Virginia Tech is 6–2, bowl-eligible, and off this weekend. Its last four games include the No. 1 team in the country.

That stretch decides what coach James Franklin’s first season actually was. Two of the four are road games against ranked teams: No. 19 SMU on Friday, Nov. 6, and No. 1 Miami on Nov. 21. The two home games are against Stanford and Virginia, both 4–4.

The ACC race runs through those road trips. The Hokies are 3–2 in league play, fourth behind Miami (5–0), SMU (4–1) and Wake Forest (4–1). They play two of the three teams ahead of them.

Here are three bold predictions for the final four games.

1. Virginia Tech wins in Dallas

SMU doesn’t lose at home. The Mustangs are 24–2 in their last 26 home games and 11–0 at home in ACC play since joining the league in 2024. The common opponent doesn’t help the Hokies, either. SMU beat Cal 59–20 on Oct. 24, two weeks after Cal beat Virginia Tech 25–20 in Berkeley.

I’m picking the Hokies anyway.

This defense lives behind the line of scrimmage. Virginia Tech leads FBS with 77 tackles for loss, 13 of them at Clemson. Senior defensive end Aycen Stevens leads the ACC with eight sacks after recording none in 2025. SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings has 2,062 passing yards, 19 touchdowns, and five interceptions in seven games. The Hokies don’t need to stop him every snap. They need a handful of second-and-12s.

The calendar helps. Virginia Tech gets 13 days between Clemson and SMU. The Mustangs get six after Saturday’s trip to Syracuse.

The risk is up front. SMU has 145 sacks since the start of 2023, the most in FBS, and Clemson sacked Ethan Grunkemeyer six times. Franklin called the open week a chance to get some offensive linemen back. If he does, Virginia Tech has a really good shot against the Mustangs.

2. The defense doubles its interception total

For all that pressure, the ball almost never ends up in a Hokie’s hands. Virginia Tech has two interceptions in eight games: cornerback Thomas Williams had one in the opener against VMI, and safety Quentin Reddish had the other against Georgia Tech on Oct. 17. Against FBS opponents, the Hokies have picked off 0.44% of passes, which ranks 136th nationally.

Franklin flagged it early. “Not only do we need to do a better job protecting the ball on offense, we’ve got to create some turnovers on defense,” he said after the Pitt loss. The Hokies forced two turnovers against Georgia Tech, then none at Clemson, where neither team turned it over.

The first test fits. Jennings has thrown two interceptions in a game twice this season, at Florida State and against Louisville. Getting Williams back would help; he missed Clemson after Franklin expected to have him.

3. Que’Sean Brown joins Isaiah Ford

Brown, a senior who transferred from Duke, has 51 catches for 685 yards. That’s 30% of the Hokies’ receiving yards. He needs 315 more to reach 1,000, or 78.8 per game. He’s averaging 85.6.

That sounds easy until you see how he got here. Brown has three 100-yard games: 109 against VMI, 147 against Pitt and 182 against Georgia Tech. He has 247 yards in the other five, 49.4 per game. He needs at least one more big night, and Stanford is the likeliest spot. The Cardinal have allowed 35.5 points per game, the most in the ACC.

History is what makes this bold. Ford is the only Hokie with a 1,000-yard receiving season, and he did it twice, with 1,164 yards in 2015 and 1,094 in 2016. Both times, he needed a 13th game to get there, the Independence Bowl in 2015 and the ACC title game in 2016.

My call: Brown crosses 1,000 against Virginia on Nov. 28, the first Hokie to do it in 12 games.

It starts in Dallas. Win there, and the Nov. 21 trip to Miami stops being a measuring stick and starts carrying ACC title stakes.