The Terps recently signed a H/H with VT. I was looking at their schedule and saw how many B1G teams they are scheduled to play. It is quite a few. They don't play any B1G teams until 2020 but after that…the schedule is full of them

2020
09/05 - Liberty
09/12 - Penn State
09/19 - at Michigan
09/26 - East Carolina

2021
09/04 - Richmond
09/11 - Michigan
09/18 - at West Virginia
10/09 - Notre Dame

2022 - None currently scheduled

2023
09/02 - Old Dominion
09/09 - Purdue
09/16 - at Rutgers
09/23 - at East Carolina

2024
08/31 - at Old Dominion
09/07 - East Carolina
09/14 - at Wisconsin
09/21 - Rutgers

2025
08/30 - Old Dominion
09/06 - at Penn State
09/13 - Wisconsin
09/20 - at East Carolina

2026-2029 H/H with Maryland

Throw in that the had a H/H with Ohio State in 2014/2015 and also played Purdue in 2015. That is a lot of teams from the B1G. But I do want to make clear, by no means am I saying that the Hokies are joining the B1G. I do think it is interesting to see who they schedule.

From the tone of the Wash Post article, I concluded that the series was sought by Virginia Tech to allow it to reconnect with large alumni/fan base in northern Virginia and enable it to recruit HS football players from Maryland. The football program has had a lot of success recruiting Maryland, especially Baltimore, in the past. I'm not sure how Maryland's move to the Big Ten has affected Tech's recruiting of the state. I also understand Tech gets a large number of out-of-state students from Maryland. So I'm sure that played a part in the renewal of the series between the two schools.

Otoh, I'm not sure what Maryland's getting from this. I don't think southwest Virginia is a heavily recruited area. Most of the recruits are in the Tidewater area, on the opposite side of the state. That's about a 5-hour distance by vehicle, probably the same distance between College Park and Virginia Beach. Maryland generally doesn't recruit Virginia anyway.

I think from the Maryland end, it's just simply the appeal of playing a nearby decent name team. Virignia Tech was just one of the schools Maryland could have tried to put in there, but the school is relatively close, fans can travel to each other's games, they generate extra interest vs. teams further away, and tickets will probably sell decently.

(02-20-2016 06:40 PM)ohio1317 Wrote:  I think from the Maryland end, it's just simply the appeal of playing a nearby decent name team. Virignia Tech was just one of the schools Maryland could have tried to put in there, but the school is relatively close, fans can travel to each other's games, they generate extra interest vs. teams further away, and tickets will probably sell decently.

The only nearby school Maryland cares about is Penn State. You can say that school has been our Moby Dick. If the objective is to sell tickets, then I would've much rather prefer playing a SEC school.

(02-22-2016 01:31 PM)NJ2MDTerp Wrote:  

(02-20-2016 06:40 PM)ohio1317 Wrote:  I think from the Maryland end, it's just simply the appeal of playing a nearby decent name team. Virignia Tech was just one of the schools Maryland could have tried to put in there, but the school is relatively close, fans can travel to each other's games, they generate extra interest vs. teams further away, and tickets will probably sell decently.

The only nearby school Maryland cares about is Penn State. You can say that school has been our Moby Dick. If the objective is to sell tickets, then I would've much rather prefer playing a SEC school.

I'm certain that's true, although if the football games keep going the way they have between Rutgers and Maryland that's going to be a game both care about before long.

Now from the VT side, keep in mind that 3 of these Big Ten series are against regional opponents in Penn State, Maryland and Rutgers. The latter two of which they have shared a conference with in the past. Although of Maryland and Virginia Tech's 31 past meetings 25 came in the era before the ACC existed. Rutgers and Virginia Tech, while by no means a true rivalry, have had 13 of 15 meetings in the last 25 years. That being said, there's a clear general interest in playing Big Ten schools frequently by the Hokies.