TLDR: Virginia Tech's defense was supposed to be the story in College Park. Instead, Ethan Grunkemeyer made sure it never had to be.
Ethan Grunkemeyer's first road start of the season looked exactly like his first two home ones. He finished 31-of-39 for 314 yards and 3 touchdowns, added an 18-yard rushing score of his own, and Virginia Tech scored on 5 of its first 6 possessions to turn a coin-flip line into a 35-14 cushion by the end of the third quarter.
Virginia Tech survived its first true road test, riding Ethan Grunkemeyer's 314-yard, 3-touchdown day to a 35-14 lead through 3 quarters and holding on for a 35-26 win. Malik Washington matched him statistically at 359 yards and 3 scores, but 2 failed two-point conversions in the fourth kept Maryland's rally a possession short. The win snapped Maryland's 20-game nonconference winning streak and gave new Virginia Tech coach James Franklin his first Power Four victory, even with the nation's top-billed pass rush managing just 1 sack all night.
+Two late TD drives cut a 21-point deficit down to 9
−Missed two-point conversions on both fourth-quarter scores
−Run game vanished: 64 yards on the ground, 2.8 a carry
−Pass rush that had 10 sacks through 2 games managed just 1
Virginia Tech's front seven, which led the country in sacks and tackles for loss through 2 weeks, didn't dominate the box score the way the hype suggested — Aycen Stevens had the lone Hokies sack — but it didn't need to. Malik Washington took full advantage, going for 359 yards and 3 touchdowns, while Maryland's own pass rush, which had piled up 10 sacks through its first 2 games, was just as quiet: Nahsir Taylor's lone sack and 4 tackles for loss were all it managed.
Down 35-14 entering the fourth, Maryland scored to make it 35-20 with 12:36 left and Mike Locksley went for 2 instead of kicking. It failed. A second touchdown drive made it 35-26, and Locksley went for 2 again. That failed too. "We were playing to win," Locksley said afterward. "I also make the decision." Kick both and it's a 1-score game; instead the deficit that decided the night at kickoff was still the deficit at the final whistle.
Luke Reynolds caught all 12 passes thrown his way for 107 yards and a touchdown, and Maryland's offensive line had its worst night of the season on the other side of the ball too — the Terrapins ran for just 64 yards on 2.8 a carry, the same line the preview flagged as untested against real pressure now unable to move anyone itself.
The loss snapped Maryland's 20-game nonconference winning streak and handed new Virginia Tech coach James Franklin, who built a track record against Locksley during his years at Penn State, his first Power Four win in the job. Virginia Tech is 3-0 for the first time since 2017; Maryland has tackling and run-blocking to sort out before Big Ten play gets serious.
