Virginia Tech Football: Hokies open as underdogs vs. Wake Forest

Coming off a respectable showing on the road against the fifth-ranked Florida State Seminoles Saturday afternoon and losing 39-17, the Virginia Tech football team returns home for a Week 7 ACC game at Lane Stadium against Wake Forest.

It will be Homecoming this upcoming weekend in Blacksburg and despite their dominating win over the Pittsburgh Panthers the last time the Hokies took the field at home, they will open up as underdogs against the Demon Deacons.

Virginia Tech opens as slight underdogs at home against Wake Forest

After falling behind 22-0 Saturday against Florida State, Virginia Tech battled back to make it a one-score game at 22-17 thanks to Bhayshul Tuten. He closed out the first half by scoring on a touchdown run, then opened the second half by returning the opening kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown.

Trailing 22-0, things could have spiraled out of control for the Hokies, but they didn’t, and despite them showing signs of continuing the running game and quarterback Kyron Drones taking the next step in his development under center, the Hokies open as 1-point underdogs according to DraftKings.

Wake Forest enters the game coming off a 17-12 loss at Clemson and they sit at 3-2. One common opponent the two teams have is Old Dominion and both were able to bet the Monarchs in September.

There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic this week for Virginia Tech. Tuten is turning into a very good running back and Drones is settling in at quarterback. The offensive line is still a work in progress, but they have done a good job recently opening holes for Tuten, Drones, and Malachi Thomas.

One big key against Wake Forest is going to be the defense and their ability to stop the run and get off the field on third down, something they didn’t do early against Florida State and it cost them. By the time the ball is kicked off next weekend, I expect the Hokies to be a small favorite, if the game is not a pick’em.