Date Opponent
Sept. 5 VMI
Sept. 12 Old Dominion
Sept. 19 at Maryland
Sept. 26 at Boston College *
Oct. 2 Pitt *
Oct. 10 at California *
Oct. 17 Georgia Tech *
Oct. 24 at Clemson *
Oct. 31 OPEN
Nov. 6/7 at SMU *
Nov. 14 Stanford *
Nov. 20 at Miami *
Nov. 28 Virginia *
https://theacc.com/documents/2026/1/26//2026_FB_Logo_Schedule_Graphic.pdf
https://theacc.com/documents/2026/1/26//2026_ACC_Football_Schedule_Team_...
https://theacc.com/news/2026/1/26/acc-unveils-2026-football-schedule.aspx
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Comments
Brutal road schedule, at least BC is in September so we don't have to brave the elements.
My prediction 7-5
Wins: VMI, ODU, UMD, BC, Cal, Stanford, UVA
Losses: SMU, Miami
Toss-ups: Pitt, GT, Clemson,
SMUI think we lose the toss-ups, but we could pull one off to finish 8-4
I counted this 40 times before I realized SMU was in two categories
I agree with this assessment though
Lol fixed
November Miami though so who knows
I was going to say that I think it's more of October that's the issue, but then I looked it up and he was 3-8 in November in his first 3 years and is now 7-9 after going 4-1 this year.
With Franklin being a high profile coach coming into the conference, I'm a little surprised there wasn't more effort to try to open the season with a more high profile game. Maybe its just not logistically possible for the conference to shift things around hoping to get a profile spot on ABC/ESPN window week 1 or week 2. Football wise, that wouldn't really benefit us. It's kinda nice opening up with a soft schedule with so many new parts. But ratings and money wise, that could have been a worthwhile boost.
If we can manage a 2-0 start, Maryland should be a decent broadcast 4:00 start and have good ratings (FSU vs Bama is definitely going to be the primetime game).
100%
A VT-JMU game week one would do good numbers especially with all the cupcake games that weekend.
It would've been nice if we could swing that, but given that JMU wasn't week one to begin with, they might not've been able to move it.
I'm pretty sure that's why we cancelled JMU in the first place, vice VMI. If JMU was week one, and VMI week three, we would've cancelled VMI.
Who is going to watch that game that isn't already going to watch VT to see what Franklin puts on the field. JMU brings nothing additional to that equation.
As opposed to a game vs VMI?
-Casual Hokies who aren't necessarily invested in Franklin but want bragging rights over their JMU friends/coworkers
-Hokies who don't want to watch a drubbing of an FCS school but would tune in to gleefully watch a drubbing of JMU
-Depending on what channel it's on, people who might not have that channel, but I would guess a game vs JMU would be on ACCN or ESPN2 instead of ACCNX or ESPNU
-Virginians that know both Hokies and Dukes and want to see what happens
-People who want to see if JMU can beat us again
-People who know who JMU is now that they've made the playoff and see "JMU vs VT & James Franklin" and tune in
-JMU fans (22,000 students) plus large alumni base vs VMI fans (1,560 students) and small alumni base and maybe Mel Brooks. Hell, JMU has more students than BC and probably a larger alumni base
-Florida and Louisiana fans who want to see Billy Napier fail
-General Billy Napier haters (SEC, FSU, Miami)
-Sun Belt rival fans scouting how good JMU will be this year
-UVA fans hoping for another JMU win, or hate watching both teams
-Indiana fans (largest alumni base in the country) who may have an affinity for JMU because of Cignetti
You found TWO of them? Do they have share custody for the spring fling, and cant be seen at the same place at the same time?
Looking at the schedule, my best guess - and I would be pretty happy with it - is going 6-5 through 11 games, then closing out the season with wins vs. Virginia and the bowl game opponent to go 8-5.
Penn State seems to win about 80% of their bowl games. Probably not that high, but it feels like it to me given that they are my most disliked team in any sport at any level. Thinking Franklin will bring that 'take the bowl game seriously' mentality that a lot of other coaches don't and we pull that out.
