After a dominating Senior Day victory over NC State, the No. 13 Miami Hurricanes (8-2, 4-2 ACC) hope to keep their playoff hopes alive as they head up to Blacksburg, Va. to face the Virginia Tech Hokies (3-7, 2-4 ACC).
Virginia Tech’s season was over almost as soon as it started. The Hokies started their 2025 campaign by going 0-3 and firing head coach Brent Pry. Since then, interim head coach Philip Montgomery has been at helm and not much has changed.
With a 3-7 record, the Hokies are bowl-ineligible and do not have much to play for this season. The school has already moved on and is thinking about the future. On Nov. 17, Virginia Tech announced the hiring of former Penn State coach James Franklin as the Hokies’ new head coach.
Although Virginia Tech’s mind is halfway through the door to next season, it still has two games left on schedule with Miami up next.
Going into their match-up with the ’Canes, the Hokies have dropped four of their last five games, with the only win in that frame coming from a 2OT slugfest against California. The Virginia Tech passing game has been ineffective in the frame, with quarterback Kyron Drones only throwing from a combined 612 yards.
Drones’ speciality is more so on the ground rather than in the air. With nine rushing touchdowns, Drones has been the team’s best passer and runner as the rest of the team has a combined two rushing touchdowns. Drones is second in rushing touchdowns among ACC quarterbacks, trailing Georgia Tech’s Haynes King with 14.
Miami will be looking for a much more comfortable margin of victory this season as last year’s matchup with Virginia Tech ended in controversy. Though the Hurricanes were ranked in the top-10 at the time and Virginia Tech were 2-2, the Hokies made it close and originally won the game on a Hail Mary before being controversially ruled incomplete after extensive review. Due to the call, Miami got the win, 38-34.
UM needs to stomp the Hokies, not only to avoid any debateful final play or because Virginia Tech’s record is terrible. Miami also needs “style points” with the CFP committee. It is unlikely Miami will make the ACC championship (there are currently four one loss teams ahead of UM, one of which is SMU who has a tiebreaker as well), so barring a chain of miraculous upsets, its only shot is an at-large bid.
Teams that they are competing with for an at-large bid include Oregon, BYU, Utah, Oklahoma, Notre Dame and Alabama. The latter three are the most important as Oklahoma and Alabama are projected to miss the SEC championship and Notre Dame does not have an automatic bid as an independent.
As of right now the committee considers Miami (CFP No. 13) to be less worthy compared to the aforementioned teams (CFP No. 7-12).
Routing its final opponents will help get Miami in favor of the committee. The ’Canes have already done so against their last two opponents: Syracuse, 38-10, and NC State, 41-7. Next on the list is Virginia Tech.
Injuries could be a factor for UM heading into Blacksburg with star cornerback Keionte Scott expected to miss the rest of the season with a foot injury. Miami hopes to return from injury running back Mark Fletcher, wide receiver CJ Daniels and cornerback OJ Frederique Jr. this Saturday.
Besides injury factors, some x-factors for UM will be wide receiver Malachi Toney, who has been down in yardage the past two games and the cornerback room, which will need to step up with the loss of Scott.
Saturday’s kickoff at Lane Stadium is set for 12:00 p.m. and will air on ESPN.
