CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Virginia Tech opens its fourth season under Brent Pry with a marquee game against South Carolina in Atlanta on Aug. 31, marking a meeting of two programs with deep ties to one family.

The Gamecocks are coached by Shane Beamer, the son of former longtime Hokies coach Frank Beamer. Frank Beamer coached Virginia Tech for 29 years with a run as a perennial bowl team — including playing for the national championship for the 1999 season — while winning 238 games.

So Pry faced a tough question: who will Beamer be rooting for?

“He loves Virginia Tech an awful lot but he loves his son first,” Pry said with a chuckle. “I think if you ask Frank’s wife, she’d be like, ’My son is where it’s at, you kidding me?’”

Pry said he had mentioned the opener to Beamer.

“He said, ’I ju

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