2018 Virginia Tech Hokies Season Win Total Picks and Predictions for NCAA Football

2017 Record: 9-4

2018 Las Vegas Season Win Total: 8.0

2018 Season Win Total Picks NCAA Football: 'Over'

After a brief lull towards the end of the Frank Beamer Era, Virginia Tech is trying desperately to cling to its spot among the ACC's elite programs. The Hokies won nine games again last season and were a loss at Miami away from making back-to-back ACC title games. However, in Justin Fuente's third season this Hokies team seems to be at a bit of a crossroads.

Defense has been the calling card for the Hokies for three decades. And last year Virginia Tech had one of the best in the country, allowing a paltry 14.8 points per game. The Hokies threw three shutouts and allowed 10 or fewer points in half of their games. They still have legendary defensive coordinator Bud Foster, entering his 23^rd season, and will once again feature one of the most aggressive, attacking units on the East Coast.

The problem is talent and experience. Virginia Tech lost two first-round NFL Draft choices in Tremaine and Terrell Edmunds. That duo is among eight of the 15 top tacklers from last year that are no longer with the team. The Hokies are excessively young at linebacker and are shaky in the secondary this season, and they will be hard-pressed to come close to last year's figures.

For the first time in his three years in Blacksburg, Fuente will have a returning starter at quarterback. Sophomore Josh Jackson showed some serious flashes in his rookie year, completing 60 percent of his passes with 20 touchdowns to nine interceptions. His effort this year will go a long way in determining how successful the Hokies' season is.

Virginia Tech will play one of the most consequential games in the country in Week 1. The Hokies have to travel to Tallahassee to face new-look Florida State in a critical ACC showdown. The Seminoles have a new head coach and new schemes, and if Virginia Tech can steal a win there they will instantly be in the driver's seat in the ACC Coastal.

The Hokies should be either 3-1 or 4-0 when they continue league play on Sept. 29 with a game at Duke. They follow that up with a marquee home game against Notre Dame to open October.

That Notre Dame game begins a stretch of five of seven home games to close out the year. The Hokies get Coastal rival Miami at home and have a key game against Georgia Tech in Blacksburg on a Thursday night. The two road games in the last two months of the year are at UNC and Pittsburgh, two teams that combined to go just 4-12 in ACC play last season.

This year's Virginia Tech team won't be nearly as good as either of Fuente's first two squads. But Virginia Tech has been as pliable as any program in the conference over the past 20 years, reloading rather than rebuilding. That opening game against FSU is key. If they can find a way to win that game then they have a chance to get to 10 wins. A loss there means that it will be a scramble to get above eight. I have the Hokies at exactly eight wins. But if I am wrong about this team I think it will be because they are better than I think, not worse. I will tepidly endorse the 'over', but I wouldn't bet this season win total at all.

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