NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Trying his best to explain what went wrong after Saturday’s stunning 34-27 overtime loss at Vanderbilt, Hokies coach Brent Pry was asked how a team with so much offseason praise and perceived momentum could refocus after suffering an opening-week black eye.

“It’s humbling,” Pry said. “And maybe we needed some of that. As much as we preach about ignoring the noise, maybe we felt a little better about ourselves than we needed to.”

You’d be short-sighted to think Virginia Tech’s opening-week faceplant dooms its season, not on the heels of an impressive turnaround after a 1-3 start last year or if you’re even the slightest student of Hokies history. Some of the best seasons in program history have resulted after the team started 0-2.

But man, what a bummer Saturday was for Hokies fans who’d jumped in with both feet on the Virginia Tech bandwagon, filling Vanderbilt’s FirstBank Stadium to the point that it was a virtual home game.

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