The No. 15 Virginia Tech Hokies are travelling to Morgantown, WVa., to take on their longtime rivals the West Virginia Mountaineers on Sept. 18 at noon ET, airing on Fox Sports 1.
Virginia Tech vs. West Virginia is a college football rivalry where the two schools duke it out for the rights to the Black Diamond Trophy. Four the last four years that trophy has belonged to Virginia Tech, as they won the schools’ last meeting in Sept. 2017 31-24, continuing VT’s current three-game winning streak in the series. However, West Virginia holds the edge in the overall series, with 28 wins to VT’s 23 (there’s been one tie).
This is just one of the big matchups in college football week three, including the SEC Game of the Week featuring Alabama vs. Florida and Saturday Night Football with Auburn vs. Penn State.
Also: College football games on ESPN Plus: Week three 2021
Here’s a preview of what to expect from the Virginia Tech vs. West Virginia game and how you can watch it.
Virginia Tech vs. West Virginia matchup preview
There’s more on the line in this game than just the Black Diamond Trophy. Virginia Tech looks to continue its strong start to the season and confirm that it is back among the major college football programs, while West Virginia looks to get a standout win as it heads into Big 12 conference play.
Virginia Tech burst onto the scene in the 2021 season with a 17-10 upset of then No. 10 North Carolina. It had been a long time since Virginia Tech had such a signature win, and it immediately shot them up into the AP Top 25. Following a win against Middle Tennessee State (35-14) they currently rank No. 15 by AP.
The defense has been a big part of the Hokies’ early season success. They shut down North Carolina and its highly-touted quarterback Sam Howell, then handled their business against Middle Tennessee State. Through two games the defense has nine sacks and four interceptions.
On the offensive side of the ball, Virginia Tech has been solid, led by junior quarterback Braxton Burmeister. One point of note though is that starting tight end James Mitchell has been ruled out for the season.
For West Virginia, their season began with a tough loss to Maryland, 30-24, but they followed it up with a pick-me-up win against Long Island University, 66-0. It will be highly unlikely that the Mountaineers will be able to put up a similar offensive performance against that Hokies that they had against Long Island University, but if they can keep the ball moving and protect it against the thus far impressive Virginia Tech defense West Virginia should be able to stay in the game, especially if the receiving duo of Sean Ryan and Sam James are able to generate some big plays.
As of Sept. 15, West Virginia is a home favorite by three points over Virginia Tech.
How to watch Virginia Tech vs. West Virginia
The Virginia Tech vs. West Virginia game is airing at noon ET on the premium cable channel Fox Sports 1 (FS1). All major pay-TV distributors carry FS1, though you will need to double check to make sure that your current subscription plan features the channel.
Many live TV streaming services also provide FS1 to its subscribers, including Fubo TV, Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV and YouTube TV. Fans can also watch the game via the Fox Sports app, however they need to authenticate that they are a subscriber to any of the above services.
If you are outside the U.S. and FS1 is not immediately available to you, it’s still possible to watch the Virginia Tech vs. West Virginia game by using a virtual private network, or VPN. A VPN is designed to route network traffic through a specific set of servers in a specific country, allowing viewers to watch content on an encrypted feed over a computer.
