Virginia Tech is further proving how worried we should be about the ACC

Virginia Tech's season got off to a rocky start Saturday against SEC basement dwellers Vanderbilt, adding to the season-opening woes of the ACC's supposed best bets for the playoff.

The Hokies came up short in Nashville, falling in overtime 34-27 -- they were originally favored to win by 13.5 points.

The Hokies went scoreless until the final minute of the first half, then tied the game at 20-20 with just ten minutes to play in the second half. The Hokies looked like they might be able to escape with the win after getting a go-ahead score on a 62-yard touchdown pass to wideout Ali Jennings.

However, Vanderbilt would have the final say. The Commodores put together a 2.5-minute drive to knot the game again at 27-27 and forced overtime (after missing a potential walk-off field goal). They completed the upset after scoring and successfully defending the Hokies' first drive.

Virginia Tech was hoping to prove its designation as a preseason sleeper pick to win the ACC by pundits correct. Saturday's result did anything but that.

And on top of everything, Drones was seen limping off the field near the end of the fourth quarter. He was replaced by sophomore playcaller Collin Schlee in overtime. Drones' condition will be a developing situation Hokie fans will want to monitor in the coming days.

Virginia Tech adds to ACC woes to start 2024 season

Virginia Tech's loss adds to the doubts surrounding the ACC's viability in the expanded College Football Playoff. Preseason conference favorite No. 10 Florida State lost to Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland on Aug. 24 and No. 14 Clemson got its doors blown off by No. 1 Georgia in Atlanta on Saturday.

No. 24 North Carolina State defeated Western Carolina on Thursday but the Wolfpack needed a 21-point fourth-quarter effort to overcome the Catamounts. There's a real possibility that No. 19 Miami could be the sole conference representative in the playoff.

The expanded playoff format is more forgiving than the old four-team system, meaning one loss won't kill a team's chances of being one of the twelve participating teams.

However, the ACC schedule is only going to get much, much harder from this point on -- the odds are slim that any of Florida State, Clemson or Virginia Tech go undefeated the rest of the year.

Vanderbilt is ACC kryptonite

Since the inception of the ACC in 1953, Vanderbilt has an all-time record of 32-24 against member schools -- boasting a winning or even record against seven of 11 teams it's faced in that time.

The SEC as a whole has an all-time record of 343-185-10 against the ACC, meaning Vanderbilt has accounted for nine percent of its home conference's wins in that matchup.

So, before you go and put down Vanderbilt for consistently being an SEC bottom feeder, it may be best to check your facts about the Commodore's history against your squad first.