It feels like it has been a long time since the Virginia Tech football team played a home game inside Lane Stadium. Truth be told, it has been a long time since the Hokies played a game in Blacksburg, going back to Oct. 17, when Georgia Tech visited.
Since then, James Franklin's club won at Clemson, 20-16, on Oct. 24, and then had a much-needed bye on Halloween Weekend. They returned to action this past Friday night and looked like a team that did nothing during their bye week and were blown out, 51-28, by the Mustangs. It ended any hope- there wasn't much- of the Hokies sneaking into a spot in the ACC Championship Game next month in Charlotte.
At 6-3, Virginia Tech is bowl-eligible, and two of their remaining three games this season will be in Blacksburg, beginning on Saturday night against Stanford. The odds for the game have been released by DraftKings, and the Hokies open as a huge favorite over the Cardinal.
Virginia Tech opens as a huge favorite over Stanford
Back on Monday, the ACC announced that the game was going to either start at 7 p.m. on ESPN2 or at 7:30 p.m. on the ACC Network. It was announced after the end of Saturday's game that the game would kick off inside Lane Stadium at 7:30 p.m. and be another ACC Network broadcast. As for the opening line, the Hokies open, according to DraftKings, as a 16.5-point favorite with an eye-opening over/under of 59.5 points.
Stanford will be coming into the game off a bye, and at 4-5, they need to win two of their last three games to become bowl-eligible. After visiting Virginia Tech Saturday night, they will travel to Berkeley to play Cal next weekend, before hosting SMU Thanksgiving Weekend. Safe to say that first-year Cardinal coach Tavita Pritchard will leave no stone unturned when it comes to trying to get an upset against Franklin and the Hokies.
This will be the second meeting between Virginia Tech and Stanford since the Cardinal joined the ACC three years ago. In their first year in the conference, former head coach Brent Pry and the Hokies traveled to Northern California and came away with a 31-7 win in front of what was an embarrassing crowd for the home team.
As for this year's matchup, as far as Virginia Tech is concerned, it's about improving its bowl game with a win. The following weekend, they head to South Florida to play Miami, which fell at Notre Dame on Saturday night to the No. 1 team in the country. Then Virginia visits Thanksgiving Weekend for the annual Commonwealth Clash.
This is a game where the Hokies should come out and prove that they are the better team and send an early message after the SMU loss. It doesn't mean it's going to happen, but the Virginia Tech response is going to be interesting after a blowout loss to the Mustangs. It'll be another night game in Blacksburg for Franklin in his first season.
Add us as a preferred source on Google