Virginia Tech Football: Hokies climbing up ESPN’s power index

Winners of two of their last three games, the Virginia Tech football team is beginning to climb in the latest ESPN power rankings.

Following a 30-13 victory over Wake Forest on Saturday at Lane Stadium, the Hokies moved up nine spots in the latest power ranking released Monday, and Virginia Tech checks in at No. 63. Heading into their bye week, the Hokies sit at 3-4 and 2-1 in ACC play.

Virginia Tech can still make a bowl game over the final five weeks

After their bye week, Virginia Tech returns to Lane Stadium on Oct. 26 to play Syracuse in a Thursday night telecast. After that, the schedule is somewhat manageable for Brent Pry’s team with Florida State already over with and no North Carolina, Clemson, Duke, or Miami this season.

After Syracuse, the Hokies have a pair of road games at Louisville and Boston College, before their final home game against North Carolina State on Nov. 19, then travel to play Virginia in the regular season final on Nov. 26. Sunday, ESPN released their latest Bowl projections and they had the Hokies playing Memphis in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl in December at Fenway Park in Boston.

Let’s be clear, it is not a given that Virginia Tech makes a Bowl game this season, but there certainly is hope following two of the first three ACC games with dominating wins over Pittsburgh and Wake Forest sandwiched around a loss at Florida State.

The defense for Virginia Tech has been very good recently, aside from the first quarter against the Seminoles and the fourth quarter too. Offensively, Tyler Bowen has opened up the playbook and got things going with the running game and Bhayshul Tuten. Kyron Drones has shown confidence in throwing the ball and running the ball as well.

Now the question is, can the Hokies continue their recent play following the bye and on the road in three of their final four games?