Virginia Tech’s Most Crucial 2025 Game Isn’t Week 1. It's the One Right After.

After a tough opener against South Carolina, Virginia Tech’s true 2025 test comes in Week 2 against Vanderbilt, a game that could set the season’s tone.

Jul 24, 2025; Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry answers questions from the media during ACC Media Days in Charlotte, N.C. | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Virginia Tech football's most pressing test doesn't come in Week 1 against South Carolina. It comes the week after in its home opener against Vanderbilt on Sept. 6.

ready for the big stage 👊#AflacKickoff // @HokiesFB pic.twitter.com/ACRxpYGCxk

— Aflac Kickoff Game (@AflacKickoff) August 14, 2025

That comes mostly because South Carolina is a game that the Hokies are expected to lose, and handily at that. The Gamecocks enters the season opener as a dark horse in the SEC. With a dynamic dual-threat quarterback in LaNorris Sellers, a defense anchored by edge Dylan Stewart and a head coach in Shane Beamer who channels a modern version of “Beamer Ball,” the Gamecocks look poised for a stellar 2025 campaign.

Meanwhile, Tech finds itself in the midst of a mini-rebuild, having lost standouts like Bhayshul Tuten and Jaylin Lane to the NFL and now working in a pair of new coordinators. And coming off a 6-7 season that felt tantalizingly close to flipping to 9-4 or 10-3, there's a fair amount of uncertainty surrounding where exactly the Hokies will be in Week 1.

But after that, the Hokies return to more familiar footing in Week 2, squaring off with Vanderbilt — a matchup where, on paper, Tech holds the edge.

The Commodores slot in as the Hokies’ toughest early hurdle following the season opener before a daunting late-season gauntlet featuring Florida State, Louisville and Miami.

However, that "on paper" edge comes with a few important caveats. Vanderbilt may not be a perennial SEC power or even an occasional one, but the Commodores still compete weekly in college football's toughest conference and compiled a 6-6 record in last year's regular season, which included a 3-5 record in SEC play.

Meanwhile, for Virginia Tech, this matchup is less about the name on the other sideline and more about how the Hokies handle themselves against a team roughly equal or slightly worse.

The quarterback play of Drones, paired with a more versatile ground game, allots Tech a chance to dictate the tempo in Lane Stadium.

Still, nothing is guaranteed. The Hokies have stumbled in "should-win" games before (ex: 2024 Vanderbilt, 2024 Rutgers, 2022 Old Dominion) and behind Pavia, Vanderbilt is the kind of opponent that can now punish lackluster execution.

For a Tech program still searching for solid footing in Brent Pry’s fourth season, Week 2 against Vanderbilt should serve as more than just an early-season checkpoint. It’s a barometer not only of the Hokies’ trajectory in 2025 but also of whether Pry’s rebuild is beginning to take tangible shape. South Carolina may be a bridge too far in the opener, but Vanderbilt represents the kind of opponent Virginia Tech needs to beat if it hopes to climb back into ACC relevance.

On paper, the 2025 Hokies should win this game. In reality, that's the same thing many people said about last year's contest. Two weeks now remain until kickoff.