Virginia Tech stood right on the edge of a 5-0 start before heartbreak hit Lane Stadium. Kicker John Love stepped up for a 36-yard field goal with three seconds on the clock, only to see the kick ruled wide as Pitt sneaked out with a 35-33 win. Head coach James Franklin immediately wrapped his arms around his kicker, but he didn’t sugarcoat the real reason the Hokies dropped their first home game: a messy turnover habit that finally caught up with them.

Love hit the ball from the right hash, watching it drift directly above the left upright. He threw his hands up in celebration, thinking he had won it, while the Blacksburg crowd exploded. But the side judge under the post waved his arms wide. Because the ball sailed higher than the top of the pole, college rules made the play unreviewable, leaving Love stunned on the turf. Instead of blaming his specialist in front of reporters, Franklin made his stance loud and clear that he stands firmly behind his guy.

“Told him I love him and he’s the best kicker in the country, and then go shake hands,” Franklin said during the press conference, according to the video uploaded on the Virginia Tech Athletics YouTube channel. “He broke us down in the locker room. I’ve got John’s back. So do all of his teammates. And again, that was one play. There’s 20 other plays throughout that game that really wouldn’t have gotten to that point. So I love him. Got a ton of confidence in him, and I’d put him back out there for the same situation every single time.”

Love had been perfect on field goals before that kick, and he protested to the officials when it was waved off. However, Franklin said he couldn’t tell from his angle whether it went through, and he did not spend much time evaluating the missed kick as he pointed out to the rest of the game.

Franklin acknowledged that Pitt’s experienced defense made the necessary adjustments after halftime, but did not see the second-half struggles as a sign that the Hokies’ offense was simply outmatched. He pointed out that the Hokies had moved the ball effectively for most of the night and had offensively played well to put themselves in a position to win. But the turnovers were the bigger issue from his view.

“Can’t turn the ball over four times. That’s really the issue in the game,” Franklin said. “I think we moved the ball on them as well as probably anybody has up to this point, but you can’t turn the ball over four times, since the beginning of time. Turnovers and explosive plays. We’ve been flirting with this turnover thing really all year long. We haven’t been getting turnovers on defense, and because we didn’t get it fixed, it came back to bite us. That’s my responsibility to get it fixed.”

Virginia Tech outgained Pitt 499-295, and quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer threw for 434 yards and three touchdowns. He also threw his first two interceptions of the season and lost a fumble on a strip sack, and freshman running back Jefferey Overton fumbled too. The Hokies gave it away four straight times, and during one six-drive stretch, they managed seven total yards, acknowledging that the team was “undisciplined.”

“We’ve been talking about the penalties, specifically the pre-snap penalties and the post-whistle penalties,” Franklin said. “On one drive, we had two penalties on the same guy. He had a facemask and then an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on their sideline. I didn’t see what happened, but yeah, not good enough. There’s no doubt about it.”

Franklin acknowledged that the Hokies’ penalty problems were another issue they could not afford, especially because several came at critical moments and extended Pitt’s drives. Virginia Tech was flagged eight times for 82 yards, including four penalties for 41 yards on a single drive, giving the Panthers valuable opportunities.

With the Hokies sitting at 4-1, Franklin will expect the team to clear up the mistakes made during the close game against Pittsburgh and travel to California Memorial Stadium on October 10.