Going into the 2025 college football season, it's safe to say that we should expect the unexpected. That is the case with Virginia Tech after a frustrating 2024 season that didn't come close to living up to expectations in Year 3 of head coach Brent Pry.
After a lot of roster turnover and turnover on the coaching staff, there are a lot of questions surrounding the Hokies. However, change can be good, and that's just what Virginia Tech needs going into a pivotal 2025 season. One college football analyst ranked the ACC teams into tiers going into the season, and he had an interesting take on the Hokies.
Greg McElroy puts Virginia Tech into an interesting tier going into the 2025 season
On his "Always College Football" podcast, McElroy lumped all ACC schools into tiers with Tier 1 being National Championship contenders, Tier 2 being CFP contenders, Tier 3 being spoilers, Tier 4 being bowl-bound, and Tier 5 having work to do. He had the Hokies in Tier 3 as a spoiler this fall, despite having some concerns.
“There are a couple of concerns,” said McElroy. “The offensive line lost all five starters from last year, some by way of transfer. They’ve got to be more consistent at wide receiver. That’s been a group that’s turned over a lot as well. And, if you look too, defensively? New coordinator coming in. You got some key returners, but there’s a bit of a rebuild because there are only two guys that started last year that are going to be starting again this season.”
Sure, there are concerns every year with every team, but if the Hokies do end up playing spoilers this season, it'll be good for Pry and his job security. By being spoilers, if that's indeed what they end up doing, they would likely be bowl eligible with at least six wins, as there are a number of ACC games that can be spoilers against teams like Georgia Tech, Miami, Louisville, Florida State, and North Carolina State. Let's not overlook non-conference games with South Carolina and Vanderbilt, where they could be a spoiler.
When all is said and done, would it be surprising if the Hokies played a spoiler role this season in the ACC? Sometimes those teams with the least expectations end up surprising the most.