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Jeffrey Overton Jr. carried 13 times Friday night, and no Virginia Tech position group graded out better than his.
The better grades belong to the offense. Virginia Tech averaged 6.3 yards per play and went 7-of-12 on third down against an SMU defense that came in allowing 27%. The defense gave up 8.4 yards per play, and the Mustangs won 51–28 in Dallas, dropping the Hokies to 6–3 overall and .500 in ACC play.
Ethan Grunkemeyer threw for 291 yards on 28-of-38 passing, with one touchdown and one interception. It was his sixth 250-yard passing game of the season. He stood in against a seven-man blitz to hit Que’Sean Brown on third-and-8, punched in Virginia Tech’s first touchdown on a tush push and ran in a two-point conversion while limping.
The deductions are the second-quarter strip-sack that SMU turned into a touchdown on the next snap, a fourth-quarter interception and a seam throw to Davion Brown that sailed just long on what would have been a touchdown.
SMU came in allowing fewer than 4 yards per carry. Overton averaged 9.5 yards per carry for 123 yards and two touchdowns, and he caught four passes for 33 yards. As a group, Virginia Tech’s backs ran 15 times for 130 yards.
Overton also dropped a third-quarter checkdown, and he was half of the miscommunication with Aidan Lynch that let Aakil Washington through untouched for a sack on the opening drive. Marcellous Hawkins Jr., lined up at fullback, lost a yard on the third-quarter fourth-and-1.
The receivers caught 16 passes for 166 yards. Que’Sean Brown had nine of the catches but only 37 of the yards, with a long of 12, and one was a jump-ball touchdown in the fourth quarter. He also drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the drive before it.
Ayden Greene had catches of 32 and 17 yards on back-to-back plays, and Davion Brown’s fourth-quarter catch set up first-and-goal at the 3.
Luke Reynolds caught six of his seven targets for 67 yards, including a 29-yarder down the sideline on the last snap of the first quarter. He’s up to 56 catches for 560 yards this season.
The two-point throw that sailed over his head in the fourth quarter is on the quarterback.
The run blocking held up. Virginia Tech’s backs averaged 8.7 yards per carry, and Grunkemeyer converted a third-and-1 and scored from the 1-yard line on tush pushes.
The pass protection didn’t. SMU sacked Grunkemeyer four times; the fourth straight game the Hokies have allowed at least three. Left guard Michael Troutman III was flagged for holding on SMU defensive lineman Marques White’s strip-sack, and Brody Meadows replaced him the next time the offense took the field.
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Virginia Tech came in with the ACC’s best pass rush in sacks per game. It sacked Kevin Jennings once. Aycen Stevens and Cortez Harris split it. SMU’s 219 rushing yards were more than double what the Hokies had allowed per game coming in.
Harris had 1.5 tackles for loss, and Jason Abbey had one. Kemari Copeland’s offside erased a Jaquez White interception in the first quarter.
Noah Chambers led the team with 11 tackles, Kaleb Spencer had 10 and Keon Wylie had seven. SMU’s two longest plays still got through them. Running back Christian Rhodes went 59 yards before Quentin Reddish pushed him out at the 16, and Jalen Cooper broke a Spencer tackle on his way to a 50-yard touchdown.
Curtis Jones Jr. had the best night in the group, with 1.5 tackles for loss.
Jennings completed 16 of his first 18 passes and finished with 350 yards, four touchdowns and 10.9 yards per attempt. Yamir Knight caught three of the touchdowns, two of them off coverage breakdowns.
Tyson Flowers, a fifth-year safety, was flagged for targeting and ejected late in the first half. The defense’s only takeaway was Brennan Johnson’s interception of a tipped ball.
Nathan Totten averaged 49.0 yards on three punts, and his first was fair caught at the SMU 10. A kickoff out of bounds gave SMU the ball at its 35, and that drive ended in a field goal. After Virginia Tech’s onside kick failed in the fourth quarter, Cooper scored two plays later.
Coach James Franklin called a timeout in an attempt to ice SMU kicker Brendan Baird before his 50-yard field goal attempt, but Baird made the kick with plenty of yards to spare, setting a new career long.
Defensive coordinator Brent Pry’s group didn’t get a stop until Brennan Johnson’s fourth-quarter interception, after SMU scored on its first eight possessions. Offensive coordinator Ty Howle’s unit managed 68 yards on 14 plays in the third quarter, and Overton, at 9.5 yards a carry, finished with 13 carries. Virginia Tech went 1-for-2 on fourth down.
The Hokies did score touchdowns on all three trips to the red zone.
Next up is Stanford (4–5, 2–4 ACC) at Lane Stadium on Nov. 14. Virginia Tech goes to Miami a week later, and the secondary’s F is the grade that has to move before then.
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