No long road trips, a home game vs. Notre Dame, a Thursday night home game in Lane Stadium, UVA on Black Friday at home, and two straight home games to finish the season. Those are the big takeaways from Virginia Tech’s 2018 schedule, which was announced in full on Wednesday.
Here is Virginia Tech’s full 2018 schedule.
Sept. 3 (Mon.) — at Florida State (8 PM, ESPN)
Sept. 8 — vs. William and Mary
Sept. 15 — vs. East Carolina
Sept. 22 — at Old Dominion
Sept. 29 — at Duke
Oct. 6 — vs. Notre Dame
Oct. 13 — at North Carolina
Oct. 20 — Open Date
Oct. 25 (Thurs.) — vs. Georgia Tech
Nov. 3 — vs. Boston College
Nov. 10 — at Pittsburgh
Nov. 17 — vs. Miami
Nov. 23 (Fri.) — vs. Virginia (ESPN, time TBD)
Virginia Tech will have plenty of intriguing games in 2018. Not only do the Hokies open the season at Florida State in prime time, Tech will host Notre Dame in early October, and also host Georgia Tech for a Thursday night showdown inside Lane Stadium. The Hokies get to play inside Lane Stadium twice to wrap up the 2018 schedule, and each game will be of the utmost importance — Miami and Virginia.
Virginia Tech’s opener vs. Florida State will be the first meeting between the two schools since 2012, when Florida State defeated the Hokies in Blacksburg. The Seminoles are coming off a disappointing 7-6 season, thanks to both poor play and a season-ending injury to quarterback Deondre Francois. Jimbo Fisher left Tallahassee for the head coaching job at Texas A&M, allowing Florida State to hire Willie Taggart.
After the tough opener at Florida State, Tech will play three straight non-conference games vs. lesser competition. The Hokies will host FCS William and Mary, an opponent Tech hasn’t played since 2014. Tech then hosts East Carolina, who lost to Virginia Tech 64-17 in 2017. Virginia Tech then takes a road trip to the 757 to play Old Dominion, the first time the Hokies will play at Old Dominion and just the second ever meeting between the two schools.
Tech will travel to Duke in their second ACC matchup, another installment in a series that has been very close in recent years. That game comes a week before Virginia Tech hosts Notre Dame, who finished the 2017 season at 10-3 and 11th in final AP Top 25.
After facing the Fighting Irish, Virginia Tech will resume their ACC slate. The Hokies will travel to Chapel Hill to face North Carolina, a team the Hokies dispatched easily in 2017 by a score of 59-7. Virginia Tech then gets a bye week before hosting Georgia Tech in a Thursday night battle inside Lane Stadium. The Yellow Jackets have won three of the last four in the series.
After a home date vs. Boston College, the Hokies will face Pittsburgh at Heinz Field. Virginia Tech won for the first time at Heinz Field in 2016, knocking off Pittsburgh 39-36.
Virginia Tech’s final two games of the season are both inside Lane Stadium. The Hokies will host Miami on Nov. 17 in a critical matchup of Coastal Division powers, and the result of this game could decide the winner of the Coastal. Tech knocked off Miami in Lane in two years ago 37-16, but lost at Miami in 2017 by a score of 28-10.
To finish the regular season, Virginia Tech will host in-state rival Virginia on Black Friday. It will be the third time in five years that the two teams have played on Black Friday. Virginia Tech has won 14 straight over the ‘Hoos, winning 10-0 in Charlottesville in 2017.