Stanford Football vs. Virginia Tech Kickoff Time

Stanford football is on a bye week after losing to Louisville over the weekend, dropping its season record to 4-5. Despite major signs of growth and improvement throughout the year, the results have been mixed.

The program will use this week to rest, recover, and regroup in the hopes of going on a run in its last three games and posting its highest win total in a full season since 2018.

As the team enjoys its week off, the kickoff time and TV channel for its next game against Virginia Tech have been announced. The Cardinal will face the Hokies in Blacksburg at either 4 or 4:30 p.m. (PT) on ESPN2/ACC Network.

It could possibly be Stanford's final afternoon game of the season, with the final two games being on the road against Cal and at home against SMU.

Virginia Tech is exceeding expectations in its first season under new coach James Franklin. Sitting at 6-2 (3-2 ACC), the Hokies have won two straight games and are looking like a team hungry for a spot in the conference title game.

Franklin, who spent three seasons as Vanderbilt's coach from 2011 to 2014 and the previous 12 seasons at Penn State (2014 to 2025), was hired by Virginia Tech after it went 3-9 last season and missed its first bowl game since 2022.

Stanford saw its two-game winning streak snapped at the hands of Louisville after losing 52-24. Stanford kept things close in the first half, but the wheels fell off for the Cardinal in the second, and the Cardinal need to win at least two out of their last three games to become bowl eligible automatically.

But the program has a lot to be proud of, highlighted by a big win over NC State on Oct. 23.

The last three games are a gauntlet. The Cardinal are on the road for their next two games coming out of the bye, set to hit the road to face Cal after the Virginia Tech game. Beating Cal last season for the first time since 2020, the Cardinal are eager to retain the Axe in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 2010s, when they beat Cal each season from 2010 to 2018.

After facing Cal, Stanford comes home for the season finale against SMU, a program that is right in the mix for the ACC title. If the Cardinal can play well in the final three games, a bowl game is in sight, which could signal the start of something special.

The turnaround was ignited by last November's hire of Tavita Pritchard, who played for Stanford from 2006 to 2009 before serving as an assistant coach for 12 seasons from 2011 to 2022.

Before re-joining the program as the head coach, he spent three seasons in the NFL as the quarterbacks coach for the Washington Commanders, where he helped develop Jayden Daniels into the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2024. Now that he is back, his goal is to bring Stanford back to the national spotlight and cement himself as a true Cardinal legend.