Picking Up the Pieces

Anyone dealing with disappointment can choose two paths — wallow in self-pity, or persevere and push forward.

Thankfully, Virginia Tech chose the latter last Saturday, earning a comfortable win over Wofford to find their way into the win column for the first time in 2025.

It's hard to pull anything of value from the victory, as Wofford is a winless FCS team that put up little to no fight for most of Saturday's game. Virginia Tech did what they should do to a winless FCS team — they ran them off the field.

As important as X's and O's are, it matters little when the effort isn't there. Effort was never an issue under Brent Pry's leadership, at least until recently, when the Hokies seemingly loafed their way to embarrassing losses to Vanderbilt and Old Dominion.

Virginia Tech could have mailed it in on Saturday, but they didn't. That's about as encouraging a sign as a fan could hope to see from this game.

The Hokies' have eight games left, all of which are against conference opponents. There's technically a lot to play for, even if it doesn't feel like it. Philip Montgomery's job as the interim head coach is to keep his players focused on what's ahead of the, rather than giving up and preparing for 2026. 

He succeeded on Saturday.

Whether he can do it for the rest of the season remains to be seen. So far, Dante Lovett is the only player who's officially quit on the team, though it would shock no one at Hokie Hangover if there are more on the way.

However, it seems like Montgomery and the remaining coaches have kept this team together and inspired them to play for one another. That's an achievement in itself.

As this season drags on, all a Virginia Tech fan can realistically hope for is to see a somewhat competent product on a weekly basis. The Hokies are deeply flawed at many positions, but have enough talent to hang with most of their remaining opponents.

Keeping themselves in the game and not mailing it in will be as good as it gets this season. I've accepted that, and so have most other fans.

The most important decisions and issues surrounding Virginia Tech football right now are off the field. Additional university support for athletics will be discussed and voted on in just a few days. The Hokies need to find a new head coach, and likely a new athletic director, all by December. Those are monumental tasks, all of which are more important than whether or not Virginia Tech wins on Saturday night vs. NC State.

With that said, the Hokies can either pack it up, go through the motions for the next several weeks and be done with it, or they can bow their necks and fight like hell until the final whistle in Charlottesville.

They chose the latter on Saturday. By the sounds of it, the team is holding steady.

Let's see if they do it again.