BLACKSBURG - The Atlantic Coast Conference released its 2010 football schedule Thursday, and Virginia Tech's 12-game slate features an exciting seven-game home lineup of both conference and non-conference contests. Tech is also scheduled for a home Thursday night ESPN broadcast for the ninth straight season.

The Hokies are slated to open their 2010 season on Monday, Sept. 6 with a neutral site game against defending Fiesta Bowl champion Bosie State University at FedEx Field, home of the Washington Redskins, in Landover, Md., in a nationally televised game to be carried by ESPN starting at 8 p.m. It will mark the third straight season the Hokies have opened the season at a neutral site, as they played East Carolina in Charlotte in 2008 and against Alabama in Atlanta last year. It will also mark just the 11th time in 1,143 games that the Hokies will play on a Monday and the first time in the regular season since Sept. 30, 1912 when Tech played Roanoke College at home.

Tickets for the opener against Boise State will not be included in the Virginia Tech football season ticket package. Information on the game and tickets will be made available soon.

Tech will follow the BSU game with a pair of non-conference games at Lane Stadium/Worsham Field against James Madison five days later on Sept. 11 and East Carolina (Sept. 18) before opening ACC play at Boston College on Sept. 25. In October, the Hokies will play three more home games - Central Michigan (Oct. 9), Wake Forest (Oct. 16) and Duke (Oct. 23) - after opening the month at NC State on Oct. 2. After an open weekend (Oct. 30), defending ACC champion Georgia Tech rolls into Blacksburg for a Thursday night clash on Nov. 4.

A tough three-game stretch concludes the regular season, as the Hokies will close at North Carolina (Nov. 13) and Miami (Nov. 20) and then at home against in-state rival Virginia on Nov. 27 for Senior Day.

New on the schedule this year as non-conference opponents are Boise State, JMU and Central Michigan. This will be the first meeting between Tech and both Boise State and Central Michigan. Tech leads the series against JMU 6-0, last playing in 2003. From an ACC standpoint, Maryland comes off the schedule this year and is replaced by Wake Forest for the next two seasons.

Seven of the 12 teams on Tech's schedule played in bowls last year: Boise State (Fiesta), East Carolina (Liberty), Central Michigan (GMAC), Georgia Tech (Orange), Boston College (Emerald), Miami (Champs Sports) and North Carolina (Meineke Car Care).

Once again this season, the league is broken into two separate divisions - the Atlantic (Maryland, Clemson, NC State, Wake Forest, Boston College and Florida State) and Coastal (Virginia, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Duke, Miami and Virginia Tech) - with the two division winners meeting on Dec. 4 in the Dr. Pepper ACC Championship Game in Charlotte, N.C.

Times for most games will be made available as the season gets closer.

The full 2010 Tech football schedule can be found here.

The composite schedule for all 12 ACC teams can be found at TheACC.com.