Virginia Tech's loss at the hands of West Virginia means that the Hokies are back outside the national top-25 polls. A 27-21 defeat in West Virginia dropped the Hokies from the top 20 in each poll to just inside the top 30.

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The Orange and Maroon come in No. 28 according to the Associated Press poll, and No. 29 to the coaches. That's a drop of 13 and 14 positions, respectively.

It may seem a harsh punishment for losing a cross-sectional game against Power-5 opposition on the road (not least of which because the Hokies were not even favored against the Mountaineers), but some of VT's ranking had been based on the concept of making at least to the Notre Dame game Oct. 9 with an undefeated record.

No. 9/7 Clemson and No. 21/20 North Carolina are the only ranked ACC teams in what has largely been a nightmare start to the 2021 season for the conference. The Hokies knocked off UNC in Week One, and won't play the Tigers unless both teams make the conference championship game. Joining VT just outside the polls are (unofficially) No. 38/35 Boston College, No. 39/39 Wake Forest, No. 44/NR Louisville, and NR/52 Miami.

The Irish are not a member of the ACC - though they participated in the conference last year - but play enough games against conference teams as part of their agreement that their ranking reflects well on the league in some ways (though not enough to shift perceptions). Notre Dame comes in No. 12/10 in the polls, just three weeks before visiting Blacksburg.

The Hokies may have a chance to crawl back into the polls with a positive result this weekend against Richmond - assuming the out-of-town scoreboard is also both friendly to VT's résumé and unkind to teams in the latter half of the polls.

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