The ACC announced its football schedule today—in January (golf clap). It's the first reminder of the year that college football will be played, but fall is too damn far away.
Virginia Tech's 2015 football schedule is both challenging and decidedly meh. The Hokies squandered a manageable schedule last season to the tune of six regular season wins. This time around, Tech plays three of its four most challenging conference games on the road (at Georgia Tech, at Miami and at Virginia (LOL) at Boston College), upgrades its rotating Atlantic division opponent (NC State > Wake Forest), and opens with defending national champion, Ohio State. Tech plays 9 games from September through October without an off week. There's plenty of quirkiness too.
| Date | Day | Opponent | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sept. 7 | Monday | Ohio State | Blacksburg, Va. |
| Sept. 12 | Saturday | Furman | Blacksburg, Va. |
| Sept. 19 | Saturday | at Purdue | West Lafayette, Ind. |
| Sept. 26 | Saturday | at East Carolina | Greenville, N.C. |
| Oct. 3 | Saturday | Pittsburgh | Blacksburg, Va. |
| Oct. 9 | Friday | NC State | Blacksburg, Va. |
| Oct. 17 | Saturday | at Miami | Miami Gardens, Fla. |
| Oct. 24 | Saturday | Duke | Blacksburg, Va. |
| Oct. 31 | Saturday | at Boston College | Chestnut Hill, Mass. |
| Nov. 7 | Saturday | BYE | |
| Nov. 12 | Thursday | at Georgia Tech | Atlanta, Ga. |
| Nov. 21 | Saturday | North Carolina | Blacksburg, Va. |
| Nov. 28 | Saturday | at Virginia | Charlottesville, Va. |
| Dec. 5 | Saturday | ACC Championship | Charlotte, N.C. |
The complete ACC helmet schedule.
There's no Thursday night game in Lane Stadium. Even though Athletics director Whit Babcock reportedly asked the ACC and ESPN for a Thursday night Blacksburg tilt, which is the opposite of what his predecessor Jim Weaver did in 2013, it didn't happen. However, for the second season in a row Tech will play a Friday night game. Tech's played 29 games on ESPN's Thursday night football, built that brand for ESPN and has been relegated to a football day reserved for high school and Big East ball.
By virtue of being the only show in town, the Friday night game against North Carolina State will certainly provide Tech some national television exposure. However, it's a double-blow to recruiting. Coaches will be earning their paycheck in Lane, and not at high school games recruiting. Recruits will be playing in said high school games and not experiencing the ambiance of Lane Stadium.
Who knows why the ACC or ESPN didn't slot Tech on Thursday night. (Babcock released a statement as to why, the following Thursday night strategy is still valid.) The program is far removed from the class of the conference, but it usually draws solid TV ratings, and has a full(-ish) stadium as a backdrop for games.
In any event, it's a negative for: 1) The fans who enjoy a full day of tailgating, 2) Virginia Tech which loses the marketability of a Thursday night contest when advertising season tickets, 3) the players who know how unique Thursday night in Lane is, and 4) Beamer Co. which forgoes an important recruiting tool.
ESPN Thursday night football is no longer an exclusive event. Both the NFL and other networks broadcasting college football games are competitors to the time slot. It may not be as special as it once was, but that doesn't make it any less important to Virginia Tech for the aforementioned reasons.
Ideally, Tech would not play a marquee opponent on Thursday night, rather than a name-brand program / rival. Keep Florida State, Miami, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Louisville and any Power 5 non-conference opponent on Saturday to push for a 3:30-or-later kickoff. Play a Duke, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, etc... on Thursday (or Friday) night. That strategy increases the odds for more television exposure and later kickoffs.
Gut reactions to each game:
Ohio State
Revenge motivated defending national champion Buckeyes, at home, at night—this season's main course served as an appetizer.
Furman
I-AA team, not much to say...oh no, Tech plays JMU the Paladins on just five days rest.
at Purdue
Why is this even a thing? Do we blame Dr. Sands for this? I tried to think of one good reason for playing a game at Purdue. All I could come up with was it could help establish more of a recruiting foothold in the greater Indianapolis area. Unfortunately, the coach who owned that territory is now employed at Texas A&M.
at East Carolina
Both quarterback Shane Carden and offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley have moved on to better things. That's good news. The fact this series will be played 10 more time between 2015-2025, is not.
