Virginia Tech football report card from embarrassing loss to Virginia

There is just no other way to sugarcoat it, Virginia Tech's 27-7 loss to Virginia on Saturday night at Scott Stadium was just flat embarrassing. The Hokies had an opportunity to ruin the special season their rivals were having, but instead, they fell behind 27-0 and could never regroup.

The loss ends the Hokies' season at 3-9, and now the James Franklin era has officially begun in Blacksburg. For the last time in 2025, here is the latest Virginia Tech football report card after another disappointing loss.

Virginia Tech football report card from loss to Virginia

I'm not sure what there is to say. Honestly, it was a fitting end to the season for an offense that struggled under Kyron Drones. He was missing his top running back in Marcellous Hawkins, and his top wide receiver, Ayden Greene, but still, the offense was brutal. Aside from a 31-yard run from Jeffrey Overton, Jr. in the first quarter, and a garbage-time touchdown from freshman Shamartius Peterkin on a fourth-and-2 on a 57-yard touchdown reception.

Drones was 4-for-16 passing for 78 yards and two interceptions. The offense was out of sorts all night long, and honestly, where was Pop Watson? Remember what he did a year ago? Heck, remember what he did last week against Miami in his short appearance? He deserved a shot at some point on Saturday night.

All in all, this group battled and had their back against the wall several times because of the offense's struggles. Freshman Noah Chambers had a team-high eight tackles, and Elhadj Fall had a nice stop on fourth down, stuffing a Cavaliers running back. Just the route Franklin goes here for retention on this side of the ball will be rather interesting to see. Some young players have made the case to stick around after this season. We'll see if Franklin agrees.

John Love missed a first-quarter field goal, and we saw way too much of punter Nick Veltsistas, who punted seven times for 324 yards, but what was Cameron Seldon doing returning the opening kickoff out of the end zone to the 6-yard line? A big yikes. There is a time and place to try and make a big play, but that wasn't it.

This one falls on Philip Montgomery. I get it, you're loyal to Drones, but when was enough going to be enough with the way the offense was playing? Watson is likely gone to the Transfer Portal, but was it really not worth sending him out there in the second half? He deserved more of a shot at Virginia Tech than he got, and more of a shot this year than he got. Again, Montgomery gets props for keeping this team together after Brent Pry was fired, but Saturday night wasn't his best night.

If you were going to draw out a fitting end to the season, you got it. An offense that didn't do anything, but found a way to keep the 395-game scoring streak alive. Nothing else to do but flush it away and look ahead to the future and the changes coming.