The man in that chair was New England Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien, and over the next two seasons, he built a new era by winning 15 games with a program that did enough to earn him an opportunity with the NFL’s Houston Texans. His successor, James Franklin, subsequently arrived from Vanderbilt as one of college football’s rising names, and together, they helped Penn State reclaim its footing by rebuilding traditions that previously defined the Nittany Lions for decades. By the turn of the 2020s, they were back among the nation’s top-10, and a place in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff sat within reach.
More than a decade since their paths intersected in Happy Valley, the head coaches at Boston College and Virginia Tech, respectively, find themselves pitted against one another in an ACC matchup. They are, in their own right, two coaches who helped shape the modern college football era, but meeting as opponents unearths a familiarity for rosters lined with possibilities for the 2026 season.
“James and I knew each other for a long time,” said O’Brien during his weekly media availability. “I mean, it’s upwards of 25 years – 20 years, at least. We coached together at Maryland. He was the wide receivers coach and a recruiting coordinator for Ralph Friedgen. I came from Georgia Tech, where I’d been a graduate assistant for Ralph, and we worked together. Our offices were side-by-side. We lived near each other. Our wives are friends, and he’s always been great to my family.”
Franklin’s cache supplied Virginia Tech with a head coach defined by programs that consistently needed more than a refreshed playbook. While at Vanderbilt, he inherited a two-win team that had been to one bowl game since the 1980s, and within three years, he won nine games twice to match a record that was set in 1915. The Commodores won two bowl games – their first ever postseason wins – while twice finishing ranked, an accomplishment that hadn’t happened since Red Sanders won eight games in 1948.
O’Brien, meanwhile, redefined Penn State with winning seasons in 2012 and 2013. Those two years were largely viewed as foundational bricks for future success as the program began to emerge from its past. The postseason ban was eventually rescinded in 2014, at which point O’Brien was in Houston with the Texans and Franklin was in Happy Valley.
“I went to Penn State and stayed for two years,” said O’Brien, “then went to the Houston Texans. He came into Penn State during a very challenging time when there were sanctions and these different things like scholarship reductions. Eventually, they were able to get the scholarships back. I think a lot of that had to do with James and how he came in there with a positive attitude. He did an unbelievable job at Penn State. He’s been the head coach at Vanderbilt, he’s been the head coach at Penn State, and he’s the head coach now at Virginia Tech. That’s very impressive.”
Franklin’s teams at Vanderbilt and Penn State routinely ranked among the nation’s scoring offenses, so it wasn’t exactly surprising, then, when he brought the same intensity and success to Blacksburg. Already this year, the Hokies are ranked fourth in scoring offense and eighth in passing offense.
Quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer’s completion percentage is elevated by nearly 10 percent, and neither he nor Bryce Baker – who went 10-for-12 for 127 yards and a touchdown during the 73-3 win over VMI – have thrown an interception. Like previous teams operating under Franklin, this points to the very obvious and high red zone efficiency that hasn’t missed an opportunity through its first three games, even as the running game sits around the middle of the FBS rankings with a unit that’s currently 11th best in the conference.
“It will come down to us executing,” said linebacker Anthony Palano. “We’ve done a lot of things and watched a lot of tape on how we can get better as a back-seven and as a defensive line, just as a defense as a whole. A lot of it is on us. A lot of it comes down to doing our job and executing, so we’re taking steps each day to continue to work on that and make sure it doesn’t happen.”
Weather conditions on Saturday might necessitate more of a premium on those red zone opportunities for both teams, so identifying better design and subsequent execution on the Eagles side of the ball is a logical next step. Tilting a nearly-equal scoring differential against an improved red zone offense, especially when the red zone defense is already clicking at a 75 percent success rate, illustrates exactly where they can take a massive step forward.
“Coach [O’Brien] comes up with great plans,” said receiver Javarius Green. “The coaches come up with great plans and schemes. We have to focus on our job. At the end of the day, each position has to focus on their job. It could be the smallest thing [like] footwork or technique, so we just have to keep [working], keep dialing it up each and every day to be consistent on that.”
BC and Virginia Tech are slotted for a 12 p.m. kickoff on Saturday afternoon, from Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Mass. The game can be seen on national television as part of the ACC Network’s linear coverage, with streaming available on the ESPN family of Internet and mobile device apps for cable subscribers with access to the channel.