Pittsburgh
(Pat) Narduzzi–Foster should be one of the better defensive matchups of the season.
NC State
The Wolfpack won four of its five final games in 2014 and has made an appearance at the bottom of some preseason top-25 polls. Tech's second-most challenging home game will be played on a short week.
at Miami
Duke
Duke's returning just 12 starters (two of which are the kicker and punter), that stacks up 7th in the ACC and 79th nationally according to Phil Steele.
at Boston College
The Eagles got the better of the Hokies in one-score games each of the last two seasons. If Tech wants to contend for Coastal Division crowns once more, it needs to beat middle-of-the-pack ACC clubs.
at Georgia Tech
Virginia Tech has a bye before traveling to Atlanta. It's the bee's knees. Unfortunately, Georgia Tech also has an extra week to prepare for the Hokies. Thursday night book club in Bobby Dodd Stadium is always a blast.
North Carolina
There's nothing like playing a Larry Fedora team in November, you know, after the Tar Heels has gotten all of its losses out of the way.
at Virginia
Mike London's final game as Virginia's head football coach?
Comments
Man.... this schedule... It kind of sucks, to be honest.
One home game after October 24th? That REALLY sucks a fat one. Short week before NC State? No Thursday night home game? A Friday night home game in the heart of the high school football schedule, preventing our coaching from visiting potential recruits?
The schedule makers did us no favors this year. Even with our Ohio State matchup, this schedule is pretty bad. With the amount of travel we have in the 2nd half of the year, we are set up for another late season struggle.
I prefer the Sat home games in October over Sat home games in November. Can't be the only one..
Two home games after Oct 24th. You must have miss counted. Unc and loluva
Looks good. Let's win them all.
Bud Foster with extra time to prepare for GT?
I'll take it.
We lost to GT last time we had extra time to prepare....our best performance of all was on a 4-day week. Go figure!
True - but when we played on 4 days rest we had Gayle, Hopkins, Collins, Tyler, Kyle Fuller (whip), Edwards, etc. in the front 7 who all had played GT multiple times. This year we were a little younger/less experienced and needed the time.
Well, I thought they were doing a wonderful job. It's hard to keep an offense like that from scoring when you give them the ball on your doorstep, multiple times.
Am I missing something? We didn't have extra time to prep for GT last season.
Last time we had extra time to prepare for GT was 2011, and we won 37-26. Unless you count opening against them in 2012 as having extra time, in which case we won 20-17 in OT.
In 2013 on short rest we won 17-10. Commendable but hardly our best performance.
One of our best defensive performances at least.
Granted.
The defense was amazing in that game, and that was the game where Logan Thomas accounted for more than 100% of the team's yardage.
I think GT needs the extra time to prepare for Bud
CML's last game as coach for the WaHo's? I certainly hope not. #SaveMikeLondon
that's Coach FML (Fondue Mike London)
10-2. I am the Grand Optimist.
Maybe this time we can score more than 7 pts in the first half against effing Furman.
And Purdue? Great for Sands. Pointless otherwise.
Actually I think Dr Sands did us a favor here. Wasn't this the game that we had schedule with a big team and it fell through, and we were told that a new school was going to fill it "and we wouldn't be disappointed" and the speculation was TAMU. And then that never happened. I think we were damn close to having an FBS fill the slot with the Sandsman stepped in and threw some weight around.
I could be completely wrong about all that.
Regardless of the specifics, it's a home and home with a B1G team rather than an AAC or CUSA team. I'll take it.
Purdue is basically the Kentucky of the B1G. You're playing them? Well thats nice. Not going to get many pats on the back for beating them, though.
I like it. They're a new face. I'll take a new face from the B1G over another.
Besides, maybe this is good. We didn't score on the ACC's Kentucky last year.
Are you saying you'd prefer a mid-major? I'll take P5 bottom feeders over MAC teams any day.
This x 1000. I'm actually excited for a new opponent that is in a P5 conference.
Its better for strength of Schedule than a non P5 team
At this point, there aren't many teams we can face that we'll get pats on the back for beating, and most of them are nowhere on our schedule, nor will they be.
At the end of the year, if the Hokies can win their games, we can say 'Well we played 2 B1G teams OOC as well"
Look at FSU's OOC roster. Texas St. USF, and Chatanooga (along with Florida). Tell me Purdue isn't a better OOC opponent than 3 of those 4.
