Virginia Tech will, if necessary, get an “extra” shot at bowl eligibility.
Hurricane Florence forced Tech’s Week 3 game against East Carolina to be canceled as ECU, rightfully so, opted not to travel to Blacksburg for the game. Ever since, the Hokies have been looking to add a 12th game to its schedule to no avail... until now.
Citing multiple sources with knowledge of the situation, the Richmond Times-Dispatch is reporting that Tech has reached an agreement with Marshall to play a game Dec. 1. Marshall also lost its Week 3 game against South Carolina due to the hurricane and was in need of a 12th game as well.
The agreement, which is expected to be officially announced in the next day or two, between the ACC and Conference USA comes with a catch as it will only be played if the Hokies need a win to reach bowl eligibility, the Times-Dispatch reported.
As is stands now, Tech is 4-5 with two games remaining -- home against Miami today (VT trails 17-14 at halftime as of this posting), home against rival Virginia next Saturday. If they split those two games, the Marshall game will be played per the new agreement; if they win both or lose both, there won’t be a game that first Saturday in December.
Tech has played in 25 straight bowl games, the second-longest current streak behind only Florida State’s 36 in a row. The 4-6 Seminoles need to beat both No. 20 Boston College today and No. 13 Florida next weekend to keep their streak alive.
At 6-3, Marshall is already bowl-eligible.