The Virginia Tech Hokies beat Stanford last week, but now they are on a bye week at the midway point through the season. Compared to the preseason expectations, Virginia Tech has been disappointing, but they still have an opportunity for a strong finish, to reach bowl eligibility, and possibly still be a factor in the ACC race. The Hokies only have one conference loss and are still very much in the running in the conference, but they don’t have much margin for error any more.

With the Hokies on the bye week, let’s take a look at how each ACC game could impact them this weekend.

1. Clemson at Wake Forest

This one does not have huge meaning for Virginia Tech, but it might actually help if Wake Forest won in what would be a massive upset. The Hokies play the Tigers later this season at Lane Stadium and if Wake were to win on Saturday and Virginia Tech win in November, they would have a huge edge on the Tigers in terms of tiebreakers.

2. Georgia Tech at North Carolina

Both teams are below Virginia Tech in the standings, but they do face the Yellow Jackets in a couple of weeks in Blacksburg. It would benefit them more if Georgia Tech lost this weekend just in case the Hokies drop that game on Oct. 26th.

3. Cal at Pittsburgh

Virginia Tech fans should be rooting for Cal in this game. Pitt is still undefeated in ACC play and the Hokies don’t have a chance to face their former Coastal Division rival this year either. Virginia Tech is ahead of Cal in the standings and it would be much better if the Golden Bears won.

4. Louisville at Virginia

This might be painful for Virginia Tech fans to hear, but it might be better if the Cavaliers won this weekend. While UVA does not have a conference loss this year, they are likely going to see them at some point and Virginia Tech plays them. They do not play the Cardinals, who sit just right above them in the standings and while it is fine if Louisville wins, it would be better for UVA to win, though that is unlikely.

5. Syracuse at NC State

This is another one that is fine either way. Virginia Tech travels to Syracuse next month and does not play NC State, who has been an even bigger disappointment this year than Virginia Tech does. Syracuse has just one ACC loss so far this year and that was to Stanford earlier in the year. NC State has two ACC losses, one to Clemson and one to Wake Forest. I would say it is better if NC State wins this game, but the way they are playing right now, I would not count on it.

GRAYSON COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ) – Around 400 roads in Virginia were closed when the remnants of Helene moved through over a week ago.

Since then, VDOT crews have worked around the clock to open most of them back up, with only 13 secondary roads and two primary roads left to repair.

“The fact that we are able to safely and quickly get a lot of these roads back open, it’s a testament to just how much work is being done, just around the district and across the state,” said Joey Barker, the VDOT Bristol district communications specialist.

The two main roads crews are still working on are Route 21 in Grayson County and Route 58 in Damascus. They were completely swept over by water and yards of debris, causing them to be severely damaged.

While crews are putting rocks back in to stabilize and rebuild Route 21, Barker also said they are making progress despite a few challenges.

“Just the steepness of the slope and just the sheer terrain that they have to deal with, it’s pretty tough to have to deal with that., but these guys are professionals. They’ve been doing it for a long time,“ said Barker.

Due to the extent of the damage, there is no set reopen date for Route 58 in Damascus at this time.

It is expected to take four to five weeks to reopen Route 21 in Grayson County.

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The Clemson Tigers will play their second straight game at noon eastern when they host the Virginia Cavaliers on Oct. 19, the ACC announced in association with its TV partners.

The contest will also be broadcast on the ACC Network.

This weekend’s game with Wake Forest will also be at noon and broadcast on ESPN.

The Tigers (4-1, 3-0 in ACC) are one of several teams with undefeated records in the ACC, but they are the only one that has played three league games.

One of those teams that is undefeated in league action so far is Virginia, which has won two ACC games.

Clemson moved up to No. 10 in this week’s AP Top 25, its highest ranking of the season. They are coming off a victory over Florida State, which is their fourth straight win this season.

In the aftermath of that victory, two Tigers were named award winners by the ACC. Marcus Tate took the offensive lineman of the week award while Nolan Hauser was named the specialist of the week.

Also, quarterback Cade Klubnik made the Top 25 of the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, which is awarded to the game’s best quarterback.

Clemson is coming off a win over FSU in which it rushed for 265 yards and threw for 235 yards, the third time this season the Tigers have rushed and passed for at least 200 yards in a game.

When the Tigers do that under coach Dabo Swinney the Tigers are 64-1. In program history, they are 114-1-1.

Also on Saturday, Swinney won his 174th career game, making him the winningest ACC coach in history and allowing him to pass a coach he sees as a mentor, the late Florida State legend Bobby Bowden.

Swinney is out to get the Tigers back to the top of the ACC, as they missed the game last year but won nine games and delivered a bowl game victory to Death Valley.

Since Swinney took over, the Tigers won two national titles in 2016 and 2018, eight ACC titles — including a stretch of six in a row from 2015-20 — and 10 ACC Atlantic Division titles. He’s been named coach of the year by several different organizations, including a three-time recipient of the Paul “Bear” Bryant award.