Virginia Tech football’s first 0-2 start in 15 years should surprise no one. The Hokies were decided underdogs versus South Carolina at a neutral site and scant favorites at home against Vanderbilt, surging SEC programs with dynamic veteran quarterbacks.
Conversely, Tech has endured four losing seasons in the last five years, employs an embattled head coach (Brent Pry) and athletic director (Whit Babcock), and fields a roster overhauled with transfers from outposts such as Central Missouri State, Rice, Hawaii, Mercer and Wingate.
But how the Hokies arrived at 0-2 is stunning, and that’s an XXL problem, perhaps even an untenable one, for Pry and Babcock.
Against then-No. 13 South Carolina, a program that was one victory shy of reaching the College Football Playoff last year, Tech was never out of its league. The Hokies largely contained quarterback LaNorris Sellers but were undone by three undisciplined penalties, a punt coverage breakdown and a pass coverage bust in a 24-11 setback.
Facing a Sunday-to-Saturday turnaround, Tech returned to Blacksburg for its home opener, at night, versus Vanderbilt and quarterback Diego Pavia. Lane Stadium was sold out and amped for the most important game of Pry’s tenure to date.
You know what happened.
Virginia Tech quarterback Kyron Drones (1) attempts to run against Vanderbilt on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, in Blacksburg, Va. (AP Photo/Robert Simmons)
Leading 20-10 at intermission, having scored on four of five possessions and forced two Commodores turnovers, the Hokies embarrassed themselves in the second half. Vanderbilt scored touchdowns on five consecutive series, while Tech netted minus-14 yards on its opening three possessions of the half.
The final was 44-20, and in the final two quarters the Commodores outscored the Hokies 34-0 and outgained them 321-21. There are many more shocking numbers from Saturday, but to mention them all would amount to piling on.
But here are some for the season: Tech has been outscored 48-3 in the second half, 34-0 in the fourth quarter.
Quality opponents notwithstanding, that’s a searing indictment of Pry and his staff, their coaching and recruiting.
Throughout the offseason, Pry said this team would be better conditioned and prepared to finish games. The Hokies haven’t looked the part.
Pry also insisted that the offensive line was Tech’s most-improved position group. After two games, Pro Football Focus ranks the Hokies 107th nationally in pass blocking and 108th in run blocking.
Yes, guard Montavious Cunningham and tackle Johnny Garrett exited Saturday’s game with injuries, pressing redshirt freshmen Tommy Ricard and Aidan Lynch into action. But the lack of quality depth is on the staff, and at the risk of really irritating Tech fans, I’ll point out that an injury-plagued Virginia o-line did not allow a sack and helped the Cavaliers rush for 257 yards Saturday in a 35-31 loss at NC State.
Despite the second-half evisceration, Pry doubled down on the optimism that he brings to almost any encounter.
“I truly believe this is the best team we’ve had since I’ve been here,” he said during his postgame media session.
Really? Center Braelin Moore, offensive tackle Xavier Chaplin and cornerback Mansoor Delane transferred during the offseason and are excelling at LSU (Moore and Delane) and Auburn (Chaplin). Five Hokies were selected in this year’s NFL draft, the most in seven years.
That’s significant talent drain, and Pry’s continued rosy outlook is reminiscent of 2014, when, following a 30-6 home loss to Miami, Hall of Fame coach Frank Beamer said he was “proud” of his team for playing the Hurricanes even in the second half after trailing 24-0 at intermission.
One year later, Beamer retired.
Tech is Pry’s first head-coaching opportunity, but as the son of a football coach, and after more than three decades in the business at programs ranging from East Stroudsburg to Penn State, he understands his profession’s unforgiving nature. He has to win. Soon. Or else.
“We’ve got to be the team that we were most of the game against South Carolina and then the team that we were in the first half against Vanderbilt,” Pry said Tuesday during his weekly news conference. “That’s the team that we’re leaning into. There’s positives to build on and there’s improvements that we need to make, and we need to make them by (Saturday against Old Dominion).”
In reviewing the Vanderbilt game video, did Pry sense a lack of effort in the second half?
“I didn’t question effort,” he said. “I did question if the guys were tired. I questioned if I overworked them last week. Performance staff doesn’t feel like we did, but I didn’t think we had the same pop when I watched the film. … I don’t know, the defense may have gotten a little tired with the three-and-outs offensively and the drives by Vanderbilt.”
Babcock understands the urgency, too. This marks his 12th football season leading Hokies athletics, and as the sport’s economic importance has mushroomed, ADs have come to be judged through that singular lens.
Virginia Tech AD Whit Babcock is entering his 12th football season with the Hokies.
After a promising start, Babcock’s hire of Justin Fuente as Beamer’s successor fizzled, for which Babcock and Fuente share responsibility. His appointment of Pry has yet to click, and maybe never will.
Which is where this gets awkward.
If Pry isn’t the answer, do Virginia Tech President Tim Sands and the university’s Board of Visitors trust Babcock, after two whiffs, to select a third football coach? If so, then Babcock and campus leadership can allow the season to play out, decide Pry’s fate in November and proceed accordingly.
But if Sands and the board don’t trust Babcock, and if they suspect that football will require regime change at season’s end, then an AD search needs to start ASAP.
Even then, a new AD would have precious little time to onboard in Blacksburg and, presumably, hire the next football coach. That said, Babcock was introduced at Tech in January, 2014, dismissed men’s basketball coach James Johnson less than two months later and subsequently landed the accomplished Buzz Williams from Marquette.
So it can be done.
Hovering over all of this is Babcock’s plea to the board last month for additional campus support of athletics. Board members Ryan McCarthy and J. Pearson have been tasked to submit a plan for that funding by Sept. 30.
David Teel: Hokies AD Babcock tells board ‘our resources don’t match our expectations’
None of this speculation is pleasant. Babcock hails from Harrisonburg, and Pry attended high school in Lexington. Both love Virginia Tech and work tirelessly on its behalf.
But there is a scoreboard, and presently it is not flattering.
In 2010, when Beamer and defensive coordinator Bud Foster were still in their primes, the Hokies opened the season with losses to Boise State and James Madison. Eleven straight victories later, Tyrod Taylor, Darren Evans, David Wilson and friends were celebrating an ACC championship conquest of Florida State and accompanying Orange Bowl invitation.
Few, if any, beyond Pry expect a reversal of fortune remotely similar this fall.
“There’s ownership, there’s honesty, and that’s where you grow from,” he said Tuesday. “We’ve got to grow a whole bunch from both of these losses to be the team that we can be.”
David Teel: david.teel@virginiamedia.com
