Posted by ESPN.com’s Heather Dinich

Before the season started, and before star running back Darren Evans was lost for the season with a knee injury, Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said he thought his team had what it takes to contend for the national title.

After the loss to Alabama, and an embarrassing start to the season for the ACC, Beamer said he thought the ACC was still capable of producing a national title contender, but he didn’t say who. Last week it looked like it could be Miami.

	Bob Donnan/US Presswire
	Frank Beamer's Hokies put together their most complete game of the season in beating Miami last Saturday.

This week it looks more like Virginia Tech. And all Beamer wants to talk about is Duke.

“I think we’ve got to worry about Duke right now,” he said. “That’s the key to this thing, keeping your mind right on Monday’s practice and what we can do to get better today and get ready to play a great game this weekend.”

It’s the one-game-at-a-time coachspeak to be expected, but considering what Virginia Tech has done so far -- won three straight games, including two against ranked opponents -- the Hokies are still in the mix for more than the ACC title. It’s possible that Virginia Tech’s lone loss so far came to the best team in the country in Alabama. And all of the Hokies’ opponents are undefeated against other competition. Strength of schedule should not be an issue with this team, as the Hokies won’t face one FCS team this season.

“It’s been a tough stretch here against quality football teams,” Beamer said. “Hopefully as I’ve said before, that will help us become a better football team. And I think it did Saturday. Saturday certainly gives you hope. For the whole football team.”

And for the ACC.

With the exception of Florida, Alabama and Texas, there are no clear-cut front-runners for this year’s national title. The door is wide open for a one-loss team like Virginia Tech to crash the SEC-Big 12 party. But the key is finishing the rest of the season undefeated, and that will be difficult.

A road trip to Georgia Tech, North Carolina, a road trip to East Carolina, and a home game against an NC State team that should be even better come late November make an upset somewhere along the way likely.

“We’ve played hard all along,” Beamer said. “To me that’s the key to it, is to keep playing hard, keep getting better.”

If the Hokies play better than they did against Miami -- and that was a complete game -- then Virginia Tech should play its way into the top five before the season is over.