But, but...Purdue has Pro Football Hall of Fame QB's that played in the facemask era.
That's all I got.
I think it was supposed to be Wisconsin who moved the game to play in a season opener against an SEC team I believe. I thought we then filled this with Kansas St and that fell off the schedule as well, but unlike Wisc (2024-25) I don't see it rescheduled in the future schedule.
I would have guessed the Purdue game was scheduled because of the recruiting we've done in the Indy area over the last ten or so years. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Darren Evans from the Indy area, as well as current punter AJ Hughes? I swear there were one or two others, but I could be wrong. It wasn't just our recent recruiting efforts there by Moorehead. Maybe not he primary reason, but I would think when they went looking for a replacement for the dropped game that had to have been a consideration IMO. But regardless, I actually like the new blood. Absolutely beats the shit out of playing ECU for the next ten years. Please, for the love of god Whit, find some way to get out of that brutal deal!!!
Incoming 2015 commits DT Eric Whitehead (Bonecrusher!) and CB Adonis Williamson are also from Indianapolis.
Kris Harley was also.
After not being able to make a game last season I'm stoked to be able to make it to two in 2015. West Lafayette is less than a 4 hour drive from me. And OSU redux is a can't miss affair.
all im seeing from this is 15-0!
December 5th.
Also, I like to take a look at who our opponent plays the week before our game so here is that rundown.
Boston College: Louisville
NC State: Louisville
Duke: Bye
Georgia Tech: Bye
Miami: Florida State
North Carolina: Miami
Pitt: Bye
LOLUVA: Duke
Purdue: Indiana State
Furman: a very talented Coastal Carolina team
Edited to include Purdue and Furman
We get Miami after they play FSU?
Guaranteed win for the Hokies. Under Al Golden, they tend to play like dogpiss the week after the FSU game, going 1-2, with losses to VT in 2013, UVa last year, a BYE in 2012, and a 6-3 win over USF in 2011.
they even lost to BYE. That's some serious hangover...
For a second I thought you were gonna count the bye week as the win.
Leg for the research. Serious hangover potential there.
Three games against teams coming off a bye? Is that a normal occurrence for teams? That seems like a huge disadvantage. But maybe that's just normal in any given year. Curious if any of you have insight here.
I wish there were more away games in NC since I am starting a new job near Charlotte in March (Goodbye, Florida!) . Also my probation period will expire a week before the OSU game. That works out well.
Do tell
Maybe I'm calling it something different than usual, but every job I've had starts with a "probation" period where you can't take vacation days and they can fire you for "not working out" or whatever they want to call it.
I should probably add I've always worked in the public sector.
i think he means at the new job? lol
(ooppss 17 seconds to late)
I live in CLT too. The way it works out, you'll get @Duke,@UNC in even years. Would have had NCSt too , but since ACC grew, they don't do the back to back anymore
Whenever I see the three-letter Charlotte abbreviation my mind goes to a dirty place.
I feel ya. Here is my commonly seen little mental aberration:
I visibly shake my head every time
Looks like the ACC is going all in on Friday games. Four conference games played on a Friday and UVA/Boise State.
Strangely enough, no Friday game at Syracuse, which I thought was contractually required.
How about LOLUVA's schedule?
@UCLA
Notre Dame
Boise State.
All in a 4 week span.
My only regret is that their ooc is so good we won't be the ones to give them their bowl elimitating loss
I actually really like this schedule.
Here's why...
Leg for the October home games!
Last 4 games for VT see them play two road games and a neutral site game to end the year. Could be tricky.
Three neutral-site games
I actually think Tech has already played its final game vs TimeCop.
As for playing Purdont, I think its just part of the drive to play more Big10 teams. anOSU, Michigan, PSU, Rutgers are also scheduled. Could this be an attempt to set up a Big10 invite if the need comes in 2025?
If we can't win the Coastal something is wrong. Duke lost half there team. We get rest before GT and they have Clemson and FSU crossover. Miami has Clemson and FSU crossover surrounding a trip by VT. UVA and Pitt are no factors. UNC has a slight chance. We should be in Charlotte come hell or high water.
Agree. The games against GT and UNC in November should decide the coastal.
My ideal schedule for 2015 would be for the Hokies to play East Carolina 12 times in a row. We could alternate between Greenville and Blacksburg.
