Where Did Virginia Tech Land in the Final SP+ Rankings Before the 2024 Season?

Virginia Tech has been one of the most talked about teams in the ACC this offseason

Nov 4, 2023; Louisville, Kentucky, USA; Virginia Tech Hokies head coach Brent Pry watches from the sideline during the second half against the Louisville Cardinals at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium. Louisville defeated Virginia Tech 34-3. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports / Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

Virginia Tech is nearly two weeks away from their season opening game vs Vanderbilt and it will be the start of what is one of the most anticipated seasons in recent memory for the Hokies. Virginia Tech is bringing back a lot of production from last years team including a dynamic quarterback, a strong running game, and a very good defense. Will Virginia Tech be able to live up to the hype this season and challenge for an ACC title?

One of the best power rating and predictive ranking systems out there is ESPN College Football analyst Bill Connelly's SP+. Today, Connelly released the final SP+ rankings heading into the 2024 season and Virginia Tech came in ranked 36th overall, with the No. 43 projected offense, No. 35 projected defense, and No. 14 projected special teams unit.

What exactly is SP+? Here is how Connelly himself describes it:

"As always, these are based on three primary factors: returning production (final rankings for which you can find at the bottom of this piece), recent recruiting and recent history. How good have you been recently? Whom do you have coming back? How good are the players replacing those you don't have coming back? That's loosely what we ask when we're setting expectations for a team; it's also what these projections attempt to do objectively.

As always: SP+ is a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. It is a predictive measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football, not a résumé ranking, and, along those same lines, these projections aren't intended to be a guess at what the AP Top 25 will look like at the end of the year. These are simply early offseason power rankings based on the information we have been able to gather to date."

Here is how the ACC ranks in SP+ heading into the season:

1. Florida State (No. 12 Nationally)

2. Clemson (16)

3. Miami (19)

4. SMU (27)

5. NC State (29)

6. Louisville (31)

7. Virginia Tech (36)

8. North Carolina (40)

9. Duke (51)

10. Cal (52)

11. Georgia Tech (58)

12. Pitt (66)

13. Syracuse (67)

14. Boston College (73)

15. Wake Forest (74)

16. Stanford (77)

17. Virginia (78)

Here is how Virginia Tech's 2024 Opponents rank in SP+

1. Clemson (16 nationally)

2. Miami (19)

3. Rutgers (49)

4. Duke (51)

5. Georgia Tech (58)

6. Syracuse (67)

7. Boston College (73)

8. Stanford (77)

9. Virginia (78)

10. Vanderbilt (89)

11. Marshall (95)

12. Old Dominion (111)

As you can see above, Clemson and Miami are the only teams that are ranked above Virginia Tech on their schedule heading into the season. If the Hokies can beat the teams they are projected better than this year, they could make it into the ACC Championship if they find a way to split the Miami-Clemson matchups. Don't sleep on games against Rutgers and Georgia Tech though.