Virginia Tech has canceled its 2026 game against James Madison with the ACC moving to a 9-game league schedule. The Hokies will open coach James Franklin's tenure at home against VMI (Sept. 5) and Old Dominion (Sept. 12), before visiting Maryland (Sept. 19).— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) January 14, 2026
Forums:
DISCLAIMER: Forum topics may not have been written or edited by The Key Play staff.
Comments
I would've preferred that VMI had been the cancelled game. =^/
I disagree because of the fact that it's an all new staff, major player turnover, etc. Better to try and get them in tune to hopefully beat ODU before going into Maryland and ACC play
VMI will bus their Corps of Cadets to the game most likely. We could see two Corps do a pregame march on. Probably will have a military flyover of some sort. The pageantry would be missing from JMU.
That would be close to the old tradition of both Corps marching through Roanoke for the Hokies to play their Thanksgiving game. Ah, memory lane!
Yeah, did that once as a Highty Tighty. It was fun then, but well, we outgrew the rivalry and they couldn't. Still, I don't mind playing them once more for old time's sake, but the JMU game would be way more entertaining and informative.
Fair enough
Maybe the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff will attend.... I remember him as a rat @VMI.
None of that helps the bottom line. VT needs games that people will watch. TV revenue is critically important. Nobody is going to tune in for VT vs VMI. More people would be interested in JMU vs VT.
They deleted the wrong game. But IIWII. Just win the games.
What happens to our TV viewing audience if JMU comes in and blows our doors off though?
That could effect the entire season
If you think jmu without Bob Chesney is going to come into Blacksburg and blow our doors off then James Franklin was the wrong fucking hire... We can't be scared of the teams in our state. That's snowflake soft bullshit there
If you think JMU without Curt Cignetti is going to...
I get what you're saying, but Nick Saban lost to ULM in game 11 at Alabama.
It's not crazy to think JMU (they made the playoffs this year, remember?) might still be better than us in week 4 this season, even if we end up being better by the end of the season or in the long run.
Neither team is interesting enough of a win to catapult us to the top of the CFP rankings. We need to just stack wins, against the little sisters of the poor if we have to. Our viewership numbers in conference play will be MUCH better if we have a decent record and no embarrassing losses than if we tell everyone "you know, JMU is no slouch."
Regardless - I think it's less about fear of JMU and more about just stacking wins. That's all that counts right now.
I remember when people used to say these games were a lose lose situation, although JMU did just have a playoff appearance....
May be soft but first game out being ODU if we cancel VMI (and we all know how that went this year) is that a risk we want to take? Especially if you really are concerned with TV audience.
I also expect Franklin will invite all the kids he is recruiting for 2026-2028 to our first game. Do we want them to experience a blowout or a dog fight?
Napier may not have been successful at Florida but he is a light-years better coach than VMI and will have a ton of talent still at JMU.
ODU already proved they could beat us although they should be much different after losing Joseph at QB and their offensive coordinator.
If anything I would have voted ODU off the island but Franklin has ties there so doubt that was ever an option.
Also, we just restructured the agreement with ODU.
Not the best look cancelling the JMU game, but it had to be one of them. ODU is administratively messy due to the recent restructure, VMI we'd have been paying for even if we didn't play, Maryland is P4 (and Franlkin wants to destroy them reportedly) that leaves JMU.
I'd rather play (and beat) Maryland than JMU.
Aren't we required to play 10 P4 games?
UMD could not have been dropped.
This is correct. We are required to have at least one P4 OOC opponent going forward.
meh. If I were Franklin I'd rather not play Rhane. And I don't give a shit about ODU either. If it were up to me I'd have dumped ODU over JMU and VMI too. My drop priority would be ODU, VMI, JMU, MD
A stack of people will tune in, that never would have thought of it, to our first game of the season and especially that it's a homegame because there is so much curiosity regarding the very visible massive overhaul of our entire football team and organization.
And should be our "white out" game of sorts, which is the Military appreciation game.
Still holding out hope we have an OOC game with A&M at some point because of this. Should be a "home and home" rivalry game in DC and Jerry World.
Should be a home and home at our respective fields. I'm tired of neutral site games, I want to experience the other teams environment.
Yeah it's a pass on the neutral site games for me as well. I was excited for USCe to be a home and home and... nope. Can't have nice things because of TV now. Also playing in NFL stadiums is just an excuse to 1) bilk the crap out of fans and 2) it degrades the identity and brand of both schools over time. NFL stadiums are so antiseptic and bland and they don't allow for a sense of place and legend building. One less chance for an Earthquake game, etc.
I get the nostalgia people are feeling, but this was the wrong move.
Yep, totally agree. We shouldn't be playing them (VMI) anyway.
Agreed. As someone who only ever lived in VA to go to VT, I felt the same way for years about UVA, WV, Pitt when it comes to "I get it, people would feel nostalgic if we stop(ped) playing them". Miami is a bigger rivalry to me.
I have to think from a scheduling perspective its way easier to move things around for what was supposed to be a week 4 game than a week 1 game. From a fan and financial perspective I would think JMU is the better game, from a figuring out the scheduling possibilities it make things easier to just remove JMU.
Agreed, not to mention VMI needs the payday more than JMU. Also I would rather have a blowout win where we play the entire 2 deep and maybe the 3rd string in the warmup game.
Well we paid JMU a bunch of money to cancel this game... so they get a payday too.
ACC should foot the bill. They're the ones who added a 9th conference game to 12 teams' schedules but not for the other 5 teams. If the league wants to force us to replace a non-conference game that's been scheduled for years, they should pay for it.