Anything better than 8-5 is very good and I'd be very happy barring something really skewed like starting 9-0 and then totally folding up at the end to go 9-4 or 10-3.
80% not under Franklin he was 6-6
What caught my eye is how HOKIE Nation will be rocking Bank of America Stadium for a nooner on December 5th!
This season, I thought that ESPN was upset about having such a weak championship game in primetime, until I realized that they probably didn't mind having a weak counter to the Big Ten game on Fox.
But this year, Big 12 is on Friday, Big 10 is on NBC (probably in primetime). I guess no matter how you slice it, putting the ACC at noon is a better draw than going against the Big Ten in primetime. If the ACC game sucks again, it's buried at noon, and one of the G5 games will probably get buried by the Big Ten. If it's good, it's not against another power conference game.
November is brutal. I think there are 7 or 8 wins there for Franklin but he's gotta start hot to get there. If we go into November at 6-2 or better I think that would be a great start. Then November could be a defining month for us.
Idk if November is really "brutal". We should be able to handle Stanford at home and if we improve and UVA declines even slightly we should be able to nav that one at home. And entering November with a bye week is extremely beneficial. It's definitely manageable but will likely end 2-2 which is decent for a rebuilding year.
I like that the season ramps up competitive wise throughout the year. Very winnable games in September, should be good competitive games in October and then a "prove yourself" November. I expect 7 wins but would love to eek out 9.
This is football not basketball. Hoops 'eeks out wins'-they are scary as hell at end of game minutes; ; Football may very well EKE them out but I hope don't EEK them out...
Definitely going to SMU this year. That looks like a fun place
The ACC did at least recognize the travel burden and provided a more manageable travel schedule. No two week on the road back-to-back except for Week 3 and 4. Provided a bye between @ Clemson and @SMU. VT has an 8-day week for traveling to Cal with the Pitt home game on Friday the week before.
Short week for a Friday game at Miami though.
If SMU ends being on Friday, that would be three Friday games on the season. I think that's good for viewership. Idk how Fridays generally do, but probably better than midday Saturday on the ACC Network.
Yes but for a team that is pretty geographically centered, we still log a ton of miles again going @ BC and @ Miami in the same season, only way to make it worse would be @ Cuse instead of BC and they toss in @SMU and @ California for good measure. So nearly have to travel to the most Southern, Western, AND northern conference opponent. There are 6-7 teams that are a bus ride away. could have had us travel to UNC instead of BC our SMU.
Um. At Cal?
I missed it and then edited before you posted, leaving you hanging. my bad
Yea, I guess that is my point. It's a good schedule outcome for the amount of traveling.
When the schedule was first released without dates, we knew it was a lot of miles. And worse case traveling scenarios would be something like a three week schedule of: @BC, @Cal, and @Miami. Instead, VT has a home game or bye in between the travel.
I think Friday nights are the new Thursday nights, now that the NFL is playing on Thursday, and I'm happy to be playing then. Thursdays did well for us back in the day, and I think Fridays will do the same now.
Plus, you only need to take one day off of work to tailgate hard.
The only Friday that REALLY sucks is the Black Friday games. I always felt bad for all the out-of-towners that not only had to travel and deal with large family gatherings for turkey day, but then travel again the next day to see the Hokies play.
I've always thought a thanksgiving day game would be fun. But my family doesn't have any thanksgiving traditions we feel strongly about.
Not until we start playing on Thanksgiving Day, then the tradition you'd feel strongly about is beating UVA....
Stadium would be empty if it was on Thanksgiving
I went to a backyard brawl on thanksgiving and it was packed
You think? I'd love to spend all day tailgating on thanksgiving. Sounds better than the alternative. I feel like the egg bowl and Texas vs tamu frequently sold out thanksgiving day games, but maybe I'm misremembering?
I think the hardest part about a Turkey day game would be all the unsung heroes that would be called in to give up their (family) holiday to support all the hundreds of jobs that go into having a football game. Much less us coaches, players and fans who really enjoy the event.
