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
Forums:
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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
Resurrecting this because it looks like most of the season total odds have come out. VT sits at 6.5 which I think is a perfectly fair line.
Wins: VMI, ODU, Maryland, BC Pitt (5-0 start!), Stanford, UVA
Losses: Cal, GT, Clemson, SMU (4 game slide!), Miami.
Agree with the outcome, dont agree with the individual results (mostly tongue in cheek)
This is VT we're talking about, aura transcends people and staff. We'll lose a head scratcher for some ungodly reason (let's say Pitt) and we'll win a game no one has us winning. I'll say Clemson in this case because MAN its been awhile.
That's how it used to be, but now with JMFF? Who knows?
Hedging. Under Beamer, Fuente and Pry we always lost a game we shouldn't and usually also won a game we shouldn't. Did we just happen to get 3 coaches in a row, or is VT cursed regardless of the coach?
Yeah I can see this. For reasons any time I see @ Chestnut Hill I think we're toast
I can see losing Pitt and beating Cal.
I think Cal will be pretty decent this year...couple that with a cross country trip and I just don't see it going well.
The Maryland game will be fascinating. On hand, JMFF does not lose to Maryland. On the other hand, Maryland does not lose games in September.
In all seriousness, I think we lose to MD and/or Pitt, but beat GT and/or Cal. No idea what to think of UVA this year.
Mr. James "Hoo-Hater Supreme" Gayle can give you some suggestions.
Maryland's win total odds are at 4.5. We're at 6.5.
Those 4.5 wins are coming from some combination of Hampton, UConn (who made a great hire IMO), Rutgers, UCLA (who also made a good hire), Purdue, and us.
I think Franklin, in addition to his contempt and dismantling of Maryland historically, has circled that game as an opportunity to build some good will early on in the season with the fanbase. Our OOC struggles + our fanbase's geographic overlap and general dislike for UMD makes for an obvious early win for the Franklin era, and I think he will have them ready as such.
My prediction is that our game against UMD can go one of just two ways:
There is no in between.
We win by 35 and Locksly is Lockslied out of the locker room...
He might but if you check the script, he gets another shot.
Agreed. Franklin is clearly an optics guy and understands that his first real litmus test is the MD game (if we lose to ODU the week before, shit is already gonna be hitting the fan).
But losing to Maryland who is a basement B1G team, has a coach who is 95% fired, and lives in the middle of one of Franklin's most fertile Recruiting Grounds would be a tough pill to swallow. I expect the team to be sharp and fired up for that one.
The overall outcome of the season really I think rests on Pitt, Cal, GT, and UVA. All are (potentially) winnable games. If we split them, probably end up 7-5. Win 3 and we are 8-4 which I think would be a good foundation for Year One and we should all be content with.
I think it's more personal than anything else.
Franklin was named UMD's coach in waiting when he was OC there, then the new AD yanked it away from him. He's allegedly held a grudge against the school ever since.
Not just held a grudge. I remember seeing somewhere that he keeps the big binder of his over-arching plan that he was going to implement once he became the Terps head coach on his shelf for motivation and has done so at every stop since.
As Egbert would say... "12-0 baby"!
That road schedule (and travel distance) is going to be a huge challenge. Based on current info we have the toughest ACC schedule.
Do we? Or does everyone else that has to play us?
I have us tentatively at 7 so this line is aimed squarely at taking my money:
VMI - W
ODU - W
UM - W
BC - W
Pitt - L
Cal - W
GT - L
Clem - L
SMU - L
Stanford - W
Miami - L
UVA - W
VMI - Big W
ODU - W
UM - As big a W as we can manage
BC - W
Pitt - W
Cal - W
GT - W
Clem - L
SMU - W
Stanford - W
Miami - L
UVA - W
I wanted to show 12 and 0 baby, but I couldn't do it. I will settle for 10-2.
https://tenor.com/view/over-the-hedge-tiger-it-is-bold-i-like-it-bold-gif-23446519
IDk but i have a feeling we smack Klumpson where it hurts this year
Kick 'em hard. Right in the Klumps.
I can feel it down in my Klumps
My cousin in law got me started with a referral bonus on Kalshi and I've been actively trying to zero out that account cuz I've never been a huge sports bettor. But I keep winning money off the World Cup, so after this weekend, pending what I have in my account, I might let it all ride on the over.
Keep letting it ride.
If that gets us over 7 wins for the year, let it ride.
