5 takeaways from Virginia Tech’s season-ending loss to Virginia

Mercifully, it’s over. The season from hell, you know, the 2025 college football season, is over for the Virginia Tech Hokies after Saturday’s 27-7 loss to the Virginia Cavaliers. It’s Virginia’s first win over the Hokies since 2019 and only its third victory over Virginia Tech this century. With the win, the Cavaliers are headed to the ACC Championship Game.

It was a season that began with excitement, as the Hokies battled a ranked South Carolina team down to the wire before running out of gas late. In Week 2, the Hokies led Vanderbilt at halftime before the wheels off — in the game and the season. Virginia Tech’s embarrassing Week 3 loss at Lane Stadium to ODU led the Hokies to fire head coach Brent Pry and commit millions to change the program’s fortunes, which led to the hiring of James Franklin as head coach.

But before we turn our focus completely to recruiting, the transfer portal, coaching news and more, here are five takeaways from the season finale.

Enjoy this one, Tony Elliott

Before the season, Virginia fans wanted to fire head coach Tony Elliott. Now, he’s a savior. You have to give Virginia credit, the school invested heavily into NIL and put out a solid roster — for the ACC — and found a competent vetean quarterback. It worked. Is it sustainable? Any team built strictly through the portal is not sustainable. But if the Cavaliers continue to invest in NIL, they’ll be competitive for years to come.

It was a big win for Elliott — his first over Virginia Tech. Now, he’s headed to the ACC title game to face a five-loss Duke team. That should be good for the ACC’s TV ratings.

The next time Tony Elliott shakes hands with a Virginia Tech coach, it will be James Franklin. While the Hokies were finishing out a horrendous season on Saturday, Franklin was back in Blacksburg, hosting several 4-star recruits and he suddenly works to rebuild Virginia Tech’s roster.

End of Kyron Drones’ era

There has been a lot of debate about why interim coach Philip Montgomery stuck with senior quarterback Kyron Drones over the last several weeks. There are likely a few explanations. One, Montgomery doesn’t think much of the other QBs on the roster. Two, Montgomery believes letting Drones be a battering ram for 15-20 plays is actually Tech’s best offense. Three, perhaps it’s in Drones’ NIL contract. While we doubt that part, it sometimes defies explanation. Why not give Pop Watson a shot in the second half? The offense was dreadful for much of the season. On Saturday, the Hokies were without starting running back Marcellous Hawkins and top wide receiver Ayden Greene.

Drones competes hard. There’s no doubting that. He’s tough, he plays hurt and doesn’t quit on his teammates. Unfortunately, he’s just not a very good passer. Check this out, Drones completed 4 of 16 passes for 78 yards on Saturday. He had one touchdown and two interceptions. So, 25% of his completions went for touchdowns. Unfortunately, he had only four. It’s also true that Drones didn’t have a lot of help. But last season, Drones did have more help, with guys like Bhayshul Tuten, Jaylin Lane, Xavier Chaplin, and Quan Felton, and he struggled badly. Yes, previous OC Tyler Bowen wasn’t good at his job, but Montgomery’s style of offense always seemed like a bad fit for Drones.

It was a very ugly year for Drones. If the Hokies were only average at throwing the football, they likely add 2-3 more wins. That’s reality. Again, not everything is on Drones, but he’s a big reason for VT’s offensive struggles.

At the end of the day, though, there is no reason for fans or anyone else to attack Drones on social media. That’s stupid. He gave his all to Virginia Tech. It’s time for all parties to move on.

Montgomery didn’t have a great night

Look, Philip Montgomery has done a good job as Virginia Tech’s interim coach. This team played much harder once he took over before Week 4. The Hokies were at a severe talent disadvantage for most of the season and when Pry was fired, several players quit. Those who stayed behind competed and played hard. They just weren’t very good.

On Saturday, I thought Montgomery coached scared. There was no reason for Montgomery to not be aggressive. If Drones was struggling to throw in a traditional passing offense, why not run more trick plays? Be more aggressive on early downs. Alternate QBs. Try anything and everything to make Virginia work for the win. The Hokies did not make Virginia earn anything. They didn’t even show up. Sure, the Cavaliers were the better team, but there was no grit in this bunch. No fight. Where was the emotion? You can bet several former Hokies were angry watching that performance.

A bad night all-around for Virginia Tech. The lack of emotion comes from the coaching staff. Overall, though, Hokie fans should remember Montgomery’s time as interim coach favorably, just not so much as the offensive coordinator.

22 players out for the Hokies

The Hokies were without 22 players for this game, including Hawkins, Greene and other starters. While some players, like safety Quentin Reddish, haven’t played in a while, these are just the players on the roster who were unavailable. This doesn’t count the players who transferred, quit, or were removed from the roster. Some players handled their transfers the correct way, while others quit on their teammates. But you already have a team at a talent disadvantage, poorly coached and then are without 22 players, including your two best offensive players, and this is what you get.

While there was some optimism heading into the game, once Hawkins and Greene were both ruled out, that optimism turned into a sense of dread.

It’s now over.

In more good news, no more Stu Holt as special teams coordinator.

Welcome to the James Franklin era

It’s been a fun month for the Hokies, except for the games. When Virginia Tech fired Brent Pry in September, there were some good moments, such as the win at N.C. State and the win at California. The Hokies should’ve beat Wake Forest, but gave that one away. There were some positive moments, but that’s what you say about the kid who tries hard, but isn’t very good. That was the 2025 Hokies, unfortunately.

Things are about to change. We mentioned how it’s been a fun month for the Hokies, except on the field. Virginia Tech landing Franklin as the new head coach was a perfect marriage. The Hokies needed someone like Franklin and they swung for the fences. We’ve already seen the early results. Last week’s recruiting haul is only getting started. The early signing period is this week. I would expect a lot more recruits to sign with the Hokies, many of them of the 4-star variety.

Then, Franklin will turn his attention to the transfer portal in January. By then, we’ll likely already know which Hokies he plans to keep. Don’t expect a ton to remain. This roster needs so much work. Fortunately, the transfer portal exists. It wouldn’t be shocking to see 80% or more of Virginia Tech’s roster turn over.

For the first time in a while, it will be fun to be a Virginia Tech fan. It’s worth noting adding good players doesn’t guarantee on-field success, but have you seen the ACC? If Franklin continues to bring in top talent, from high school and the portal, the Hokies will be competing at the top of the ACC. That’s the goal.

Back in September, it didn’t seem like this season would ever end. As much as you hate wishing football away, we all wanted this one to end. I don’t think anyone could imagine where we’d be looking toward the offseason.