The Virginia Tech and West Virginia Athletics Departments announced Friday that the season-opening football contest between the two schools has been moved to 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 3. Tickets will go on sale to Hokie Club members and Virginia Tech football season ticket holders on Tuesday, April 4. The game will be televised nationally by ABC.
“Thousands of our alums call Northern Virginia and the Capitol Region their home, so the chance to play in an NFL stadium in front of so many Hokies should be a great experience for our players and our fans,” Tech head coach Justin Fuente said. “We’re also excited to showcase our program on national TV for a primetime audience, as we renew our rivalry with a talented and well-coached West Virginia team.”
Virginia Tech’s allotment of student tickets for West Virginia game are already on sale. Those seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis, with a single ticket available for $72, or two tickets for $139, with a limit of two tickets per student. All fees are included in those prices. Students must pick up these tickets at the Virginia Tech Athletics Ticket Office on August 29-31.
The contest will mark the 52nd meeting between the two schools, with Tech owning a two-game winning streak in the series that dates back to 1912. The Hokies claimed a 34-17 victory in the most recent game in Morgantown in 2005 and also won a 19-13 decision against then-No. 6 West Virginia at Lane Stadium in 2004.
Arguably the most memorable contest in the series for Tech fans was a 22-20 victory in Morgantown on Nov. 6, 1999 when Michael Vick led a last-minute Hokies’ comeback that Shayne Graham capped with a 44-yard game-winning field goal as time expired.
This season’s game will mark Virginia Tech’s fourth appearance at FedExField since 2004. The two teams last played a neutral-site game in 1962 when both sides met in Richmond, Virginia. Tech and West Virginia also will play a two-game series starting in 2021, with the Hokies traveling to Morgantown for a Sept. 18, 2021 game and the Mountaineers coming to Blacksburg for a Sept. 24, 2022 contest.
The Hokies are led by head coach Justin Fuente, who earned consensus ACC Coach of the Year honors in 2016, guiding the Hokies to a 10-4 record and the ACC Coastal Division title in his initial season in Blacksburg. Dating back to the 1999 season — when Frank Beamer coached Virginia Tech to its first 11-win season and a berth in the national championship game — only Oklahoma (14) has registered more seasons with double-digit victories than Virginia Tech (12) among Power Five programs over that span.
— Courtesy of VT Athletics
