Going into Clemson on Saturday night, the Virginia Tech football team was sitting at 5-2, but they were a few plays away from being 7-0 heading into Death Valley.
After winning their first four games of the James Franklin era, they dropped back-to-back games to Pittsburgh and California in frustrating fashion. Penalties and missed field goals doomed the Hokies, who were making positive strides.
They you learn mistakes and heartbreak and Virginia Tech has, according to Franklin.
James Franklin drops honest quote after upset of Clemson on the road
This was the first game for Franklin in Blacksburg where the Hokies could pick up a statement win on the road, in primetime, at Clemson. A pair of two-loss teams, one for Clemson, was to LSU in the non-conference, but this felt like an elimination game from the ACC Championship Game. Virginia Tech rallied from a fourth-quarter deficit to pick up a thrilling 20-16 victory. Right after the game, Franklin explained how his team kept their composure to pick up the road win.
"Well, we didn't turn the ball over,'' said Franklin to the ESPN broadcast. "For the most part, we didn't have a bunch of penalties. Before you can learn to win games like this, you've got to figure out not to lose them. We lost two games because of that, but our guys have learned from that and grown from that and figured that out.''
To get that win, there were some tough decisions facing Franklin. With less than two minutes left and trailing 16-13, he decided to go for it on fourth-and-one rather than kick the game-tying field goal. What a gamble and what a call. Quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer found a wide-open Luke Reynolds in the back of the end zone for a 20-16 lead. Why did the former Penn State coach go for it rather than tie the game?
"I just felt like fourth-and-1 was as good of a situation as we were going to get," Franklin said, per Andy Bitter of Tech Sideline.
Truth be told, it was a play that Franklin really needed to roll the dice, and he did. His team needed to have a message sent to them that they were good, and this would have been a landmark road win. This is the type of win that would prove that the program is turning a corner, and turning it fast under Franklin. He put his trust in them, and they delivered.
They delivered thanks to some questionable play calling from Clemson's defense. For some reason, they lost a future NFL tight end who was allowed to go to the back of the end zone, uncovered, for the game-winning score off a beautiful pass from Grunkemeyer.
This is a win that Virginia Tech fans have been waiting at least a decade for. It's the first win over Clemson since 2007. Sure, the Tigers might not be the same team they were just a few years ago, but this is a win that quickly raises the stock for Franklin in Blacksburg.
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