On Monday, the long-awaited Associated Press Top 25 poll was released, and there were just three ACC schools ranked. Miami was ranked seventh, SMU was 19th, and Louisville was 24th. Two of those teams are on Virginia Tech's 2026 schedule: Miami and SMU, both road games.
There is a lot of football to be played before the Hokies play either team in November. A lot will happen before both games, but will both teams still be ranked when they welcome James Franklin and Virginia Tech to town?
Predicting which Virginia Tech football 2026 opponents will be ranked when they play the Hokies
Nov. 6: Virginia Tech at SMU
As mentioned above, the Mustangs begin the season at No. 19 in the poll. Before hosting Virginia Tech on Friday, Nov. 6, SMU will have road games at Florida State, Louisville, and Syracuse, and then home games with UC Davis, Missouri State, Boston College, Virginia, and California. That's not an easy slate.
SMU has been very tought to beat at home since joining the ACC two years ago. Winning in Dallas is very, very difficult. Quarterback Kevin Jennings is the key to everything for the Mustangs, and if he's healthy, then they'll be tough to beat. Probably their toughest road game will be at Louisville on Sept. 19. With that said, we'll predict the Mustangs will be 7-1 when the Hokies visit and be ranked insdi the top 15.
Nov. 21: Virginia Tech at Miami
One year after coming close to upsetting Indiana in the National Championship Game back in January, Miami is back and loaded for another deep run in 2026. By the time the Hokies come up on the Hurricanes' schedule, they will be 10 games into the season. They will have had home games against Florida A&M, Central Michigan, Florida State, Pittsburgh, and Duke. They will have road games played at Stanford, Wake Forest, Clemson, North Carolina, and Notre Dame.
Unless an upset occurs, which under Mario Cristobal is certainly not out of the question, Miami has a shot to be 10-0, or 9-1 at best, with the lone hiccup coming, if it does, at Notre Dame in early November. Even if they're 9-1 and the lone loss is to the Irish, Miami will be higher than their preseason ranking of No. 7 and be ranked inside the top 5.
Any other Virginia Tech opponents to be ranked in 2026?
Well, certainly no non-conference opponents will be ranked, but what about the other ACC games? If we had to guess, three other teams have a chance to be ranked when Virginia Tech shows up on their schedule in 2026. Georgia Tech and Virginia. Surprisingly, UVA only received one vote, five fewer than the Hokies. A very favorable schedule this season for the Cavaliers could have them knocking on the door of a top-25 ranking if they take care of business. Imagine a Commonwealth Clash in Blacksburg this season with UVA ranked? What a weekend that would be.
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