After the coronavirus changed plans Virginia and Virginia Tech had to open their football seasons with the Commonwealth Cup clash, the rivalry was shifted Thursday by the ACC to Dec. 12, putting the game back in its more traditional season-ending spot.
U.Va. and Virginia Tech had to postpone the game that was slated for this coming Saturday after several of Tech’s players had been placed in quarantine either because they’d contracted the coronavirus or via contact tracing. Though the game now has a new date, the game time and television coverage have yet to be announced.
Last season, U.Va. snapped a 15-game losing streak against Tech, beating the Hokies 39-30 in Charlottesville. Virginia Tech has been U.Va.’s final regular-season opponent in each of the last 14 seasons, while U.Va. has been Tech’s regular-season-closing foe in 13 of the last 14 seasons.
Both teams have had trouble getting their seasons underway. Virginia’s game in Atlanta against Georgia, scheduled for Sept. 7, was eliminated when the ACC revised every conference team’s schedule.
U.Va. also had a home game slated for Sept. 11 against Virginia Military Institute canceled when VMI and its fellow Southern Conference members postponed their season until the spring. U.Va. will now open its season Sept. 26 at home against Duke in a game that was moved from Nov. 14.
Virginia Tech will start its season Sept. 26 with a home game against North Carolina State. That matchup was supposed to take place Sept. 12, but the game had to be postponed because N.C. State revealed coronavirus positives in late August in its athletic programs that necessitated quarantining.
Norm Wood, 757-247-4644, nwood@dailypress.com
