On Wednesday, the ACC and ESPN jointly dropped a significant portion of their kickoff times for the 2026 season. That includes five Virginia Tech kickoff times for the first year of the James Franklin era in Blacksburg.
Opponents and dates have been known for a while, but kickoff times are significant because, often, they reveal how a program is viewed nationally. Suddenly, with Franklin at the helm, the Hokies are a draw.
Both of Virginia Tech’s Friday night games are, unsurprisingly, slated for 7:00 p.m. ET kickoffs, one at home against Pitt on October 2, and the other on the road in Dallas against SMU. However, those are only half of Virginia Tech’s primetime games so far. Of the five kickoff times announced for the Hokies, four are in primetime.
James Franklin is a huge draw in his 1st season at Virginia Tech
Franklin’s first true ‘Enter Sandman’ has to be under the lights at Lane Stadium, so, of course, the Week 1 matchup with VMI is a 7:30 p.m. ET kick on the ACC Network. Then, two weeks later, after a noon kickoff at home against Old Dominion and former Penn State offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne, Virginia Tech heads to Franklin’s old stomping grounds in College Park to play Maryland under the lights with a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff on FOX…