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Following road clashes against Clemson and SMU, Virginia Tech football hosts an opponent for the first time in nearly a month when Stanford comes to down in mid-November.
The Hokies and Cardinal have only faced off before twice.
The first came in the 2010 Orange Bowl, where the then-No.
12 Hokies were blown out by then-No.
5 Stanford, 40-12, in Miami.
Virginia Tech then played against Stanford two years ago; coming off a 38-34 loss to Miami, the Hokies thumped Stanford, 31-7, in California.
The matchup between Virginia Tech and Stanford this year will be the first-ever meeting in Blacksburg, and both programs will approach this game with new head coaches and a new quarterback at the helm.
At this point in the season, Virginia Tech will be nine games into its first season under head coach James Franklin, who went 104-45 over 11-plus seasons at Penn State and has a 128-60 career record as a head whistle heading into 2026.
Meanwhile, Stanford's head coach is a first-timer to the HC position, though not to the university.
Tavita Pritchard is now the man calling the shots; the Stanford alum was the quarterback at the helm of Stanford's famed 24-23 upset of then-No.
1 USC in 2007 as a 41-point underdog.
Pritchard's starting spot was assumed by NFL breakout Andrew Luck in Pritchard's final season.
Pritchard then returned to the team as a volunteer assistant in 2010 before being hired as a defensive assistant a year later, a role he held for two seasons.
In 2013, he held the role of running backs coach before he took the role of quarterbacks/wide receivers coach from 2014-17.
Pritchard took over the offensive coordinator role when Mike Bloomgren left for Rice's head coaching job, a role he kept along with his QB coach designation until 2022.
Pritchard served as the quarterbacks coach for the Washington Commanders from 2023-25, mentoring 2024 No.
2 draft pick Jayden Daniels, before he took over the vacant Stanford head coaching job on Nov.
28, 2025.
Pritchard takes over a Stanford group searching for consistency in the ACC.
Through two years in the conference, the Cardinal are 7-17 (5-11 ACC), and they haven't finished with a winning record in a full season since the 2018 season (Stanford was 4-2 in 2020).
At quarterback, Stanford has more questions than answers.
Davis Warren steps in as the potential No.
1 after missing the entirety of the 2025 season due to a torn ACL sustained in the prior year's bowl.
In 2024 with Michigan, he went 134-for-209 (64.1%), throwing for 1,199 passing yards, seven touchdowns and nine interceptions.
Behind him, Dylan Rizk slots in as a potential No.
2.
Rizk went 72-for-117 for 904 passing yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions.
Rizk compiled 294 passing yards on a 20-for-25 clip, going for three passing touchdowns and adding 55 yards on the ground.
At running back, Micah Ford returns after a solid 2025 season where he rolled up 643 rushing yards and four scores on 145 totes.
Sedrick Irvin will also be aspiring for a larger role after logging 118 rushing yards last season.
Cole Tabb could factor in too after a 445-yard rushing output in his redshirt freshman season.
Chris Davis Jr.
is back after missing the entirety of the 2025 season.
Davis Jr.
tallied 288 rushing yards on 54 carries.
Stanford, however, finished No.
125 last year in total offense.
When it comes to the pass catchers, the Cardinal will enter the 2026 campaign without tight end Sam Roush, who's now with the Chicago Bears in the NFL after 1,167 receiving yards over three years with Stanford.
Benji Blackburn now presumably steps in after a 109-yard, nine-reception season in 2025 as a sophomore.
At the wideout spot, though Stanford lost leading wideout CJ Williams as he moved to the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, Caden High totaled 414 receiving yards last season, and he should see an upgraded role if Warren acclimates quickly to Stanford.
Nico Brown also comes over from Yale, where he racked up 1,085 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns on 71 catches and surpassed the 100-yard mark in seven of his 10 games.
On the defensive side of the ball, cornerback Brandon nicholson returns after a 24-tackle, two-INT, six-pass deflection season.
linebacker Mike Rose is back after amassing 106 tackles (39 solo), three sacks and three pass deflections.
Outside of Rose, however, only one returner posted even half of his tackles: safety Scott Edwards (54 tackles, 2.5 sacks).
Then again, the Cardinal have gone 7-39 against squads over the top 80 in SP+, per ESPN's Bill Connelly.
Stanford has been one of, if not, the weakest squad in the ACC, and despite Pritchard's prior pedigree, his being a first-time head coach and the recent historical precedent of Stanford football means that the road to a November victory over the Hokies is steep.
I have Virginia Tech by multiple scores.
Virginia Tech's clash against Stanford is set for Saturday, Nov.
14, with no TV channel or kickoff time announced at the time of writing.
The Hokies then travel to Miami Gardens, Fla.
for a tussle with ACC favorites Miami on Nov.
21 before returning to Blacksburg, Va., to host Virginia on Nov.
28 in the regular-season finale.
Final score prediction: Virginia Tech 34, Stanford 17 Hughes serves as Virginia Tech On SI's lead editor, a position he has held since July 2025.
He is a sophomore at Virginia Tech, majoring in multimedia journalism with a minor in creative writing.
Hughes is also the assistant editor-in-chief for 3304 Sports, as well as an on-air talent for 3304's SportsCenter-style studio show.
He is also a staff writer for Steering Wheel Nation, having written pieces on several motorsport series, including Formula 1 and the NTT IndyCar Series.
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