Week 0 Games Virginia Tech Fans Should Keep an Eye On

Virginia Tech doesn't play this weekend. The Hokies open Sept. 5 at home against VMI, coach James Franklin's first game in Blacksburg. So Week Zero is a scouting Saturday. Of the games on the Aug. 29 slate, three put teams on Virginia Tech's radar, two of them opponents already circled on the 2026 schedule.

Here's where to point the remote.

NC State at Virginia, 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN

The Cavaliers close Virginia Tech's regular season Nov. 28 in Blacksburg, the Smithfield Commonwealth Clash, and they beat the Hokies last year on their way to a school-record 11 wins. Coach Tony Elliott's team went 11-3, finished No. 16 in the final AP poll, and took ACC Coach of the Year. It's the team's standing between the Hokies and a better feeling in late November.

The game was nearly played in another hemisphere. Virginia and NC State were set to open in Rio de Janeiro, the first college football game in South America, before organizers scrapped it in June and moved everything back to Scott Stadium. It counts as the ACC opener for both.

Hawaii at Stanford, 7 p.m. ET on ACC Network

Virginia Tech hosts Stanford on Nov. 14, so this is the first tape on a November opponent. And it's a new-look Cardinal. Andrew Luck runs the program as general manager, now in his second year, and he handed the team to first-year coach Tavita Pritchard, who coached quarterbacks for the Washington Commanders.

Temper expectations on the product. Stanford went 4-8 last season and hasn't won more than four games since 2018. Michigan transfer Davis Warren is the likely starter. The Cardinal opened as just a four-point home favorite, which tells you the rebuild is still a rebuild. Watch whether Pritchard's offense looks like anything yet.

North Carolina vs. TCU, noon ET on ESPN (Dublin)

Not a Virginia Tech opponent, but the ACC's showcase, and the game everyone's watching regardless. Coach Bill Belichick starts his second season at North Carolina against the same TCU team that walloped the Tar Heels 48-14 in his college debut last September. Belichick went 4-8 in year one, and the books set North Carolina's win total at 4.5. The seat is warm.

TCU comes in remade too. Quarterback Josh Hoover left for Indiana, and Harvard grad transfer Jaden Craig is the likely replacement. The Horned Frogs opened as a 7.5-point favorite from a neutral field an ocean away.

The Hokies watch this one from the couch. A week later, Franklin gets his turn.

Add us as a preferred source on Google