The following is a list of Virginia Tech's most frequent opponents since 1980, what I have assumed is the "Modern Era". I chose 1980 because (1) Bill Dooley was our 1st flash head coaching hire (stolen from UNC), (2) VT made 3 bowls in the 80s, (3) Dooley signed Bruce Smith, and (4) VT hit the big time officially when we were penalized by the NCAA for his recruitment. In addition, I wanted to reflect our journey from Independent to Big East to ACC to avoid simply reflecting our most recent affiliations. Finally as a VT Class of '88 grad, I am not yet ready to exclude the 1980s from the modern era.

Too late for many observations but I did note: (FYI - the data is at the end of this post)

1. Our top 3 most frequent opponents (UVA, Miami, & West Virginia) truly are the 3 teams most talked about on TSL and that generate the most negative comments. I think that is truly reflective of a rival. In addition, I remember the shirt from the early 90s featuring the Good (VT), the Bad and the Ugly. We all know who the bad is, but I do not remember if the ugly was WVU or Miami. In the 80s, Lane Stadium was typically full for only 2 games - UVA and WVU.

2. #4 most frequently played is Boston College. Despite all the negative comments, there is some history here. I still think that Matt Ryan's comeback was one of the most heartbreaking losses we had.

3. #5 is ECU. In the 1980s we played them every year including the season ECU played at 7 different homecoming games (easy win). Say what you will, I would much rather play a challenging game against a football oriented school and fanbase from the American Conference than the MAC, CUSA, or FCS (although I would prefer a P5 opponent). Of course I may be biased living in Raleigh.

4. We were still playing VMI, W&M, and Richmond regularly until 1984-86. I had thought of using this to reset the "Modern Era", but I had already almost finished (R, V & W are near the end of the alphabet). It does seem that we replaced them with JMU as we never played the Dukes until the Modern Era (although we did not play them in 2010 despite rumors to that effect).

5. I was surprised to see Duke at #6 and Clemson at #9. I remember some great games against Clemson in the 80s and 90s (when we were not in the ACC), but thought Duke was an ACC opponent only.

6. Looking at the top 16, only WVU, ECU, Temple and Rutgers are not in the current ACC. Seems like we are in the right conference based on our historic rivals and opponents.

7. The team we have played the least that is in the current ACC is Louisville with 6 games. For the record we have never played Notre Dame.

8. In terms of the need for a more robust rotation (however that is done), we have played Atlantic Division schools Florida State (12), NC State (10), and Wake Forest (10) the least. This fact is even worse when you consider that from 1980 until we joined the ACC, we had already played played NC State 5 times (including the Kick in Atlanta) and FSU 7 times (including my favorite 3 quarters of football in the Natl Championship game). There needs to be 9 conference games per year so these ACC matchups are more frequent!

9. The only two teams in the Big 10 that we have played more than 6 times in the past 35 years are Rutgers (13) and Maryland (7), the two teams that no one was excited to play when we were in the Big East and the ACC (although the 1992 and 1993 games against Rutgers were 2 very exciting games).

10. VT has played SEC teams even less and most of the games go back to our time as an independent in the 1980s. (South Carolina 6, Vanderbilt 6, and Kentucky 4).

Now for the data.


# games
Rank Opponent 1980-present
1 Virginia 36
2 Miami 28
3 West Virginia 26
4 Boston College 24
5 East Carolina 19
6 Duke 16
7 Syracuse 16
8 Temple 16
9 Clemson 15
10 Pitt 15
11 North Carolina 13
12 Rutgers 13
13 Georgia Tech 13
14 Florida State 12
15 NC State 10
16 Wake Forest 10
17 Cincinnati 10
18 William & Mary 8
19 Richmond 7
20 Maryland 7
21 James Madison 6 (there was no game in 2010)
22 South Carolina 6
23 Vanderbilt 6
24 Louisville 6
25 VMI 5
26 Marshall 5
27 Southern Miss 5
28 Akron 5
29 Kentucky 4
30 Tulane 4
31 Arkansas State 4
32 Western Michigan 4
33 Alabama 3
34 Memphis 3
35 Appalachian State 3
36 Bowling Green 3
37 Nebraska 3
38 UAB 3
39 UCF 3
40 Navy 2
41 Tennessee 2
42 Furman 2
43 Ohio 2
44 Texas A&M 2
45 Air Force 2
46 Connecticut 2
47 East Tennessee State 2
48 LSU 2
49 Ohio State 2

Note: Teams played 1 time or less are not included. These teams included a mix of bowl opponents combined with FCS and non P-5 teams.






[Post edited by mjfhokie at 06/29/2016 03:01AM]