- Virginia Tech vs. VMI: Saturday, Sept. 5, at 7:30 p.m. ET (ACC Network) from Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Va.
- Betting line: Virginia Tech -55.5
- Roster cards: Click here
- Blacksburg weather: Click here
- Gameday information: Click here
The much-anticipated James Franklin debut at Virginia Tech is finally upon us.
This one isn’t so much a game as it is a celebration. It’s a celebration of everything that has happened in Blacksburg over the past year.
The school is serious about football again. James Franklin is the head coach, and a new athletic director is in place. The athletic department is moving forward for the first time in years, and Saturday will be the first opportunity for the fan base to get together and celebrate all that change and the new direction.
Yeah, there’s a football game, too, but we all know what’s going to happen when the clock hits 7:30 p.m. The Keydets went 1-10 last season and opened 2026 with a 38-10 loss to a bad FCS Idaho State program in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated.
Former VMI head coach Danny Rocco left Lexington after last season and decided he’d rather be an analyst for the Hokies. He was replaced by Ashley Ingram, who did a good job at Division II Carson-Newman, going 17-6 over two seasons. He’ll run an option attack with the Keydets, as military schools often do.
However, Ingram has very little talent to work with, and it looks like another long season for VMI football is on the horizon. This preview is going to be quick and easy, and then we’ll get to the game predictions.
Putting VMI In Perspective
For those of you who go back to the 60s, 70s or 80s, put everything you learned about VMI football back then out of your mind because it is completely irrelevant to the modern college game.
Check out the Keydets over the last three decades:
That’s two winning records over that span, and both of them came in COVID-impacted years, which seemed to even the odds for a lot of programs. VMI couldn’t build on it, though, and has won just one game in three of its last four seasons. Dating back to 2017, it’s won zero or one game in five of nine seasons. Since 1998, it’s won two or fewer games in 18 of 28 years.
It gets worse. Bill Connelly rates all 772 college football teams using his S&P+ metric. That includes all FBS, FCS, D-II, D-III and NAIA programs, along with a few non-affiliated schools.
Despite being an FCS program, VMI ranks No. 405 out of 772 teams. Only two FCS programs are ranked below the Keydets, and they are behind the likes of Christopher Newport (D-III), Baker (NAIA) and Emory & Henry (D-II). They are no Maine Maritime, that’s for sure, but it’s not pretty.
Looking back at last season, VMI’s only victory came over Ferrum, a D-II team that recently jumped up from the D-III ranks. VMI lost to Wofford 52-10, and that Terriers team was handled 38-6 by a bad Virginia Tech team. The Keydets also lost to Western Carolina 48-6 and Mercer 62-0. You get the point.
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In 2026, VMI opened the year with a 38-10 loss at Idaho State in Week 0. It was completely uncompetitive until the fourth quarter, trailing 38-0, but managed to get a couple of late scores in the final eight minutes of the game when the Bengals put in their backups.
The metrics indicate that this is probably the least talented team Virginia Tech has faced in the modern era. The Hokies can pretty much name their score on Saturday night.
VMI’s Recent Games Against FBS Teams
The line opened at 50.5 for this one, but it has since gone up to as high as 56.5, according to some bookies. It seems to be sitting at 55.5 on most sites.
That’s extremely high, so there is no guarantee the Hokies are going to cover it. They can if they want to, but I would expect the starters to be out of the game early.
Here are VMI’s most recent games against FBS opponents:
• 2025: Navy, 52-7
• 2024: Georgia Tech, 59-7
• 2023: NC State, 45-7
• 2022: Wake Forest, 44-10
• 2021: Kent State, 60-10
• 2019: Marshall, 56-17
• 2019: Army, 47-6
Only a couple of those teams managed to beat VMI by 50 or more — Georgia Tech in 2024 and Kent State in 2021. The Keydets’ last six FBS opponents averaged 32.3 points in the first half, but let their foot off the gas in the second and averaged just 20.3 points.
So, will Virginia Tech cover? It could if it wants to put up points, but VMI threw just nine passes last week. Both teams are going to run the ball a ton, too, meaning the clock is going to tick down pretty quickly. James Franklin isn’t interested in embarrassing the Keydets, either.
The Hokies may cover, or they may not, but it doesn’t matter in the end.
Series History
Before we get into this year’s VMI team, let’s briefly highlight the rivalry’s history.
This will be the 80th meeting of what was once called the Military Classic of the South. The Hokies own the all-time series 49-25-5. It’s the first clash since 1984, when they played at Foreman Field in Norfolk.
Virginia Tech athletics wrote a detailed piece on the roots of the rivalry, which began in 1894, and the service and tradition that built what used to be an annual Thanksgiving Day matchup at Victory Stadium in Roanoke. It also touched on how Homer Hickam, Alton Harper and George Fox built Skipper, the Corps of Cadets’ cannon.
