Three Major Storylines for Virginia Tech's Week Five Game vs. Pitt

Thirty-two points is the gap between Virginia Tech and No. 25 Missouri in this week's AP poll, and the Hokies can close a lot of it in one night.

Virginia Tech (4-0, 1-0 ACC) hosts Pitt (4-0, 1-0 ACC) on Friday, Oct. 2, at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN in front of a sold-out Lane Stadium. The Hokies are 4-0 for the first time since 2017 and looking to show they are a real threat in the ACC. This will be the first time Pitt will play away from home. The Panthers have won four straight home games in September by a combined score of 157-34.

Here are three storylines to be tracking for the game.

1. The winner probably walks into the Top 25

Virginia Tech has 86 points in the AP poll, good for No. 30 and fifth among teams outside the Top 25. Pitt is two spots behind with 52 points. The coaches flipped the order: Pitt is 29th with 97 points, and Virginia Tech is 30th with 84 points in the Coaches Poll.

Now the math. Missouri barely held on at No. 25 with 118 points, just 16 more than first-team-out Wisconsin, and the Tigers host No. 8 Florida this weekend. That's one of three matchups between ranked teams on the slate, along with No. 5 Ohio State at No. 14 Iowa and No. 7 Alabama at No. 16 Mississippi State. At least three ranked teams will lose.

Penn State and Wake Forest are ahead of it in the AP queue, so "probably" is the honest word. But a 5-0 team fresh off beating an unbeaten conference opponent on ESPN is a hard team for voters to leave off a ballot.

For the Hokies, it would end a drought. Virginia Tech hasn't appeared in the AP Top 25 since 2021.

Pitt has its own case. The Panthers allow 8.5 points per game, the third-best in FBS, and a road win at Lane would be the best victory on their schedule by a wide margin.

2. Franklin vs. Narduzzi, Round 5

This one has history, and not only between the schools.

Before head coach James Franklin got to Blacksburg, he and Pat Narduzzi split time as Pennsylvania rivals. Pitt won the first meeting 42-39 in 2016. Penn State won the next three: 33-14 in 2017, 51-6 in 2018, and 17-10 in 2019. That leaves Franklin 3-1 against Narduzzi.

The man who ran Penn State's defense in all four of those games is back on Franklin's staff. Brent Pry was Penn State's defensive coordinator from 2016 through 2021, and his defenses held Pitt to 30 combined points over the final three meetings. Pry then became Virginia Tech's head coach, was fired after a 0-3 start in 2025, and returned this season as Franklin's defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.

Narduzzi, now in his 12th season at Pitt, gets both of them again.

The series itself couldn't be much tighter. Virginia Tech leads 12-11 all-time and is 8-3 at Lane Stadium.

3. Which version of Mason Heintschel will the Hokies get?

Pitt quarterback Mason Heintschel has 1,191 passing yards, 13 touchdowns, and one interception. Every one of those touchdowns came in two games.

The sophomore threw seven against Miami (Ohio), setting an ACC single-game record and tying Pitt's program mark, then six more against FCS Bucknell on Saturday. Against Power Four opponents UCF and Syracuse, he went 28-of-52 for 335 yards with no touchdowns and an interception.

Pitt won those two by running the ball. The Panthers piled up 245 rushing yards against Syracuse, with true freshman Damon Ferguson Jr. going for 102. Sophomore Ja'Kyrian Turner, last season's leading rusher, missed both games with an injury.

Friday is Heintschel's first road start of the season, at night, in a full Lane Stadium.

"It's just another game, on the road," he said Saturday.

Virginia Tech's front will test that. The Hokies lead FBS with 45 tackles for loss and rank third nationally with 17 sacks. Eight of those tackles for loss came in the nor'easter at Chestnut Hill, including two sacks from Cortez Harris and one from Aycen Stevens.

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