The Preseason Amway Coaches Poll is Out!

As expected Virginia Tech will open their season against another top ranked team. The preseason Amway Coaches Poll has been released. Upon the peak of the survey sits the Ohio State Buckeyes. Although daunting to start the year facing the country’s highest ranked team Hokie faithful have reason to be optimistic. In 2004 the Hokies opened against the preseason number one USC Trojans, where VPI fought, tooth and nail, for the entire contest. Although VT lost, their performance turned heads, and the Fighting Gobblers went on to win the conference in their inaugural ACC season. The most recent instance of VT opening against the preseason number one team was only two short years ago when they faced the 2013 Alabama Crimson Tide. Again the Hokies fell, and although VPI’s performance against Bama was lacking, compared to the effort against USC, there is every reason to believe the 2015 Hokie performance against Ohio State will reflect the former case, if not an outright victory.

The only other preseason Top 25 team Virginia Tech will face is number 17 George Tech. The Yellow Jackets and their triple option have always played VT firmly, and the Fighting Gobblers lost a heartbreaker to them last year, but VPI has won four of the last five meetings. The last time the Hokies faced a Top 25 GT team was 2011 when the tenth ranked Hokies defeated the twentieth ranked Yellow Jackets at Bobby Dodd stadium. One cannot help but also recall the 51-7 absolute shellacking Tech delivered to number 15 Georgia Tech when they met at Lane Stadium in 2005.

Only two Virginia Tech adversaries are preseason ranked teams, but several other foes received votes in the poll. Miami tops the list of receiving votes with 16. Duke has earned six, NC State received three, and UNC finished with two.

The Virginia Tech Hokies received 70 votes, missing the Top 25 by only four places, and are the ACC team with the most votes not ranked in the Top 25. The complete Amway Coaches Poll can be reviewed here.