When the ACC dropped the Virginia Tech football schedule last winter, one thing stood out: the brutal stretch that James Franklin and his club were going to have in the second half of the season. After a friendly front half of the schedule that has a chance to them to pick up some momentum early in the season.
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On Saturday night at Lane Stadium, the Hokies picked up their first win of the James Franklin era with a 73-3 beatdown of VMI. Who had the Hokies scoring 10 touchdowns and covering the 55.5-point spread with such ease? Not me. However, looking ahead, there is one game on the Virginia Tech schedule that might have a different feeling surrounding it later this season.
Clemson's beatdown by LSU gives Virginia Tech hope for a huge road win in 2026
Clemson and head coach Dabo Swinney opened their season against LSU on the road. They were a 10-point underdog in Lane Kiffin's first game as head coach of the Tigers. However, nobody saw the complete beatdown that was coming.
After grabbing a quick 3-0 lead in the first quarter, they allowed 51 straight points until Clemson scored a garbage-time touchdown with 3:13 left in the game for the 51-10 final. Things were so bad that Kiffin trolled Swinney and his offense after the game.
“I didn’t know they’d be that dysfunctional on offense,” Kiffin said of Clemson.
It was ugly. Swinney began the season in the hot seat, and this isn't going to help. Clemson didn't look like your father's Clemson. Not even close. In fact, a couple more games like that before the Hokies visit on Oct. 24, and Clemson officials might find the $57 million to buy out Swinney. That's highly unlikely, but you never know.
Is this an overreaction? Maybe, but maybe not. Last season, there were signs that the Tigers were slowly heading in this direction last season, but having this result this early in the season is not a great sign. The offense looked completel loss, and the defense was a step behind LSU all night.
Clemson is the second of a stretch of ACC road games that are going to be difficult. The Hokies head to Northern California to play at Cal in early October; then, after a home game with Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech has to play Clemson. After a bye week, they had road games at SMU and Miami. The first two games against the Golden Bears and Tigers became that much more important. A win at Clemson could go a long way in determining how Franklin's first season in Blacksburg finishes up.
An eight-win season is one that a lot of Hokies would take and run with in 2026. Eight, or even seven, wins in Franklin's first season would be huge for the future. Once penciled as a loss by many in late October, Clemson is now looking like one the Hokies could win. There is a lot of football to be played before then, but again, this doesn't look like your father's Clemson teams under Dabo Swinney.
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