For the second week in a row, the Hokies are one win away from bowl eligibility. Virginia Tech remained at five wins after blowing a 21-3 lead against Syracuse.

Nationally, Virginia Tech is still viewed as a high-level bowl team, with Bill Connelly’s SP+ ranking Virginia Tech as the 27th best team in the nation, after being ranked in SP+’s top-25 the week prior.

Some analysts still have the Hokies in some high-tier bowl games, playing against some CFP contenders and solid Power Four schools. Here’s where Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach of ESPN projected Virginia Tech to play, as of their most recent college football bowl projections.

A matchup between Virginia Tech and Army in the Go Bowling Military Bowl would be an absolute storybook matchup. The Hokies have not beat Army since October of 1905 at West Point. This year, the Army Black Knights are a part of a historic performance by military academies, as at one point in the season, both Army and Navy were 6-0 on the season.

Playing a military academy in a bowl game will always be a honor, but Army is a worthy opponent. No. 18 Army faces off against North Texas this week, and Virginia Tech will be watching their potential bowl opponent carefully.

The Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl has plenty of history between the ACC and the Big Ten. Not including Notre Dame’s vacated win against Rutgers in 2013, the ACC hasn’t won the Pinstripe Bowl in twelve years.

Virginia Tech’s last appearance in the Pinstripe Bowl came in embarrasing fashion, as the Hokies lost to the Maryland Terrapins 54-10.

The Wisconsin Badgers have had an interesting season in 2024. Wisconsin knocked off Western Michigan and South Dakota to start the year. From then on, the Badgers’ season turned into a roller coaster. No. 11 Alabama won big at Camp Randall Stadium. Wisconsin took a big road loss to USC, then dominated Purdue at home 52-6. After that, Wisconsin picked up two more blowout wins against Rutgers and Northwestern. In their past two games though, the Badgers have lost by two scores or more to Penn State and Iowa.

Wisconsin is a worthy opponent, but Virginia Tech could certainly pounce on the Badgers’ weaknesses and win this bowl game.

Additional Links:

Virginia Tech Football: Kickoff Time Set For Hokies Matchup With Clemson Next Week

The Briefing: Drones and Tuten injured, backups take front and center role, Hokies drop 38-31 overtime thriller

Virginia Tech Football: 5 Big Takeaways From Virginia Tech’s loss vs Syracuse

Before the Virginia legislature’s last special session adjourned, the House of Delegates formed a committee to examine how colleges and universities statewide handle campus safety. The committee formed in the wake of a series of campus protests over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war last spring that led to the arrests of dozens of students and faculty members, and criticisms of how some institutions responded to the demonstrations.

Senate hearing over campus protests to Israel-Hamas war draws criticism from Republicans

But after five months, there has yet to be a hearing or word on when one will occur.

Zahra Jalajel, a senior at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, said the House’s lack of action suggests that it is “supportive” of the universities’ and law enforcement’s protest response, which, in VCU’s case, included using pepper spray to clear encampments and arresting 13 people. 

Jalajel described the experiences as “brutal” after watching friends and schoolmates being dragged and arrested by police, and their belongings including laptops being permanently destroyed.

“I think that by not having those conversations, it is saying that we’re not important and what occurred to us is not important to them,” said Jalajel.

Updated campus protest policies still a concern

Students, university faculty members, and organizers hoped that lawmakers’ interest would help influence how universities responded to the demonstrations and take accountability for the flurry of policy changes about public demonstrations several schools have made since the protests.. Free speech advocates have described the series of updated campus policies “unprecedented” and questioned whether they infringed on students’ First Amendment rights. 

“It was violent; it was the unnecessary use of violence, and people were hurt and harmed. It didn’t have to happen that way,” said Walt Heinecke, immediate past president of the American Association of University Professors Chapter at the University of Virginia. 

“I think faculty staff and students around the commonwealth are asking for some accountability about what’s been happening and what has happened since with the changes of university protest policies.” 

Others hoped some legislation could also be proposed for the upcoming session starting in January, but they did not have any specific ideas. 

Since the spring, Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration has urged Virginia’s colleges and universities to “take proactive steps to update policies and improve communication channels before students return this fall,” according to an Aug. 8 email quoting Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera.

VCU has made changes like requiring students to have identification when covering their faces or heads, and banning encampments on campus grounds.

In Charlottesville, the University of Virginia administration has already implemented new disciplinary and protest policies “with no student input” from faculty members and students, according to an Aug. 21 letter from AAUP Chapter at UVA.

UVA president said protest outcome ‘upsetting’; professors condemn administration’s actions

Heinecke fears the longer lawmakers wait to meet, the policy changes could negatively impact students and faculty members.

He added that the policy changes at UVA would increase the punitive nature of protesting and make it “almost near to impossible for students to protest in what is normally accepted ways of protesting.” 

