Virginia Tech Football: Hokies stunned by Old Dominion

3. You can’t always to out-talent the other team

It wasn’t a good day at the office for Virginia Tech. The No. 13 team in the nation found themselves in an unexpected dogfight with a winless Conference USA squad that fell to Charlotte the week before. Even though the Monarchs hosted the Hokies, there never any real expectations that the 28.5-point underdogs would be tied with the favorites midway through the fourth quarter.

With the exception of perhaps the Alabama Crimson Tide, every team has days. For one reason or another things just don’t work as they should. Maybe it was the unexpected off week caused by Hurricane Florence and the subsequent rustiness. Or could it have been a look-ahead spot with a conference game against Duke looming next weekend?

Whatever it was, Virginia Tech found themselves deadlocked with an inferior team late in the second half and couldn’t pull it out in the end. It wasn’t pretty and when push came to shove the team that made the last play won. That was Old Dominion.

Games like this happen. As long as this doesn’t become a trend the Hokies will be just fine. However, their spotless record is no more, as will be their spot in the AP Top 15. One loss won’t knock a team out of the College Football Playoff, but the Hokies’ margin for error got significantly smaller on Saturday.