Virginia Tech Football: CBS experts make 2023 ACC predictions

It’s that time of year when predictions are made for the 2023 college football season. CBS Sports was the latest to release theirs Monday and it went about as expected for Virginia Tech.

Hokies were picked to finish near the bottom of the conference

Seven of CBS’ college football experts made their picks for predicting how the Atlantic Coast Conference standings will play out after week 13. It comes as no surprise that Clemson and Florida State are picked to play in the ACC title game in Charlotte on Dec. 2 by all the experts. As expected, the news was not too good for the Hokies and coach Brent Pry.

Of the seven votes cast for Virginia Tech, they received one vote each for a ninth, 10th, 11th, 13th, and 14th place finish. They received three votes to finish 12th in the standings. With all the questions surrounding the 2023 Hokies, it’s no surprise that they were picked where they were. Pry has yet to name his starting quarterback, something that is expected in the coming days.

As if the eight ACC games are not going to be tough enough, Virginia Tech did themselves no favors in terms of their non-conference schedule. They open up at home against an Old Dominion team that upset them last season, then host Purdue out of the Big Ten. They then travel to Rutgers, another Big Ten school, then host Marshall, also out of the Sun Belt Conference before league play starts.

To pass last year’s season win total of three, the Hokies are going to need to fair better in their non-conference games and in an unusual scheduling quirk, they play their four non-conference games before they start ACC play.

It’s no surprise that the experts have low expectations for the Hokies in 2023, but sometimes being the underdog can be good and Virginia Tech hopes that’s the case this season.