That's a great point.
On the flip side, there's probably a lot of people who would almost be willing to pay to be able to work that day if it keeps them away from crazy relatives.
Egg Bowl and Texas vs A&M are very different from the Commonwealth Cup. Mississippi revolves around that rivalry year round. They don't have anything else, the Egg Bowl may be the single most important day on the calendar for 90% of the population.
Texas does to a lesser extent, but still much more than Virginia. Both Texas stadiums have over 100k capacity. Blacksburg is a small town and much more distant from population centers and alumni bases, that's why the stadium is rarely full for the UVA game and part of why students don't come back. Austin has a population of nearly 1 million and College Station has a population 120k. Blacksburg is 44k and Charlottesville is 46k. But let's look at the metro area populations
-Greater Austin: 2.5 million
-Bryan-College Station: 287k
-Blacksburg-Christiansburg (182k) plus Roanoke (315k) metros: 497k
-Charlottesville: 227k
So by combining two metros, Blacksburg has a large population to pull from. But College Station is closer to larger population centers as well. It's 2 hours from Austin, 3 hours from San Antonio (metro 2.7 million), 2 hours from Houston (7.8 million), 3 hours from Dallas (8.3 million), 1.5 hours from Waco (307k), and 2 hours from Killeen (500k).
Blacksburg pulls from fewer, farther, and lower population metros: 4 hours from DC/Nova (6.4 million), 2 hours 45 minutes from Charlotte (2.8 million), 5 hours from Virginia Beach (1.7 million), 3.5 hours from Raleigh-Durham (1.5 million), 3.5 hours from Richmond (1.3 million).
Yea, I'm convinced that this would be a bad idea for VT/UVA.
But I maintain that, selfishly, I would much rather tailgate and eat tailgate food than doing typical thanksgiving stuff.
Since I cook a standing rib roast for Thanksgiving, we do both.
Just for fun, to put a bow on it. From the 6 closest large metros
-22.1 million people can travel to College Station in a total of 13.5 hours
-14 million people can travel to Blacksburg in a total of 23.25 hours (this includes Roanoke)
I like doing both.
I love having a game to watch on Friday, in ADDITION to the Thanksgiving festivities.
My high school football team played their rival town on Thanksgiving on the nearby universities field every year.
I don't think we want to compete with the NFL's all day Thanksgiving lineup of games.
Why not? It's perfect. Host Thanksgiving, and then say GTFO, I'm leaving tomorrow morning eeeeearly! ;^)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia%E2%80%93Virginia_Tech_football_rivalry
Been there done that in the past! First Night Game in Lane Stadium , Thanksgiving Day,November 25, 1982, Virginia, W 21–14.
"Since 1990, the game has nearly always been held in late November, often on Thanksgiving weekend. The scheduling of this rivalry has taken the place of Virginia's South's Oldest Rivalry game versus North Carolina, which was played on Thanksgiving Day every year between 1910 and 1950 (save for when the programs disbanded during World War I).[a] It has also taken the place of the VMI–Virginia Tech football rivalry which was held on Thanksgiving Day up through 1971. In 1964, the UVA–VPI[b] game began alternating between Lane Stadium and Scott Stadium on the campuses of the two universities. Previously, the series was sometimes played in Richmond, Norfolk, and at Victory Stadium in Roanoke.[c]"
All the Hokies with kids playing high school ball would like a word.
Who did we add in place of JMU?
one of the ACC schools. probably SMU hoping we wouldn't notice the difference on the schedule.
@SMU was the additional game, which was easy to tell because it was an away game.
The sneaky move was swapping out NC State for Stanford as one of our home games. That doesn't make sense, considering that all they needed to get a ninth game was count the uva game as a conference matchup.
Who makes the decisions about our conference/non-conference schedules?
The conference.
Well it was either them or the non-conference!
So do we just decide on the non-conference games?
Other than the mandates from the conference like "you must play 1 Power team OOC" or "here are the years that you play Notre Dame", each school makes its own non-conference schedule.