Get it over with and then never play them again. Make it happen, Whit.
I'm pretty ok with this schedule. Could be better, could be worse, but overall I'm pretty happy about it. We don't seem to be getting completely screwed anywhere, so that's pretty nice.
Joe, I think you're being a little too whiny/knee-jerky about the Friday night game. For starters, your tailgating bit is exactly the same as it would be for Thursday, except people won't have to take an extra day off of work to enjoy a whole weekend in Blacksburg. The one and only negative here is that unless a HS team has a bye, it'll be tough to schedule officials for that game. Oh well, get 'em here for Ohio State. In every other way, Fridays are equal or superior to Thursdays in every way, plus no class the day after and no competing with the NFL.
Just cause you use a .gif doesn't mean you're right.
And because your post goes green doesn't mean you are either?
I actually have a point other than "Thursdays are the shiznit because.... well... reasons."
Fridays are better because:
- No class the next day
- Travelling fans don't have to take 2 days off of work to spend the weekend in Blacksburg
- Less disruption to schedule (no 5 days rest on either side)
- No competition with NFL - just as good if not better ratings/exposure
Joe's response: "Yeah, ok."
So go ahead, make whatever point you're trying to make, or you can get back to brown-nosing the self-employed editor of a sports site for fake internet points.
Whenever your post calls someone "whiny," expect a little pushback. I can't speak to Joe's motivations, but it's not the first time I've seen it (from several people), and I generally just consider that a bit of Internet banter. There's no need to go off on other people, either. Your last sentence is a cheap shot at both Joe and a fellow TKPer.
Dude... I'm giving Joe some grief over his pro-Thursday, anti-Friday stance too, but it sounds like you're taking this all in good fun offseason debate pretty seriously. I agree with you that there's a lot of positives playing on a Friday vs a Thursday for people who travel to attend the game, but there are also some drawbacks in other areas.
I rember when we first started playing Thursday games, I had a lot of the same conversations on campus that people are having here. So I'm not surprised by the reaction to a Friday game. In Joe's mind, Friday games = Pottery Barn. I don't agree with the opinion, but I understand it.
Plus, Joe is a salf-admitted asshole. It's why I love this place so much. His self-censor has been drowned by bourbon.
If you go to class the day after a Thursday game you are doing college wrong.
If you have Friday classes to start with you are doing college wrong***
I agree. My last 3 semesters, I only had classes on Tuesday and Thursday, with a couple Monday or Wednesday evening classes thrown in.
Jennifer Lawrence always gets a leg from me.
I'd like to get two legs from Jennifer Lawrence. I'd wear one over each shoulder.
There aren't a lot of officials at that time anyway. And we don't need to see every kid play their Friday night games, if you have a noon game on Saturday vs. NCSU, you aren't more than 3 hours from Blacksburg recruiting on a Friday night anyway. And I'm not even sure our coaches go to Friday night games at all if we play the next day. I would understand if they don't. Seems mostly like we go to Friday night games on when we have a bye week or a Thursday night game.
The whining about the Thursday night and Friday night games is way too much.
And what about the recruits actually playing in high school games on Friday night? They won't be in Lane Stadium.
Then it looks like Beamer & Co. better make damned sure they get those recruits to Lane on labor day.
Or, we can beat OSU, start running the table, and earn a night game on a saturday at home and get the recruits out to experience Lane at night...on Nov. 21st...yeah nevermind
Recruiting idea: for the friday night game, send a video that shows the night game hype (Enter Sandman) and the on the field highlights as sort of a "here is what you missed." Also, include a "we want to know how you did in your game because we're sorry we couldn't attend." This can be personalized for the recruits and I feel like it would speak volumes.
Ehh. It's one game.
I think there is an outside chance that both VT and NCSU are both pretty good by this game. (NCSU's OOC schedule: Troy, EKU, ODU, SouthBama......see, we need to go to 10 ACC games to save NCSU from itself). That could be a 5-0 NCSU (if they beat L'ville at home the week before) vs. a 4-1 VT.
It's one of two night home games on the schedule in 2015. If a recruit can't make it we better hope they were in town for Labor Day.
I think it's the second best home game behind Ohio State which is also on an off night. Those games need to be on Saturdays and middle-of-the-pack ACC games need to be on weeknights to maximize exposure.
