By now, you know that the 2025 season is a huge one for the Virginia Tech football team and head coach Brent Pry. Year 4 is one where the Hokies must show improvement under the former defensive coordinator at Penn State, after 2024 was a huge swing and a miss at 6-6 with a roster that had its fair share of NFL talent on it.
At this time last season, Virginia Tech was seen as a team that could be a dark horse to crash the new 12-team College Football Playoff, but they stumbled out of the gate in Week 1 at Vanderbilt, and they spent the rest of the season overcoming injuries and mistakes. They enter this season with a lot more questions than answers, and those teams can end up being dangerous.
On Monday, the first Coaches' Poll was released for the upcoming season, and no, the Hokies were not ranked, but in terms of teams on their schedule this fall, the news wasn't all bad.
First Coaches Poll underscores opportunity facing Virginia Tech football in 2025
The release of the first poll of the season had no surprises at the top with Texas as the top team, followed by Ohio State, Penn State, Georgia, and Notre Dame. As far as Virginia Tech is concerned, they have just two opponents this season, Miami and South Carolina, ranked in the Top 25.
The Hurricanes, who visit Blacksburg in November, came in at No. 10 with Georgia transfer quarterback Carson Beck under center, and the Gamecocks, who the Hokies will play first on Aug. 31 in Atlanta, came in at No. 13. The other two ACC schools ranked, Clemson (No. 6), and SMU (No. 16) are not Virginia Tech's schedule this season.
As far as teams "also receiving votes", four opponents on the Hokies' schedule were listed: Louisville, Florida State, Georgia Tech, and Vanderbilt. The Hokies get two of those teams at home, Louisville and Vanderbilt, and they travel to Georgia Tech and FSU.
The release of the coaches' poll underscores the opportunity that Virginia Tech has this season to surprise people and be better than they were last season, record-wise. If things go well and fall into place, then a seven, or dare I say, eight-win season might be in the cards as things could set up well for a team that will have a rather large chip on its shoulder in 2025.