We went to nine ACC games.
There are only 2 games on this schedules that are preseason L's. Miami and SMU. Every other game is winnable. Not guaranteed but definitely winnable. And the ACC actually gave us a pretty decent travel schedule. We'll, about as good as it could've been. It is still shit but could've been worse.
Given the amount of roster turnover, I have not clue what's winnable and what's not.
Bingo, dont know squat about our team, and definitely dont know what other teams on schedule will look like come September
Whenever I see your username, this is the first thing that pops in my mind.
Dang (ham bone), this is 13 years old. Time flies.
That November stretch looks brutal.
But then again, maybe we begin to really gel in October. Remember, the OL should be better, at least marginally; we have a great run game; and we have a QB who can throw a forward pass. If the defense can be serviceable I can see us getting to 7, maybe 8, wins.
I don't think i've ever seen the game could be one of two days on the schedule before. When will they decide which day the SMU game will be played?
The Cal game from this past season was originally announced as a Thursday or Friday game. They announced it as a Friday game in March.
It was just so they could put 6/7 on the schedule. /s
I can't believe that the ACC rewarded Miami for going to the national championship by having them play opening week AT Stanford.
id rather play that weekend away than any others, means you can travel ahead of time at your own pace. it means more hone games later when you're banged up. which is better.
Miami's schedule looks like it is set up to ensure Miami makes it to the ACCCG this year. Stanford has a new, unproven coach and a weak roster, so might as well get that travel done week 1. It is weird to get FAMU on 6 days rest after cross-country travel, so assuming they don't implode there, the rest is pretty easy. Hardest ACC away game is at Clemson right after Clemson travels to Cal. They avoid SMU, GT, and UL. And November is at ND (hardest game on schedule, but not ACC) and then 3 home games, so no cold games.
The ACC gifted Miami the Big10 OSU treatment.
Friday games fetch more eyes, which means more money for the good guys. November is going to show us how tough our guys really are, because there are going to be some times where we may need a strong response after a loss.
We gotta start finding a way to get more than 6 home games every year
Next year it's 7, then 6 in 2028, then 7 in 2029.
It's definitely harder when the ACC schedule is 4 home games and 5 away games.
In an ideal situation, we would have our P4 non-con game alternate with the ACC schedule.
But with us being us, our Maryland series is exactly backwards. We play at Maryland in the years where we have 5 away ACC games.
The only way to do that is to have more than 12 games in a season or schedule a lot more FCS and G5 schools.
Am I crazy to think we can start off 7-0?
VMI should be over by halftime
ODU doesn't have a QB on the roster who's thrown 100 times or 1000 combined yards between the two of their experienced QBs despite 4 combined years' of experience.
Maryland finished last year with a worse power ranking than we did.
BC was even worse than Maryland
Pitt is is the most likely loss of the first half of the schedule, but in the last 3 years they are a combined 18-20 (11-13). A poor start and Nardz might be on the hot seat, if not already fired. Also, Nardz is only 3-2 in Blacksburg.
We beat Cal last year.
Georgia Tech is only 1-1 in Blacksburg under Key. Key is only 10-10 on the road.
We should be 0-2 against GT in Blacksburg. Don't know how we won that one, but it was beautiful, because my sister (GT alumna) and nephew were at the game with me that day.
Last year was easy because we didnt really improve the team in the offenses season. Hawkins and Stewart were great pick up but they weren't tuten (though I am excited to see Hawkins this year).
This year is tough for me. We have a lot of improved talent but I don't know if its the right talent. Oline should be better, but how much and pass protection is needed. QB should be better passing but not really a runner which means easier to defend than with a running qb (doesn't mean easy to defend). Im not sure we are better at WR but we will find out was drones ball watchable or were the WRs just not great. TE we improved, but needed the least improvement. DLine should be better, LBs im still not sold on, and CBs we got a couple of highly rated guys.
I am going with 5-7
Outside of RB there are just so many questions and unknowns from injury luck to productivity at every position.
