pitt interception, giving the Panthers the short field they needed to climb back into the game.
Pitt capitalized with a 22-yard touchdown pass from Mason Heintschel to Cataurus Hicks, cutting Virginia Tech's advantage to three before halftime.
Heintschel finished 10-of-18 for 113 yards and a touchdown before leaving the game with an apparent knee injury early in the second half.
Suddenly, Virginia Tech's 14-point first-quarter lead had been whittled down to 24-21 at halftime, with Pitt set to receive the second-half kickoff.
The Panthers picked up where they left off.
Heintschel went down during Pitt's opening possession of the third quarter, forcing backup Holden Geriner into the game. The Panthers didn't need much from their backup quarterback to finish the drive, though, marching down the field on the ground and finding the end zone to take a 28-24 lead.
It was Pitt's first lead of the night, and one it would never relinquish.
Things got ugly for the Hokies from there.
Grunkemeyer fumbled deep in Virginia Tech territory on the next possession, but the defense erased the mistake by forcing a turnover on downs.
The Hokies took just two minutes off the clock on their ensuing possession, and a 25-yard punt return once again handed Pitt the football in Virginia Tech territory.
Again, the Hokies' defense stood tall and forced another turnover on downs.
You can only play with fire for so long without getting burned, though.
Jeffrey Overton Jr. fumbled a handoff exchange on Virginia Tech's next possession, giving Pitt another short field. This time, the Panthers capitalized.
Geriner found Hicks wide open in the back of the end zone for his second touchdown reception of the night, pushing Pitt's lead to 35-24 early in the fourth quarter.
Virginia Tech immediately looked to find life.
Greene broke free for a 48-yard catch and run to put the Hokies deep in Pitt territory, but Virginia Tech's fourth turnover of the night struck just a few plays later.
Grunkemeyer looked for Que'Sean Brown in the end zone, but Shawn Lee Jr. intercepted the pass and gave Pitt possession at its own 3-yard line.
Virginia Tech had moved the ball almost at will throughout the night, but turnovers repeatedly erased that production. The Hokies ultimately outgained Pitt 499-295, averaging 6.8 yards per play compared to the Panthers' 4.8, but finished minus-four in the turnover battle.
"We did a ton of really good things," Franklin said. "Can't turn the ball over four times. That's really the issue in the game."
Grunkemeyer finished 30-of-41 for a career-high 434 yards and three touchdowns, but threw two interceptions and was involved in one of Virginia Tech's two lost fumbles.
Still, Virginia Tech wasn't finished.
Pinned against its own goal line following the interception, Damon Ferguson Jr. was tackled in the end zone for a safety, cutting the deficit to 35-26 and, just as importantly, giving the Hokies the football back.
The ensuing free kick proved crucial.
Overton ripped off a 62-yard return to immediately put Virginia Tech in scoring position. Two plays later, Grunkemeyer found Davion "Fatrat" Brown for a 28-yard touchdown.
Just like that, an 11-point deficit had become two.
With a little more than 10 minutes remaining, Virginia Tech trailed 35-33.
Both teams traded punts before the Hokies got one final opportunity at their own 20-yard line with 3:44 remaining.
Virginia Tech methodically worked its way down the field, putting together a 16-play drive that featured two third-down conversions and a fourth-down conversion.
"It was gutsy," Franklin said. "We made some big plays in big moments. Grunk made some big throws. Obviously, Luke made a huge play [on fourth down], but there was a ton of them."
The Hokies eventually worked their way into field-goal range and began using the final plays of the drive to drain the clock and move the football to Love's preferred right side of the field.
Virginia Tech had saved all three of its timeouts for the final possession and put itself in exactly the situation it wanted.
"We work two-minute drive every single week, and we gave ourselves a chance to win the game," Franklin said. "Field goal wins it. ... That's what you want. You want to move the ball down and give yourself a position, give yourself an opportunity to go win the game. And we had that opportunity."
Love had already connected from 26 yards earlier in the night. This time, all the fifth-year kicker needed was a 36-yarder to complete Virginia Tech's comeback and move the Hokies to 5-0.
The snap was good. The hold was clean.
Love's kick rose toward the left upright as time expired.
No good.
The kick appeared to travel directly over the upright, and Love initially reacted as if he had made it. But the officials underneath the goalposts ruled it wide left, bringing the game to a stunning end.
From Franklin's vantage point, he couldn't tell whether it had gone through.
"To be honest with you, from my angle, I don't know," Franklin said. "I think John Love is the best kicker in the country. I had so much confidence that that thing was going to go through, and from my angle, I couldn't tell you one way or another."
Virginia Tech linebacker Kaleb Spencer had a different perspective. Based on his initial reaction and what he saw afterward, Spencer believed Love had made the kick.
"I really was just paying attention to everything — those reactions, our coaches," Spencer said. "Initially, everybody thought it went in. Looking back at the video, that's what it looked like, in my opinion."
The ruling stood, sending Pitt's sideline onto the field in celebration and leaving Virginia Tech's players and the Lane Stadium crowd stunned.
For Spencer, the ending was made even more difficult by the way Virginia Tech had battled back from an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit and put itself in position to win.
"That's real tough, man," Spencer said. "We put so much work into this, and just to come up short by that much — everybody's invested in this, and for something like that to happen, it hurts all of us."
Love remained on the field afterward before Franklin approached his kicker.
"Told him I love him and he's the best kicker in the country," Franklin said. "I got John's back. So do all of his teammates."
Love entered the night perfect on the season, having made each of his first six field-goal attempts, and was 60-of-70 for his career before Friday's game.
Franklin refused to pin Virginia Tech's first loss of the season on the final kick.
"That was one play," Franklin said. "There's 20 other plays throughout that game that we wouldn't have got to that point. So I love him, got a ton of confidence in him, and I'd put him back out there for the same situation every single time."
Instead of celebrating its first 5-0 start since 2005, Virginia Tech walked off its home field with its first loss of the season — one decided by a matter of inches.
"We're going to watch this tape, and there's going to be 20 plays that we could have made throughout the game to put us in a better position and not be in that situation at the end," Franklin said.
The Hokies will now turn their attention to Cal next week. Kickoff is set for 12:30 local time (3:30 ET).
