Virginia Tech ran the ball 37 times at Clemson and gained 70 yards.
It won anyway.
The 20-16 comeback on Oct. 24 was the Hokies' first win over Clemson since 2007. It also locked up bowl eligibility in coach James Franklin's first season. And it showed how thin the margin is. Clemson sacked Ethan Grunkemeyer six times, held Virginia Tech to a season-low 234 yards, and outgained the Hokies 146-13 in the third quarter.
The Hokies (6-2, 3-2 ACC) are off this weekend. Then comes the month that decides what Franklin's first year becomes. It opens with a Friday night trip to No. 19 SMU on Nov. 6. Stanford comes to Lane Stadium on Nov. 14, the Hokies visit No. 1 Miami on Nov. 21 and Virginia comes to Blacksburg on Nov. 28.
The floor is set. A year after a 3-9 finish, this team is going bowling. The ceiling is the open question. Miami leads the ACC at 5-0, with Wake Forest and SMU one game back at 4-1, and the Hokies still play both SMU and Miami. Then there's Virginia, which beat Tech 27-7 in Charlottesville to end last season.
Here are three players who will determine how high the Hokies' ceiling is.
Grunkemeyer, a redshirt sophomore, followed Franklin from Penn State. He has been close to everything Franklin wanted. He's completed 187 of 262 passes (71.4%) for 2,140 yards, 17 touchdowns, and two interceptions. Both picks came in the 35-33 loss to Pitt.
That's a different sport from what Virginia Tech played a year ago. The 2025 offense threw for 166.3 yards per game, 117th in the country. This one averages 284.4.
He also does things a box score doesn't capture. Down 16-13 in Death Valley, Grunkemeyer led an 11-play, 69-yard drive. He finished it on fourth-and-1 from the Clemson 5, lofting a touchdown to tight end Luke Reynolds to take the lead.
The worry comes before the throw. Grunkemeyer has been sacked 23 times in eight games, nearly three a game, and six of those came at Clemson. SMU and Miami have the tape. His job in November isn't to throw for 434 yards, which he did against Pitt in a loss. His job is to avoid the drive-killing loss of yardage, and he can't do that alone.
Nobody on this roster has changed his story more. Stevens came to Blacksburg from Indianapolis as a linebacker recruit and moved to defensive end before the 2024 season. Last year, he made 14 tackles and half a tackle for loss.
This year, the redshirt junior leads the Hokies with 10.5 tackles for loss and 8 sacks.
Here's why Stevens matters now. Virginia Tech leads the nation with 77 tackles for loss but ranks 91st in pass efficiency defense. Put simply, the pass rush has been covering for the coverage.
That arrangement gets its hardest test in Miami Gardens. Darian Mensah threw for 387 yards and four touchdowns as Miami beat Pitt 52-23 last Saturday. That's the same Pitt team that beat the Hokies.
Stevens was quiet at Clemson, with three tackles and no sacks. Virginia Tech still got four sacks from four different players. That included the one that ended the game: Mylachi Williams on fourth-and-9 with 48 seconds left. That depth is real. Against Miami, though, the Hokies need their best rusher winning.
Here's the take: Overton, not Grunkemeyer, is the swing piece of Virginia Tech's November.
Overton is a redshirt freshman from Woodbridge, Va. He has 639 yards and four touchdowns on 113 carries, a 5.7-yard average. He also has 23 catches for 214 yards and two scores. His best day came at Boston College: 25 carries, 209 yards, and a 76-yard touchdown run in a 21-14 win.
Take that game away, and he's averaging 61.4 yards in the other seven. Over the last two games, he's carried 24 times for 111 yards. At Clemson, it was 10 carries for 26 yards.
The team numbers say the same thing. Virginia Tech runs for 139.8 yards per game, 98th nationally, at 3.7 yards per carry. When the run game dies, the rest follows.
Overton doesn't need another 200-yard night. He needs to make first down a threat again. If he gets to 5 yards a carry, Grunkemeyer faces third-and-short instead of third-and-long. The offense also stays on the field long enough to keep Stevens and the defense fresh. If he doesn't, the Hokies are asking their quarterback to win at Miami the way they barely won at Clemson.
It starts in Dallas, at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN on Nov. 6. Virginia Tech got away with 70 rushing yards once. It has until then to make sure it doesn't have to try that again.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/virginiatech as Three Players Who Will Make or Break Virginia Tech's Final Month of the Season .
