2016 Virginia Tech Hokies ACC Football Championship Ring

2016 Virginia Tech Hokies ACC Football Championship Ring

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.

The 2016 ACC Championship Game was the twelfth football championship game for the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Clemson Tigers defeated the Virginia Tech Hokies 42-35. The two programs also met 5 years earlier in the 2011 ACC Championship game. The game had been played at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina since 2010, but the ACC announced it would move its neutral site championships out of North Carolina for the 2016-17 season in response to the state's controversial HB2 law.[2] The 2016 championship game was played at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida.