If you think things aren't rosy in Blacksburg, it's even worse in Charlottesville. Last season, the Cavaliers were looking like a bowl team before falling apart down the stretch and needing to win at Virginia Tech to not only become bowl-eligible, but also eliminate the Hokies from that. In true rivalry fashion, even without quarterback Kyron Drones, Pop Watson led Tech to a dominating win.
Virginia retained head coach Tony Elliott and, like Virginia Tech, has gone through a massive roster turnover for the upcoming season. Like Pry, Elliott enters the season on the hot seat, and this could be a make-or-break game and result for both coaches' future with their schools.
This season's weeknight game at Lane Stadium will be a Friday night battle with a Golden Bears team that will be entering their second season in the ACC. Last season, Virginia Tech flew to California and played Stanford and left with a convincing win.
Virginia Tech will be coming into the game off their first of two byes in 2025 and this will be a difficult game for a Cal team flying cross-country for a weeknight game. This will be the first matchup between the two teams since Cal won a 52-49 battle in the 2003 Insight Bowl.
There is no doubt that the Seminoles were the most disappointing team last season in the ACC. It began with a season-opening loss to Georgia Tech and spiraled from there. That season came one year after Florida State won the ACC title but was left out of the four-team College Football Playoff after QB Jordan Travis suffered a season-ending injury in late November.
After a 2-10 season and winning only one ACC game last fall, Florida State has brought in Boston College transfer quarterback Thomas Castellanos, and the Hokies have had a lot of success against him when he was with the Eagles. I know FSU is a different animal, but heading South in mid-November will be an interesting contest for Pry's team.