Keonta Jenkins Virginia Tech
This Saturday, Keonta Jenkins and the Hokies will set their sites on Duke. (Ivan Morozov)

It’s Game 11 of the 2024 football season, and the Mike Elko-built Duke Blue Devils are still a formidable opponent, even though Elko took his considerable coaching talents to Texas A&M almost a year ago.

Wait a minute, let me go look up the definition of formidable. According to Google:


Formidable: inspiring fear or respect through being impressively large, powerful, intense, or capable; "a formidable opponent"



Ooh, look, they used the same usage snippet that I did: “a formidable opponent.”

Okay, Duke isn’t “formidable” per se… but it’s capable of beating the Hokies.

Former Miami coach Manny Diaz has taken over the reins from Elko, and he’s got the Blue Devils at 7-3 (3-3 ACC). About three years ago, Chris Coleman and I were at the Westin in Charlotte for ACC Football Kickoff and were hanging at the bar. Diaz was one of just a few football coaches who showed up at the bar that night, and he was the only coach who stayed late and pretty much shut the bar down (with, ahem, yours truly, though it wasn’t like I was hanging out with Diaz).

Don’t get me wrong. Diaz behaved himself. But he stayed late. It probably would have been more fun if, say, Pat Narduzzi had hung at the bar, because I would have talked to him, and probably had a lot of fun doing it.

But I digress. This isn’t a Duke preview, and it isn’t a story about drinking at a bar. It’s Monday Thoughts.

Let’s start this week’s MT with what has become a ritual lately: mocking Florida State. Did you know that if you add last season’s 63-3 Orange Bowl shellacking at the hands of Georgia to this season’s results (1-9), you get a 1-10 record in FSU’s last 11 games, with the ‘Noles being outscored 361-136 (average score of 30-12)? That’s incredible … ly bad. Bonus points for you if you get that reference. Share it in comments below. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

Brent Pry Virginia Tech
Hmmm, the best 5-5 team in the country? (Ivan Morozov)

Is Virginia Tech the Best 5-5 Team in the Country?

Don’t you just love that question? I admit, it’s a loser’s question. There’s no glory in being the best 5-5 team in the country.

Just for grins, let’s take a spin around some ranking formulas and look at where teams with 5-5 records (like the Hokies) or worse reside. I’ll list every team that has a 5-5 record or worse that ranks ahead of the Hokies and stop when I reach Virginia Tech.

ESPN Football Power Index (FPI):

26. Florida (5-5) 27. Oklahoma (5-5) 28. Auburn (4-6) 29. Kansas (4-6) 32. Arkansas (5-5) 33. Virginia Tech (5-5)