The Virginia Tech football team opened the James Franklin era with a 73-3 thumping of FCS foe VMI on Saturday night at Lane Stadium. The Hokies went into the game as a 55.5-point favorite and scored 10 touchdowns, nine on offense and one on special teams.
There really isn't much that Franklin could complain about except for a couple of areas. One of them was penalties and turnovers. The latter, however, took a back seat to the penalties. Virginia Tech was flagged 11 times for 93 yards. Against the Keydets, they can get away with that. Against ACC schools, however, things could be different.
In his postgame press conference, the former Vanderbilt and Penn State head coach discussed the penalties and was not happy with one call. He made his feelings known.
James Franklin voices frustration over one penalty against VMI
In the third quarter, running back Marcellous Hawkins scored his third touchdown of the game and went over to the Virginia Tech core cadets and slapped high-fives. Hawkins was flagged for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty, which his coach had a problem with.
“We got a penalty for high-fiving one of our members of the core,” Franklin said. “Not a huge fan. I don’t know why we can’t high-five somebody in the military. It seems somewhat un-American to me.”
That is a subtle way for Franklin to get his point across about what he thought of the call. It's also a swipe at the officials and potentially setting up for no flag in a future game in Blacksburg. The next game is next weekend against Old Dominion.
It is more likely than not that Hawkins is going to find paydirt down that end of the field this season again, as will fellow running back Jeffrey Overton, Jr. It wouldn't be surprising if they go over and high-five the core cadets again, and if they're flagged, Franklin won't be happy. However, if it happens again, the veteran coach has put the pressure back on the officials, and we'll see if a flag is thrown.
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