Virginia Tech and the "Techmo Bowl" return to Thursday night football in 2018.
ESPN introduced its Thursday night football package in 1991, and the Hokies are tops in appearances with 32 games under their belt. Tech is 23-9 (71.8%) in those games. Virginia Tech is undefeated on Thursday nights (6-0) against the Yellow Jackets.
| Date | Opponent | Location | Preseason Aggregate Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9/3/2018 | at Florida State (Monday) | Tallahassee, FL | No. 18 |
| 9/8/2018 | William & Mary | Blacksburg, VA | |
| 9/15/2018 | East Carolina | Blacksburg, VA | |
| 9/22/2018 | at Old Dominion | Norfolk, VA | |
| 9/29/2018 | at Duke | Durham, NC | |
| 10/6/2018 | Notre Dame | Blacksburg, VA | No. 16 |
| 10/13/2018 | at North Carolina | Chapel Hill, NC | |
| 10/20/2018 | BYE | ||
| 10/25/2018 | Georgia Tech (Thursday) | Blacksburg, VA | |
| 11/3/2018 | Boston College | Blacksburg, VA | |
| 11/10/2018 | at Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh, PA | |
| 11/17/2018 | Miami | Blacksburg, VA | No. 8 |
| 11/23/2018 | Virginia (Friday) | Blacksburg, VA | |
| 12/1/2018 | ACC Championship Game | Charlotte, NC |
Justin Fuente echoed the tradition and importance of a Tech Thursday night home game prior to the Hokies' eventual 37-16 win over Miami in 2016.
"Through the wintertime and into the spring and summer, my conversations with boosters or fans or people in the community always centered around how excited they were that we had a Thursday night home game this year and how they were anxious to show it off," Fuente said during a teleconference. "It's obvious it's very important to people here. I'm excited to be a part of it. I have watched Virginia Tech play from my own living room many times through the years on Thursday nights, and I'm excited to get to be a part of it."
Tech did not host a Thursday night tilt in Lane Stadium during the 2015 or 2017 football seasons. Prior to that, the last time the Hokies did not participate in an ESPN Thursday night contest was 2001.
Again this season, Tech will play Virginia on Black Friday. It's the fourth time the Hokies and Hoos have clashed on Friday. Tech is 3-0 in such matchups.
Overall, this is a very winnable and favorable schedule for the Hokies. Tech hosts 7 home contests and plays 8 times in the Commonwealth. Road trips to Duke, North Carolina, and Pittsburgh are all drivable from the footprint of Hokie Nation; expect plenty of road fan support. The Thursday night game, is not Tech's best home matchup (Miami, not GT) increasing the possibility for more nighttime games in Lane. Traditional power Florida State under new head coach Willie Taggart does not benefit from a warm-up game before its matchup against Tech. Miami travels to Blacksburg in a cold weather month. The bye week falls in the middle of the season. Four of the five final games are in Lane Stadium.
Comments
There really isn't much to be upset with here. Lets see what we can do with it.
Love the bye week before the thursday night game against GT.
GT has a bye week before our game too
Someone procure the all time record of teams with over a week to prepare for CPJ's dumbass offense, plz
MIAMI LATEISH NOVEMBER! HELL YES!
Thursday night football before Fall NASCAR!
HELL YES!
Honestly, now that MIAMI IS BAK, it makes a ton of sense in that spot.
It was always supposed to be the Coastal division's premier matchup, and since both teams are trending up it makes more sense to schedule it later in the year in order to hopefully build anticipation & hype.
I want it to be 2014 UVA cold for the Miami game in November.
Great setup. Miami and Virginia both come to VT the week after playing at Georgia Tech. That's good for us.
I wish I had a hot take on this schedule, but it looks as close to perfect as you can get.
the smudge is ECU
You gotta be kidding me - why, WHY do we have to play UVA on a Friday?!
Other than that, no issues. Less travel this year mileage wise it seems. Plus I like the Miami game late in the year - we could freeze their ass off on November 17th with the way Blacksburg weather is so unpredictable. But at the same time, it could be 75 degrees that day too.
So it will be a night game, because other actual rivalries will overshadow us on Saturday.
