This is about to be one of the best games of the weekend. Pitt travels to Blacksburg, Virginia, on Friday night to face Virginia Tech, and if you don’t have anything to do that evening, please watch the entrance to this game. Blacksburg is going to be absolutely nuts.

Now, if you’re a newer college football fan, you may not fully understand that Virginia Tech was at one point a national power in this sport. And frankly, for a long time, they have not been relevant. But being able to get James Franklin and inject a ton of hype and energy into this program has changed the conversation.

This is Virginia Tech’s first real chance on a national stage to showcase what this program truly is under Franklin’s leadership.

Pitt’s offense is efficient, but there’s a ceiling for what the Panthers can show in this game

The Pittsburgh Panthers bring a highly efficient offense into this matchup. Mason Heintschel is a good quarterback, but honestly, he beats down on lower levels of competition and hasn’t played the best brand of football against higher-level opponents. That distinction matters here. Virginia Tech isn’t some pushover, and if Heintschel can’t elevate his game against better talent, Pitt is going to have problems.

And you may say, Pitt’s offense has been rolling. Sure, the numbers look nice. But when you actually look at who they’ve been putting up those numbers against, the picture gets a lot less convincing. This is the kind of game where that gap between beating up on weaker teams and performing against legitimate competition shows itself.

Virginia Tech plays a different brand of football under James Franklin

Virginia Tech can beat you through the ground, through the air. They’re not overwhelmingly strong in one area or another, but they can get the job done regardless because there are a ton of Penn State transfers on this roster, and their overall talent level is a little bit underrated. Franklin brought bodies with him, and those bodies can play.

And for me, I want to see Virginia Tech have their defining moment. I’m living by the rule I had with James Franklin at Penn State: he’s going to beat the teams he should beat, and he’s going to lose to the teams he should lose to. Virginia Tech is favored in this game. That’s how it works with Franklin. He doesn’t pull off upsets, but he doesn’t get upset in spots like this either. That consistency is boring, but it’s real.

If you want my prediction, I have Virginia Tech winning. And it’s rooted in the fact that I think Mason Heintschel has a key turnover in this game. He’s had some pretty bad ones in his past, and against a Blacksburg crowd that is going to be electric on a Friday night, that kind of pressure creates exactly the type of moment where a costly mistake changes everything. That turnover is going to be the difference.

If you’re not excited for this game, I don’t know what to tell you. I truly believe Virginia Tech gets their defining moment under James Franklin, and Blacksburg delivers the kind of Friday night atmosphere that reminds everyone why college football is the best sport in the entire country.