After months and months of hype, the James Franklin era in Blacksburg finally began on Saturday night when Virginia Tech kicked off the 2026 season at home against VMI.
Now, there is no sugarcoating it: this was a game that the Hokies needed to win and win big. That's exactly what they did, rolling to a 73-3 victory at Lane Stadium before a packed house. Things could not have gone better for Franklin and his new team in the opener. Or so we thought.
James Franklin finds mistakes that Virginia Tech must clean up in the future
When a team wins by 70 points in their opener, it's usually all sunshine and happiness. That was the case with Franklin, for the most part. He was glad with all three phases of the game from his team, but there are some things that he wants cleaned up. Truth be told, they need to be cleaned up; in closer games, they will become a problem for the Hokies if not cleaned up.
Virginia Tech was flagged 11 times for 93 yards. In the first quarter, the Keydets struggled to move the ball forward. The only first down they picked up in the first quarter came on two offside penalties by the Hokies' defense, which twice moved the ball forward five yards for VMI's first first down.
"We've got to get those things cleaned up,'' said Franklin. "When I kind of look back, those are the things I'm disappointed with in the penalties, specifically the pre-snap penalties and the post-whistle penalties. We've got to get those things cleaned up because that was really the only time we struggled was when we hurt ourselves."
He's right. Offside penalties are ones that really can't happen, even against teams like VMI. They create bad habits. There were some other pre-snap penalties that hurt and will hurt going forward against much tougher competition.
As for turnovers, it was far from a clean game for the Hokies. They turned the ball over twice with fumbles. One was at the end of the first half on the final play of the half, which didn't hurt. The second in the second half hurt. Freshman Davion Brown was back to field a punt, but it hit him, and VMI recovered deep in Hokies territory. It set up the Keydets' lone points in the game on a field goal.
"We've got to do a better job of protecting the football," Franklin said.
They do, but overall, it was a very good start to the new era in Blacksburg. A good coach always finds some points to correct in any game, and Franklin is going to do that this week, leading into the Old Dominion game on Saturday afternoon at Lane Stadium.
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