Photo Credit: Nell Redmond-USA Today
After beating Duke despite having a heavily depleted defense, Virginia Tech received the national recognition they deserved rising in the Coaches Poll and returning to the AP top 25 in their highest spots in both polls to date.
New @AP_Top25 poll
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) October 4, 2020
1-Clemson
2-Bama
3-Georgia
4-Florida
5-Notre Dame
6-Ohio State
7-Miami
8-UNC
9-Penn State
10-Okla State
11-Cincinnati
12-Oregon
13-Auburn
14-Tennessee
15-BYU
16-Wisconsin
17-LSU
18-SMU
19-Virginia Tech
20-Michigan
21-A&M
22-Texas
23-Louisiana
24-IowaSt
25-Minn
#Hokies up five spots to 18th in the coaches poll. This week’s opponent, North Carolina, is 9th. https://t.co/K63bPADg3a
— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) October 4, 2020
Virginia Tech jumped into this week's AP top 25 at #19 while also moving up 5 spots to #18 in the Coaches Poll. This sets up two top 20 matchups in the ACC with Virginia Tech-North Carolina and Clemson-Miami in what has to be the biggest Saturday in the ACC in years.
The Hokies are among five ACC teams in the AP Poll with Clemson at #1, Notre Dame at #5, Miami at #7, and North Carolina at #8. The same five are also ranked by the Coaches Poll with UNC being ranked 9th and VT at 18th being the only differences for those five ACC teams.
Pittsburgh, Virginia, and N.C. State all received votes in both the AP and Coaches Polls with the Panthers dropping out after their loss to the Wolfpack. Boston College also received votes in the Coaches Poll.
As mentioned above, this Saturday undoubtedly sets up to be the most nationally consequential Saturday in the ACC in a long time with four top 20 teams facing off and having a chance to make a serious statement.
For the Hokies and Tar Heels, the winner will almost certainly be in the top 10 and have to be taken seriously as a potential CFB Playoff sleeper if not more than that especially with the Big 12 almost out already, UCF losing yesterday, and the Pac-12 only playing 6 games before their conference championship.
