Virginia Tech Reveals Their 2018 ACC Schedule

Editor

January 17, 2018, 03:00 AM

For a while, we've known Virginia Tech's non-conference schedule headline by a Lane Stadium showdown with Notre Dame on October 6th. We also found out before the 2017 season that Virginia Tech would open their 2018 season on Labor Day night at Florida State. Today, Virginia Tech found out its full ACC schedule which may bring lots of excitement to Hokie Nation. https://twitter.com/AndyBitterVT/status/953701889228632064 Virginia Tech will have four home games in their final five games including a showdown with Miami the Saturday before Thanksgiving in Lane Stadium. Virginia Tech will also face Virginia for the second-straight year and third time in the past five years on Black Friday while Thursday Night football at Lane Stadium will return against Georgia Tech. Here's the full schedule for Virginia Tech in 2018.

at Florida State (9/3) (Monday night)*
vs. William & Mary (9/8)*
vs. East Carolina (9/15)*
at Old Dominion (9/22)*
at Duke (9/29)
vs. Notre Dame (10/6)*
at North Carolina (10/13)
vs. Georgia Tech (10/25) (Thursday night)
vs. Boston College (11/3)
at Pittsburgh (11/10)
vs. Miami (11/17)
vs. Virginia (11/23) (Friday night)

*: Previously Announced

The highlight of today's release is the Hokies' finish to the season with 4 out of their final 5 games coming at Lane Stadium. With this Miami game coming so late in the season, it's set up to be a decisive showdown between the two programs who have taken control of the Coastal since both hired new coaches after the 2015 season. There's also a chance that both teams could have less than 2 losses entering this game, basically making this a playoff elimination game in addition to it being a likely Coastal Championship Game. Beyond this, Virginia Tech-UVA returns to Black Friday for the second-straight year including the third time in the past five years. Some fans may not be big on this timing, but it's clear that having this game a day earlier is making a difference with the number of people watching this game. https://twitter.com/ChrisColemanTSL/status/953706449204662274 That type of viewership difference is significant and makes a Black Friday return a win for the Hokies, especially in a year where VT will start as a top 20 team and could still be in the playoff picture going into that game. Thursday Night football returns to Lane Stadium against Georgia Tech after a year-long hiatus. This game is about as well-timed as you could imagine with Virginia Tech having a bye week before to give themselves some extra time to prepare for a Georgia Tech triple-option that teams hope to face off of a bye week. On top of that, this game will be under the lights on a Thursday night at Lane Stadium, that's a pretty ideal scenario for the Hokies. While many already saw this as a favorable schedule for the Hokies, the fact that four of VT's final 5 games are in Blacksburg make this an even more favorable schedule. Having this type of closing stretch is something that we haven't seen the Hokies have in a long time and is about as ideal of a close as any team in the country will have next season. If you're looking for a possible trap game: there are two candidates at Pittsburgh and Duke. The road trip to Duke on September 29th comes right before the showdown with Notre Dame which could be a primetime game. Duke wasn't great last season, but they also don't lose a lot of pieces from that team with David Cutcliffe also at the helm. However, the top trap game candidate on this schedule comes at a Pitt team that finished the season strong with an upset win over Miami and a near upset of Virginia Tech thanks largely to the QB change to Kenny Pickett. While Pittsburgh doesn't look like a Coastal contender, they should be improved in 2018 and VT could have the temptation to look ahead to the Miami game. If there's a trap game next season, this is the top contender. Overall, this is about as favorable of a schedule as was imaginable for the Hokies. For fans, this schedule is ideal as well with four of the five road games being within 6 hours of Blacksburg. Overall, this is a great schedule for the Hokies that sets up for an exciting closing stretch inside Lane Stadium unlike any schedule we've seen before.