Florida State all but locked up a spot in the ACC title game this past weekend with a victory over Duke. The real question over the next few months in the conference is going to be who will take the playoff hopefuls on in the championship game.
North Carolina seemed destined for a battle of the unbeatens with the Seminoles, and they still have to be considered the favorites, but the Tar Heels’ loss to 1-5 Virginia sounded like a warning shot. Duke is arguably one play and an injury to quarterback Riley Leonard away from perfection, but the Blue Devils couldn’t hang on against FSU and still have Leonard’s ankle to deal with. Louisville took down Notre Dame behind running back Jawhar Jordan and receiver Jamari Thrash, two of the most electric players in the conference, but the Cardinals then lost to an underwhelming Pittsburgh team starting a new quarterback.
There’s also a fourth option: the Virginia Tech Hokies.
Virginia Tech started the year 1-3 with losses to Purdue, Rutgers, and Marshall. But the Hokies have won two of their last three games, their only loss coming on a road trip to Tallahassee where no one has escaped. They’ve outscored Pittsburgh and Wake Forest 68-34 in those two ACC wins.
Sure, that isn’t the strongest competition, those two teams are a combined 6-8. But the Panthers beat Louisville and UNC just lost to Virginia. Can any team in the ACC afford to play the strength of schedule game?
Quarterback Kyron Drones took over for Grant Wells in the Marshall game, and the sophomore adds an extra dimension that seems to have transformed the Hokies offense. His 156.47 passer rating during conference play is the best in the ACC, and he’s the only quarterback yet to throw an interception in an ACC game. He’s averaging 8.7 yards per attempt over the past three games, the same as Drake Maye’s season average, and he has seven total touchdowns over that span.
The Virginia Tech rushing game also sprang to life over Drones’ time as the starter. In the first three games of the season, the Hokies averaged 2.39 yards per carry on the ground (249 yards on 104 carries) and managed just two touchdowns. Over the past four games, that same team averaged 4.58 yards per attempt on the ground (730 yards on 160 carries) and found the end zone six times.
The prospect of Virginia Tech in the title game gets more reasonable when you look at the Hokies’ schedule. They don’t play North Carolina, Clemson, Miami, or Duke the rest of the way. They’ll travel to Louisville next week for a ranked road game, and all common logic says they shouldn’t be favored in that game. But Louisville is clearly vulnerable after the Pittsburgh loss and a close call against N.C. State.
The other four teams on Virginia Tech’s schedule (Syracuse, Boston College, N.C. State, and Virginia) are a combined 14-14 for the year and 4-9 in conference play.
The Hokies should not be the betting favorite to take on Florida State at the end of the season. They do deserve at least a breath on the shortlist, however.
