When you start winning football games, every game suddenly becomes “the biggest game of the Brent Pry era at Virginia Tech.” I wasn’t around to write the game preview ahead of Syracuse, but I did write this on the boards a few hours before the game:

“Things seem like they are starting to turn for the better, so it’s very important to keep that momentum going. It would be three wins in a row against beatable teams, which is a huge sign of progress. The Hokies have shown they can beat bad teams. ‘Cuse is probably mediocre/slightly below average, so that would be another step up. If Tech does win, the turn wouldn’t be complete, but it would be closer to being complete. It’ll have to beat a good team at some point, but winning this would complete the first stage of the turnaround, I believe.”

I think I was wrong about Syracuse being a mediocre/slightly below average team. Look at its last four results. That’s a bad team. But still, unlike the Pitt and Wake Forest games, which featured some moments of doubt, the Hokies planted their foot firmly on the throat of the Orange in the first quarter and never took it off. It was thorough domination in all three phases of the game from start to finish.

Has Virginia Tech turned a corner? Yes, it has. It’s turned a couple of corners, I think. It showed it could beat bad teams against Pitt and Wake Forest and then showed it could thoroughly outclass a bad team against Syracuse. Now we’re all on the lookout for the next corner to turn. The Hokies must prove they can win on the road (0-3 this year), and they must show that they can beat a good team. They’ll get a chance to do both next weekend against Louisville. Whether or not they are ready for another corner turn is up for debate, and I suppose we’ll find out. But for now, I’m just going to be happy with the major progress that we have seen.

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