But if I were UVA, would I rather:
1) End our losing season on a Friday?
2) Draw out the misery of our losing season to one more day and end it on a Saturday?
hell, this year they drew out the process of having a losing season all the way to their bowl blowout with Navy.
Last live scrimmage before the playoffs start, what's the problem?
This is such a favorable schedule for us this year. Who paid off Swofford?
I see many all day tailgates in the future.
I see 4 potential night games. Obviously GT is a night game being on a Thursday. LOLUVA is likely a night game given it is on a Friday. If we are rolling a 5 game win streak into Notre Dame, I got to think that is a favorable match up for a night game. I mean that is a possible match up between two top 15 teams. And the Miami game could be for who wins the Coastal and that has potential to be a game between two highly ranked teams. I think I am going to be bringing the smoker a lot next year... :)
FSU is at 8PM, so potentially 5 night games.
Edit: nm, realizing you meant night home games...
Yeah, I meant home night games. I should have clarified.
It's nice to be a winning team, isn't it?
We didn't have a home thursday night game in 2013 either. I like playing UVA on Friday night. Gives me a chance to enjoy all the other rivalries on Saturday. This is a favorable schedule for sure.
So...2 true road games (Tallahassee and Pittsburgh)? We have nothing to complain about. Someone will be playing spoiler come November 17th and I sincerely hope it's us.
This is actually pretty amazing that these are our only two games outside of VA and NC, although Pitt isn't usually much of a "true" road game. They don't come close to filling Heinz Field. While the NC games should have plenty of support for the visitors.
This is about as favorable as we could hope for. The bye before a Thursday night game with GT is a blessing, getting FSU in game one after a coaching change is a blessing, a BYE in the middle of the year is nice, and only traveling twice in all of October and November is great. Let's go Hokies!
via GIPHY
Hey, is that Kiffin's next OL coach?
Good schedule, gives us playing our best competition at home (I think FSU will still be figuring things out Game 1, and despite the goalline stand, not expecting a ton from Pitt). Makes for some memorable Lane moments, especially if we can get over the hump vs. GT on Thurs. night.
Happiest I've been about a schedule since I'm not sure how long. Wow. Excited already
Everyone likes the schedule now I'm nervous.
Maybe if you would commit and get yourself to some games we wouldnt have such a problem with paper airplanes and empty seats.
I'm working on a new paper airplanes destroying device I can wear into Lane.
Perhaps a small pen-sized laser device that would have a separate pen-sized attachment for a targeting system? Put the two in your pocket, it looks like you're an average engineer, and have no problem getting through security. Put them together once you're in the stadium, and suddenly everyone wonders why there are paper airplanes bursting into flame. Set up a kickstarter, and you might even get DoD interest.
TKP:
Those damn engineers and their ability to get a sheet of looseleaf to travel 30+ yards...
So don't want to be that guy...but isn't it 66.6% of games in the commonwealth? Also, this schedule is fantastic
Math is hard.
Math is P-O-W-E-R!
Of course, it would be nice if it were 53.3% of games next season are in the Commonwealth.
NC2VT. We annexed South Virginia last year, remember?
66.6 is too spooky. It doesn't hurt to round up just for Karma's sake.
Also, Anyone already planning on going to the ODU game in Norfolk?
Yep. Friend of mine is an ODU alumni. He already said that I can have his extra ticket.
Hoping to mooch my dad's season tickets for this... or maybe first crack at extra tickets?
I have a feeling there is going to be a lot of orange and maroon in SB Ballard that day.
Yup I'll be there
I'll be there. I imagine the place will be packed with 757ers like me.
With only 19k+ seats, won't tickets be pretty hard to come by?
I thought the ODU game is in lane again this year?
Like mentioned on post-game threads, UVA's best shot of beating us within the next 5 years was this past year. Post-GT game or not, they aren't going to have the talent to compete with us for the foreseeable future. #20straight.
Given that the Hoos are 43-79 since the 2008 season, the impact of that stat is lessened a bit, methinks. Much better chance of that happening when most of your games end up with an L.
∆this.
The hoos are likely 0-10 after many other situations.