Labor day is tough for most HS students with class the next day. For a lot of schools, including all of the public schools in the 757 it's the first day of the new year too.
FTFY
But...but...it's THURSDAY! It's the hallowed Virginia Tech tradition that SEC fans ridicule as bush league.
Who cares what SEC fans think?
And if you do, Friday night college football will be ridiculed by them more.
We'll be ridiculed by SEC fans because we play in the ACC. Point is, Thursdays aren't the sanctum sanctorum that some people are treating them as. We love them for the nostalgia, but my guess is if we make NC State our bitch and start owning Fridays the way we used to own Thursdays, suddenly we'll have a soft spot in our hearts for Friday games.
I'll take Hokies football at noon on a Tuesday if I can get it.
I get Hokie football at noon on Tuesday.
That's the day I like to pull up the OSU replay during lunch.
The core problem is that Thursday night games are branded in such a way (thanks to us) that they will get a MUCH bigger national audience watching, and Friday night games nobody cares about. Everyone is out at the bar on Friday nights, or at high school football games where the coaches could be, while on Thursdays you can get an exponential amount of national viewers.
An exponential amount of national viewers who now have a nationwide NFL game competing with the college game. Thursdays are going to trend downward.
I think that's a 2008 mindset. Not only has the NFL taken a strong ownership of Thursday nights, there are more than a handful of good P12 games on Friday nights.
Everyone is complaining about the Friday night game, but it's way better than ESPNU at noon on Saturday (which we will have a ton of again next year). And it's at least as good as a Thursday night game, if not significantly better based on only having to take one day off.
To support your (and my) opinion of no competing with the NFL - here are some Thursday/Friday TV rating comparisons that support Thursday is losing its edge, due to the NFL, despite being the weeknight that most people are tuned in to their televisions... (Only FSU/Louisville and Auburn/KState put up big numbers on Thursday this year)
Thursday, October 16
0.9 1.36M 7:30 PM Virginia Tech/Pittsburgh ESPN
Friday, October 17
1.0 1.62M 8:00 PM Fresno St./Boise St. ESPN
Thursday, October 9
0.9 1.34M 7:30 PM BYU/UCF ESPN
Friday, October 10
0.9 1.31M 9:00 PM Wash. St./Stanford ESPN
Thursday, October 2
0.5 744K 7:00 PM UCF/Houston ESPN
Friday, October 3
1.1 1.64M 7:00 PM Louisville/Syracuse ESPN
Thursday, September 11
0.6 1.05M 9:00 PM Houston/BYU ESPN
Friday, September 12
0.9 1.29M 8:00 PM Baylor/Buffalo ESPN
Wow, I didn't realize that so many Friday night games had comparable or better ratings than Thursday nights. I guess this puts me in the "Wait and See" camp.
I think that since Boise Fresno beat out VT Pitt shows that this Friday game is worth giving a shot.
It seems counterintuitive at first, but Friday games have their benefits when it comes to recruiting.
Coaches are on record saying that while they like being able to show recruits the gameday atomosphere they prefer having them visit on non-game weekends so there's time to give them the full recruiting pitch.
Obviously a Thursday night game gives you the best of both worlds - a game recruits can attend, and an open weekend for visits. But I'd argue that Friday > Saturday from a recruiting perspective.
boo hoo, no thursday games... oh well, other teams have shitty game schdules too.... just win baby.
well at least we got 3 home games in October.
idk about everyone else but the 1st thing i always do when the new schedule comes out is figure out which games im def going to and providing that list to my manager for time off lol. living in north florida i always try and get to atleast 1 home game every year this year ill be mortgaging my house to get to the OSU game idk how much tickets are and then i havent missed a game in mia or at GT since we joined the ACC so those are pretty easy and only about 4 hour drives. Going to do greenville this year just always heard its a fun tailgate and i hate the pirates and need some revenge. last but not least i always pencil in the ACC championship into my schedule as well. im excited for this years schedule as i get to go to 5 games instead of only making it to 2 last year. (Duke & UM)
Sept. 7 Monday Ohio State Blacksburg, Va.
Sept. 26 Saturday at East Carolina Greenville, N.C.
Oct. 17 Saturday at Miami Miami Gardens, Fla.
Nov. 12 Thursday at Georgia Tech Atlanta, Ga.
Dec. 5 Saturday ACC Championship Charlotte, N.C.
