ESPN Broke Every FBS Team Up Into Tiers: Which One Did The Hokies Land In?

Virginia Tech is hoping to have a breakout year in 2024

Oct 14, 2023; Blacksburg, Virginia, USA; Virginia Tech Hokies quarterback Kyron Drones (1) throws a pass during the first quarter against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Lane Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports / Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports

The 2024 College Football Season is going to being tomorrow with a huge ACC matchup between Georgia Tech and Florida State in Dublin, Ireland. It will be another week before the Virginia Tech Hokies take the field in Nashville against Vanderbilt and the highly anticipated season for Virginia Tech will be underway. The Hokies are getting a lot of love ahead of this season and are seen as a dark horse to win the ACC and make the College Football Playoff.

In a recent article for ESPN, college football analyst and writer David Hale put each college football team into a certain tier and here is where he put Virginia Tech:

Tier 6: Age before beauty (five teams)
Iowa State
Oklahoma State
Virginia Tech
SMU
Rutgers

"Iowa State returns more production from 2023 than any other team in the country, according to ESPN's Bill Connelly.

Oklahoma State is third, Virginia Tech fourth, SMU is 11th and Rutgers is 13th.

All five of these teams went bowling last season, and they were a combined 25-12 over the second half of the season. There was genuine energy surrounding these teams when last season ended, and now the vast majority of talent from those rosters returns for 2024.

Sure, in any other era, Rutgers returning 72% of its snaps from the previous year would be a recipe for disaster, but prepare for the sun to turn black and the stars to fall from the sky, because Rutgers might be pretty good and the apocalypse is upon us.

Tier 6 fun fact: Oklahoma State has had more 10-win seasons since 2010 (eight) than Nebraska, Texas, Texas A&M, Miami and Tennessee combined (seven)."

The Hokies amount of returning production and their favorable schedule have them primed for big things this season. They should have a great rushing attack with quarterback Kyron Drones and running back Bhayshul Tuten, a dynamic receiver group, an experienced offensive line, pass rushers across the defensive line, and one of the best secondaries in the conference. They will likely only be underdogs in two games this year (at Miami, home vs Clemson) and if they can take advantage of being a favorite in the rest of their games, it could equal a birth in the ACC title game and possibly the college football playoff.