Losing big games in primetime has become second nature for Virginia Tech, but Saturday’s 44-20 loss to Vanderbilt feels particularly poignant. This feeling isn’t just due to the lopsided score, but the nature in which it unfolded–a disaster class of epic proportions at the worst possible time.
For many Hokies’ fans, this was a must-win game. Brent Pry had exhausted what scarce goodwill he had left from much of the fanbase, particularly after dropping the season opener against South Carolina in Atlanta in a game that was very much winnable. His record heading into Saturday was a paltry 16-22. He couldn’t afford another loss in a big game with so much on the line.
And yet it happened, though not right away.
Virginia Tech played a solid first half to take a 20-10 lead heading into the locker room. The game plan appeared to be working on all fronts. But as all Hokies fans know, no lead is safe. This one certainly was not.
The Hokies imploded from the opening kickoff of the second half. Vanderbilt scored 34 unanswered points on five consecutive possessions against a Virginia Tech defense that only a week ago looked primed to have a resurgent season under first-year defensive coordinator Sam Siefkes. Instead, all 11 players looked hapless, unable to stem the Commodores’ offensive onslaught. Siefkes was given a stern lesson in play-calling by Vanderbilt offensive coordinator Tim Beck, whose scheme mauled the Hokies for 8.6 yards per play, particularly up front against what was supposed to be the strength of this Virginia Tech defense.
The offense played even worse. As Kyron Drones led the Hokies on what seemed to be a promising drive to end the first half, left tackle Johnny Garrett left the game with a lower leg injury. This resulted in personnel shuffling and opened the floodgates for Vanderbilt’s defense after the intermission, as they sent blitz after blitz into the Hokies’ backfield, many unencumbered by an overwhelmed line that looked out of its league. It got so bad that Tech Sideline’s Senior Staff Writer Andy Bitter commented on Drones’ safety, as he was forced to endure the Commodores’ relentless pass rush.
Drones is going to get hurt behind this line if they keep him in tonight. Zero time to throw. #Hokies
— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) September 7, 2025
As a result, it looked as if these offenses weren’t even playing the same game. Vanderbilt outgained Virginia Tech 307-21 in the second half. Twenty-one yards. Total. In 30 minutes of play.
The Commodores played with the confidence of a team that had been there before. Virginia Tech looked like it was being forced to play in a sandstorm–utterly lost and confused in every phase of the game.
Yet again, the Hokies were outclassed, both physically and schematically. Yet again, with the opportunity to win a game against a non-conference Power 4 opponent for the first time since 2017, Virginia Tech fell flat on its face on national television.
This result isn’t shocking to Hokies fans; these losses have become second nature. But the manner in which Virginia Tech was so comprehensively dismantled in the second half, after playing well in the first two quarters, is what’s most disturbing.
In my most recent column, I made the bold prediction that Virginia Tech would rise to the occasion against Vanderbilt, soundly quieting the doubters and nay-sayers who incessantly called for Brent Pry’s firing.
Boy, was I wrong.
My prediction wasn’t based on any real data. I just believed that Pry and his coaching staff could successfully rouse their team that gave South Carolina all it could handle six days prior to defend their home turf in a game that the Hokies absolutely had to have.
This was a fantasy.
In my prediction, I commented that if Virginia Tech couldn’t get up for this game, then there’s no telling for which one they could. The Hokies’ performance on Saturday was a thoroughly damning indictment of a program that has become one series of blunders and disappointments after another, intermittently buoyed by fleeting glimpses of days gone by and endearing coach speak from a Lexington, Virginia native who appears very much out of his element.
Now, for just the first time since 2010, the Hokies are 0-2 to start the season. We all know how that year shaped up for Virginia Tech. Tyrod Taylor led the way en route to 11 consecutive wins, including an ACC Championship.
Unlike that team, which featured Taylor, David Wilson, Darren Evans, Bruce Taylor, Danny Coale, etc., the 2025 Hokies team seemingly isn’t built for a similar run to glory. And unlike the roster that won the most recent ACC championship in Virginia Tech’s history 15 long years ago, this year’s squad doesn’t appear to have the coaching leadership necessary to even remain competitive in games that have so much on the line.
Not only are these comparisons between the Virginia Tech program in 2025 and that of the mid-2000s tough to swallow, they’re almost counterproductive. Most fans realized long ago that those days are long gone, washed away by the underwhelming twilight years of Frank Beamer’s brilliant career, the off-field dramatics of the Justin Fuente era, and the sheer ineptitude of Brent Pry’s tenure. So, trying to draw comparisons between these two disparate times is pointless.
Fans don’t necessarily want an exact return to how things were back then. Sure, winning 10 games a season for eight consecutive seasons again would be nice, but most fans, those who have the wherewithal to reckon with the current state of affairs in Blacksburg, merely want a competitive program they can be proud of. Most want a culture of playing hard, sound football the right way that results in wins. This coaching staff can’t even seem to come close to doing that, as Saturday's inglorious implosion demonstrated so extensively.
And so the Hokies’ slide into mediocrity continues, one that has been underway for a decade, with no apparent end in sight. Last season, Virginia Tech was poised to do great things with a roster full of current NFL players. But after an underwhelming 6-7 record, Pry made drastic coaching changes to right the ship. With new leadership in place and transfers all over the field, 2025 would be the season Pry finally broke through.
That was the thinking, anyway, from those in the Merriman Center. Clearly, something didn’t add up, and now, somehow, the state of the program worsens even further.
Saturday’s spectacular collapse had the feeling of falling through rock bottom in just the second game of the season against a second consecutive SEC opponent. Why, then, are Hokies fans so frustrated by this loss?
Because the palpable sense of urgency felt by the fanbase to win this game apparently wasn’t felt by anyone on the Virginia Tech sideline. Because no amount of guffawing and coach speak can change the results that consistently have been worse than the last.
And most of all, because despite all that Brent Pry has done off the field for the program, he seemingly can’t do the one thing he was hired to do: win football games, especially those that mean the most.
If Pry’s seat was hot before Saturday, it’s now white hot, and no one, not even Pry himself, seems capable of cooling it.