0-10 in week following GT game
0-10* in week of VT game
0-10 score deficit last year
0-10 in last 10 games at Lane Stadium after this year
*over last 10 games
I see Swofford honored Bronco's request for a built in excuse this year.
Worst thing I see is the quick turn around after @FSU to play W&M. Hope mother nature plays nice unlike after the Miami game this year.
Edit: On second glance I also don't like that GT, UNC, & Pitt have a bye week before they play us.
Two of those three are the ones that I mind least having a bye week before us. The third, well, we have a bye week too.
But we've known that for quite some time. It was announced about a year ago that we would play FSU on Labor Day night and W&M would be our 2nd game.
Reminder: we played WVU on Labor Day night and beat Delaware 27-0 five days later.
We played WVU on Labor Day eve, 6 days prior to Delaware
Also it's a much shorter trip back from D.C. than from Tallahassee.
If we get a hurricane to hit southwest Virginia during the UNC game, their "BYE" week prep will not matter...
Pitt probably loses to bye then. Don't forget FSU also is open the week before they play us.
Duke might as well be open the week before they play us.
The thing that stands out most to me is that there's not a single 2-3 game stretch on the schedule that really scares me. FSU, ND, GT and Miami will all be tough, but they're all sandwiched by teams that won 7 games or less in 2017.
Unfortunately, we only get to play UNC once.
WRITE THIS DOWN
PITT gets one win this year
I like the way you think.. Hope that one win is against Ped State.
U-Albany is on the rise, eh?
UNC, WF, and Syracuse are all winnable for Pitt imo. I'm not opposed to them going winless, though.
Wake is on the rise, UNC has to be better than last year lol, and the Cuse WITH Dungey can beat anybody, without him, they have trouble beating anyone.
We'll see about Wake actually continuing to rise after losing a 4 year starter at QB.
Why the hell do people think Pitt is going to be so awful? They had a young running back and young QB look very impressive down the stretch, and have a lot of young defensive players returning. If anything I expect them to be much improved.
We beat an "awful" Pitt team on a goal line stand last season, so yeah, I'm with you.
Early October home game against Notre Dame sounds perfect. I hope I can make it up for that one!
This schedule really is very favorable for us. Here's to hoping and believing the offense will take a big step forward so we can take full advantage.
Oh my God, I'm so excited for UVA to lose to Liberty.
I have conflicting emotions about that possibility.
DON'T GET MARRIED IN THE FALL
- From a dedicated Hokie who has to miss 2 games because of Weddings
Unless they are yours, skip them. Priorities man.
This was me last year - missed the Klempsen game because of a wedding...
I missed the Clemson game because I couldn't get tickets, but I was at a Hokie wedding instead of at home watching it. It was all good though as several attendees had iPads to watch.
"dedicated". You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
This guy does.
Waiting on my cousin and his fiance to pick a date for their fall wedding in Texas. Here's hoping it's October 20th.
A true friend doesn't let friends get married in the fall
Hell, We had to pick between April 21st and October... wasn't having any of that shit
Absolutely love this schedule, (more than likely) ranked games peppered THROUGHOUT the schedule. A Thursday night game. I'm sold.
That's a nice schedule for us but you left out the playoff and national championship games. ;)
As soon as they announce kickoff time for UNC, I'm buying tickets. How many I get depends on how many members of the household want to come with me.
My only complaint is that they really didn't separate the trips to UNC and Duke. 2 games in the Triangle within 3 weeks is going to cause a significant portion of the fanbase to choose one or the other, and not attend both, like we did in 2016.
They need to change it up like it used to be. One away one home each year.
It used to be split up, until Pitt and Syracuse joined. If I recall correctly the 'Canes had been complaining they shouldn't have to travel to Blacksburg and Tallahassee in the same season every other year like they had been doing, so the ACC screwed UNC and us by making the Tarheels make two consecutive trips to Lane in 2012 (their scheduled year) and 2013 while we ended up going to Miami in 2012 (our scheduled year) and 2013 in order to placate the 'Canes.
I don't think unc came to Blacksburg in 2012. wasn't that Duke?
Duke came to VT 2 years in a row.
