Give Virginia Tech Credit for Schedule

You published a letter from one of your readers in last Saturday’s paper disparaging the Virginia Tech football schedule. The reader said the Hokies had not played a team in the top 25.

The Hokies have defeated three teams ranked in the top 25 at the time the Hokies played them: LSU, Marshall and Texas A&M.; Only LSU remains in the top 25, but you can’t say this year the Hokies haven’t played quality opponents. Is the Big East as good as the Pac-10 top to bottom? Probably not. Do the Hokies deserve a No. 3 ranking? Very debatable. However, until they played each other, neither Texas nor Oklahoma had played a top-25 team. So why do those teams deserve to be ranked in the top 10? Who is to say?

James Bendel

San Clemente