Editor’s note: Saturday Road’s annual Crystal Ball prediction series continues today with Virginia Tech. Next up, we’ll preview Wake Forest.

Previously: Boston College | Clemson | Duke | Florida State | Georgia Tech | Louisville | Miami | UNC | NC State | Notre Dame | Pittsburgh | Syracuse | Virginia

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Rome wasn’t built in a day. Likewise, rebuilding the Hokies’ once proud program in Blacksburg isn’t going to happen overnight.

Beamer Ball is a distant memory after 3 straight losing seasons, including last year’s 3-8 disaster, in which the Hokies went 1-7 in the ACC. Needless to say, 2nd-year coach Brent Pry has a big job ahead of him. 

But you have to start somewhere.

That’s why Pry doesn’t consider his debut season in Blacksburg, despite a painful 7-game losing streak, a total loss.

“It takes time,” said Pry, the former Penn State defensive coordinator who started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Tech from 1995-97. “You don’t figure out who you are in your first spring. It takes a season to understand where you’re at as a team from top-to-bottom.

“We certainly had a lot of issues. I think the staff has done a great job. We’ve gotten tremendous support from (athletic director) Whit Babcock and the administration. Our collective has done a tremendous job of allowing us to be competitive in that (NIL) space. There’s a lot that goes into pushing the needle in the right direction so we can be the program we want to be.”

Pry made a positive first impression by embracing the history, traditions and expectations of his program in a way his predecessor, Justin Fuente, never did.

He even brought back the battered lunch pail, made famous by the Hokies’ long-time defensive coordinator Bud Foster, that was a symbol of Tech’s blue-collar worth ethic.

His next task is to return Tech to its winning ways, the kind that saw it post 25 consecutive winning seasons between 1993-2017, including 8 straight years with 10-plus wins.

But it isn’t going to happen overnight.

Quality over quantity from the portal

Pry didn’t load up on as many players as some of his ACC rivals, but he did succeed in addressing some of his team’s most pressing concerns.

Job 1 was adding talent and depth to a thin receiving corps that helped drag down the passing attack in 2022. Pry did that by signing Ali Jennings III, who caught 5 passes for 122 yards in helping to beat the Hokies last season while playing for Old Dominion, and Da’Quan Felton from Norfolk State.

The ground attack got help with the addition of Bhayshul Tuten, who rushed for 1,363 and 13 touchdowns for NC A&T as a sophomore last fall.

And while quarterback Grant Wells wasn’t completely to blame for an offense that ranked 13th out of 14 conference teams at 203.3 yards per game while averaging less than 20 points per game, Pry brought in some competition for the starting job in Baylor transfer Kyron Drones.

“We had to go out and get some explosive playmakers and we did that,” Pry said. “Three guys in that wide receiver room, with Ali being one of them, a tailback. We just did some things that were necessary to allow us to have a better opportunity to create big plays.”

Tech’s defense also got some help with the addition of Florida defensive lineman Antwan Powell-Ryland, Derrick Canteen – an all-Sun Belt Conference from Georgia Southern – and the aptly named linebacker Stone Snyder from VMI.

“We have a lot of great transfers in the portal. Playmakers there,” 5th-year tight end Nick Gallo said. “They’re really talented, but more important than that they’re all great culture guys. They fit right in.”

If you beat ’em, join ’em

Growing up in Richmond, Jennings always dreamed of playing football for Virginia Tech. But he wasn’t recruited by the Fuente. And he vowed to get even.

He did just that during last year’s opener.

Playing for Old Dominion, the speedy receiver caught a contested 38-yard pass at the 1-yard line to set up the go-ahead touchdown with just over a minute remaining in the Monarchs’ 20-17 victory. His performance clearly caught Pry’s attention, and he helped Jennings realize his childhood dream by bringing him to Blacksburg via the transfer portal. 

His addition will be a vital part of Pry’s effort to improve a passing attack that ranked next-to-last in the ACC last year. It has also brought back some bad memories for some of his new teammates.

“They give me a hard time about that,” Jennings said. “They’re like, ‘Man, how’d you have to do us like that?’ But I was just doing my job. My team asked me to make some plays and it just happened to be against (the Hokies). But I’m here to make plays for us now.”

Jennings said that performance may also have helped speed his transition into the program.

“They’ve also seen me play,” he said. “Now they know what I can bring to the table, something the team needed.”

Jennings led his team with 54 catches for 959 yards and 9 touchdowns last season. As luck would have it, his 1st game as a member of the Hokies will be against a familiar opponent.

