With the current state of college football, unless you're in the 12-team College Football Playoff, there are not a lot of things to take away from bowl games with the transfer portal being such a factor. That was the case for Virginia Tech against Minnesota in the Duke's Mayo Bowl on Friday night at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
The Hokies were missing 14 of their 22 starters and among those was their secondary which saw four players enter the portal and one declare for the NFL Draft. Virginia Tech's younger players put up a fight but in the end, the Gophers were able to find the end zone three straight times in the first half on their way to a 24-10 victory. Here are three overreactions after the Tech finishes the season at 6-7.
This loss hurts going into 2025
Again, I can't get too wrapped up in a game where the Hokies were missing a number of players because of the portal and draft, but it felt like Minnesota was playing this like Virginia Tech did last year against Tulane. They had more retainment than their opponent and they played like it. That's nothing against the young players for Virginia Tech who have some key experience.
Would we have liked to have seen Virginia Tech's roster at full strength? Yes, of course. However, this is where Tech and many other teams stand with the portal: a depleted roster for their bowl game. I can't get worked up about a loss like this with the roster Brent Pry was forced to trot out there. Like P.J. Fleck said leading into the game, this was a pre-spring ball game. He's not wrong.