National college football analyst Josh Pate had high praise for the Virginia Tech Hokies before the year started.
The Kyron Drones received a lot of praise as a dark horse All-ACC candidate, and Virginia Tech was in a lot of talks to be a team that could compete in the ACC Championship. Pate agreed to all that and more during the preseason.
With the College Football Playoff expanded to 12 teams, Pate explained that Virginia Tech could rise from the ACC and be the team to secure a spot in the College Football Playoff. . “Virginia Tech,” he continued, “is a playoff contender in the ACC. They have one of the best defenses in the conference… an elite run game, a high-level defense, they have a hungry mentality. It’s a very manageable schedule.”
On the latest episode of Josh Pate’s College Football Show, he argued that Virginia Tech has the potential to last the rest of the season.
“There’s another interesting team coming up, and it’s not Vanderbilt, it’s Virginia Tech. By the way, I have Vandy 41st and Virginia Tech 32nd. I don’t usually finish above the top 25. Virginia. Tech is 32nd and I want you to do something, but I want you to think about all the teams you left for dead, Virginia Tech being one of them. I want you to look at their standings in the conference, and then look at their standings. Virginia Tech is currently the quietest and best-positioned team in the country. All the preseason goals still remain. “Who did they lose to?” They have one loss in the conference, but I still think Clemson will be in their spot late in the season. They went into the bye week feeling very good that they were back to preseason or something like that. I had it. [rated] At the beginning of this year it was 87.6 and now it is 87.8. So, Virginia Tech, we rated them high coming into the season, and overall they’re rated slightly higher than I rated them in the preseason. During that time, they fell short of their preseason ratings, but now that they’re back, let’s see what they do with it. ”
Virginia Tech certainly has a clean record. The Hokies have only one loss in the conference, against Miami. The future Brent Pry has been hoping to build may arrive sooner than expected, with Virginia Tech’s toughest games yet to come at Lane Stadium.
