The 2014 season isn't even over yet, but Steven Lassan of AthlonSports.com has already published a "Very Early College Football Top 25 for 2015". Disclaimer: Transfers, NFL departures, offseason injuries and legal issues are just a few of the bevvy of things that can shake up a preseason top 25, especially one published in December. With that said, Athlon's list can be used as a decent tool to spot the most challenging opponents on Virginia Tech's 2015 football schedule.
| Date | Opponent | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Sept. 7 | Ohio State | Blacksburg, Va. |
| Sept. 12 | Furman | Blacksburg, Va. |
| Sept. 19 | at Purdue | West Lafayette, Ind. |
| Sept. 26 | at East Carolina | Greenville, N.C. |
| Duke | Blacksburg, Va. | |
| at Georgia Tech | Atlanta, Ga. | |
| at Miami | Miami Gardens, Fla. | |
| North Carolina | Blacksburg, Va. | |
| Pittsburgh | Blacksburg, Va. | |
| at Virginia | Charlottesville, Va. | |
| at Boston College | Chestnut Hill, Mass. | |
| NC State | Blacksburg, Va. |
Dates for ACC games have not been released yet.
Just two Virginia Tech opponents are ranked in Athlon's first Top 25.
1. Ohio State
The Buckeyes have a quarterback quandary to answer in 2015, but it's a good problem for coach Urban Meyer to have. Will it be Braxton Miller under center after returning to full strength from shoulder surgery? Or will J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones fight for the starting job in offseason workouts? Regardless of which player takes the first snap, Ohio State's depth chart is loaded with talent. Running back Ezekiel Elliott headlines a solid group of playmakers, and the offensive line is slated to return four starters, including standout left tackle Taylor Decker. End Joey Bosa should be among the nation's best returning defenders next season, but defensive tackle Michael Bennett and cornerback Doran Grant must be replaced. A lot can change between now and September. However, at least on paper, there's few potential roadblocks on Ohio State's schedule in 2015.
As it stands now, Ohio State will be Tech's toughest regular season matchup. After Virginia Tech's week two win in the 'Shoe, The Buckeyes and Hokies traveled opposite trajectories in 2014, unfortunately Tech followed a negative slope. Bud Foster will have an entire offseason to scheme against Urban Meyer's offense, and if the offense can reach peak efficiency, like it did last season against the Buckeyes, Tech has a puncher's chance. Yup, the thesis of every preview of this game written for a Virginia Tech audience from now until Labor Day will read the same—if the offense can be something a little bit better than serviceable, Foster's defense should keep Tech in the game.
22. Georgia Tech
Expect another year of uncertainty at the top of the Coastal Division. Georgia Tech — as the defending division champs — get a slight edge as the early favorite, but coach Paul Johnson's team has to overcome a schedule that features conference games against Florida State and Clemson and road trips to Miami, Duke and Notre Dame. Quarterback Justin Thomas needs a couple of new options at running back with the departure of Synjyn Days, Zach Laskey, Charles Perkins and Tony Zenon at running back. Guard Shaquille Mason will also be missed. Even with the losses on offense, Johnson's option attack should continue to perform at a high level, while the defense should improve with only four seniors listed as starters on the Orange Bowl depth chart.
Georgia Tech draws Florida State and Clemson from the Atlantic Division, and that alone gives me pause to pick them to repeat as Coastal champs in 2015. Bees quarterback Justin Thomas is a gamer, seemed comfortable running point on Paul Johnson's ground attack and showed he could turn breakdowns by Virginia Tech's defense into big plays. The Yellow Jackets will get their yards on the ground, but 7 of the top 9 A- and B-Backs are seniors. Although, 4 of 5 starters on the offensive line are projected to return in 2015. Seven starters slated to return on a better than average defense (T-48th nationally in scoring, No. 58 in F/+) bodes well.
Athlon also listed 11 other teams to watch in 2015, two are Tech opponents and Virginia Tech is also listed among the group.
Miami
Is 2015 the year Miami takes a step forward under coach Al Golden? Quarterback Brad Kaaya is promising, but the Hurricanes lose running back Duke Johnson to the NFL.
