It was a wild offseason in college football. There were several big coaching changes, surprising firings, Miami stealing Duke’s quarterback away and Lane Kiffin, well, being Lane Kiffin.
You could make the case that no team had a better offseason than the Virginia Tech Hokies. After firing head coach Brent Pry last September, Tech’s luck began to change a few weeks later when Penn State shockingly fired head coach James Franklin. About a month later, the Hokies hired Franklin, who brought Pry back with him as defensive coordinator.
Over the next couple of months, Franklin went to work on the roster, significantly improving Virginia Tech’s roster for 2026 and beyond.
With all of those changes, what are reasonable expectations for the Hokies in 2026?
Bill Connelly of ESPN recently ranked all 138 FBS teams into tiers. There were 20 tiers; the Hokies were in tier 6. Here’s what ESPN says about the Hokies, who fall in the “Probably fine. Maybe good. Possibly mediocre” tier.
All five of the teams in Tier 6 rank between No. 20 and No 35 in Connelly’s preseason SP+, which means they’re good enough to be taken seriously and flawed enough not to be a serious playoff contender.
In this tier with the Hokies are Clemson, Illinois, Missouri and TCU.
Here’s what Pry is in charge of fixing:
On drives that started on its side of the field vs. FBS opponents, Virginia Tech’s defense allowed 2.8 points per drive last year — the worst rate in the ACC and 128th nationally.
How good will the Hokies be in 2026? They have a chance to get off to a fast start. One game Tech can’t afford to lose is at Maryland in September. The Hokies have a chance to deliver the knockout punch to Terps coach Mike Locksley’s tenure at Maryland and start 3-0.
Virginia Tech starting the season in that 20-35 range is much better than in recent years. Of course, the Hokies will have to play well to stay in that range or potentially move up.