Faculty members and students could also face harsher penalties, including termination or expulsion. 

“They have made it harder to protest, they have made the consequences for protesting more severe, and they are actually squelching the First Amendment rights of students both at a psychological level and a policy level,” Heinecke said.

Legislators’ response

House Majority Leader Charniele Herring, D-Alexandria, briefly spoke with the Mercury after the first meeting was canceled. However, neither the office of Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Scott, or Herring, both committee chairs, have responded to questions about the second cancellation.

Since Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, attacked Israel near the Gaza strip last October, killing 1,200, injuring hundreds, and taking hostages, demonstrators have called for a cease-fire and protested at five universities in Virginia last spring. In the resulting aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack, Israel declared war and over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed, while nearly 100,000 were injured and the health care system in Gaza has collapsed.

The Virginia demonstrations ended with more than 125 arrests at four campuses in the commonwealth — the University of Mary Washington, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia.

Since lawmakers in both chambers formed select committees in May to examine campus safety only Senate lawmakers have met, which was a contentious gathering between students, faculty members and some lawmakers.

Republicans disagreed with the hearing process, described as a “fact-finding” session, because lawmakers could not ask university leaders questions publicly. Lawmakers were urged to submit questions afterward in writing. The meeting agenda also went beyond the scope of the events, and no law enforcement agencies were directly invited to speak; instead, they were offered to comment through university leaders.

After the meeting, Capitol Police had to break up students and faculty members with opposing views. Jalajel, who identifies as a Black Palestinian, said the confrontation is an example of why Virginia’s legislature needs to get involved sooner rather than later.

“I think the climate worsens every day, and I think the sooner we have the (hearings) … maybe we’re able to make some changes before it gets worse,” Jalajel said.

A second meeting has yet to be scheduled.

Jack Leff, a recent Virginia Tech graduate arrested during the April campus protest, attempted to find more about the conversations between the House committee chairs and House Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth. However, after reviewing the responses from Leff’s records request, the offices invoked their working papers exemptions and didn’t release any correspondence. 

Leff, now an adjunct professor who identifies as Jewish, said it’s important for lawmakers to investigate the campus protests to ensure the First Amendment rights of everyone, including Palestinian and Jewish activists, are honored.

“Abandoning their responsibility to protect Palestinian, Jewish, and activist students is a failure to uphold First Amendment rights,” Leff said, adding that it’s truly “undemocratic not to be investigating universities more in response to these protests.”

Leff said he’s concerned about losing his position as an adjunct professor for participating in the encampment at Virginia Tech in the spring. Despite his “strong” teaching record, he said Virginia Tech failed to renew his contract as a teacher following his arrest.

Oliver Nicholson, a senior at Virginia Tech, experienced a similar issue at an encampment at the University of Virginia. Even though the court dismissed the charges against him, and Nicholson said he regained the job he lost, he is now concerned about losing his job again.

He said the House holding its hearings could help everyone understand what happened at Virginia’s universities in response to the continuing conflict.

“I think having an official institution like the Virginia Senate, like the Virginia House, record it and show ‘Hey, here’s what the encampment is about,’ here’s what students endured, here’s how safe it actually was,’ rather than whatever demonization you saw on social media, I think that’s very valuable as providing truth and clarity on the issue,” Nicolson said. “So yeah, it’s disheartening to me that so many of these meetings have been canceled or pushed back. I would like to see them reinstated.”

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Rally attendees in day-glo orange vests and “make America great again” hats waved red and blue signs that said “Trump will fix it” to to the tune “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond on the last Saturday before the Nov. 5 election in Salem, Virginia. 

Seats in the Salem Civic Center filled slowly as rally attendees made their way through security then awaited the arrival of former President Donald Trump. 

The late-campaign visit to a state that is polling in the double-digits for Vice President Kamala Harris has left some scratching their heads, much like a recent visit to New Mexico by the former president. New Mexico, like Virginia, is rated “likely Democrat” by Cook Political, and recent polling has supported that analysis. 

The Trump campaign believes Virginia is in play for Republicans, however, and they are seeking to run up their vote totals in the reliably red region of the state. 

Del. Wendell Walker, R-Lynchburg, who attended the rally, had a different take on why the Republican candidate would choose to make one of his last campaign stops before the election in Virginia. 

Walker noted that, while Virginia may not be “in play like other states,” Trump is able to galvanize voters in Southwest Virginia. 

“Right here, in small-town Salem, Virginia — he could have gone to other cities but this shows you that he cares about the folks that are suffering from Hurricane Helene and he cares about the grassroots people here,” he said. “You look at all these folks out here, this is the backbone of America, and the backbone of America loves Donald Trump.”