There’s a special flyover for Saturday’s game, too, featuring two HH-60 helicopters and an HC-130 cargo plane, flown by Virginia Tech and VMI alumni from the 347th Rescue Group at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia.
Personnel Information
VMI doesn’t list a depth chart online, so we can’t go into deep detail about the personnel, but I can give you a few notes.
The Keydets played three quarterbacks against Idaho State, and we could see them do the same on Saturday night in Lane Stadium. Here are the numbers their three quarterbacks put up:
• JoJo Crump (6-1, 200, Jr.): 3-of-7, 16 yards, 9 carries, 16 yards
• Chandler Wilson (6-0, 220, r-Jr.): 1-of-1, -2 yards, 7 carries, 62 yards
• Nana Utsey (6-2, 235, So.): 1-of-1, -3 yards, 6 carries, 13 yards
Crump started and got the majority of the work, but it’s possible that we could see Wilson and Utsey as well. The latter two had negative passing yards last week against the Bengals.
Leo Boehling (6-0, 235, Jr.) is an experienced player from Benedictine in Richmond who ran for 537 yards last season and led the team with 17 carries against Idaho State. Watch for Trevin Simon (5-11, 200, Fr.) to get carries from the A-back position as well. He broke off a 46-yarder in Week 0.
Overall, VMI passed for 11 yards on nine attempts last week, while running for 229 yards on 52 attempts. Of those rushing yards, 124 came on three second-half carries — gains of 46, 47 and 31 yards (41.3 average). That means the Keydets averaged 2.1 yards per carry on their other 49 runs.
VMI’s longest drive before the end of the third quarter totaled just 26 yards, so it couldn’t get anything going offensively until it was 38-0 and Idaho State cleared its bench.
With the Keydets playing option football, there’s always a concern that a young Virginia Tech defender will lose focus and allow a long gain or two late in the game. However, if the Hokies maintain their focus, a shutout is possible.
On the other side of the ball, VMI made three tackles for loss against the Bengals but recorded no sacks.
The Keydets did a good job against the run, limiting the opposition to just 88 rushing yards and 3.5 yards per carry. However, they were torched through the air, with Idaho State completing 23-of-39 passes for 366 yards and four touchdowns. Only two interceptions by ISU kept that game from being an even bigger rout.
VMI’s personnel was completely overmatched from a talent standpoint by Idaho State, and the Bengals have only had two winning records since 2004! Saturday night will be as uneven a talent matchup as most of us have ever seen inside Lane Stadium.
A Few Other Notes To End This Preview
There’s not much to preview with the Keydets, so let me end the article with a few random notes.
- I’ll be keeping my eyes and my ears open for what happens when the Hokies have the ball in the red zone. I’ll leave that to your own interpretation.
- How many quarterbacks will throw passes for Virginia Tech in this game? I’m guessing three, but four isn’t out of the question.
- I’ll be upset if either Marcellous Hawkins or Jeffrey Overton gets a carry after halftime.
- VMI doesn’t throw the ball very often, so don’t expect a sack fest in this one. I figure it’ll throw the ball even less than usual in this one, just to get the heck out of Dodge.
- Please, please, please don’t let anybody come away from this game with any serious injuries.
And that’s just about it for the least compelling matchup in the modern history of Virginia Tech football.
Virginia Tech-VMI Game Prediction: Make Your Pick!
This year’s game prediction section has been updated with a twist: You can now make your own individual game score prediction (plus a tiebreaker) and compete against other Hokie fans to see who gets the closest!
It’s simple: Enter your score prediction and tiebreaker guess, then click submit. You can change your pick up until kickoff.
Predictions
I’m a little bit divided on this one. Like every other Virginia Tech fan, I can really use a blowout to strengthen my psyche as we start the 2026 season. I just want to kick somebody’s butt, go home and have our entire future to look forward to with a little bit of confidence. That hasn’t happened here in a long time.
That’s surely going to happen on Saturday. I wish it were coming against somebody else, though. I believe that VMI is a team filled with mostly D-II talent, and that’s the level at which the Keydets need to be playing. I think it’s a matter of pride that they stay up at the FCS level.
However, I think the best thing they could do for their student-athletes is to allow them to play at a level at which they have a chance to be competitive, allowing them to enjoy their college experience as much as possible. Throwing them to the wolves at a higher level than their talent allows them to successfully compete just isn’t right. That’s my take, but it’s not my school.
I’m glad to see the Virginia Tech fan base happy and filled with confidence again. To me, that’s what this weekend is about.
It’s a chance to celebrate the Hokies’ new commitment to football. It’s a chance for the fans to have a tailgate that doesn’t feature a lot of gallows humor about the upcoming game, season or future of the program. It’s a chance to be happy from the start of the day to the end of the day, which hasn’t happened much in recent years.