This year is just so hard because we brought in a lot of young talent but not a ton of production so who knows what we will look like. I think 5-7 this year turns into 9 wins in year 2 depending on our schedule. I just think we got one of the most brutal schedules in the ACC this year. I do agree with whomever said it in this thread that this is the best schedule with these teams, cause Pitt is at home which is infinitely more winnable. The only way to make this schedule harder would be @pitt, replace BC with UofL. And replace Stanford with @cuse.
This is about where I am at, although I am leaning toward 6-6, with toss-up on bowl game, since those are basically a waste nowadays unless you make it to the playoffs, thanks to the portal, draft, et al.
VMI is a win, ODU is probably a win but I don't know what they have on their roster. UMd is a toss up, but we can make that a home crowd, I'm planning on going. And Franklin really wants this one. BC should win as they were 1 of 9 p4 teams that didn't beat a winning FBS team last year (thank you cal). Stanford is the other game we should win. UVA is a toss up until i see more from both teams.
To be honest, given the opponents and distance traveled, this is about as good as the schedule could be. We don't have a single back to back road game (except for MD/BC). Our bye is in between our two of our three toughest opponents.
Also, someone double check me, but it looks like stanford is the only team that has a bye the week before they play us.
Before the VT-Clemson matchup, VT has 7 weeks straight of games and Clemson has a week 6 bye and a week 7 matchup with Charleston Southern.
Meh. Someone will poach Dabo's QB the week before they play us and we'll move on.
This made me laugh.
This is a good point on the travel, but I think in terms of high end potential, this is a pretty brutal schedule, relative to the ACC. Getting 3 out of 4 games on the road against Clemson, SMU, and Miami is pretty brutal, regardless of the bye week inbetween Clemson and SMU. We might be limping into that Clemson game with injuries/exhaustion as well.
There's a non-zero chance that those 3 teams are in the top 5 of the ACC, and even if Clemson doesn't bounce back, it's still a talented team on the road.
I know it's a road game in the sense that travel is involved, but having heard Kirshner talk about the vibes around the UMD fandom (especially when retaining locksley) combined with the number of VT alums in the DMV area, that could very well feel like a home game for us.
When VT plays at SECU (Byrd) Stadium, it's NOT a home game for the Terps.
Two schedule updates were announced today:
-SMU is now on Friday, November 6th, it was previously either the 6th or 7th.
-Miami has been moved to Saturday, November 21st instead of being on Friday, November 20th.
I saw that as well... WHY is Friday night college football even a thing? WHY can we 1) not let the HS kids get an evening to themselves, and 2) not force an extra day off from work to travel for a game?
Friday night and Thursday night games helped the Hokies build their brand in the heyday. It gives you a time slot that you dont have to compete with the SEC for prime time TV slots. HS football these days is played Thursday, Friday and Saturday so not really a night to themselves. Thursday nights in Lane used to be electric. Sorry if that screws with your work schedule but not that sorry.
I think the NFL playing on Thursdays has driven the move to more NCAA Friday night games.
Agree it has a big impact and makes Friday more appealing.
Historically, Thursday night did this, not Friday night. And, there aren't a whole lot of Thursday night high school games. At least not unless is some sort of huge match-up or special event.
As a former HS coach, I am 1000% in agreement with the poster above that we should leave Friday nights for the HS kids; for a whole host of reasons.
Friday = high school
Saturday = college
Sunday = NFL
Friday night football is fun to watch at the bar, but I never liked us playing Thursday or Friday especially when I was in school. I don't like NFL Thursday nights either. I like the cleanliness of the above. Each level has its day and each day of the weekend you progress up a level.
These days its about the availability of bus drivers vs quantity of games in many cases why you see games spread across multiple days at the high school level.
I've seen this. But again, it isn't the norm.
What is the norm is Friday nigh lights. Communities come together; young athletes compete; and parents enjoy, with pride, watching their sons (or daughters if they cheer or are in the band) perform.
I'm sorry, but Friday nights are bad for VT and for every other fledgling college football program out there trying to take the next step.
