Virginia Tech led Georgia Tech 24–3 at halftime Saturday. Then the Hokies lost the second half for the third straight week.
This time, the cushion held. Virginia Tech beat Georgia Tech 34–24 at Lane Stadium to snap a two-game skid and improve to 5–2 and 2–2 in the ACC. Then it ran out the final 5:20 on a drive Marcellous Hawkins extended with a fourth-and-1 conversion at the Georgia Tech 22.
Winners
Que’Sean Brown
Brown caught six passes for a career-high 182 yards and a touchdown. All but two of those yards came before halftime. His previous best was 178 in Duke’s Sun Bowl win over Arizona State last season.
Georgia Tech never solved one route. Brown ran free up the right seam for a 60-yard touchdown on the game’s third play, then got the same look in the second quarter for a 66-yard catch that set up another score. Late in the third, his 63-yard punt return set up a field goal.
He’s up to 616 receiving yards through seven games.
Ethan Grunkemeyer
Grunkemeyer completed 15 of 22 passes for 250 yards and three touchdowns without an interception. He also scrambled 20 yards for his fifth rushing touchdown of the season.
Most of the damage came early. He was 10 of 12 for 215 yards at the half and 5 of 10 for 35 after it. But one of those second-half throws mattered more than any other. Georgia Tech had cut the lead to 24–17, and under heavy pressure Grunkemeyer found Jeffrey Overton Jr., who made several Yellow Jackets miss on a 26-yard touchdown that restored a two-score lead.
Both of his interceptions this season came against Pitt.
Aycen Stevens
Stevens finished with four tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. The redshirt junior defensive end, a former linebacker, had half a tackle for loss all of last season.
His sacks became points. In the third quarter, he ran Alberto Mendoza out of bounds for a 9-yard loss that pinned Georgia Tech at its 2. The Hokies scored a touchdown after the ensuing punt. On the next series, he split a 12-yard sack with Mylachi Williams on third-and-7, forcing the punt Brown returned 63 yards. Those two plays led to 10 points.
Takeaways and discipline
Virginia Tech entered the day with one of the worst turnover margins in the FBS at minus-6. On Saturday, it won the turnover battle 2–1 and outscored Georgia Tech 10–3 off them.
Thomas Williams forced Trelain Maddox to fumble near the goal line on what looked like a walk-in touchdown, and the ball went out of the end zone for a touchback. The Hokies went 80 yards for a score on the next drive. Quentin Reddish’s second-quarter interception was his first since September 2025. It set up a 39-yard field goal from John Love, who had missed his previous three attempts.
The flags stayed in pockets, too. Virginia Tech had four penalties for 40 yards after entering 112th in the FBS in penalty yards per game.
Losers
Virginia Tech’s pass defense
Mendoza completed 29 of 38 passes for 335 yards and two touchdowns, including 18 of 20 for 217 after halftime. Jordan Allen caught 10 passes for 120 yards, and Dalen Penson was wide open on a 33-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
It’s a two-week trend. Virginia Tech allowed 187 passing yards per game through its first five games. Then Cal’s Jackson Brousseau threw for 321 in his first start for the Bears, and Mendoza topped him.
The second half, again
Virginia Tech’s first two possessions after halftime produced six plays, three sacks and two punts. Georgia Tech needed five plays to score twice in that stretch and cut a 21-point lead to seven. The Yellow Jackets outgained the Hokies 279–102 after the break and finished with more total yards, 428–409.
That’s three straight weeks of losing the second half: 14–9 to Pitt, 15–6 to Cal and 21–10 to Georgia Tech. A 21-point lead covered for it against a team that’s now 2–4.
Luke Reynolds
Reynolds came into Saturday second on the team in receiving yards, behind only Brown. Against Georgia Tech, he barely showed up in the box score.
The tight end caught two passes for 18 yards: a 13-yarder on the game’s first snap and a 5-yard slant that moved the chains on third-and-5 during the Overton touchdown drive. His one shot at a big play, in the second quarter, fell incomplete when he couldn’t get his feet down in bounds.
Reynolds is still a Mackey Award watch-list tight end, and one quiet afternoon doesn’t change that. Georgia Tech just kept him in check.
Georgia Tech in the red zone
Georgia Tech scored on two of four trips inside the 20. The two empty ones cost it up to 10 points, the final margin.
Maddox’s fumble wiped out the first. On the second, Aidan Birr pushed a 32-yard field goal wide right on fourth-and-4 in the fourth quarter. Kicking down 17 was defensible, since a make would have made it a two-score game. The miss was the problem. Maddox ran for 96 yards and an untouched 42-yard touchdown, which makes the fumble sting more.
Virginia Tech plays at Clemson on Oct. 24. Saturday proved the Hokies can win with one good half. It didn’t prove they can play two.
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