Virginia Tech Receives Votes in Coaches' Poll, Does Not Crack Top-25

Virginia Tech wasn't in the top-25 — but it wasn't too far off.

Virginia Tech Athletics

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Virginia Tech football isn't ranked in the Coaches' Poll entering this season, but it's not far from it. The Hokies landed in the "receiving votes" section in this season's pre-season poll.

In the poll, each coach that selects submits a top-25 where a first-place vote garners 25 points. Second place gets 24 points, third place gets 23, and so on to 25th getting one point. Virginia Tech's head coach James Franklin was one of the voters. Here's the full top-25 to start off:

1. Ohio State (1,741 points) (38 first-place votes)
2. Oregon (1,637 points) (six first-place votes)
3. Georgia (1,591 points) (seven first-place votes)
4. Texas (1,544 points) (two first-place votes)
5. Notre Dame (1,524 points) (five first-place votes)
6. Indiana (1,522 points (14 first-place votes)
7. Miami (1,409 points)
8. Texas A&M (1,174 points)
9. Oklahoma (1,104 points)
10. Ole Miss (1,096 points)
11. Alabama (1,050 points)
12. Texas Tech (1,034 points)
13. LSU (951 points)
14. USC (838 points)
15. BYU (781 points)
16. Michigan (719 points)
17. Penn State (463 points)
18. Tennessee (428 points)
19. Washington (406 points)
20. SMU (378 points)
21. Utah (313 points)
22. Iowa (291 points)
23. Clemson (235 points)
24. Houston (194 points)
25. Missouri (158 points)

Here's the full list of schools that received votes in the poll, including the Hokies:

• Louisville (153 votes)
• Florida (147 votes)
• TCU (63 votes)
• Illinois (62 votes)
• South Carolina (50 votes)
• Arizona (50 votes)
• Virginia (40 votes)
• Vanderbilt (37 votes)
• Auburn (29 votes)
• Georgia Tech (26 votes)
• Boise State (24 votes)
• Oklahoma State (22 votes)
• UNLV (17 votes)
• NC State (13 votes)
• Florida State (13 votes)
• Virginia Tech (12 votes)
• Nebraska (12 votes)
• Memphis (nine votes)
• Arizona State (eight votes)
• James Madison (six votes)
• Duke (six votes)
• Pittsburgh (four votes)
• New Mexico (four votes)
• Western Michigan (three votes)
• Navy (three votes)
• San Diego State (two votes)
• Kansas State (one vote)
• Jacksonville State (one vote)
• Hawaii (one vote)
• California (one vote)

By extension, that means that Virginia Tech garnered the 41st-most points in the poll, one point behind fellow ACC schools in NC State and Florida State. Three ACC schools — Miami (No. 7), SMU (No. 20) and Clemson (No. 23) — cracked the top-25, while a total of seven ACC squads landed in the "receiving votes" section. Virginia Tech was ninth in the total ACC order, lodged behind the three top-25 ACC squads in Miami, SMU and Clemson, as well as Louisville, Virginia, Georgia Tech, NC State and Florida State.

The AP Top-25 has not released yet at the time of writing; Virginia Tech has not ranked in that poll during the season since Week 3 of the 2021 campaign.

Virginia Tech's 2026 season starts on Saturday, Sept. 5, against VMI at 7:30 p.m. ET. The contest is the first between the two schools since 1984 and will be broadcast on the ACC Network. Virginia Tech will then play Old Dominion and Maryland to wrap up its non-conference slate before opening ACC play on the road against Boston College on Saturday, Sept. 26.