After slumping out to a woeful 1-3 start and falling to 2-4 after getting blown out by Florida State, the Virginia Tech Hokies are suddenly in a spot with a golden opportunity to compete for an ACC championship this season. Former Penn State defensive coordinator [autotag]Brent Pry[/autotag], the head coach of the Hokies, is heading into the biggest week yet as a head coach in Blacksburg, and a win would put his program on the inside track to a spot in the ACC Championship Game.
Virginia Tech plays on the road at Louisville, which will not be easy. But if the Hokies can come away with a win against the Cardinals, then Virginia Tech will take sole possession of second place in the ACC’s overall standings. Florida State will start the week with a clean 6-0 ACC record, but Louisville is 4-1 and Virginia Tech is 3-1 in conference play. A road victory by the Hokies will hand Louisville its second loss in the ACC and move the Hokies to being the only 1-loss team in the conference.
And the rest of Virginia Tech’s schedule could be pretty favorable, all things considered.
Pry and his Hokies will have a road game at Boston College (5-3), a home game against NC State (5-3), and a road game at rival Virginia (2-6) to close out the regular season. Getting through that run without a loss will still be a challenge, but it is manageable, especially with a head-to-head tiebreaker in hand against Louisville.
For Virginia Tech, it is simple. Win this weekend and then the path to the ACC Championship Game is theirs to lose. It won’t matter what Florida State does the rest of the way.
The Hokies will be an underdog at Louisville this weekend, but these Cardinals also lost to Pitt. So beating Louisville is not impossible.
And keep this in mind as well. If Florida State eventually goes on to play in the College Football Playoff, then Virginia Tech could slide into position to represent the ACC in the Orange Bowl. And the Orange Bowl could still be a possibility for Penn State at the end of the season.
Pry is in his second season as the head coach at Virginia Tech. He previously was one of [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag]’s longest-tenured coordinators dating back to their time together at Vanderbilt.
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