I've been keeping a list of VT's opponents since my freshman year of 2002. This keeps track of how many times we've played teams and our win-loss record.
It's also interesting to keep track of which teams are at the top of the list.
Currently at the top is Boston College with today being the 23rd matchup over the last 22 season. For some reason, even though we were in opposite divisions, the ACC decided to make us permanent crossover rivals. Even though the two teams didn't play each other in 2004, they had two matchups in the ACCCG, which keeps BC in the lead.
Next up is uva and Miami, both tied at 21. Both were annual rivals, however games got skipped for both. When the ACC got rid of divisions after the 2022 season, they did not choose to protect VT/Miami as an annual rivalry. However, after the schedule reshuffle in 2023 to accommodate three new teams, that rivalry did get protected as a guaranteed annual matchup. And of course, VT/UVA skipped 2022 due to the tragic events that occurred to the UVA football team that November.
At what point does uva or Miami overtake BC as the most common opponent of VT in that era? While 2002 might seem arbitrary to many, we could also extend this exercise back to the beginning of the Big East in the early 90s, so the numbers would still be relative to one another.
While uva and Miami are back to permanent annual status, VT is only scheduled to play BC twice in the next 7 years - 2024 and 2026.
BC will stay two games ahead of the others in 2024 (24 vs 22), but the others will close that gap by one game in 2025 (24 vs 23). The one game gap remains in 2026 (25 vs 24), and then uva and Miami will finally tie BC in 2027 (25 all around). Starting in 2028, uva and Miami will pull ahead on the list.
Of course, all of this assumes the ACC status quo remains for the next few years. Which I wouldn't bet on....
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