Rutgers at Virginia Tech
When: Saturday, September 21st, time TBD
Where: Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia
There aren’t a ton of games between the ACC and the Big Ten. Except for some adjoining territory in the northeast, there aren’t a lot of natural matchups. That is one of the reasons some Clemson fans aren’t keen on the possibility of the Tigers joining the Big Ten.
For me, it came down to the Hokies hosting the Scarlet Knights and North Carolina visiting Minnesota (Duke at Northwestern and Maryland at Virginia are also on the schedule but probably won’t make a big impact).
There are a lot of question marks about North Carolina following Drake Maye’s exit to the NFL. The Tar Heels might make a big splash on the road, but not many people view Minnesota as a big-time opponent.
It might not seem very appealing, but the best way for the ACC to make a statement against the Big Ten would be for Tech to hold serve at home against Rutgers.
The Hokies are dark horses in the ACC this year. They also have something that not a lot of ACC teams have: the perception of a good home-field advantage. Lane Stadium is up there with Death Valley and Doak Campbell as one of the tougher locations to play at in the conference.
Rutgers has improved (again) under Greg Schiano, but perception usually becomes reality. It won’t be a good look for the conference if a perennial bottom feeder from the Big Ten comes into one of the toughest environments in the ACC and gets a win.
NEXT: Louisville at Kentucky