Virginia Tech Football: Hokies appear to have caught a huge break in 2023

Through the first full weekend of the 2023 college football season, it appears that Virginia Tech has caught a huge break when it comes to its Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) schedule. In fact, it could be considered a huge break.

It’s generally tough to gauge Week 1 results in college football as a lot of the Power 5 schools play lower conference teams. The Hokies are in that category after their 36-17 win over Sun Belt Conference foe Old Dominion at Lane Stadium.

Virginia Tech catches schedule break with no North Carolina or Duke this season

The rotating ACC schedule will benefit teams from year to year. There is no question about that. This season, through Week 1 at least, it appears that the Hokies may have caught a huge break with two of their potential conference opponents.

Last season Virginia Tech lost to both North Carolina and Duke and both schools posted very impressive wins in their season openers.

The Tar Heels took down SEC foe South Carolina, 31-17, in Charlotte and did it with an impressive second half, mainly on the defensive side of the ball. They had the Gamecocks confused, coach Shane Beamer didn’t make a lot of adjustments and North Carolina flexed their muscle.

Holding them 17 points is an impressive feat and quarterback Drake Maye led an offense that was clicking and going to cause problems for the conference this season.

Monday night, Duke impressed as much as North Carolina did in completely outplaying 8th-ranked Clemson at home. Just how impressive of a performance was it? On the defensive side, they held the Tigers to one touchdown and that was when Clemson recovered a fumble deep in Blue Devils territory in the second quarter. After that, the Tigers had trouble moving the ball.

Offensively, quarterback Riley Leonard moved Duke on the Tigers defense and if it wasn’t for a turnover late in the second quarter, the score could have been much worse. The Blue Devils on both sides of the ball look like a team that can eight or nine games and the Hokies won’t be one of their wins this season.

It was just one weekend and the ACC is going to be very tough this season, but schedule-wise, it’s clear that Virginia Tech caught a break with North Carolina and Duke not being on the schedule. Now, can they take advantage of it when ACC play begins at the end of September is going to be the question.