Virginia Tech's brutal road stretch kicks off in Berkeley, and the last time these two teams played it took two overtimes to settle it.
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Best BetCalifornia
Cal's returning production at quarterback is the difference-maker here, with Sagapolutele coming off a freshman year that outproduced almost every passer in program history not named Jared Goff. Virginia Tech's turnaround under Franklin is real, but it's still an unproven staff and a new starting quarterback walking into a road environment. Take the Golden Bears at home.
Virginia Tech
+James Franklin hire seen as major offseason upgrade
+Beat Cal 42-34 in 2OT last season
+Added transfer QB Grunkemeyer and WR Que'Sean Brown
−Coming off 3-9 season that got Pry fired
−Entering brutal 4-road-game stretch, longest trip here
−New coach and QB still need time to gel
California
+Sagapolutele back after 3,454-yard freshman season
+More continuity at the game's most important position
+Opens new nine-game ACC slate at home
−New HC Tosh Lupoi still installing his system
−Lost pieces to the transfer portal this offseason
−Blew a two-overtime game to this same opponent last year
This is only the third all-time meeting between Virginia Tech and California, but the first one left a mark. The Hokies stunned Cal 42-34 in double overtime last season, one of the signature results of an otherwise miserable 3-9 campaign that got Brent Pry fired. Now James Franklin is running the show in Blacksburg, and this trip to Berkeley is the opener to a stretch that also includes Clemson, SMU and Miami over the following weeks.
The quarterback matchup is the story here. Cal's Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele threw for 3,454 yards and 18 touchdowns as a true freshman in 2025, the second-best season by a Cal freshman passer behind only Jared Goff, and new head coach Tosh Lupoi made keeping him around priority No. 1 this offseason. Virginia Tech counters with Penn State transfer Ethan Grunkemeyer, who completed 69% of his throws last year, plus Duke transfer Que'Sean Brown, who caught 105 passes over his last two collegiate seasons.
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VT Virginia Tech
CAL California
Both programs are working through fresh starts. Lupoi inherited a Cal team that went 7-5 and lost the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, while Franklin walked into a Virginia Tech roster that Athlon still slotted at No. 30 nationally in the preseason after adding 14 returning starters worth of continuity around the new pieces. Neither staff has had a full season yet to show what its identity actually looks like.
Virginia Tech Hokies
Oct 2?vs Pittsburgh—
Sep 25?@ Boston College—
Sep 19?@ Maryland—
Sep 12?vs Old Dominion—
Sep 5?vs VMI—
California Golden Bears
Oct 3?@ UNLV—
Sep 25?vs Clemson—
Sep 19?vs Wagner—
Sep 12?@ Syracuse—
Sep 5?vs UCLA—
Recent form.
For Virginia Tech, this is also a travel and endurance story. It's the longest trip the Hokies will take all season, and it lands right at the front of a four-road-games-in-six-weeks gauntlet that could define their whole year. A fast start here matters more for Franklin's team than it does for Cal, which gets to open its new nine-game ACC slate at home.
Ayden Greene, who averaged 16.6 yards per catch for the Hokies a year ago, gives Grunkemeyer a vertical option that could keep this one from turning into a shootout purely in Cal's favor. Given how the last meeting played out, don't be shocked if this one goes down to the wire again.
