Virginia Tech has the kind of record that usually gets attention this time of year. At 6-2, the Hokies sit in the same neighborhood as plenty of teams that showed up in Sunday’s AP Top 25.
But when the College Football Playoff selection committee unveils its first rankings Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN, the number next to Virginia Tech may not matter nearly as much as the body of work behind it.
That’s where the trouble starts.
The Hokies finished fifth among teams receiving votes in the AP poll with 12 points, and they were also fifth in line in the Coaches Poll with 53 points. On paper, that sounds like a team knocking on the door.
The problem is that the schedule hasn’t given the committee much to chew on. None of the six teams Virginia Tech has beaten received an AP vote Sunday, and the two teams that beat the Hokies are a combined 9-9.
There is one win that stands out. On Oct. 24 at Clemson, Ethan Grunkemeyer found tight end Luke Reynolds for a 5-yard touchdown with under two minutes left, and Virginia Tech pulled out a 20-16 victory. It was the Hokies’ first win over the Tigers since 2007.
Even that result comes with a catch. Clemson is 5-3 and unranked.
Boston College is 4-4. Georgia Tech is 2-6.
Old Dominion and Maryland didn’t draw AP votes Sunday, and VMI plays in the FCS. That’s not the sort of lineup that usually helps a team climb in the committee’s eyes.
The losses are the harder part to sell. Pittsburgh beat Virginia Tech 35-33 at Lane Stadium on Oct. 2 after John Love’s 36-yard field goal missed as time expired.
That one is easier for the committee to absorb, since Pitt is 6-3. The 25-20 loss at California on Oct. 10 is a much tougher one to explain away.
Cal is 3-6 and has dropped three straight.
A ranking Tuesday would still matter as a résumé marker, but it would not change the larger picture. Under the current format, the ACC champion gets an automatic bid regardless of ranking, just like the champions of the Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC.
Virginia Tech’s path there is narrow, too. The Hokies are 3-2 in league play, sitting behind unbeaten Miami at 6-0 and Wake Forest at 5-1.
So the formula is simple enough: beat somebody the committee respects.
The next shot comes Friday at SMU at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.
The Mustangs were No. 19 before losing at Syracuse on Saturday, but they remain 6-2 and 4-2 in the ACC. They also picked up 27 AP points Sunday, which means a win in Dallas would give Virginia Tech its first victory this season over a team that received a vote.
Coach James Franklin knows SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings from the 2024 College Football Playoff, when Penn State beat the Mustangs.
“Obviously their quarterback has been very, very successful and very athletic, with a strong arm and a great decision-maker and accurate,” Franklin said Monday.
Virginia Tech gets another major opportunity after that, on Nov. 21 at No. 1 Miami, which is 8-0. Win that one, and the ranking debate disappears.
For now, the Hokies are stuck in a strange spot: a team with a ranked-looking record and an unranked-looking résumé. If they handle SMU, that could change fast. If they don’t, the next real chance waits in Miami.
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