Virginia Tech and Marshall have agreed to a conditional home game in Lane Stadium for Saturday, Dec. 1 as a makeup for early season contests both teams had washed out by Hurricane Florence.
The Hokies were scheduled to play ECU on Sept. 15 and Marshall had a date with South Carolina that both were cancelled. The Thundering Herd are 7-3 and could clinch a share of the Conference USA East Division title with a win at FIU next Saturday, but would lose on any tiebreaker advantages that would give them the edge on representing the division in the conference championship game on Dec. 1.
Virginia Tech, on the other hand, is not only far from the ACC Championship picture but in need of two more wins in order to be bowl eligible and guarantee a 26th straight postseason appearance.
The Hokies officially hold the NCAA record for longest active postseason streak, thanks in part to the vacation of Florida State's 2006 Emerald Bowl appearance because of NCAA penalties. In order to keep that record going, Virginia Tech will first need to beat rival Virginia on Friday in the Commonwealth Cup and then win this rescheduled game against Marshall.
And that Commonwealth Cup game is going to be no easy task for this Hokies team. Virginia, at 7-4, senses blood in the water and an opportunity to break through after losing 14 straight and 19 of the last 20 meetings. If Virginia Tech loses to the Wahoos on Friday to fall to 4-7, the conditional game against Marshall will be called off.
Florida State, interestingly enough, needed a rescheduled game against ULM in 2017 to extend its postseason streak -- FSU earned a bid to the Independence Bowl in Shreveport -- and now enters the final week of the regular season also needing a win against its rival to keep the run alive. If Virginia and Florida both win this weekend, both of these decades-long streaks could come to an end.