Wrong thread
VMI - W
ODU - L
MD - L (50/50)
BC - W
Pitt - L
Cal - L
GT - W
Clem - L (close, could win this one)
SMU - L
Stanford - W
Miami - L
UVA - W
Finish: 5-7, possibly 6-6
Reasoning: This roster is very similar to last year's 3-9 (almost 1-11) team. None of the portal additions we made were instant win now difference makers, except Grunkmeyer and Reynolds. However we did add a ton of young depth and potential this offseason. I see this year being a lot like Brent Pry's 2nd. Maybe start out a bit slow but turn it on later as guys improve with more reps. I don't buy a "James Franklin bump" where this team outperforms the roster due to good coaching. As I've said I don't think he's very good at the coaching part. But from a roster standpoint there's the opportunity for a ton of improvement from here to year 2 to year 3 with the amount of talent he's bringing in.
Whew an odu L projection is some top tier VT ptsd. And then a clean GT win but a L but maybe beat Clemson?!
ODU beat our pants off last year. They lost a lot of guys and their awesome offensive coordinator. But I think Rahne is a really good coach and he'll have some surprises ready for Franklin (and Pry again). I'm not giving us that game until I see us win.
GT lost a ton, I'm just assuming their offense takes a step back losing Buster Faulkner, and their defense was pure ass last year that takes a while to rebuild.
Clemson has been bad for a few years, way underplaying their talent level, which is a coaching issues. And they don't use the transfer portal which is just dumb. It's also a game we'll be fired up to win.
We should be assuming NOTHING at this point.
I, unlike most of the people commenting here, think Cal will be a much more difficult game than anticipated. I expect Cal to be a good football team this upcoming season.
That being said, I couldn't disagree more about the roster. The roster wasn't great last year, but it was better than the record suggests. Add to that, one more year with a good OL coach and some continuity on that line with some additions to the DL (I understand that we don't have a list of all ACC players, but we should be improved there) and I think we control the LOS much more than we did last season.
Our running game should be at least as good, I expect a bit better. And we have a QB who can throw a forward pass... HUGE upgrade in that department. HUGE. The WR group should be a solid ACC group and the TE group will be one of the best in the league. I do think we will struggle filling gaps again with the LB and Safety positions, but with Pry having all his attention on the defense I do think we will see a more competitive and disciplined group.
I'm not predicting a run at the ACCCG, but I do think our roster is a solid ACC roster.
I don't have the roster/talent ratings in front of me, but my recollection is that there is a lot of talent but also a lot of youth.
Combine that with the fact that our schedule is backloaded, and depth is much improved but not great...
That's a recipe for a team that finishes the year much better than its record due to growth/schedule
I agree, they have a good coach a good quarterback and went and got a lot of guys in the portal including a handful of Oregon players.
This is tough to say imo. I think Phillip Montgomery was a terrible OC, he definitely held back the offense. But I don't think Ty Howle is a very good OC either (although almost certainly significantly better). Going through the roster several positions were extremely thin: Safety, Corner, DL. LB had old guys that were bad and the good ones were true freshmen, OL just about everyone was young. The receivers were always hurt.
The depth problem is so much better this season, that will help a lot. At the same time, a decent amount of the players who started and were extremely mid or bad still have starting roles or are in the two deep this season. A lot of the guys behind them are extremely young. Are Brown, Reynolds and Grunk good enough on their own to beat some mid ACC teams behind an improved offensive line (and no P Mont)? Yes I definitely think so. And I think the DL will be very much improved. I'm still a good bit worried about the secondary and LB's. And any good DL will tear straight through this OL
Monty didn't have guys who fit his scheme. Howle will. The real question imo is how game ready are our guys vs how much will they need to develop
To be fair I think Monty's current scheme is ass even if he has 100% the personnel he wants
We say this every time we have a new OL coach. Sometimes every second year we have a new OL coach. I see this so much along with the argument that it takes years to build and develop a competent line. We say it so much on TKP that I actually believe there's no chance we'll have a good OL this year. Or next year. Or ever, maybe.
This argument has been debunked in the modern era... whole post about this.
yes, I know it is ridiculous. My post was partially TIC
the whole idea being that we talk a lot about OL and yet we've been bad at football for 16 years. If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, you konw?
I would say the oline should be better not because we have the same coach, but we started multiple underclassmen last year and now they are bigger and stronger and more developed (assuming we actual are working on developing our guys). We are better because we got more senior not because of the same scheme for multiple years.
at first read this seems like a pretty strong hot-take
but the more I think about it, the less I think Rayo is off-base here. Obviously, the fan in me is hoping for at least 7 or 8 wins. But, realistically, I know that's not likely. It's hard to know what a fair expectation would be for this team, given the coaching turnover. I agree with Rayo that I don't think Franklin is a true football coach, in the technical sense. I think he'll recruit really well and we'll get a bump from him in that regard, but he's not going to provide an immediate "coaching" bump in year 1. The Franklin Impact is more likely to be felt in years 2 and 3 IMO. I don't hate the hire but I wasn't a full-throated Franklin stan either, in part, because I don't think he's going to bring immediately successful, fun-to-watch football to Blacksburg. Personally, I was hoping for an exciting coach who would immediately turn us around and make us a fun, exciting and successful program in short order. Someone like Mike Elko who really knows the Xs and Os part and is able to teach that to the players effectively. Now, don't get me wrong, I think Franklin is a good hire but I think you have to look at it in the longer view. He's not going to be as focused on or as good at the football part of the job but I think the hope is that he's going to build the foundation upon which a good football program can be built. He understands what it takes to win at this level and he's going to demand that everyone in the program is pulling in the same direction. That's the type of leader we need, IMO. But we're not going to be good at football for a couple years. If we are, that will be a big bonus.
