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Entering year four in Blacksburg, head coach Brent Pry is trying to play his way off the hot seat. After coming into the 2024 season with high expectations, the Hokies finished with a 6-7 record, including more abysmal one-score game performances. Virginia Tech saw five players drafted and a number of high-profile players elected to enter the transfer portal. With 30-plus new transfers on the team and two new coordinators, can Pry find a way to work his way off the hot seat this season? Is a bowl game going to be good enough, or will Virginia Tech need to find itself in ACC contention?
While an ACC Championship is probably too much to expect, this team should still be able to make a bowl game. The Hokies have been to two straight bowl games under Pry, and a third is well within reach. The first ESPN Bowl Projections of the season arrived yesterday from analysts Mark Schlabach and Kyle Bonagura. Schlabach has Virginia Tech going to the Military Bowl against Memphis, and Bonagura placed the Hokies in the Gator Bowl against Missouri.
This would not be the first time that Virginia Tech has faced Memphis, but it has been 40 years. The Hokies and the Tigers last played in 1985 in Blacksburg, a 31-10 win for Virginia Tech. Overall, the all-time series is tied 3-3.
This would be the first ever meeting between Missouri and Virginia Tech.
Pry talked about his belief in this team at ACC Media Days:
“I’m excited and encouraged by the leadership from our players, from our new coordinators, our new strength and conditioning coach. We made some upticks in some really important areas in our program. We needed to have the type of off-season that we’re having.
Our roster is deeper. We’ve had an influx of talented transfers, high school signees, and young men that we’ve developed in the program over the last couple of years, guys that we’ve recruited and have been in the system for multiple years.
I’m also excited and encouraged by the type of off-season we’ve had. When we reflected on the 2024 year, it was evident to me that we needed to be a more mentally and physically tough team. That starts with me, and we’ve addressed it in each phase of our off-season program, the winter, the spring and the summer.”
Is Virginia Tech closer to the top of the ACC or the bottom? We may find out early on in the season when they face South Carolina in Atlanta.
Of course the obvious headline in this game is going to be South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer coaching against his fathers team. Frank Beamer is the greatest coach in the history of Virginia Tech and there is certain to be a lot of talk in the lead up to this game about his son coaching against the Hokies.
While Virginia Tech is not going to have the same amount of hype that it received ahead of the 2024 season, South Carolina is going to enjoy plenty. The Gamecocks were one of the hottest teams in the country down the stretch of this season and made a case to be in the College Football Playoff at the end. They are going to return quarterback LaNorris Sellers and standout defensive end Dylan Stewart and may just start the year in the top 10. The Hokies on the other hand have been one of the hardest-hit teams when it comes to transfer portal entries and their roster is going to look a lot different when the two teams kick off the season at Mercedes Benz Stadium. To Brent Pry’s credit, he has done a solid job of landing talent in the portal after an early mass exodus, but they are going to be the underdog in week one vs South Carolina.
South Carolina leads the all-time series 11-7 between the two teams, but they have not met since 1991. Virginia Tech has not beaten South Carolina since 1974.
