BLACKSBURG, Va. — Coming off a 35-33 loss against Pitt in Lane Stadium Friday, Virginia Tech football aspires to knock off Cal when it travels to Berkeley, Calif., for its third road game in its last four contests. Ahead of the Saturday tussle in the Golden State, Hokies head coach James Franklin took to the lectern to address questions from the media. Here are the most pertinent notes and quotes from his press conference:

What challenges does Cal's offense present?

Virginia Tech isn't entirely sure what version of Cal's offense it will see Saturday. Franklin said the Golden Bears' most recent game appeared to feature more run-and-shoot concepts associated with Nick Rolovich's previous stops at Washington State and Hawaii, including frequent empty formations, or Pat McCann, rather than the existing offensive coordinator, Jordan Somerville. Franklin said he wasn't totally sure who was calling the shots for Cal against UNLV on Saturday.

Franklin also offered plenty of praise for Cal's quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, calling him "as impressive of a prospect as there is" and noting his ability to throw accurately both from the pocket and on the move. This year, Sagapolutele has thrown for 1,180 yards, eight touchdowns, and five interceptions, though he was banged up against UNLV and did not return despite being medically cleared.

"A lot of moving parts, a lot of things to be prepared for, a lot of things to consider," Franklin said. "But all we can do is watch the film, evaluate the film, and read every report that's out there."

Franklin touched on Ethan Grunkemeyer after the junior threw his first two interceptions of the season.

Grunkemeyer threw for a career-high 434 yards and connected on several deep balls, though he coughed up two fumbles (one was recovered) and threw two interceptions.

"I think the biggest thing is obviously, details matter and going through his progressions and taking what the defense gives<" Franklin said.

The interception that likely bothers Grunkemeyer and the staff the most was the pick on the naked bootleg play in the red zone.

"I think it was [Luke Reynolds that] was clearly open in the flat; we tried to make a throw that we didn't need to try to make in that situation," Franklin said. "... Two of the turnovers, if I'm remembering correctly, were in the pocket, where he's made a big-time play, stepping up in the pocket and delivering on a crossing route or on a route that's coming into his vision. He tried to do that again, and their defensive line did a really good job of retracing and stripping the ball back out.'

Virginia Tech's defense has forced only one interception. How do the Hokies intend to change that?

Franklin focused on the team-wide drills the defense can be involved in — he mentioned the peanut punch by name. To him, however, one of the best things the team can do is simply a good job of finding the ball and playing it. Why?

"It does two things: It allows you to get interceptions, but it also reduces the amount of times that you'll get called for pass interference, as well," Franklin said. "You can get away with a decent amount of contact if you're looking for the ball. ... Not only do we need to do a better job protecting the ball on offense, we've got to create some turnovers on defense. It's both things, so throughout practice, but then also having isolated periods where we're emphasizing those things as well."

Virginia Tech's run game averaged just over two yards per carry against Pitt and has struggled at points this year.

Franklin does view short swing passes — for example, short dumpoffs to sophomore running back Jeffrey Overton Jr. — as an extension of the running game, but that part of it resides in getting the extra block or just having the free hitter miss.

"I think the other thing that's going to help our run game is, we were able to hit some explosive plays on Saturday; that will loosen people up," Franklin said. "The ceiling starts to lower and lower with those safeties if you're not able to throw the ball over their head. Our receivers doing a good job of coming in and digging out the safeties on a consistent basis will help, or putting those defenders in conflict with RPOs. I think the other thing is just making sure that we have enough ways to get the ball on the perimeter, as well."