I give this schedule a B. its got some goods and some bads im tired of ECU guess we gotta deal with it for another decade.
Living in NOVA, I am really happy with the Friday night option. I don't have to take an extra day off. I don't have to take the kids out of school. At the end of the day, its a night game in Lane Stadium. That's what matters. FYI, that is also Columbus Day Weekend this year. Looks like a good time to schedule my son's campus tour!
We get OSU at night in Lane! That is awesome!
Good idea -- I've got one of those to schedule too :-)
I ain't mad about having extra time off before the Miami, GT and UNC games.
I hope we dont play another Thursday game period, much less a Friday game. Embarassing, ESPN is ruining college football.
I personally disagree but I do understand the purists that say Saturday is for college football. I feel the same way about nfl on Sundays
The Thursday games were great several years ago, times have changed. They just arent the same. It seems we try to hype it up now, just let it be great. We had some great Thursday night games that showed us off to the country, but that just simply wont happen again.
Not the greatest schedule but I'm going to make the best of it-
anOSU starting to pack now
Purdue - Friday nite in Chicago-
Sat tailgate/Take care of business in Lafayette then back to Chicago
Sun Fly Home w/ victory and a hangover
Ga Tech- a home game for me- BBQ/Tailgate bring CPJ back to earth
LOL UVA- Whitness # 12; abuse the poor 'hoos
Finally I want to be at the only game that matters: Dec 5th
Meet you in Chicago.
A quick bit of reading on TSL's future football schedules pages shows that we originally had Akron scheduled in 2015 instead of Purdue.
Even though they're both bad, I think Purdue does a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittle bit more for us than Akron does.
In other news...
I *may* have tweaked the title slightly. Just the font, I promise.
#DontFireMikeLondon
I'm all for keeping him, but that schedule has 1-11 written all over it. And they probably only beat W&M 20-17 or so.
You're absolutely right. If their 2-10 season wasn't rock bottom for them, this year should be.
I don't know what I want more- for UVA to be 0-2 and W&M to beat them and end London's career or for UVA to somehow win their first two games only for W&M to pop their balloon.
All I have to say is....
God I hope not
oh yeah, he's gone. They are going to get killed this year, that is a rough schedule. Wins possible over W&M and Cuse that's about it
FYI, GT and Miami both draw Clemson and FSU in the other division. I also like how GT has Miami after us and Miami finishes on the road at Pitt, a place that's tough on them as well.
UNC's schedule is actually very much front loaded with wins with NCA&T, Illinois, Delaware, Wake and UVA all before Halloween. They finish with @Pitt, Duke, Miami, @VT, @NCSU.
UVA is better at QB than they have been in quite some time (since Schaub?) but really not good anywhere else (oh, yeah, Blanding). Looking at their schedule, it may be another 2 win season: @UCLA, ND, W&M, Boise, @Pitt, SU, @UNC, GT, @Miami, @Lville, Duke, VT. That's a couple upsets to get to 4 wins, isn't it?
UVa has succeeded at one thing football-related. They have the most difficult schedule. Which makes sense given that they don't have a team like UVa on THEIR schedule.
They open at UCLA then play Notre Dame and play Boise St. in their 4th game. No way London makes it past this year.
(Edit: Looks like I was too slow on this one.)
SPRING GAME!...That will bring down their strength of schedule right?
I don't care when they are played, win them all!!!!
When going to Atlanta for a GT game, where do people stay?
Lots of options
The team usually stays out near Cumberland Mall as I recall
The Stadium is near midtown there are bunches of hotels there, including a Hilton/Homewood suite at 10th and Williams that pretty close walking distance.
Kind of lame not having the Thursday night game this year, but it is what it is. Fact is, we had our big Thursday night opportunity back last year, and we absolutely laid an egg out on the field. We've got to come up big in those spots if we expect to keep them. Who knows the real reasoning behind why we didn't get it - the point is, if we start winning like we are capable of, all of this should take care of itself.
Mixed feelings about the Friday game. Definitely a lot easier for fan travel than Thursday nights, but the recruiting angle must be mentioned. I don't think Thursdays are quite what they used to be now that you're going head to head with the NFL. We should take this opportunity in the national spotlight and really show off Lane and take it to NC State. I would really like to see us stop scheduling teams like Furman, though. It's really rough trying to get people to come out and get interested in these games. Would like to just see us stop playing FCS altogether, IMO.
