Virginia Tech's Descent to the Bottom of the Power 5 is Complete
The Hokies' 24-17 loss to Marshall confirmed that Virginia Tech is falling deep into the depths of the Power 5.
For some odd reason, the latest social media trend is to ask men how often they think of the Roman Empire.
I’m not ashamed to admit that I think of the Roman Empire quite often. But lately, most of what I think about is the decline of Virginia Tech football.
Last week, I wrote about some of the highs that I experienced as a young fan watching the Hokies, first in the Big East and eventually in the ACC. If you had told me that in 2010, after the Hokies’ won their fourth conference championship in seven years, that Virginia Tech would be firmly in the bottom tier of the Power 5, I’d have slapped you.
Yet here we are. After Virginia Tech’s 24-17 loss to Marshall on Saturday, there is no denying that the Hokies have become one of the worst football programs in the Power 5.
Statistics can be deceiving, but these numbers do not lie…
Virginia Tech is 15-24 since 2020
The Hokies have lost eight in a row vs. Power 5 opponents
Tech has one bowl appearance since 2020 (54-10 loss to Maryland)
VT has scored more than 30 points just once (2023 vs. Old Dominion) since 2022
Hokies have a minus-74 point margin since 2022 (minus-104 vs. Power 5 opponents)
It’s saddening to see this fall from grace. Virginia Tech went from perennial contender to doormat in just a few years.
It’s worse that Brent Pry, the man brought in to change all that, hasn’t proven that his concept is working. Through 15 games, the program looks worse on the field than it did before he arrived.
Tech is bad to the point that it doesn’t feel worth it to dive deep into the film and find the five or six plays that changed the course of the game. That’s because these games aren’t being decided by five or six plays, but instead 10 or 20.
I said before the season that 6-6 should be the threshold for Pry and his staff to show that they’re righting this ship. I’d even listen to a case that featured a 5-7 record if the circumstances were right.
Rather than righting the ship, it looks like Pry’s already rammed an iceberg and is struggling to continue.
Let’s face reality — Brent Pry is likely getting at least a third year, if not a fourth, to see his rebuild through. Virginia Tech is strapped financially and buying out another head coach seems unfeasible. Pry is likely here to stay, and that’s what worries me.
Where is the bottom? Have we gotten there yet, or is there room for further decline?
The Roman Empire’s bottoming out resulted in it being erased from the map. Once Rome had finally fallen, it ushered in the Dark Ages for Western Europe.
I don’t want to see the Dark Ages in Blacksburg. I fear, however, that they’ve already arrived.
Very well written. Love the Roman analogy. The fact that we can’t fire Pry at the end of the season will doom us to irrelevance. Virginia Tech can’t afford to run out Pry’s contract. We don’t have a history of national titles to fall back on like Nebraska and Tennessee. We picked the wrong era of college football to be bad.