In addition to Duke Johnson, Hurricanes left tackle Ereck Flowers is also NFL bound (Flowers' backup and two other offensive linemen are seniors). Senior starter departures include: stud middle linebacker Denzel Perryman, WR Phillip Dorsett, DE Anthony Chickillo, DT Olsen Pierre, OLB Thurston Armbrister, S Nantambu-Akil Fentress and CB Ladarius Gunter.
The U might never be back to having a roster overloaded with NFL draft picks, but by virtue of a brand name and being located in south Florida, Miami will always have players. As of late, Miami has recruited as well as any other ACC team not named Florida State and with so many veteran starters off the 2015 roster, Al Golden needs that persistence on the recruiting trail to pay off.
Miami was talented and focused enough to beat Virginia Tech like a drum in Lane, and hang with FSU for four quarters, but The 'Canes seemingly packed in the season following the fourth quarter loss to the 'Noles. Miami remaining interested in competing in meaningless games once there are no championships to play for is as much of the Hurricanes narrative as swag. And it's never a good sign of things to come when the star player's mom posts, "IF THOSE BOYS CAN TRANSER AND DIDN'T HAVE TO SIT OUT A YEAR.....Majority of the team would not be there," on her Facebook page. Miami also draws Clemson and FSU from the Atlantic.
North Carolina State
The Wolfpack closed 2014 by winning four out of their last five games, including a rivalry matchup against North Carolina and a bowl game against UCF. Quarterback Jacoby Brissett should be one of the ACC's top returning offensive players for 2015.
Tech was gifted Wake Forest in the ACC cross division draw last season, and...
The Wolfpack, even without wide receiver Bo Hines, will be a much tougher challenge.
Comments
The most interesting thing to think about is whether or not Virginia Tech should be ranked in the preseason top 25 or not. I'm not a fan of preseason polls, but as long as there is media and crazy people like us reading/listening/watching, there will always be a poll put out by somebody. I haven't really broken down to look at all the teams yet, but I would say most P5 teams returning the numbers Virginia Tech is returning would be in the top 25. Couple the returners with the fact that we were only blown out once and the schedule stacks up favorably, I think we are a legitimate Top 25. I would imagine that the ESPN hype machine is going to go all in for the Ohio State rematch and do it's very best to overrate both teams. I would so very much love to whip up on Ohio State two years in a row.
Looking at the current top 25, the bottom teams are 8-4 or better. So if we use that as a benchmark, the question becomes a little more analytic. I'm not sure an outsider would only give us 3 losses, and a 4 loss ACC team with our schedule (no FSU or Clemson) probably doesn't make the cut. I'm also not sure how much starters returning matters to voters, when those starters just went 7-6.
Personally, I wouldn't call us a top 25 team until the offense shows consistent life. Say, a close loss to OSU then beating the next three teams by double digits. Or a win on labor day, with a convincing follow-up
Agree. Returning starters only matter when those starters have achieved a greater level of success than we have. We have reason to be optimistic, but I doubt any poll voters would see that. Sure, we'll have a lot of guys back from injury and some key pieces in place, but it's a shot in the dark, though that's all these preseason rankings are. Unless the media hype machine (ESPN) really lobbies for us to make the OSU matchup more intriguing, we're not a preseason top-25. I don't think we've earned it. The storyline will be David vs. Goliath, rematch of the upset of the 2014 season, playoff team and perennial power vs. scrappy underdog.
If the WF fiasco had been a 2 score W with the O looking "capable", giving us an 8-5 record & 4 game win streak, then we mighty expect a little preseason love.
Maybe. There were certainly a ton of "ifs" with this team in 2014.
Agreed. I was simply pointing out that 1 game is the dif between being a "wait & see" and being highly regarded for 2015.
And yet this way too early poll has Florida coming in at 25 and Texas coming in with the next five looking in.
Depends if you consider preseason polls to be predictions for year end rankings, or if you consider them a ranking based on last years performances less players lost. If you believe in the former, then sure, you can throw VT in. If the latter, then absolutely not.
if you think VT has a chance to being a top 25 preseason team, prepare to be disappointed. Even with a lot of returning players, a team that was 7-6 and had the losses we had will not be ranked, which we shouldn't, which I hope we aren't, preseason wise.
