Virginia Tech Opens As Touchdown-Plus Favorites vs. Cal

Virginia Tech Opens As Touchdown-Plus Favorites vs. Cal

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Virginia Tech Opens As Touchdown-Plus Favorites vs. Cal
Virginia Tech Athletics
Virginia Tech Athletics

BLACKSBURG, Va. – After a 35-33 loss to Pitt Friday, Virginia Tech opens as favorites by over a touchdown for its Oct. 10 road affair against Cal.

According to FanDuel Sportsbook, Virginia Tech (4-1, 1-1 ACC) is 10.5-point favorites over the Golden Bears (2-3, 1-1 ACC), while the total O/U is set at 52.5 points.

The Hokies nearly came back from an 11-point deficit via a Noah Chambers safety and Davion "FatRat" Brown's first receiving touchdown of his collegiate career, but John Love's 36-yard field goal attempt to win it was ruled wide left.

"We had a chance, obviously, to win it at the end," said Virginia Tech head coach James Franklin. "Everybody's going to focus on the last play, and this isn't coach-speak. We're going to watch this tape and there's going to be 20 plays that we could've made throughout the game to put us in a better position and not be in that situation at the end."

In the Hokies' loss, quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer threw for a career-high 434 yards – the second-most passing yards in a single Virginia Tech game dating back to at least 1987 and only behind Bryan Randall's 504-yard performance against Syracuse in 2002. Grunkemeyer, however, fumbled the ball twice (lost once) and threw two interceptions, his first picks of the year.

Grunkemeyer is 131-of-177 (74.0%) for 1,446 yards (No. 7 in FBS), 11 touchdowns and four interceptions. His quarterback rating of 79.7 on ESPN ranks No. 23 in the FBS.

Virginia Tech had reached a 4-0 start for the first time since 2017 via victories over VMI (73-3), Old Dominion (44-21), Maryland (35-26) and Boston College (21-14). Its opponent – California – entered the year with higher aspirations but hasn't fulfilled them.

The Golden Bears lost their opener to UCLA 45-24 in Berkeley before winning over Syracuse 21-18 to begin ACC play unblemished. A 49-7 rout of Wagner followed, but back-to-back losses to Clemson (24-10) and UNLV (39-31) have Cal staring down the barrel of a losing record five games in.

In the latter, an eight-point loss where UNLV signal-caller Jackson Arnold accounted for five scores against the Golden Bears' defense, Cal quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele exited the game after a hit to the head in the second quarter and did not return to play. This year, Sagapolutele has completed 107 of his 164 passes (65.2%) for 1,180 yards, eight touchdowns and five interceptions.

Virginia Tech's contest against Cal is set for Saturday, Oct. 10, at 3:30 p.m. ET. Coverage for the contest is on ACC Network.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/virginiatech as Virginia Tech Opens As Touchdown-Plus Favorites vs. Cal.

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