Do we know they are not paying it? ACC may have also forced our hand on it being JMU because of when our new ACC opponent could also cancel.
We HOPE it's a blowout win... until I see actual gameplay that's all I can do. On paper we are nearly a new team in 2026. The last decade of the program, however, says we are the same until proven otherwise.
It is significantly easier to make a spectacle of our first game and with the military angle and double cadet corps and bands, etc.
From a marketing standpoint and tune-up game standpoint at games speed, this is the smart move.
I'm neither for or against this move. The scheduling changes required us to drop a game. If it was next year, it might move the needle for me, but in year one of everything changing program-wise... meh. This or the other, who cares.
Anybody, anytime, anywhere. That should be the new mantra. JMU is the best team in the state right now. To be the best, you have to beat the best. TV revenue will also be nonexistent against VMI, but whatever.
The plus side is I can troll JMU fans and say they he military rivalry means more than the school that is split by an interstate.
But really I don't like this choice.
we're not gonna play JMU again unless we wind up in the same conference as them, are we
It's not VT's fault that the ACC dropped a 9th game on us. One of the four had to go. Like it or not, it wasn't going to be ODU after we already restructured that deal. We can't drop Maryland as they are the only non-conference P4 on our schedule. I understand those that would rather play JMU than VMI but a tune up game seems really important with all the change this offseason of both coaching and personnel.
JMU fans will call it soft and continue to harp on what happened in 2011 (not like that would've stopped regardless) and what they did this year. That's fine and I truly have no hard feelings against JMU...seriously. They had a great year this year. I'm glad they got in the playoff and am happy for their fanbase.
That said, it is probably in the best interest of VT (and UVA for that matter) to not schedule JMU for the foreseeable future. They have their eyes on becoming a P4 program and I don't think either school wants to compete with them anymore than we already do in recruiting. By playing them (and likely playing them close or losing once in awhile), we just further validate that they are on an equal footing. Cut them out and they will need to convince another P4 school to play them.
The only P4 games they currently have scheduled are at Maryland in '27 and at UNC in '28. Not sure any other P4 schools are beating down the door to play them at this point either.
EDIT: They also have a game @ UCF scheduled in '29.
As others said Maryland and ODU couldn't be canceled. I also wouldn't be surprised if the VMI game was scheduled at the behest of older big $ donors who were nostalgic for the rivalry and VT didn't want to upset them.
There is no reason VT should ever play JMU, ODU, Liberty as there is zero upside for Tech. If you win, well of course you win as you are supposed to. If you lose you are the lead story on sports center for biggest collapse. Forget television ratings because no one outside of the state of VA cares about any of these games, especially when you get to week 4 when conference play starts.
If you need an out of conference warm up game, VMI (or Richmond, or W&M) is perfect. It's the first game of the season with a new coach so many VT fans will tune in regardless, you blow their doors off in an organized scrimmage and build momentum for the next week.
We should never satisfy these Group of 5 state programs by giving them a chance to think they are on our level. Don't schedule them, don't give them home games, don't even acknowledge them. LSU doesn't play Tulane for a reason and Georgia doesn't schedule GA Southern. We need to start acting like a big program and this is good first step.
Disregard and discount JMU, ODU and Liberty until they are relegated back to their roles of 2nd tier in the state and the country.
Until the "if you lose" stops happening on an annual basis across the league, I don't think we've any business calling them 2nd tier.
meh, schedules change. I don't see the attraction of long term commitments to any non-conference team. Find new teams to play. keep things fresh.
And now that Franklin is in we should be acting like the big dog. Big dogs don't need to go to a non-conference school to get in front of recruits. recruits come to the big dog.
I saw that we are paying JMU $800k for cancelling the game!? I hope the ACC is helping cover some of that otherwise this just seems like the wrong move.
I get wanting to have an "easy" game for week 1, but we should have figured out a way to move this game to week 1, potentially getting one of the Thurs or Friday national timeslots and saved the $800k.
It's the 13th game on the schedule. Someone had to be dropped.
And in this day and age, $800k isn't the sum of money it was 20 years ago in college athletics. If you are the top dog, you pay the little guy for the game, whether it's played or not. (I'm guessing the fee was at least $800k to actually play the game as well...) That's how it goes. If we want to be the top dog in VA, you need to play the role.
It would probably cost that to drop VMI too
Yeah, that's prob the basement price for in-state G5 teams. P4 is going to be higher.
And just checked, that's the fee for scheduling the game, so it's paid whether they play or not.
The original price of the game was about $400K because it was negotiated when JMU was still FCS. When they rescheduled it from 2025 to 2026 they conceded adjusting it to FBS rate of $800K. We rescheduled so we could do the Aflac Kickoff. JMU financially won three times now. They replaced us last year with Louisville at the FBS rate, thry get our cancelation check and still make money playing SDSU.
If we replaced them with an ACC contest, won't we make more from that than what we'd make playing JMU?
In-conference opponents don't exchange money to play each other; only out-of-conference teams do.
We would pay an OOC team $800k (if G5) to come to Balcksburg with the hopes that the win means something in the long run. Whether it be bowl eligibility or just an easy victory to pad the win total. There's "value" in that.
To answer your question, for a conference game we aren't starting in the hole $800k. So yes, for the day, we'd "make more from that day." But the schedule has to be filled out somehow, and this is the standard nowadays.
ACC as a whole though is getting more from the ESPN contract for the 9th games so eventually the answer is yes once VT receives its ACC payouts.
Yeah, this is what I was talking about. We ultimately get more money from this overall transaction (adding an ACC game, losing the JMU game), not less.
Gotch, yes!