We REALLY need to go out and win the Coastal this year. No excuses. We've got to stop losing to the BCs and other mediocre ACC teams. This is going to be a pivotal year for us, one way or another. We need to get the chip back on our shoulder and take care of business. Let's suit up and make a run.
I still don't understand the "recruiting angle" of Thursday night games. There usually aren't a lot of recruits because of the need for them to be in school the next day or at practice that night. They aren't there on OVs because we do OVs over the weekend. We aren't the only game on TV any longer on Thursdays. So what is the recruiting advantage of Thursday over Friday?
Not so much an advantage for Thursday but a disadvantage for Fridays. Recruits are playing in their games, and therefore not able to watch ours. Our staff can't get out to high school games if we are playing in one of our own. Not the end of the world, but it has to at least be taken into consideration.
And therein lies the problem. Its not that the recruits can't make our game, they won't even be able to watch it live because they'll be in the middle of playing their own games. Our coaches can't visit them to watch them play in person, they can't check out our game as its being played....
Not exactly an ideal situation, especially considering the atmosphere they are legitimately going to miss seeing during that game.
But does the fact that a recruit can't watch one single game really make that big of a difference? Honestly, it's a very trivial complaint. Now the fact that our coaches can't go watch their game, sure that's a bigger problem, but that just means they work twice as hard on a weekend they can go visit. You're making a mountain out of a mole hill here.
Here's a dumb question, but I haven't followed high school football in almost twenty years. Do high schools have bye weeks? Might we be able to pull some recruits to visit for the NC State game if they are on a bye?
Also, my understanding was that the entire team, coaches included, spend the night in a hotel in Roanoke before home games, so is there really scouting going on Fridays before a home game? I thought all the coaches were at the hotel as well.
The team, Frank, and the coordinators all stay at The Hotel Roanoke the night before a game. The position coaches aren't generally with them, based on my personal experience. Lots of fun greeting the team and mingling with the players in the lobby afterwards if you are looking to really make the whole weekend about Hokie football!
Thanks for clarifying.
If it were a random nooner against Furman, then okay, not a huge deal. But considering it's likely one of our only two opportunities this year to show off a night atmosphere in Lane, I would say it makes it slightly more concerning. As I said, it's not the end of the world, but as trivial as it may sound, it's still one less opportunity for recruits to see Lane under the lights.
It matters more than you think.
http://espn.go.com/blog/acc/post/_/id/76168/thursday-night-football-retu...
Logically:
Night game in Lane > Day game Two guaranteed night games in Lane (doubtful any of the four bumped to night time kickoff) One on Labor Day: Students may start school the following day One on a Friday: Most recruits playing in their own high school gamesBut along the lines of complaints, kids will have school and a game following a Thursday
EDIT: I'm not trying at all to be argumentative, but it just sounds like from a FAN standpoint, there is unhappiness, and all points against it are from a fan experience and fan opinion/predisposition against any night but Thursday. From a practical standpoint, there doesn't seem to be any major pieces of a Thursday night game that make it that much better than a Friday night game. Quite frankly, the problems exist with any weeknight game, but a night game is better than a day game, plain and simple. That's something we can all agree on. Sure, not everybody will get to watch the games, but kids won't get to watch every game every week anyway. That's just how it is. So let's not say that a major problem is that they won't be able to watch the game because coaches can still advertise the atmosphere without them seeing the game. Game film, ESPN clips, and social media can all prove the atmosphere of the game. Seeing it on TV is not nearly the same as experiencing it in person and having a game on a Friday gives kids who are on an OV starting the next day an opportunity to experience a night game the day before as well.
Well there are recruiting drawbacks. Hard to argue there aren't. But there are also other home games for officials, plus bye weeks and offseasons. Would it be great to get all our recruits to visit during a night game? Yes. But that has never happened, and one Friday night game is not going go keep it from happening this year. The bigger impact is that revenue generated at high school football games will probably be down on the Fridays that VT and UVA play, because people will chose to go see a college game instead of a high school game.
All that being said, we'll still get recruits to commit and high schools will still earn needed revenue.
