Virginia Tech Hokies vs. Boston College Eagles: News, Tidbits, and Predictions

The First Order of Business - the #25

Jaden Keller and the linebackers didn’t have a great game on Saturday, but Keller also plays Special Teams, and they did have a good game on Saturday.

The Athletic Department Gives a Shoutout to NFL Hokies

Former Hokie great and Carolina Panther Tight End Jeff King Gets Honored by the ACC

Time for Predictions

Bryan Manning

Can the Hokies bounce back after a complete no-show last week? Can they win on the road? We shall find out on Saturday. Boston College is 6-3. Are the Eagles this good, or is that record the product of a weak schedule? I do know they have a dangerous quarterback who could cause all sorts of issues for Tech’s defense if it is undisciplined.

I think this will be a close game. I lean toward BC; then I sway back to Virginia Tech. It’s tough to get last week out of my mind. I saw so much progress, and then the Hokies went backward. One way or another, we are going to learn a lot about where Brent Pry is in this rebuild.

I am going to say Kyron Drones has a big game, and Tech’s defense forces a critical turnover to help put the Hokies over the top in a close one.

Hokies 27, Eagles 23

John Schneider

Well, having missed pretty badly last week, I should be a bit wary. I did hedge my guess with a coin-toss flip-flop and think that Louisville would win by the same score listed. (And no, I am not going back there to look at what nonsense I said...)

This week the head and the heart are going to battle again, and frankly, it’s getting tiresome because this time the heart tells me that it just isn’t going to happen, and Hokie football is just pretty much out of gas for the season. My head, however, is pretty convinced that the Hokies should be able to win this one without sweating too much. Which then makes the gut kick in and tell me that I should put the analytics aside and deal with the stomach-churning reality that the 2023 Hokies are still a snake-bitten program with serious holes in their roster and even some capabilities issues in the coaching room.

The truth is that the OC is making every coaching mistake in the books regarding his ego vs. the talent that he has on hand. He’s still bound and determined to hammer square pegs into his pet round holes. He hasn’t learned and keeps going back to what does not work. If he does not get Drones out of the pocket routinely and cannot take advantage of his ability to run to the field side and string out the defense, nothing much is going to happen. His pet offense is dependent on superstar quarterbacking and dominating line play. It’s also exceedingly limited in passing scope, and not capable of going downfield for more than one intermediate route.

Given all of that my overriding gut tells me that BC hasn’t played as tough a schedule as the Hokies. Their current record is potentially ephemeral. Tech gets enough going to limit the damage from BC’s quarterback and scores enough points to squeak by on this one. It just seems like it’s going to be a tight game, though. Caveat here: If Castellanos is not corralled and slowed down, Tech is in serious trouble. That being said, the gut is telling me:

24-21 Hokies

Let’s hope that it’s not gas from eating onion rings last night.