Hype around the Virginia Tech program has erupted to levels rarely seen around Blacksburg. That is a common occurrence when Thanksgiving weekend arrives.
What is unusual is the excitement is not what is going on Saturday, but what happens the next day.
Sunday is when James Franklin takes full control of Virginia Tech’s football program. The sneak previews of the new coach’s actions are already receiving rave reviews — headlined by reports that several high-profile Penn State commits have announced they plan instead to attend Virginia Tech in the fall. Hokies fans will get a better idea of the future when the three-day early signing period begins Wednesday.
All this is making it hard to focus on the regular big event of this week — the Commonwealth Cup.
Virginia Tech heads to Charlottesville to take on Virginia in a Saturday night game that means multitudes for the Cavaliers (9-2, 6-1 ACC), but has limited implications for the Hokies (3-8, 2-5).
For UVA, a win clinches a spot in next week’s ACC championship game, where an all-but-guaranteed spot in the College Football Playoff awaits the winner. A loss, and the Cavaliers, while still bowl-eligible, will see their chances of a trip to the title game greatly diminished.
Meanwhile, Virginia Tech is closing curtain on the Brent Pry era, which began following the 2021 season with a high level of excitement but fizzled out rather spectacularly when Pry was dismissed three weeks into this season after a horrific 0-3 start. Interim coach Philip Montgomery provided a small midseason spark, with the Hokies winning three out of five games, including an exciting double-overtime triumph over California on Oct. 24.
When November arrived, it came with a turn for the worst. Virginia Tech has lost three straight games, including last week’s 34-17 home-finale loss to Miami, and has been held to less than 16 points per game after scoring at least 20 in its previous seven contests.
Montgomery said several factors, including early-season injuries and several experienced players choosing to opt out and preserve their college eligibility following the coaching change, have been difficult to overcome at times. But he said Wednesday that he admires this group for never letting up despite the results.
“There are so many different variables to this game,” he said. “A lot of things will go into it. But at the end of the day, it’s got to be about us, what we do and how we step on the field.”
So how high can the Hokies rise to the occasion for this year’s Commonwealth Cup — a game Virginia Tech has won 23 of the last 25 times, but is more than a touchdown underdog this time around? In the pregame, veteran players say nothing has changed.
“This is hate week — I don’t like those guys,” said linebacker Caleb Woodson, who grew up in Northern Virginia. “They have a countdown to playing us every year. But this game means a lot to our program and a lot to our alumni.
“… As soon as we came (to practice on) Sunday, the Miami game was in the past and it was on to UVA.”
Woodson, a junior who had nine tackles in last year’s game — which Virginia Tech won 37-17 — said that keeping his focus on Virginia has not been a problem. He, like the rest of this year’s team, has had a brief meeting with Franklin, but said he will begin assessing his future after Saturday night.
“I just keep taking it day by day,” he said. “Every day here is a blessing and I just look forward to every day.”
Preparing for this year’s Virginia squad does not allow much time for distractions. The Cavaliers’ offense is led by North Carolina Central transfer J’Mari Taylor, who is just 83 yards short of being UVA’s first 1,000-yard rusher since 2018, and quarterback Chandler Morris, the son of former SMU and Arkansas coach Chad Morris. The younger Morris came to Virginia after playing last year for North Texas.
They feed off of an opportunistic defense that ranks inside the top 10 in the ACC against both the pass and rush, and forces an average of nearly two turnovers per game — that includes 10 interceptions, with two of those being returned for touchdowns.
“They’re long and athletic, and I know they’ve picked up a bunch of (quality) transfers,” said Hokies wide receivers coach Fontel Mines. “They’ve done a really good job over the past couple of years of building that secondary, and they cause a lot of problems.”
As with all programs undergoing coaching changes, the future for Mines and the rest of the Virginia Tech assistants is up in the air. In most cases, the new coach will retain a few to help with the transition.
It is probably less likely that Montgomery, who just arrived during the last offseason and has no ties to Franklin, will still be around. But Mines said if it is indeed time for Montgomery to move on, he will have done it in an honorable way.
“He’s awesome,” Mines said. “You won’t find a better person in this building than Coach Montgomery. There’s no ego, he’s a selfless person, smart and great with the kids. He’s embraced the brotherhood of the program and what this all means.”
Montgomery acknowledged that being interim coach for 11 weeks was an unusual assignment. Besides preparing the team each week for games, there was also the task of keeping a group of players with unknown futures for a long time. The results weren’t always there, but he said he is gratified by how the process has gone.
“I think our team has done a really good job,” Montgomery said. “The leadership council has done a great job. The coaching staff has done a great job of focusing on where we put our emphasis and put our intent.
“And that has been to keep supporting these guys and keep them going, but also understand what they are going through. … “No matter what the scoreboard says, I’ve been extremely proud to be part of this with them.”