We play better when we're not ranked anyway.
agreed
WF game this year & Rutgers in 2012 would be definitive counter examples of that statement.
We could always find outliers.
OK....
We were ranked for much if the time that TT was qb (~55 games). We basically have been unranked in the past 3 years (39 games).
In which time period did we play "better"?
It's a perception thing, it's not real.
It's a very old joke.
Ignore it.
At least we beat Rutgers. There are better examples than that game.
This is the first time I've seen the dates of these games and I'm sure its been said before, but WHY ARE WE PLAYING FURMAN FIVE DAYS AFTER OHIO STATE?
They, too, wear purple...
whywhywhywhywhywhy
Because we have some serious problems if we can't beat a D1AA/FCS team with four days of prep.
I just had a horrible JMU flashback
Yup
who photoshopped that scoreboard
Too convincing; couldn't have been the UVA media department.
Even forgetting that fact that it has happened to us before when we had a very good team, it is just a bad situation. There is no good that can come out of that game, and with that little rest injuries are more likely to happen. Winning will mean nothing because they are FCS, and if we lose no one will think about the fact that this game was played five days after one of the biggest games in Lane Stadium history against one of the best teams in the country, they will only talk about how we lost to an FCS team.
There's only one bye week next season and I can't see that happening in week two
We beat Austin Peay five days after a slug fest with GT a couple years back. We'll be fine.
I love how we're not even listed as one of GT's tough opponents.
sigh
Wow, can we move that Furman game to 8/31 and get two weeks off after playing OSU?
I'm very nervous about our matchup with the Buckeyes in Lane. I don't think Urban is going to make the same mistakes twice and he will probably spend most of the off season studying Bud Foster and devising a scheme that he hasn't shown before. I'm sure Bud is well aware of this but he's going to have a tough time building a defensive scheme to defend an offense that he's never seen before...
I don't have a ton of confidence in our offense to do much...mostly because Bud has earned my confidence in our defense but Loeffler has not earned my confidence in our offense...at least not yet
anOSU's players are going to be amped up and pissed off because of last year and they will come out swinging early. It's going to be a dogfight
Go Hokies
I think Urban will certainly make adjustments, but why should he? Losing to Virginia Tech doesn't stop him from winning the Big Ten or making it to the college football playoff, clearly.
Don't do it Urban. Everything will be fine.
well.. despite everything, he did beat anOSU. The only OC in the nation to do so this season so far.
That was a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away.
In the past 3 years Ohio lost 3 games. The other 2 were to top 10 teams.
That's still rarified air.
Do not take from him the good things. Examine them to see what was done right and apply it.
Yes he did scheme a good game and we got just about every break in the game, however the VT game will have have a huge bullseye on them in an OSU locker room. Execution with some wrinkles will be key to us pulling off another victory. Can we do this? Absolutely, that is this off season will be pivotal for the 2015 season. BTW, my comment above was sarcasm.
Ok, point taken on the / sarc.
Remain aware however, that Bud eats bullseyes for breakfast and spits out a new scheme.
Good call
good point....however, he is also the same coordinator who was shutout in regulation by Wake. The only coordinator in the country to have that feat as well, if I'm not mistaken.
inconsistency does not breed confidence with me. IMO the jury is still out on him
I hope Urban does overthink it and makes scheme adjustments. It will make execution harder for his guys and I can't think of one specific thing he could do that Foster hasn't seen before. In foster I trust!
I'd also wager Bud will not be playing the double eagle against them next year. He'll dream up a new scheme, one which will most likely focus on how Urban would target the defense we showed in the Horseshoe.
OSU will be a huge game. But everyone will be healthy and rested going into it. Can't get here soon enough IMO
A little more anger builds up inside of me every time I see ECU on the schedule.
The only reason I would like to see Ohio State to win it all is to give them a better chance of being ranked #1 when we beat them on September 7, 2015
edit: wrong thread