Now from a purely fan perspective, some of the comments have already painted a pretty clear picture. Friday > Thursday if you don't live in the NRV and want to go to a game. I expect the NC State game to sell out quick and the local economy to get more of a boost from that game vs a typical Thursday game, as more people will extend it into a weekend trip. There are a lot of fan-friendly positives that counterbalance the recruiting negatives.
I like our schedule, I just am not too big of a fan of having two home games 5 days apart to start off the season, because that makes 2/3 of the home schedule gone before you know it. I am a fan of home vs. Pitt on Oct 3rd, my birthday Oct 6th, and home vs. NC State Oct 9th for a Friday night game. What a unproductive week that'll be senior year.
Hopefully the university will just have a late Fall Break and have it the following weekend after Columbus Day so all the students will be in town for the NC State game, if not then that's a whole day of tailgating on a Friday and classes wouldn't even have to be skipped.
I do like having Georgia Tech after a bye to prepare for the option and I also like how Mike London will likely go 0-6 the second half of the season.
Early guesses for "Effects" and such:
White Effect - Sept. 12th vs Furman
Homecoming/Maroon Effect - Oct. 3rd vs Pittsburgh
Orange Effect - Oct. 24th vs Duke
No reason to lose more than 3 games this season - a 10 win season needs to happen.
Agreed. I love October home games. Late August/Early Sept. games, it's just ten kinds of awful hot if the game is early enough, and you always come out with some terrible sunburn. October is just perfect usually, weather-wise.
I can't believe the complaints about the schedule. We play 3 guaranteed prime time games. We host the National Champions to start the season in a game everyone will be watching. Yes, playing ECU has grown old. But we play 2 Big Ten teams out-of-conference. As a poster above pointed out, Purdue looks much better than Akron, the originally scheduled game for that slot. It's a new team to play and a P5 school. I like that. And a likely win. The Furman short week game is the price to pay for the marquee Ohio State game. Goodness, I remember when went to Akron and hosted Louisiana-Lafayette in 1996. Things are better. Of course, we played ECU also in 1996 but some things never change.
5 if you count ACC Champ Game, 1st round CFP, and National Title Game!
If we're playing at that kind of level, the amount of prime time games we'll have this year will be more than 5, I can guarantee you that.
A lot of the complaining about the schedule will recede if we get at least one home Saturday night game this year. If we can play to our potential, the Duke and UNC games at the very least have 3:30 kickoff potential. The big problem I have is that we're just not really set up well for us to grab a Saturday night home game. The bulk of our home games are in the first half of the season, with us only having 2 home games past the midpoint of the year, with one of those 2 being the week following the midpoint. Really, the only chance we have to build up the ESPN cred to get to host a non-noon Saturday home game is to knock off Ohio State in week 1.
Got word today that the Homecoming game is almost set for October 24th against Duke. Pretty late for Homecoming compared to recent years. I'm assuming it'll be the long-sleeve Orange Effect game.
If the Homecoming game is Orange Effect, then does that set up a Maroon Effect #AllMaroonEverything for either OSU or NCSU under the lights?
I'm in favor of having 2 orange effect games. I would hope VT to see the marketability of the OSU game (most likely #1). Lane Stadium pops when it's under the lights and everyone is wearing orange (See 2012 GT game). Hopefully VT comes out with type of marketing idea for what is our biggest game in Lane in recent memory.
Considering what happened the last time we went #AllMaroonEverything, you'll have to excuse me if I'm not beating down the doors wanting to make it happen this upcoming season.
what if we went #ALLGREYEVERYTHING ala the basketball team. that looked so smooth. they didn't try to do too much with it unlike our grey's vs Bama.
Not sure if this has been brought up but I got an email yesterday from VT Athletics about the football schedule, and as I was scrolling through I found this:
How often are home games "contractually determined by television broadcast partners"? Is it realistic that we have the ability to schedule a 3:30 p.m. game instead of dreadful noon starts?
All games picked up for television, regardless of who broadcasts it, are determined via contract with ESPN. I'm not so certain, but I believe even if our games are streamed by ESPN3, the worldwide leader gets to set our kickoff time.
Not always, I recall our dear past leader for some strange reason picked noon for a kickoff one year for a game that ESPN3 only at least out of state.
Before the latest contract renegotiations with ESPN, we still held third tier television rights but we gave those up. I THINK that includes games that are only streamed, but I'm not certain. But I think Weaver was probably operating under the old contract when he was setting noon kickoffs left and right.