What's the concern? I just took the Hokies to an undefeated natty season on NCAA 27, complete with a Heisman for Hawkins.
If you were wondering, that puts us at ~7 wins this season.
I really feel like people are underestimating Cal. I don't think they'll challenge Miami for top of the conference, but they'll be right there in Tier 2 with SMU.
This cal is going to be a OG P12 after dark team;
all defense, no offense, no defense, all offense, so drunk.Cal retained a great qb and made some great WR pickups in the portal. OL looks good on paper; we'll see if it lands. Their defense should be subpar.
If we our defense is above average and our offense is competent with an effective run game, then we should be good.
I assume the "so drunk" part is to explain how to interpret the rest of the post?
Great post though!!
No, the 'so drunk' part is referring to how a lot of east coasters used to call P12 after Dark 'the drunk game' because:
You would come home from the bars wasted at 2am and catch the second half
Those games often got so weird and wild that fans would describe them as 'drunk'
I was just referring to the fact that Cal's roster is the right amount of talent imbalance and lack of depth that we could see them put up some really wonky results this year.
do you mean all offense, no defense? Because, I don't remember the PAC being known for defense....
God damn it yes I did
If those numbers actually represent who we are supposed to beat and who we are supposed to lose too, man, I'd be overjoyed with a regular season of beating who we are supposed to and losing to who we are supposed to. Add in a bowl win and I'll be flat-out overjoyed about the whole season.
That's not really the right way to think of it; a 60% chance of winning doesn't mean we're 'supposed to win' - it means if the teams played 1000 times, VT wins 600 of them. Even the best coaches can't get their guys playing at their ceiling every Saturday.
Sooo....they're supposed to win.
Oh I know it's a weighted average and that the schedule is not predicting at 9-3. 70% chance to win 3 games is only ~35% chance to go 3-0. I'm saying if we beat the teams favored to beat and lose to the teams predicted to lose to, I'd be overjoyed with the results. Like the thread where it was would you prefer beating everyone you "should" but no big wins or losing some of them but beating a Miami, type situation.
Actually, I'd be happy with 7-5 as long as we beat UVa, and then very happy win a bowl win on top of that to go 8-5.
Yea I feel like 6-6 is the minimum season I'd be okay with. At 7-5 I'd be quite pleases. More than 7 regular season wins and god damn we are so fucking back.
Yeah, outside of multiple teams being way worse than everyone thinks I think more than 7 wins would point to a significant jump in coaching.
Until proven otherwise I will always assume multiple ACC teams will fall flat on their face.
Likely multiple teams will be much worse than everyone thinks, its the #goACC way.
And, on top of that, if we do get to what I'm (1) hoping for and (2) think is plausible with 7-5 + a bowl win to get to 8-5, we'll almost certainly be one of the 5 or 10 most improved teams in the country as far as win total is concerned. I mean, how many teams that play in bowl-eligible conferences win 5 more games than they did the prior year? Indiana did it last year. A few others probably did too. But, without actually looking, I'd be surprised if it is more than a handful. 8-5 would be a huge jump, with future expectations even higher given the talent coming in.
So you're saying 60% of the time we'd win ...every time?
The opposite; we'd win every time 60% of the time
Just depends on what Miami's playoff chances are whether they take the Hail Mary at the end away.
I had a nightmare we were losing to VMI at the half....dun dun dun
It's not outside the realm of possibility
I know there have been multiple occasions over the years where I've found myself laughing at Bama or OSU for being down to, or in a close game with, some directional state school at half time. Being down 3-0 or something only to turn around and win the game 45-3
I think the bigger nightmare is being down to VMI in the 4th quarter (which, honestly, still not outside the realm of possibility).....
If it makes you feel better, I had a dream in the summer of 2010 that we beat Boise St., and we all wish we didnt remember how that went
I've dreamed that VT has won their opening games every year for the last 20 years. How many times has that happened?
Without looking it up, my memory has us 10-10 in our previous 20 opening games.
11-9, if you include 2020 covid season which was a W.
I had 11-9 in my initial count and then remembered the Bama 09 loss in the Georgia dome. I guess I double counted it.
Don't you put that evil on us, Ricky Bobby!