Closing Thoughts Before Week 3: Make-or-Break Game Awaits Virginia Tech Football

A make-or-break test awaits Virginia Tech football tomorrow against the Sun Belt's Old Dominion Monarchs.

Sep 6, 2025; Blacksburg, Va.; Vanderbilt running back Sedrick Alexander (28) jumps into the end zone as Virginia Tech safety Tyson Flowers (11) attempts to tackle him. | Brian Bishop-Imagn Images

This new series flips the script on my “Weeks In” pieces from earlier this season. Instead of looking back, it looks ahead — with the immediate future arriving tomorrow against Old Dominion, in a game that could determine the status of head coach Brent Pry at Virginia Tech.

Almost game day in the Blue Ridge Mountains 🏔️ #ThisIsHome | #TeamOverMe pic.twitter.com/9ry7OhJ6T7

— Virginia Tech Football (@HokiesFB) September 11, 2025

A statement I've repeated ad nauseam this week? If the Hokies lose their Week 3 contest to the Monarchs, they fall to 0-3 for the first time since 1987. That was before my father was in law school. He's been out of law school since the early 1990s. It's been a long while since Virginia Tech has had a turbulent start to its season.

Even taking the first two games, the last time that the Hokies lost their first two games was 2010. That team went on to capture its last 10 games and secured the ACC championship. That 0-2 record also has to be taken with a moderate asterisk, given that Tech lost its season opener to then-No. 3 Boise State, a team stronger than the Hokies both in theory and on the field.

So, with that in mind, it's been a long time since Virginia Tech football came out to an 0-2 start where it was outscored as heavily as it was through its first two games. In a pair of games, the Hokies' offense has tallied 31 total points, averaging 15.5 per game. The defense? It's yielded 68 points (34/game). Though it comes against some of the toughest competition that Virginia Tech will face all year, it's nonetheless concerning to see the Hokies' offense fail to produce an attack. That came especially in the second half against Vanderbilt, where Virginia Tech accumulated only 21 net yards.

The lack of a consistent offensive attack is, after all, the key reason that the Hokies remain on an eight-year streak of not having beaten a non-conference Power Four opponent. That, combined with a leaky defense in the second half against the Commodores, leaves Tech as one of the few FBS teams without a victory this season.

Dating back to its bowl game against Minnesota, Virginia Tech has produced only 41 points to its opponents' 92. And in its past seven games, dating back to last year's game against Syracuse, the Hokies have gone just 1-6. As I've said before, Old Dominion is no pushover. The Monarchs have beaten Virginia Tech before, having done so in 2022 in Pry's first-ever game as a head coach.

if there's a part of history leaning in the Hokies' favor, it's that Tech has never lost to Old Dominion inside its own stadium, having claimed all three matchups in Lane. But to do so tomorrow evening, above all, the Hokies must limit the Monarchs' rushing attack while dialing in their own. Through a pair of games, Virginia Tech has tallied 114.5 yards a game on the ground, while its yielded 190.5 rushing yards.

Old Dominion's signal-caller, Colton Joseph, has tallied 228 rushing yards through a pair of game, almost equaling Tech's tally this season himself. Although his escapades came against Indiana and FCS NC Central, he tallied 179 yards against the Hoosiers, including a 78-yard breakaway. Add to that tailback Trequan Jones, who scampered for a 93-yard house call against NC Central and tallied 163 yards on just five carries, and you've got a rushing attack capable of giving the Hokies fits. I think that Virginia Tech has what it takes to walk out of Lane Stadium as the victors tomorrow, but it's not certain by any means.

The Hokies will take on Old Dominion tomorrow at 7 p.m. ET, with viewing available on the ACC Network.