When Virginia Tech announced on Wednesday that it was cancelling its highly anticipated matchup with JMU this fall, the news was met with nearly universal disappointment, even outright condemnation online from Hokies and Dukes alike.
JMU fans, no doubt, saw the move as Virginia Tech once again dodging a rematch of their infamous victory against the Hokies in Lane Stadium in 2010. The Tech faithful, riding the wave of excitement that has taken over Blacksburg since James Franklin was hired in October, seemingly viewed the matchup as an early chance for the Hokies' new head whistle to prove his mettle against an in-state, quality opponent in his inaugural season at the helm in Blacksburg. Instead, both fanbases were left disgruntled, forced to wait for another potential matchup in the future.
Virginia Tech in its statement cited "the Atlantic Coast Conference’s decision to move to a nine-game conference slate beginning in 2026, which reduced available nonconference scheduling opportunities for league members" as the reason for its scheduling change. The ACC's ever-shifting vision of itself certainly played a role here, and deserves a sizable portion of the blame. But it's difficult not to view the Hokies' decision in a more cynical light, as well. This was not the first time that a rematch between these programs has been cancelled, but it certainly feels more significant this go around.
An early face-off with the Dukes, who are fresh off a College Football Playoff appearance and a coaching hire of their own, would have created a palpably electric atmosphere. These programs are well-acquainted with one another, separated by just 139 miles on I-81. They have jockeyed for the the title of Virginia's flagship football program over the last decade; despite JMU's formerly FCS and current Group of 5 status the Dukes have enjoyed far greater success than Virginia Tech has in the years since Frank Beamer's retirement in 2015.
The timing of the cancellation could not have come at a worse time, not only because of the Dukes' recent national spotlight and James Franklin's hiring, but because of the current state of football in the Commonwealth. JMU made history by earning its first ever College Football Playoff appearance. UVa just played its winningest season of all time. Old Dominion under Ricky Rahne appears to be making strides in bunches. A clash between JMU and Virginia Tech would have been an enormously meaningful game for the state's collective football fandom.
The game would have also provided Virginia Tech with a chance to reassert itself in the Commonwealth's football hierarchy. Dating back to 2018, the Hokies have suffered several humiliating losses to Old Dominion, including one that led to Brent Pry's firing this past season. These games highlighted, and were often the most glaring blemishes that solidified, Virginia Tech's decline. It's hard to imagine that Franklin wasn't keenly aware of his new team's recent record with in-state programs not named UVa, and would have made it a point to emphasize this game's significance to his players to definitively start the turnaround at home against a surging in-state program.
For JMU, this matchup was a golden opportunity to finally put to bed the question of which Virginia program is best. The years of holding the 2010 victory over Tech fans' heads would be validated, as if the opposing trajectories of these teams in the time since wasn't enough. No longer could the Dukes' naysayers conjure what-if scenarios that stubbornly depicted them as upstarts. Even if it wasn't looking for more evidence to prove its worth, another win against the Hokies would have been the pièces de résistance of JMU's continued prosperity.
The alternative scheduling move that Virginia Tech perhaps should have made was to cancel the VMI game on September 7 and adjust the slate accordingly. In an era of revenue sharing driven by television viewership numbers, the math adds up. No disrespect to the Keydets, but a likely primetime game against a perennially winning program would draw much higher ratings than a noon kickoff against an FCS foe. And even if this game would have drawn only marginal interest outside of the state, the amount of Virginia residents who would have tuned in to a Tech-JMU showdown almost certainly would have moved the needle more.
With all of the offseason buzz generated by James Franklin's hiring, it feels like a missed opportunity to start the season with a probable snoozefest against VMI when there was a real chance to begin the Franklin era with a game that would have had some undeniable juice around it. For years, JMU's 2010 upset over Virginia Tech was its program's crowning achievement, until it later developed into an FCS powerhouse and later a CFP-bound program that many Hokies (myself included) rooted for. To some degree, whether Tech fans want to admit it or not, that loss still stings. Yes, that Tyrod Taylor-led squad went on to win 11 straight games and claim the program's fourth ACC title. The fact of the matter remains, however.
On that miserable, rain-soaked afternoon, the Dukes walked out of Lane Stadium with a 21-16 victory. I distinctly remember leaving the stands and walking to the car with my family utterly dejected. Even as a 10 year old, I fully understood the weight of what I had just seen transpire. To this day, I don't know if I have ever seen Hokie faithful more stunned than they were walking out of the South End Zone. So, losing a chance to get revenge for that loss, even if it is 16 years in the past, feels wrong.
Hopefully we won't have to wait long for a rematch, and maybe this time it'll stick. In the mean time, I hope JMU puts that $800,000 check to good use.