Some daughters play. Our rival high school had a female linebacker, and was like 2nd team all-district or something. That was also 1997 so our little backwoods county schools were way ahead of times you could say.
High school games in our area are being played Thursday/Friday/Saturday sometimes mainly due to lack of officials. I know some guys who will work 3 games a week.
Is it really surprising that fewer folks want to be yelled at by psychos when they make decisions at their side gig?
Well aware of the brand we built (and let collapse) with the Thursday night games... Friday nights I dont recall being a thing until well after I graduated, and I only ever remember a real odd Wednesday night MACtion style game we play 20ish years ago (can't recall if it was against Pitt or WVU, but I remember the hangover).
I can remember playing NC State in a friday night a while back. I was late because of a wreck on 81 due to bad tstorms.
That was the game where all of the TKP lot was doing jello shots under the NCState tent and the stadium was empty at kickoff. One of the most memorable home games ever.
They started doing Fridays in earnest when the NFL noticed how well Thursdays were going for college football and decided to take that night for themselves.
I actually rather like the Friday night games vs Thursday night games now that I'm an adult. Less logistics having to take a half day Thursday to get to Blacksburg and then figure out how drunk I am early Friday morning to see if I should tough out going to work or just use more vacation.
With Friday night, I'll just work a few hours in the AM, head down to Blacksburg, tailgate all day. And if there's nothing to worry about Saturday morning, I can just nurse whatever hangover I may have while watching more football.
But maybe that's just me.
Thats too bad about Miami. Means no Friday Night game where we would be a showcase rather than just part of the mix on Saturday. Seems short sighted for media and our ACC viewership ranking. Guess I shouldn't be surprised if it was an ACC/ESPN decision that they did something to lessen the viewership. Par for course.
These will likely be the prime broadcast games on that Saturday on ABC (3 of 4)
Georgia at South Carolina
LSU at Tennessee
Texas A&M at Oklahoma
Vanderbilt at Florida
These will be the ESPN Broadcast games
Whichever of the 4 above isnt selected for ABC
Arkansas at Texas
Kentucky at Missouri
Leaves Virginia Tech at Miami on ESPN2 barring us both being ranked
Arkansas went 0-fer in SEC play last year, and 2-10 overall. If VT is even remotely competent at that point in the season, I think ESPN would choose Miami VT over Ark Texas for the espn main channel.
Not to mention that the VT/Miami game on the same weekend last year got the noon slot on ESPN, and we sucked.
If Arch Manning is in the Heisman conversation Texas will be enough.
Also Ryan Silverfield is now head coach at Arkansas and signed a really solid class plus portal went well so expect them to be much better.
Arch being like top 3 in Heisman odds would give a lean toward texas yes, but the ryan silverfield angle is a 'push' at worst for us imo because we have the same story with Coach Franklin. Also Miami's new QB is a Heisman dark horse. so that could also be a 'push'
Ark should be better than they were last year, but it's the SEC still. Of their 10 games before Texas, they have Georgia, Auburn, Tamu, and Utah. other games are 3 toss ups and what should be a Lock win as well. but if we're looking at a 2-8 or 3-7 arkansas going up against Texas as opposed to a VT that has a winning record and what should be an elite Miami team, and it's a nationally relevant rivalry historically, I could see Espn picking our game vs miami
I was also going to add that SECN needs fodder for that weekend, but then I realized that we're talking about the weekend before Thanksgiving when half the SEC schedules their cupcakes, so there's Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State all sitting there with games against lower level competition.
Yep thats exactly how I saw it. Here is your SECN lineup
Chattanooga at Alabama
Tennessee Tech at Mississippi State
Samford at Auburn
Wofford at Ole Miss
We already have Pitt and SMU as Friday games. Even for the ACC and ESPN, it might be a bit much asking one team to have a quarter of their schedule on Friday.
And this does put us in the mix as a possibility for Saturday Night Football, if both teams are playing at appropriate levels.
Excellent. Miami is the only game near us and not having to pull the kids out of school to take them is solid.
Georgia tech should be on a Thursday night