2020 Virginia Tech football predictions on the HG

What’s to like:

Continued consistency.  Virginia Tech has been to a bowl game now 26 straight years, creating a winning culture that’s hard to beat in college football. While the Hokies don’t have the titles on the wall, they have been one of the most consistent teams in the game the last two decades.

Justin Fuente heads into year five in the program and Hokie fans want a return to the ACC Championship game. The last ACC title was 2010 for the program and while Clemson is the darling in college football right now, Tech would love a shot at them for the title in 2020.

Hendon Hooker is another really good quarterback in the ACC in 2020 and he should give the Hokies a chance every time out. The top four pass catchers also return for this offensive unit and the Hokies return the lions share of defensive production from a year ago; a unit that gave up 25 points per game.

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What’s not to like:

Winning games on the road. The Hokies have lost eight games on the road the last two years and one was at Old Dominion. The Hokies also lost bowl games on neutral sites against Kentucky and Cincinnati.

This team has to play better on the road to be relevant in November.

Also, this team must find someone to replace running back Deshawn McClease who headed off to the NFL.

What does the Hourglass Say?

2020 Virginia Tech pick:  8-4; 5-3 in the ACC

2019 HG analytics pick: 10-2; Actual Record 8-4 (83 percent)

2018 Analytics Pick 10-2; Actual Record 6-6 (67 percent accuracy)

2017 Analytics Pick 9-3; Actual Record 9-3 (100 percent accuracy)

Three-year analytic percentage on Virginia Tech = 83 percent

 2020 Virginia Tech Analytics –

Hour Glass National Recruiting Ranking (three-year metric) 41st – Outside our College Football Playoff bust line. Virginia Tech does not have a roster worthy of College Football Playoff consideration.

National Coaching Rank for Justin Fuente on HG Scale: 25th (Justin Fuente 2020 coaching value set at 6.1 – Average coaching value for 2020 set at 6.5. – Fuente is considered average.

ODE Analytics – NOTE: ODE is our offensive and defensive scoring efficiency ranking for each team. We use a two-year evaluation of each program.

Virginia Tech ranks 59th in the country in our 2020 ODE evaluation. Offensively they have a ranking of 49th in the country and defensively 73rd in the country.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Tech has the 12th hardest schedule in the ACC this year according to our metric, and while they do play Penn State in week two, they avoid Clemson and Florida State.

This is a big year for a team that needs to show it’s handled some roster attrition and can again assert itself as one of the big-time players in this conference.

8-4 should be the mark for Virginia Tech, but games on the road at Pittsburgh, Louisville, North Carolina and Duke are key. They cannot drop a few of these they will be favorites in.

Projected Hour Glass W/L record: Games in red denote games that could be a one possession game or even a different outcome than projection.