It’s that time of year, again. The Hokie Athletic Department is revving up its season ticket sales bandwagon, and that means the new 2018 Football schedule is posted and ready to entice the fan base into dropping a couple of thou on season tickets and coerced Hokie Club Premiums.

Let’s take a quick tour of the schedule for Fall. Remember, the times are often TBD, because we all know that TV rights and potential viewer interest always trump fan convenience (meaning 3:30 kickoffs forever!) It’s a “bonus year” this season with 7 games at Lane, that’s a big benefit. We also have a Thursday night prime time game and this time we had better win it. Here is the Hokie Sports page reference for proper attribution.

September 3, 2018 at Florida State

(Monday Game - National Broadcast)

The season opens in Tallahassee with the Hokies playing away against a tough ACC opponent. There is a certain amount of puzzlement at the mental processes that occur when these sorts of opponent/date events are thought up. We won’t go further into speculation than to say that FSU of 2018 will not be FSU of 2016. And they hope that they aren’t the FSU of 2017. Of course, we do.

September 8, 2018 at Home vs William and Mary

Ok, I know it’s an FCS team, but the Tribe is rarely a push over, and we have a whopping five days to prepare. Just let’s say that I cannot wait until the Whit Babcock era in scheduling finally hits. Why the old regime kept doing this to us, I will never understand.

September 15, 2018 at Home vs East Carolina

Our accidental rivals come into town to play what will probably be a Noonish kickoff. There is no telling about what will happen. It will all depend on how successful ECU is at rebuilding their program after the last season of struggles. There will be no doubt that they will come to play, though.

September 22, 2018 at ODU

Folks ODU is an AAC team that has some serious promise and they are, along with many of the other teams in the AAC trying to build that conference into a ‘Power’ rated league. UCF and Navy are not chump programs, and undefeated and more deserving of a playoff berth than Alabama UCF is going to pull the other teams in the conference up a notch. This will probably be a noonish kickoff, again, though.

September 29, 2018 at Duke

Duke pulled out of its tail spin at the end of the season. David Cutcliffe is a seriously good coach with a program that has proven that it can challenge us hard. We’ll see if heavy rain and bad weather will affect this game. It did last season, to our benefit. We’ll have a new team and they’ll present the same old problem.

October 6, 2018 at Home against Notre Dame

(Bet you this is a late kickoff and Prime Time National TV)

The Irish are coming to Lane! They are rejuvenated; though there are player personnel issues (recently 4 players suspended for violations of team rules) they are unlikely to be an issue to open October. Notre Dame is going to be looking for revenge. Tech is going to be looking to make it 2 and 0 for a solid national win. It’s going to be great to cover.

October 13, 2018 at UNC

Going to Chapel Hill is a short trip to a tough place. UNC is in a very tough place, itself, right now. The Tar Heels have a huge problem to solve. We’ll see if they get it addressed by week 6. It’s a core ACC game that we must win, every season. That is the absolute truth of the issue.

October 25, 2018 at Home vs Georgia Tech

(Thursday Night ESPN National Broadcast)

Okay Coach! I am freaking tired of your teams losing to Georgia Tech. I am tired of the defense getting caught flat footed on repeated and totally predictable ambush passes. I am tired of stopping the option but completely whiffing on the pass. I am tired of our offense going out and laying an egg on nearly every series. You have a week and a half to prepare this season. No more losses to an inferior football team. Got it? Hope so.

November 3, 2018 at Home vs Boston College

Oh boy. BC was much better at the end of the season. They made a bowl and stopped officially scraping the bottom of the Atlantic Division. They are going to come to Lane with a serious attitude and my guess is that both teams are going to be playing for something.

November 10, 2018 at the Big Ketchup to play Pitt

Coach Fuente broke the Curse of the Big Ketchup two seasons ago. Last season the goal line stand for the ages at Lane, frankly, should never have happened. Pitt always plays us tough, and the last two games have proven that in shovels full. We go back to Pittsburgh in 2018. It’s going to be cold, and the winds are going to be tricky. It will be a must win for both teams, that’s for sure.

November 17, 2018 at Home vs Miami

This game will be a prime time kickoff if it’s the Coastal Division Championship. It’ll be a 3:30 otherwise. Some people won’t give up on the Wahoos being our number one rival. I won’t give up on Miami being that team. The ‘Canes are our arch nemeses and we come loaded for Ibis. This one will probably be for all the marbles in the Coastal.

November 23, 2018 at Home vs the Wahoos

We beat the Cavaliers last season, even though the offense never managed to do much more than run between the 20’s. The Wahoos fell apart in 2017, after the 2/3 mark. Their performance against Navy wasn’t. I don’t know who showed up in that Bowl game, but it wasn’t the team that held our offense to 10 points. The question for the Hokies will be whether or not it’s the last game of the regular season before the Christmas break.

So that’s seven home games, one Thursday night bash, and several more prime time opportunities if we get our offense off the stump. Spring is closer than you think, and there are lots of positions open for new talent.

The Draft articles are coming. Tremaine Edmunds (he graduates in May) is looking like a first rounder. Wyatt Teller is popping up in the better rounds, too. We’ll see how they do.

GO HOKIES!!!

John Schneider - SB Nation