Finally, the game has been made official: Virginia Tech and West Virginia will play in FedExField in 2017.
This game had been rumored for many months, as the Hokies searched for an opponent from a Power 5 conference for the 2017 season. In fact, we dedicated a TSL Pass article to the subject back in May. The game as announced earlier this afternoon, and it will be played on Saturday, September 2, 2017. It will be the season opener for both teams.
Virginia Tech now has at least one Power 5 non-conference opponent on their schedule in each season through 2023. Here’s now the future schedule looks…
2014: at Ohio State
2015: Ohio State, at Purdue
2016: vs. Tennessee (Bristol), at Notre Dame
2017: vs. West Virginia (FedExField)
2018: Notre Dame (not officially confirmed, but very likely)
2019: at Wisconsin
2020: Wisconsin, at Michigan
2021: Michigan, at West Virginia
2022: Penn State, West Virginia
2023: Purdue, at Penn State
In the future, ACC teams are required to play one non-conference game per season against a program from a Power 5 conference. This game with West Virginia fulfills Tech’s requirement for 2017. A home-and-home game against another program would have been tough to schedule, as VT’s schedule is almost full through 2023. Tech’s Power 5 opponent requirement is now fulfilled through 2023 as well.
Tech’s series with West Virginia was thought to be extinct following Tech’s 34-17 win back in 2005. However, Jim Weaver and WVU AD Oliver Luck signed a home-and-home deal for the 2021 and 2022 seasons before Weaver’s retirement. Now that Whit Babcock and Luck have signed a deal to play at FedEx, the series will be restarted earlier than expected.
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I will be there, but I am bringing a helmet and pads. Not looking forward to another loss in a big season opener, but it’s getting easier to take each time.
I’ve been to USC, Boise State, and the Cincinnati game.
But I’m not going to these game unless Frank Beamer retires by then.
Watch another debacle? Watch us get demolished by an inferior team again?
and I don’t think any of my friends are going either.
It’s kind of interesting that, other than Tennessee, all of these games are Big 10. Maybe the rumors start about us heading to that conference. Any reason why all of these are Big 10 teams?
Were you at the game in 2003? If not, do you know someone who was?
I attended the BSU game and couldn’t see much of anything due to that stupid over hang.I was not impressed with the venue also.My wife,son and I took the metro from Roslyn thinking it would be easier than driving and on the way in they keep saying the last train leaving would be at 11:00.The game lasted until 11:00 and we found ourselves running like crazy the mile or so to get there by 11:00.There was a zoo of more people than train but we found standing room.I wonder if people were left behind or is that possible? BTW I would not go back.
I will definitely be there, good job Whit!
Interesting that most of the initial response is about the ‘game’ in the stands in lieu of the play on the field. Interesting in that it sounds almost like a bitter rivalry. Hmmmm.
Will go to game, 40 minutes away from FedEx, but I am wearing full body armor
The drunkeness at the Cincinnati game was appalling, and that’s coming from a guys that was a Ravens season ticket holder for 15 years. I watched two trashed Hokie gals do faceplants down the concrete steps carrying cups of beer to their seats. Mix in the acrimony of this WVU rivalry with the whiskey flowing all afternoon and we’ll have a real Hatfields and McCoys type donnybrook.
Yaaaahoooo!!!!
DC = Demolished Couches
Wow. Cut it out guys. WAY too much whining going on in here. Perhaps we should all attend the game but print up some shirts that say “VT Fan: Handle with Care”. Gimme a break. Do you think the WVU fans have been hurling batteries and urine at all the visiting teams from the Big 12? Has this really been such a regularly occurring phenomenon to warrant avoiding the event altogether? How is it that the WVU football program can make any money if their fans are scaring everyone away? If any of this was as bad as you make it out to be, you can bet your life that the WVU administration would be getting incredible pressure from Big 12 officials to address the situation and make the environment safe for visiting fans and locals alike. It’s simple economics. They would lose vast sums of money if they didn’t.
And please stop the stereotyping of WVU students as hicks and hillbillies. It’s lazy and ignorant. These are college students, same as you’d find anywhere else. Maybe you can make the case that some of the local fanbase are bona fide hillbillies, but would that be any different than what you’d see in Blacksburg? We aren’t that different really and some of the comments I see hurled around about WVU fans here sound a lot like what I hear other fans hurling around about us. If anything we should feel a sense of brotherhood with the Mountaineers.
Perhaps all the ill feelings are from a bygone generation. And maybe if that generation just stays away from the game then everything will be just fine.
My son attends WVU and I plan on being at FedEx Field with him in 2017 to see the game. And I’m willing to bet we’ll have a fantastic time. He claims he’s still rooting for the Hokies (due to my successful brainwashing of him as a child). If we come back with battery dents in our heads, I’ll make sure to return to this thread and eat some crow.
Going to WVU was one of the few times in my life I have truly been afraid. No exaggeration when I say WVU students were throwing empty beer bottles at our car while a state trooper was standing there watching and laughing. The series against WVU is Weaver’s last big middle finger to the VT fans he despises. Hopefully our new AD will pay whatever penalty fee there is and find us another opponent.
I’m sure the cameras at FedEx will pan past the batteries and the sand filled Gatorade bottles (see the Kevin Jones article with picture on TSL) as they are being thrown. It’s happened before. Nothing happened when they beat a pregnant LSU fan and almost killed her husband. I feel very confident that the security will look past sand in a pocket as a weapon or anything else. Then we go to WVU with no security!
Hundreds of Tech fans have said they do not want this game played due to violence and were ignored. I don’t want to see Beamer or the staff injured because we looked past the danger signs. Do you want to be an equipment guy or coach on the sideline with batteries and sand filled bottles thrown at you? That’s what you’re asking our coaches and staff to do.
If you support this game being played and a Tech fan gets seriously hurt don’t set back in your chair and say “how and why did that happen”. We can see this brutality coming.
Tech should never play WVU again.
Been to Fed Ex for all three games…major tailgate for each (especially USC) …but the games have left me with nightmares….jobbed against USC, self inflicted implosion against BS and the worst first half of offensive football in the history of man against Cinn….I just don’t see myself in Fed Ex for what could easily become a third world riot.
I hope Whit negotiated a big check.
Completely agree.
Now that it’s back on, you need to re-add, “Today is day XXXX of VT’s continuous possession of the Black Diamond Trophy,” to TechTalk notes. 🙂
Wonder who will be the coaches for both teams by then?
I wouldn’t be so sure.
By now VT fans in the DC-Metro are overly familiar with Fedex Field and its many failings. Couple that with the trashiest fanbase in all of college sports (sports in general?) and I think VT attendance could be low.
Personally I wouldn’t go to this game if you gave me free tickets on the 50 yard line. And I live less than 45 minutes from the stadium.
There will be a big crowd as both fan bases have large numbers of students and alumni living in that area. Should be interesting for 1st matchup since 2005 in that venue. With all day tailgating, beer sales in stadium and both fan bases being hostile towards each other, hope they have enough security. They do have comprehensive video surveillance in the stadium, so the ‘eer battery tossers will be quickly ejected.
Yes, @ Purdue 2015, CC is close, but not quite, to perfect
I’ll pass on attending this game, thanks anyway.
The stadium is lousy, the prices are insane but the biggest reason is that they sell beer there. I was at the BSU game and the stupid drunks (from both sides) were intolerable. I am an old man and I had to step into a drunk kid wearing VT colors who was hassling a BSU adult in the mens room. That’s not the way I roll.
Don’t we also play Purdue in 2015?