But as far as the game goes, meh. Just run the ball, take care of business, get all the starters out by halftime and do whatever can be done to make sure both teams are as healthy as possible after 60 minutes. Then let’s move on to somebody who can hit back.
CC’s Prediction: Virginia Tech 58, VMI 7
Will Stewart (Founder): People have been asking me off and on what I think of this game. My response: “I just hope nobody gets killed.” I’m only half-joking.
I have a former brother-in-law (Jim Daly) who played QB for VMI back in the mid-80s. There’s a funny story I often tell about Jim getting sacked by Bruce Smith in 1984. Bruce sacked Jim, and Jim made the mistake of hopping up and yapping, “Is that all you got, fat boy?”
(When Jim told me this story, I just shook my head and said, “Oh, no, you didn’t really call Bruce Smith fat, did you?” Bruce had a large posterior and was a little sensitive about it. He didn’t whip himself into shape until he got into the NFL.)
Let’s just say that the second time Bruce sacked Jim, it took Jim a while to get up, and for a few moments, he couldn’t even breathe. Bruce leaned over and said, “No, that’s what I’ve got.”
Virginia Tech won’t have Bruce Smith on the field Saturday, but VMI also won’t have many Jim Dalys. Jim is a good-sized dude, standing at 6-foot-3 — that’s what attracted my sister to him, haha — and was listed at 195 in his playing days. Back then, that was a big QB, and Bruce just about broke him.
“I was 6-of-7 [passing] when he hit me,” Jim told me, “and after that, I went 3-of-22.” I’ve never fact-checked Jim on that because it’s funny as-is.
I’m glad Bruce didn’t kill Jim, and I hope nobody gets killed Saturday. As for my score prediction, those seven games against FBS teams that CC listed above average out to 52-9. I think it’ll be a little worse.
Will’s Prediction: Virginia Tech 55, VMI 6
David Cunningham (Managing Editor): Saturday is going to be lopsided, but more than anything, it’ll just be nice to have college football back. The Hokies are in a much different spot, too.
Much of last season was, in my mind, an exhausting waste of time. The team fought hard against every opponent and gutted out some impressive performances against NC State and Cal, but it was a drag of a few months where everyone was, rightfully so, more worried about the head coaching search.
Personally, it was tiresome, especially when it bled into basketball season, and then respective searches for the athletic director and president. So, even though this opening game isn’t a heavyweight fight, I’m just glad we’re on the other side of that awful storm that sat over Virginia Tech athletics for the last few years. We’ve moved into clear skies, which will be more enjoyable for everyone, including people like us who cover the Hokies.
James Franklin is here now, and it still doesn’t feel real. He’s got quite the tune-up game against an overpowered Keydets team, and though the game itself might be boring, I’m excited for the military pageantry and for the next chapter of Virginia Tech football to begin. More than anything, it’ll be fun to see fans smiling again. A lot of people forgot what that was like in Lane Stadium over the past few years.
Fingers crossed there’s good tailgating weather this weekend and the LED lights look as cool as I’m hearing they do. Enjoy the Hokies starting to trend upward again. It should be a fun ride, and Saturday will just be the tip of the iceberg. (The actual analysis will start next week.)
David’s Prediction: Virginia Tech 66, VMI 7
Andy Bitter (Senior Staff Writer): This feels like a pick-your-score game, and those are always tough to predict.
This is a mismatch, I’m afraid to say. That’s no fault of VMI, which is what it is in this environment as not only an FCS school but a military one at that. Let’s just say it's not a great sign for competitiveness when one team takes the other team’s head coach in the offseason and makes him a staffer. (Yes, I know there were extenuating family circumstances there, but still.)
When will Virginia Tech call off the dogs? Franklin typically rolls it up in these types of games, and might want to make an impression in his first game appearance in front of Hokies fans. He also might not want to run it up on the military school just up the road.
So I’m picking a runaway win, but not quite the 68-0 that SP+ projects. You have to want to score 60-plus if you do it. I don’t know that that’s the mindset. Plus, facing an option offense, there’s the potential for a limited number of possessions and a clock that keeps running. I’ll give the Keydets a field goal, but that’s about it.
Andy’s Prediction: Virginia Tech 52, VMI 3
Nick Brown (Director of Media): Virginia Tech and VMI were once fierce rivals, and then in 1964 the Hokies decided to make joining the Corps of Cadets involuntary. Since that decision, the trajectories of the two schools have drastically split.
Will this game be nostalgic for people who lived through the glory days of the rivalry? Yes. Will this game also be a disgusting blowout that shouldn’t have been scheduled in the 21st century? Also yes.
Virginia Tech rolls to 1-0 in the James Franklin era.
Nick’s Prediction: Virginia Tech 59, VMI 3
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