Top Story: Highly-Rated College Football Analysts Gets Brutally Honest On Virginia Tech For Vanderbilt Loss

Barrett Sallee and Tom Luginbill put Virginia Tech on blast for losing Week 1 at Vanderbilt.

As the season approached, excitement was high for the Virginia Tech football team in 2024, thanks to their retained players and new additions from the transfer portal. With a manageable schedule in both non-conference and ACC play, it seemed like the Hokies were poised to demonstrate that Brent Pry and his staff were accelerating the rebuilding process.

However, everything changed on Saturday when they faced a rebuilding Vanderbilt team in Nashville. Despite having New Mexico State transfer Diego Pavia at quarterback, Virginia Tech struggled to contain him, leading to a shocking 34-27 defeat. It was a frustrating day for the Hokies for many reasons, and national college football analysts quickly voiced their surprise at the outcome.

Barrett Sallee and Tom Luginbill blast Virginia Tech for losing at Vanderbilt

The reaction to the Hokies’ defeat against the Commodores was swift, with analysts Barrett Sallee and Tom Luginbill using their weekly SiriusXM College Sports Radio segment to criticize Virginia Tech.

“I want to apologize to the Virginia Tech fans because I was fully on the hype train and even drove it,” Sallee stated. “The Hokies had everything lined up perfectly, but after just one game, everything took a turn. Again, my apologies to the fans.”

Luginbill added that he didn’t anticipate the surprising outcomes from Week 0, such as Georgia Tech beating Florida State, and other unexpected results in Week 1, including Virginia Tech’s loss in Nashville.

“Virginia Tech had all the offseason buzz with a standout quarterback (Kyron Drones) but faltered,” Luginbill remarked. “They were fortunate to keep the game as close as it was.”

They both have valid points—Drones played well enough to achieve a better outcome and wasn’t the issue. Regardless of Vanderbilt’s improvements in 2024, this loss is unacceptable, especially after all the offseason excitement, particularly against a team expected to finish at the bottom of the SEC, even though it was effectively a home game for them.