In play or not, about 6,000 people from around the region attended the rally

A head-to-toe American flag print, a Super Mario costume with a “MAGA” red hat, a child in an Oscar the Grouch costume. From elected officials and candidates in three-piece suits to attendees in garbage bags decorated with Trump stickers — a play on recent controversial remarks by President Joe Biden — rallygoers wore their political leanings on their sleeves, literally. 

Biden had appeared to suggest the Trump supporters were “garbage,” in response to a comic at the candidate’s recent rally at Madison Square Garden who called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage.” The comic’s comment sparked widespread outrage against both him and Trump. It was just as quickly overshadowed by Biden’s controversial remark. 

“It was just like Hillary calling us all deplorables and now he’s calling us trash,” Linda Kampersal, a rally attendee said. “It’s typical of the Democrats.”

Kampersal, a 68-year-old, lifelong Republican and retired resident of Lynchburg, wore a black plastic garbage bag adorned with Trump campaign stickers. She said she voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020. 

“I just wanted to show my support for him. Everytime they throw something at him he responds in a good way, it just makes him all that more popular so I just want to support him by wearing this,” she said. 

Aaron Will, a 39-year-old law-enforcement officer and resident of Augusta County, drove an hour south to attend the rally. Though he identifies as an independent, Will said he voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020. He wore a T-shirt with a photo of Trump and text that read: “I’m voting for the convicted felon.”

“I haven’t always voted Republican, I vote on the candidate and the morals and the values that I want to see, but I do like Trump a lot,” he said. “I think the felony convictions will be overturned eventually, it’s taking some time right now. I don’t agree with them.”

Thousands of supporters of the former president in the Southwest Virginia Republican stronghold were animated on the weekend before the Nov. 5 election. They did the wave to Kid Rock’s “Bawitdaba” while waiting for Trump to take the stage. 

They cheered raucously during warm-up speeches by congressional hopefuls state Sen. John McGuire and incumbent Rep. Morgan Griffith and U.S. Senate candidate Hung Cao. Virginia’s gubernatorial hopeful Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, Attorney General Jason Miyares and Gov. Glenn Youngkin also addressed the crowd. 

Members of the Roanoke College swim team also made an appearance on stage with Trump, wearing pink T-shirts that read, “Keep [image of a hotdog in a bun] out of women’s sports.” Team captain Lily Mullens, a senior at the school from Ohio, told the crowd that “anti-women” policies have allowed “men to compete against women of all ages in all sports.”

Mullens’ comment is related to a 2023 controversy when a trans woman requested to join the college’s swim team. A monthlong controversy ensued, involving almost-daily meetings between both the women’s and men’s teams, swim staff and school administration, as well as the trans athlete, who had not been publicly named.

Late-game ‘Get Out the Vote’ push in Virginia

Sara Poorman, a 39-year-old West Virginia resident, drove to Salem on Saturday morning for the rally. 

“We just felt like it’s too important, not to just sit back and watch. We need to be a part of it and supporting [Trump] and trying to be there and get everybody out to vote,” she said.

Poorman said she had been a lifelong Democrat up until the 2020 election, when she felt compelled to stick with the incumbent president because the economy had been on an upturn and the rate of immigration was relatively low in the three years of Trump’s presidency before the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the stage, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley encouraged the crowd to make a last ditch effort to get out the vote with just three days left until the Nov. 5 election. 

“When you deliver Virginia, we’re going to expand our majority in the House and by God send Donald J. Trump back to the White House,” he told the crowd.

Trump took the stage about an hour and a half after he was scheduled to begin his remarks. His tardiness didn’t appear to dampen the crowd’s enthusiasm. They erupted into a roaring ovation as he took the stage after their “We want Trump” chant was answered.

“I’m here today in this incredible commonwealth for one very simple reason, because I believe we can win Virginia,” Trump told the crowd. “We have to get you guys out, you’ve got to get out, we have to get out. We want to win everything, we want to win the popular vote.”

Seventy-year-old Leesa Oakes, a retired Salem resident, said she had been in line waiting to get inside of the event center since 5:30 a.m. that morning. She said she voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020 and will vote for him again this year. She’s concerned about the country’s economic stability and said she believes she will need to return to work if Trump doesn’t win. 

“I wish the candidates themselves would talk more about their policies and quit badmouthing the other,” she said. “Tell us what you’re going to do to help us.”

Over the course of his 1.5-hour speech, Trump talked about the Roanoke College swim team, immigration, Elon Musk, promised to “drill baby drill,” and asked Miyares to investigate former Speaker of House Nancy Pelosi’s connection with Visa, while weaving in some questions about the validity of the upcoming election.

Besides the presidential candidates, we have more than 500 local candidates seeking office across Southwest and Southside. See who they are and where some of them stand in our Voter Guide.

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