2016 Virginia Tech Hokies football team


The 2016 Virginia Tech Hokies football team represented Virginia Tech in the 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Hokies were led by first-year head coach, Justin Fuente and played their home games at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia. Since 2004, Virginia Tech has played in the Atlantic Coast Conference and is currently in its Coastal Division.
The Hokies finished the 2016 season with a regular season record of 9–3, winning its sixth ACC Coastal Division title. The Hokies played Clemson in the ACC Championship Game; Clemson won the game, 42–35.
Virginia Tech played Arkansas in the Belk Bowl on December 29, 2016. Arkansas took a 24–0 lead into halftime. However, in the second half, several Arkansas turnovers along with defensive adjustments, allowed Virginia Tech to score 35 unanswered points and win, 35–24. The comeback was the greatest in the team's 124-year history.
The Hokies finished the season with a record of 10–4, and ranked #16 in both the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll.

Personnel

Coaching staff

Schedule

‡ – Current NCAA record for largest attendance for a collegiate football game.

Game summaries

Liberty

vs. Tennessee

Overall recordLast meetingResult
3–52009VT, 37–14

Boston College

Overall recordLast meetingResult
16–82015VT, 26–10

East Carolina

Overall recordLast meetingResult
13–72014ECU, 35–28

North Carolina

Overall recordLast meetingResult
20–11–62015UNC, 30–27

at Syracuse

Overall recordLast meetingResult
8–92003VT, 51–7

Miami (FL)

Overall recordLast meetingResult
13–202015MIA, 30–20

at Pittsburgh

Overall recordLast meetingResult
8–72015PITT, 17–13

at Duke

Overall recordLast meetingResult
14–92015DUKE, 45-43

Georgia Tech

Overall recordLast meetingResult
9–42015VT, 23–21

at Notre Dame

Virginia

Overall recordLast meetingResult
55–37–52015VT, 23–20

vs. Clemson–ACC Championship Game

Overall recordLast meetingResult
12–20–12012CLEM, 38–17

vs. Arkansas–Belk Bowl

Honorary #25 Beamer Jersey

At the start of the 2016 season, Head Coach Justin Fuente began a tradition of selecting an outstanding special teams player to wear the #25 jersey in honor of former head coach, Frank Beamer, who wore #25 as a player for Virginia Tech.
The players honored in the 2016 season are:
GameOpponentPlayer
Game 1LibertySteven Peoples
Game 2TennesseeSean Huelskamp
Game 3Boston CollegeTim Settle
Game 4East CarolinaGreg Stroman
Game 5North CarolinaCam Phillips
Game 6SyracuseJoey Slye
Game 7MiamiAnthony Shegog
Game 8PittsburghDivine Deablo
Game 9DukeChuck Clark
Game 10Georgia TechAdonis Alexander
Game 11Notre DameCJ Carroll
Game 12VirginiaSam Rogers
Game 13ClemsonWoody Baron
Belk BowlArkansasTerrell Edmunds

Rankings