There was a lot of momentum surrounding the Virginia Tech Hokies after last season’s strong finish. The Hokies convinced several top players to return for another year, which is sometimes impossible in today’s NIL/transfer portal era. It was a good sign for head coach Brent Pry and the culture he was building through two seasons.
Several college football analysts predicted the Hokies could be a contender in the new, expanded College Football Playoffs. However, a loss to Vanderbilt in the season opener dampened some of that enthusiasm. So did September's losses to Rutgers and Miami. While the Hokies have to right to claim they were screwed in the Miami loss, it didn’t change that they had three losses before October.