The Virginia Tech Hokies entered the 2004 college football season having gone 8–5 in 2003, culminating with a 52–49 loss to California in the 2003 Insight Bowl.[4] The 2003 season had also been Virginia Tech's final year in the Big East Conference, and Tech began the new season in the Atlantic Coast Conference.[5] Tech started the season unranked for the first time since 1998, and was picked to finish sixth (out of 11 ACC teams) in the annual ACC preseason poll, held in July.[6] The Hokies' first game in their new conference was a non-conference contest at FedEx Field in Landover, MD. against the top-ranked USC Trojans.