Believe it or not, this is the second time in the last five years the Hokies have opened a season ranked seventh in the USA Today preseason coaches’ poll. The poll came out today, and the No. 7 ranking is actually a pretty good place to be. Starting the season low in the USA Today poll, which is one of three components that make up the BCS rankings, is no good. You want to start the season high enough to position yourself for a run at the national title if you’re good enough to get there. If the Hokies take care of business, I don’t think they’ll have to worry about getting left out of the big game. Of course, Florida and Texas will probably go undefeated and never move from No. 1 and No. 2 in the poll. It’s too early to speculate, but I think Tech should feel good about No. 7.

I went and looked up Tech’s preseason coaches’ poll rankings from the last seven years and then pulled its final rankings in those years (thanks ESPN.com). Pretty interesting stuff. I would say the Hokies have dealt pretty good with high preseason expectations, the 2003 season notwithstanding.

2002: preseason rank (16)/final rank (14)
2003: preseason rank (10)/final rank (NR)
2004: preseason rank (NR)/final rank (10)
2005: preseason rank (7)/final rank (7)
2006: preseason rank (16)/final rank (18)
2007: preseason rank (9)/final rank (9)
2008: preseason rank (15)/final rank (14)
2009: preseason rank (7)/final rank (TBD)