Stike up the Hokie Pokey, Tech Triumph, and the Victory Tag. | John Schneider - SB Nation

It’s a short week after a week break. The Hokies are heading to Dallas to face off against the Southern Methodist University Mustangs. The Hokies are up against another major ACC opponent, and winning the game means advancing in the ACC and potentially seeing a ranking.

Crossover Week Mayhem

Just a note from us: Well, the first week in November through the first week of December is always a challenge for coverage. The soccer teams are wrapping up with decent enough records, but their seasons aren’t quite over. The Women’s Basketball Team has opened their home record at 2-0, and the Men’s team also graced Cassell with a W. All of that puts a real strain on coverage so bear with us as we sort out schedules, and fight fall health issues and work vs. Hokie sports balance.

The football team isn’t finished, though. There are still four games left on the schedule, and then we get to plan on bowl coverage this season. Isn’t that a happy event? The Hokies are bowl eligible just a couple of games after the halfway point, and that’s a very pleasant occurrence. To think that we are actually paying attention to the bowl invitation list, instead of worrying on Thanksgiving weekend whether or not a win will net an invitation somewhere.

The first thing to cover is a bit of fun. The ACC Network desk hosts Eric McClain and Eddie Royal had a bet going. Remember, McClain is a former Clemson player, and we all know and love Eddie Royal. So, the bet was that the loser had to wear the winner’s mascot costume. Eddie was not dressed as a Tiger with the googly eyes for the TV segment. (Congratulations to the Virginia Tech Cheer Squad equipment folks and Travis Wells for getting most of an actual Hokie Bird big enough for Eric.)

Top tier content right here 🤣#LetsGoHokies https://t.co/H9LlOd1Kjz
— Virginia Tech Football (@HokiesFB) October 31, 2026

The Virginia Tech Wrestling Team received a massive boost from a wrestler who hasn’t even wrestled his first match as a Hokie, yet, but who is already a world champion. Freshman Bo Bassett traveled to Kazakhstan and netted the program its first world championship and was the first American in 20 years to win in his weight class (65KG – for those lacking metric conversion skills that’s 143 pounds).

Let’s gooo!! https://t.co/9cqbAuebdX
— Virginia Tech Football (@HokiesFB) October 30, 2026

The Coach Robie is going to have an absolutely dominant wrestling team this season.

Back to Football Stuff

It looks like the team is going to be wearing head to toe all-whites for this one.

𝐒𝐌𝐔. | 11.06.26#LetsGoHokies pic.twitter.com/6jfG6qN3jA
— Virginia Tech Football (@HokiesFB) November 5, 2026

Go get your coffee, or a quick snack and listen in on Coach Franklin’s weekly presser.

Football Press Conference https://t.co/uHYDFhesjw
— Virginia Tech Football (@HokiesFB) November 2, 2026

As Bryan posted up earlier, this time the Hokies have some really good news coming out of the locker room as it pertains to the Offensive Line. Montavious Cunningham and Brody Meadows are back up to speed and are expected to play on Friday night. The O-Line has been dipping into the #3s on the depth chart for the past few games, and getting them back is a serious update to the struggling run game.

That All Leads to This… Predictions

In General

The SMU Mustangs are largely a Big XII import with a near automatic bubble to the top of the ACC football pile. It’s Dallas, TX, and football is a near religion for Texas. That means the program is well funded, with premium coaching, and players doused liberally with NIL funding.

Up until last weekend, the Mustangs were sporting a very respectable one loss record. Until they showed up in the Syracuse (whatever they call the Carrier Dome, now), as expected in the beginning of the season SMU was challenging hard for the #2 bid in the ACC fake Championship game (until the conference goes back to divisions and division champs who play everyone else in the division the game in Charlotte will remain fake to me). Then the Mustangs got treated to the old Big East upset win by the Orange. That knocked them down a peg but also put the Hokies in the position of earning the #3 spot on the ACC leader board.

That all means that this game might not mean an ACC bid, but it will mean a much better bowl game situation over the holidays. Bowls mean big broadcast money, and the program needs the cash to make up for a restricted gate at Lane.

The Mustangs are favored by slightly less than a touchdown for this one, in their house no less. We’ll see how we feel about that.

The Particulars

Bryan Manning

This is a big test for the Hokies. Virginia Tech had a huge win at Clemson two weeks ago. No, this isn’t the same Clemson team as only a few years ago, but it means something for other ACC teams to walk into Death Valley and win. SMU is better than the Tigers, but they aren’t unbeatable. The clear difference here is the quarterback position. SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings is a stud. He also has one of the ACC’s best running backs and one of the top receiving units in the league. This is a huge challenge for VT defensive coordinator Brent Pry. Offensively, I think the Hokies have success moving the ball. SMU’s size on the defensive interior concerns me, especially with Tech’s OL struggles. There is hope that with Cunningham and Meadows back, the offensive line is better, but we’ll see.

I expect a close game. My heart says the Hokies, my head says SMU in a close one.

SMU 34, Hokies 31

John Schneider

This game all depends on how the Mustangs adjusted to their Syracuse loss, and if the Hokies on both sides of the ball can adjust to how the Orange controlled the SMU offense, and how they managed to get by their defense. SMU, interestingly enough, has a similar offensive/defensive balance to Tech’s than we have seen this season.

There are lots of “IFs” in this game, and the biggest one is “IF” the Tech defense can limit the SMU offense to what it’s been scoring over the season against peer teams, the Hokies have a much better chance to win than the listed 6-point betting gimme to SMU. The latest projected O/U is 56.5, which tells me volumes of information. The analysts see this as a very close game, and the end result being less than a full score between the two teams.

If the Hokies stay away from getting enamored of the run game and go downfield fast and consistently in the air on quick developing intermediate routes to their best receivers, there will be run opportunities. If Tech decides to try to “establish the run” the offense could bog down into chronic 3-and-outs. The return of two key #1/#2 depth chart players is not an excuse to try to revert to 1960’s caveman Johnny Unitas two runs and a pass offense.

If the Hokies move the ball and do it fast, they have enough defense (which needs to put serious pressure on the quarterback on every play)...

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