Virginia Tech announced this morning that the Hokies football team will meet the South Carolina Gamecocks in the 2025 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game. The game will be played either Sunday, August 31 or Monday, Sept 1, 2025 and will be televised by either ABC or ESPN. An exact date and kickoff time will be finalized at a later date.
For Virginia Tech, the game replaces a road trip to Penn State that was originally scheduled as part of a home-and-home series in 2020 and 2025. Since Penn State did not visit Virginia Tech in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, Virginia Tech Director of Athletics Whit Babcock sought to replace the 2025 road game and is attempting to reschedule the PSU series.
Virginia Tech is 7-11-2 all-time against South Carolina. This will be the first meeting between the two schools since 1991. They met every season from 1986-1991 (Virginia Tech went 0-4-2 in that stretch), but the series was halted after South Carolina joined the SEC and Virginia Tech joined the Big East.
The matchup has the potential to pit Virginia Tech against Shane Beamer, a Virginia Tech graduate and former Hokies football player, and the son of Hokie legend Frank Beamer. Shane Beamer was hired as South Carolina's head coach back on December 5.
Virginia Tech has played in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game twice before, both times against Alabama, in 2009 and 2013. Alabama won both games, 34-24 in 2009 and 35-10 in 2013. Alabama won the BCS National Championship in 2009 and finished No. 7 in the final Associated Press poll in 2013.
"We're excited to play in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game against South Carolina to open the 2025 season," Whit Babcock said in a Virginia Tech press release. "We look forward to showcasing our program in front of a national television audience in one of the nation's premier sporting venues, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. I'm confident we'll see a strong contingent of our fan base cheering on the Hokies in their inaugural game in that facility and visiting the College Football Hall of Fame that weekend. We feel very confident about the strength of our scheduling going forward, as well as its appeal to Tech fans across the country."
"The Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game has often become a showcase for the SEC and the ACC to faceoff in a high-profile contest to start the season," said Bob Somers, Peach Bowl, Inc. chairman. "This matchup looks to continue that tradition and renew an old rivalry between two historic programs."
"It's an honor to welcome Virginia Tech back to the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game after 12 years, and we're looking forward to hosting South Carolina for the first time in the game," Peach Bowl, Inc. CEO and President Gary Stokan added.
The two teams are also scheduled to meet in 2034 and 2035. We have updated the Future Football Schedules Page on our site.