North Carolina has won twice in Blacksburg since Virginia Tech joined the ACC, with one win on a very late field goal and the other in overtime in 2015. Otherwise, the Tar Heels have struggled at Lane Stadium, occasionally suffering lopsided defeats.

Their most recent visit came in 2019 and ended with a 43-41 loss in six overtimes.

Carolina opens the highly anticipated 2021 season in southwestern Virginia in what many see as a dangerous game, and for good reason. The Hokies have 15 starters returning, a coach who needs to get off to a good start to keep the heat away, and a prideful bunch of players who gave up 56 points to the Tar Heels in a loss in Chapel Hill last October.

The teams will open the season versus each other on Friday night, September 3, and on ESPN. Huge opportunity for two teams with plenty to prove, though hoping to push different agendas.

UNC wants to be in the national conversation, but stumbling in a tough place out of the gate would crush Carolina’s hopes of contending for a spot in the CFP.

Here is a look at Virginia Tech including some things head coach Justin Fuente had to say about his team at the ACC Kickoff:

Game Date: Sept. 3, Blacksburg, VA (Lane Stadium)

2020 Record: 5-6 overall, 5-5 ACC

2020 Offense FCS ranking: No. 31 overall (440.7 ypg); No. 10 rushing (240.1 ypg); No. 43 scoring (31.1 ppg)

2020 Defense FCS ranking: No. 103 overall (447.5 ypg); No. 85 rushing (181.5 ypg); No. 82 scoring (32.1 ppg).

Starters Returning: Offense 8, Defense 7.

*All quotes attributed to Virginia Tech Coach Justin Fuente.

On leading the ACC in rushing last year but having to replace Khalil Herbert: “It will be difficult to replace Khalil. He was the source of so many big plays. I'm not sure in my coaching career if I've ever had a season with that many big, long runs.

“But in regards to (quarterback) Braxton (Burmeister), Braxton is -- he'll probably get mad at me for saying this, but he's probably one of the top three or four athletes on the entire team. He'd say one or two, but I'm going to say three or four. He has played, played as a young player, played some last year.

“He's got a chance to be really, really explosive. We need to continue to find a way to share that load, though, out of the tailback room. Braxton is an accomplished thrower of the ball as well. I feel better about that part of it than I have in some time.

“But we're going to need to find a way. I don't know that Braxton is going to be the answer to the production that we lost from the tailback position. We're going to have to have Jalen Holston, we're going to have to have Raheem Blackshear, we're going to have to have some young guys that I think have some real, real talent step in there and be able to contribute as well.”

On the tough season first-year DC Justin Hamilton had in 20202 moving forward: “I think if we've learned anything, it's that practice is actually important. We, like everybody else, were deprived of spring ball. Our fall camp, once the students hit town, deteriorated into survival mode really quickly.

“We had no foundation. I think that's what we've gone back to throughout the 15 practices in the spring. I like the changes we've made and the additions we've brought in to our staff, both from a recruiting standpoint and from a schematic standpoint and knowledge standpoint.

“I think having Jon Tenuta in there to be the elder statesman has been a beneficial thing throughout the spring. I'm awfully happy that he's with us.

“But the thing that ultimately hurt us in a succinct way is we could not create an identity because we had no foundation. I think we're well on our way to establishing that foundation and creating our identity.”

On where the program is heading into Fuente’s sixth season: “After our first two years, I had a very honest, really good conversation with Whit, our athletic director, talked to him. We won 19 games in two years. I said, Whit, you didn't bring me here for these past two years, you brought me here for what we're about to go through. We were not in good shape.

“We were in the process of building facilities. We had some issues on our roster that were going to take time to get through. We've now completed many of those facilities. We're now adding, expanding our support staff for our players and recruiting. Now starting to get into having an older team.

“I really felt great a year ago about exactly where we were and what we were doing and the status of our football team, a variety of factors have affected that. But I still feel the same way. I'm really excited to see this football team play and kick this season off.”