Franklin brought in more than just a quarterback. Duke transfer receiver Que'Sean Brown (846 yards, 5 touchdowns last season) and Oklahoma offensive tackle transfer Howland give Virginia Tech real skill-position and trench upgrades, while a veteran linebacker room anchored by Wylie and Santiago gives the defense a floor even while everything else on this roster gets used to a new system.
Boston College isn't without answers. The Eagles return 6 of 8 defensive backs who logged 200-plus snaps last year, which at least gives O'Brien a defensive identity to lean on while the offense figures itself out. They also went and got running back help — Liberty transfer Evan Dickens and Maryland transfer Nolan Ray — to fix what was the second-worst ground game in the ACC last season. It's not nothing. It's just a lot to ask to show up fully formed in Week 4.
This is also the fifth time Virginia Tech has opened ACC play against Boston College, and the Hokies are 3-1 in the previous four meetings. History and roster talent both point the same direction here — Virginia Tech has the proven skill talent, the more experienced quarterback, and a coach who was, for better or worse, a Big Ten head coach a year ago. Boston College is starting over at nearly every skill position with a transfer QB who spent the last 3 years at Division II Saginaw Valley State.
None of that guarantees Franklin a clean debut. His track record against ranked competition at Penn State — 4-21 by the numbers that skeptics keep bringing up — is exactly why some fans are hedging their excitement even after a loaded transfer class. Boston College isn't a ranked team, though, and this game reads much more like a proving ground than a measuring stick. If Virginia Tech's portal additions gel even a little faster than Boston College's, this could get out of hand in the fourth quarter.