At one time Virginia Tech’s Lane Stadium was home to one of the seemingly best home field advantages in all of college football.
From 1993 to 2019 the Hokies played in a bowl following each season, a stretch that was broken at 27-consecutive years following last year’s 5-6 overall showing, an incredible run considering Virginia Tech combined to go just 5-17 in Frank Beamer’s first two years on the job.
In five seasons at Virginia Tech, head coach Justin Fuentes and the Hokies have gone just 38-26 which has him entering the season on a rather hot seat.
Furthermore, Fuentes and the Hokies are just 4-12 in 16 games played against ranked opponents during his time, with zero of those four wins coming against teams that ultimately finished the season ranked.
All of that, but whenever going to Blacksburg gets brought up, we’re still greeted with this:
"Enter Sandman" hits different in Lane Stadium ⚡️ @HokiesFBpic.twitter.com/BfbWf0okJL
— ACC Network (@accnetwork) August 20, 2021
As Notre Dame fans are well aware, the ACC Network left out a key part of that night’s events as the Irish walked out a 45-23 victor.
The part of the Virginia Tech game that does scare me a bit in 2021 isn’t at all the fact that Notre Dame has to go to big, bad, and mighty Lane Stadium, nor is it that they’ll have to hear Mariano Rivera’s entrance music, but instead it’s where the game is at on the schedule.
In the two weeks before the Virginia Tech trip Notre Dame will play two of their toughest opponents; Wisconsin and Cincinnati. A bye follows the trip before USC and North Carolina come to South Bend on consecutive weekends.
Playing in the College Football Playoff twice in three years, Notre Dame has a lot of players who have played on much bigger stages than at Lane Stadium on a Saturday night. If there is a time for a letdown it would appear that game at Virginia Tech is as likely as any to me on Notre Dame’s schedule.
But fearful of the actual trip to Blacksburg because of some loud music before kickoff?
Exit light, enter night.
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