Game-by-game predictions

Week 1: vs. Old Dominion (W)

The Monarchs have won 2 of the 3 meetings between the in-state rivals since 2018, including last year. But the Hokies’ 1 win came in Blacksburg, where this will be played. And this time, Jennings will be playing for Tech, not ODU.

Week 2: vs. Purdue (W)

A battle of rebuilding programs. Give the edge to the Hokies because of the home-field advantage and the fact that Pry and his staff are a full year ahead of new Boilermakers coach Ryan Walters in the process. This will be a good early gauge of the impact of Tech’s highly-rated transfer class, especially on offense.

Week 3: at Rutgers (L)

The narrow pathway to 6 wins and bowl eligibility is incredibly narrow for both teams, making this a “can’t lose” game for each. Given the offensive struggles of both teams, it also figures to be a low-scoring defensive battle that could go either way. It’s a “scarlet out” game at Rutgers. Home-field advantage will be the tipping point.

Week 4: at Marshall (W)

Another game the Hokies absolutely have to win to have any prayer of making it to a bowl. It’s a challenging road game against a good Group of 5 team that took out Notre Dame in South Bend last year. But it’s also the Grant Wells redemption game. And the senior quarterback will take advantage of the emotion to put up big numbers against his former team.

Week 5: vs. Pittsburgh (L)

The Panthers bludgeoned the Hokies on the ground last season, with Izzy Abanikanda running for a school-record 320 yards and 6 rushing touchdowns. Abanikanda is gone. But his backup Rodney Hammond Jr. was the Sun Bowl MVP and is just as capable of doing damage. 

Week 6: at Florida State (L)

The Hokies and Seminoles are members of the ACC. At least for now. But FSU will be out of Tech’s league when they meet in Tallahassee.

Week 7: vs. Wake Forest (L)

Tech’s defense was the strength last year and should be good again. But it had a tough time generating a pass rush. Only North Carolina had fewer sacks in 2022. With plenty of time to find his receivers downfield, Mitch Griffis and his slow mesh offense will put up big numbers. Even with the upgrades at receiver, the Hokies won’t be able to keep pace.

Week 8: Open

Week 9: vs. Syracuse (L)

The Hokies begin a 3-week stretch of their most winnable ACC games. This might be the most difficult, even though it’s the Hokies who should get the extra juice from a raucous Thursday night crowd at Lane Stadium. The Orange will be desperate to get closer to bowl eligibility and that urgency will be tough to overcome.

Week 10: at Louisville (L)

The Cardinals have a new coach in Jeff Brohm. And while he’s installing a new offensive scheme, the team he took over is far from a startup Pry inherited last year. This will be a competitive game. But as is the case with Wake Forest, the Hokies simply don’t have enough firepower to win a high-scoring shootout against an Air Raid team.

Week 11: at Boston College (L)

BC has bolstered its roster, especially on the offensive line, since going 3-9 last season and will be playing for coach Jeff Hafley’s job. The Eagles have also won 3 of the past 5 against Tech, including the past 2 in Chestnut Hill.

Week 12: at NC State (L)

Last year’s 7-game losing streak was the Hokies’ first since 1951. They’ll have 2 in as many years after former Virginia quarterback Brennan Armstrong comes back to haunt them as a member of the Wolfpack.

Week 13: at Virginia (W)

Tech showed great sportsmanship and compassion by agreeing to cancel last year’s Commonwealth Cup  game in support of the Cavaliers after the tragedy that took the lives of 3 team members. The respect between the programs will continue into the future. But that might only heighten the intensity once they return to the field to resume their rivalry. While it would make for a feel-good story if UVa can pull this out and finish the season on a high note, the Hokies have the better team.

2022 projection: 4-8 (1-7)

#Hokies

The results weren’t what Pry had hoped for his rookie season. But at least he was able to put down a foundation upon which he can now build.

Even though they suffered through a 7-game losing streak, their longest in 71 years, things might not be as bad as they appear. Two of those losses came by a single point after leading in the 4th quarter.

With a defense that was fairly solid for most of the season, Pry and his staff spent their offseason concentrating on improving an offense that managed only 19 points per game and finished in the bottom 2 of the ACC in virtually every statistical category.

Thanks to a strategic use of the transfer portal, Tech has addressed most of its most glaring weaknesses by bringing in a lot of new faces.

It’s reasonable to assume that all the additions, combined with a more experienced coaching staff and returning core, will help the Hokies take a step forward in their building process.

But the schedule is tough. And the job at hand is complicated.

Patience will be required.