It's been said on here multiple times, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE that the Hoo's have Team Chop Block O'clock on the road the week before us. Overall, I really like this schedule.
I've seen it multiple times and I gotta be that guy: LOLUVa beat GT last year and we didn't.
Yep, I just meant with the preparation and post-game knee and shin icing that comes from playing GT coupled with a long road trip to Atlanta; I'm glad that that's what they face right before us.
EDIT: plus, that stat from the tweet Joe embedded above is pretty swell. ^^^
Love it, we have 10 days to prepare for GT, and ten days to recover...nice...not really a by week.
The last time we played Miami in lane on a Saturday was in 2011. And we all know how that one turned out.
PS holy crap that makes these matchups 7 years apart
Damn...
Looks like I'm headed to Blacksburg for GT or ND...
Aaaand I found out my sister is getting married during the Notre Dame game
And that is how you find out she really isn't your sister.
What the hell people. DONT GET MARRIED DURING FOOTBALL SEASON.
Her fiance is a high school coach. It's his bye week.
Still don't know why they picked football season to have the wedding.
Seriously, she is giving hubby-to-be one MORE thing to worry about ("You didn't forget our anniversary, did you baby?"), in addition to coaching, right at the peak time of the season.
In her defense, he picked it.
Wow. I don't know him but I just lost all respect for him.
His team must suck. /s (somewhat)
I've been arguing with my father that the wedding should take place in Blacksburg that morning and then let the reception just be a bunch of tailgating.
Spring for a set of tickets for the honeymooners, so they can start the honeymoon right.
My brother also scheduled his wedding for Sept. When I found out first thing I did was check the VT schedule, its the 22nd, at ODU, I told him he was lucky that he picked what should be a walkover game.
Can we please beat effing Ga Tech, this year?
yes. consider it done.
229 Days to GAME DAY!!!!
This schedule is about as perfect as it gets
PLEASE SNOW DURING THE MIAMI GAME!!!
Ah yes, the vaunted Tech Thursday, GA Tech, Virginia Tech, Lunchpail, Chop Block O'Clock, 3rd chins galore, 10/25/18, I have circled it, I don't know what sacrifice will need to be made, maybe burn the damn car they ride in on before kickoff, i don't care, we must beat the fighting Johnsons.
And arrest and throw the book at whatever fan tries to steal a "T" from our signs.
We could....win it back....if there's ever a trophy for this rivalry, it's a T...if we could just stop calling it the Tecmo bowl, that's too nice of a name, GIT fans are assholes, fuck em.
Since I'm moving to Raleigh this weekend, there's not a chance in hell I'm missing either of these games. This was actually one of the biggest selling points my wife made when convincing me to move to NC.
You won't regret moving to raleigh. Awesome city! Welcome to NC!
Head down to the Flying Saucer, get yourself a UFO card, and get started on your first plate!
You could celebrate the move with the Harry Potter Bar Crawl this weekend. It actually looks pretty fun.
I've moved away from the area, but its a good location to make many a conference game...aside from the BC, UM, Syracuse, Pitt, etc ones...
I don't think Richmond is going to take UVa as lightly this time around
I do not think Spring game has been talked about much, but that is April 14th this year which is early, comparatively.
Sadly I will not be making it this year because I am going to Cancun that day. Shame...
I'm glad I haven't booked a place yet. Normally I assume it's the second to last weekend in April and just reserve a place to stay.
Maybe it won't rain this time because it's a different weekend? There always seems to be a some rain that weekend.
I'm jacked up about this schedule... like a motherfucker.
I'll be near Tallahassee with work during the FSU game, so that shit's happening. And I can do ECU, ODU, Duke, UNC, GaTech, Miami and UVa day trips.
Let's go ahead and get the ticket exchange going right now. We can start trading futures.
Although UNC was atrocious last year and don't seem to be on the quick path to greatness anytime soon I don't like that they have a bye before us while we play ND. That one feels like a possible trap/hangover game.
Miami CB, Malik Young just underwent career ending neck surgery after an injury in the Orange Bowl. Never like to see that happen, but it should help make our game against them a little easier. He was their top corner this past year.